For the second year straight, Bandcamp will donate 100 percent of its share of all sales made on the online music marketplace to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund on June 18, 2021, one day before Juneteenth. Juneteenth – June 19 – is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. The U.S. Senate passed a bill on Tuesday, June 15, 2021, that would make Juneteenth a federal holiday in the United States.
In a company blog post, Bandcamp co-founder/CEO Ethan Diamond wrote, “We held our first Juneteenth fundraiser last year in response to the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and the long-standing structural oppression, state-sanctioned violence, and daily racism faced by Black people and people of color, including many of our fellow employees and artists in the Bandcamp community. We’ve been inspired by and joined in the growing call for racial justice and equity, and have celebrated the many new reforms, practices, and policies that bring us closer to a world where Black people and people of color can thrive without fear of violence and oppression.”
As of press time, current website statistics state that “Fans have paid artists $754 million using Bandcamp, and $14.8 million in the last 30 days alone.” In hopes that you will consider purchasing from Bandcamp to contribute to the company’s charitable donations to the NAACP and equitable Black organizations, here are some local artists to check out and support.
Leyla McCalla: Local folk artist and former OffBeat cover star’s Vari-Colored Songs: A Tribute to Langston Hughes is “a celebration of the complexity of Black culture and identity, and a tribute to the legacy of poet and thinker Langston Hughes. A songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, McCalla sets Hughes’ poems to her own spare yet profound compositions.”
Lilli Lewis: Americana artist Lilli Lewis declares grew up on a dirt road outside of Athens, GA where she has been writing music since the age of three. Now based in New Orleans, Lewis is working on a database and a festival, both of which celebrate and spotlight Black musicians in the Americana space.
Delores Galore: Chanteuse and Virtua Mall video game creator Delores Galore (AKA Gabrielle Washington) says of her latest EP: “The theme of the album is focused on my anxiety, and depression. It’s about me as a Black woman fighting to be seen and heard in the music industry, and just everyday life – feeling isolated at times, falling in love, and how to work on staying in love. Not only with relationships, but also with whatever you feel passionate about.”
Alfred Banks: Described as adding “a touch of individualism to Hiphop,” Alfred Banks is a Best of the Beat Award-winner who just was featured by Jake Clapp and also makes up one half of the pair that is SaxKixAve.
PEARCE: Fans of shoegaze and vaporwave will love the work of PEARCE. Stay tuned later this summer for more sounds that will make you feel like you are chilling and playing Crusin’ USA.
Kaye the Beast: “He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life,” said Mohammad Ali. Kaye the Beast certainly takes risks with his sounds and bars, proving that New Orleans hip hop is not a monolith.
Uhuruverse: You may recognize the name from the Community Records’ release Cash for Uhuru (also on Bandcamp)which featured some of the aforementioned talent alongside Leafdrinker, The Foe, Primpce and Thou. Produced by Onelle Woods, Life of the Party was written by The Uhuruverse based on their club kid /after-hours lifestyle in LA.
Afro Sensei: Hailing from Alexandria, Louisiana, Afro Sensei has been putting his own idiosyncratic spin on EDM since the release of his debut EP Bougie Beats in 2014. 2016’s deep house and garage-influenced After Hours LP came next, followed by the trap electronic sound of 2018’s Let The Beat Breathe EP.
mynameisblueskye: Oftentimes featured on local broadcast The Chamber, this musical polymath whose lo-fi music ranges from psych pop to space rock to new wave prides their art on “keyboard-heavy, but overall guitar-free pop music” and also goes underneath the beat name blank videotapes.
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