Bandcamp Friday - SRN Aotearoa Recommendations

Following a bit of a hiatus, the artist-friendly Bandcamp Friday initiative made a welcome return last month and is back on today (it being the first Friday of October). Reactivating our series of spotlight features as the occasion calls, we've invited Student Radio Network (SRN) representatives across Aotearoa to recommend some fave recent tracks worthy of your support. Bandcamp Friday is when the online music platform waive their revenue share on all artists' music and merch sales for 24 hours, i.e. a great time to make some local music purchases— beginning at 8pm NZST tonight and rolling until 8pm NZST on Saturday. Synchronise watches to the handy countdown clock HERE.

Sharing their selections this month are reps from Radio One 91FM, Radio Control 99.4FM, Radio Active 88.6FM, RDU 98.5FM and 95bFM. On top of these expert picks, be sure to check out the impeccably curated and diverse buyaotearoa wishlist, and of course dive into Bandcamp's New Zealand tag page HERE for more bleeding edge local music discoveries...

Amamelia - 'Colourbox'

You'd be a fool to not get amongst some Amamelia music this Bandcamp Friday. Chuck some coin at Colourbox, the latest lush and dreamy track off her upcoming album Bananamelia. Also, pre-order the Bananamelia vinyl now so you don't miss out and get very sad. It feels like going downstream towards a delightful, sparkling lagoon. — Zoë Larsen Cumming, 95bFM, Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland

BUB - 'Dreams'

Speaking of water-related activities, Tāmaki's BUB released their track 'Dreams' last week with an extremely cool video filmed out on the ocean blue. The guitar that drives us forward with some synth-y goodness, paired with Priya Sami's generously honest lyrics and gorgeous voice, what's not to love? — Zoë Larsen Cumming, 95bFM, Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland

Fouler - 'Twix'

Need a moment? Fouler hot off the tone throne after a couply frothies at the local Marton watering hole “Cooks Bar” have crafted there first single for the wild, Twix. Cop it! — Jordan Kupe, Radio Control 99.4FM Breakfast Host, Te Papaioea / Palmerston North

Sports Dreams - 'Banger'

This EP is so good I bought it twice — Jordan Kupe, Radio Control 99.4FM Breakfast Host, Te Papaioea / Palmerston North

Synthetic Children - 'Everything’s Perpetual'

Enough bass to blow up the Taonui Tiny Club sound system, Catch them on tour with Sports Dreams across the motu this summer! — Fi Carr, Radio Control 99.4FM, Te Papaioea / Palmerston North

Zane 2000 - 'The Businessman'

Zane 2000 is a musician from Ōtautahi, I love his playful blend of electronica and general humour in the vocals for their new song, 'The Businessman'. A potential hype jam for anyone wearing a suit to work! — Maggie Tweedie, Radio Active 88.6FM Breakfast Host, Te Whanganui-a-Tara / Wellington

Avantdale Bowling Club - 'Twenty Eight'

'Twenty Eight' by Tom Scott's Avantdale Bowling Club is like a book you need to reread, partly for comfort and partly to gain deeper understanding. This song feels like the beginning of a broader conversation Aotearoa is having about incarceration and justice right now. TREES is a truly masterful album, I hope you'll listen to it. — Maggie Tweedie, Radio Active 88.6FM Breakfast Host, Te Whanganui-a-Tara / Wellington

Womb - 'Oceans'

The new single from Te Whanganui-a-Tara ambient crush favourites Womb sounds as it reads. Vast, beckoning and progressively warming - I can't wait for total submersion in their forthcoming LP Dreaming of the Future Again. You can pre-order it for November 11. — Josh Dominikovich, Radio Active 88.6FM Breakfast Producer, Te Whanganui-a-Tara / Wellington

The Tacks - 'Fantasy'

Slowly building on an addictive guitar strum, Fantasy by The Tacks is a brilliantly fun, punky song. Fantastically executed vocals mark this as a song that could entice any corpse out from the pits of hell. The song somehow manages to have classic punk traits, yet remains wholly original. — Liam Donnelly, RDU 98.5FM Programme Manager & Host of RDU's Burnt Breakfast, Ōtautahi / Christchurch

Jim Nothing - 'Yellow House'

Very rarely does one track feel so busy, calming, and deep, all at the same time. Jim Nothing's Yellow House is an endearing and groovy track, the result of an artist who really knows what they're doing. Sit on this song for a while and wait as it consumes you emotionally. — Liam Donnelly, RDU 98.5FM Programme Manager & Host of RDU's Burnt Breakfast, Ōtautahi / Christchurch

Frog Power - 'shoud've stayed home'

Iconic Ōtepoti band Frog Power's (ex-Coyote / Rackets) album chicken necks (for rope) was released in August this year, after the passing of their young singer, Louis Potts. A poignant yet exuberant rollercoaster ride through their unique brand of high-skronk home-fi, the track 'should've stayed home' is a synth guitar bop best listened to driving in an RX7 at night with sunglasses on. — Sean Norling, Radio One 91FM Station Manager, Ōtepoti / Dunedin

Maxine Funke - 'South Dunedin'

From the Pieces of Driftwood collection of non-album singles and tracks recorded for compilations [out today], Maxine Funke once again draws back the curtain to let us in to the poetic, introspective, enchanted universe, with their pre-release single 'South Dunedin'. — Sean Norling, Radio One 91FM Station Manager, Ōtepoti / Dunedin