It’s time for another Bandcamp Friday, the excellent scheme started at the onset of COVID-19 as a way to support musicians who saw their lives severely disrupted by the pandemic. 

It’s the monthly day when Bandcamp waives their revenue share, with all sale proceeds going to the artists in a year when they need it more than ever.

This month’s Bandcamp Friday takes place tomorrow, December 3rd, and it will be the last chance to support your favourite artists in this way in 2021.

With that in mind, we thought we’d make a list of 6 great releases for you to consider this Bandcamp Friday. All are independent Australian artists; all albums were released this year. Long live Bandcamp Friday.

Aborted Tortoise – A Album

Shaking and heaving garage punk that is punishingly unrelenting from start to finish. The Perth band formed in 2013 and have earned stellar supporting slots with names like King Gizzard and The Growlers. “A dumb high school band that soon grew to be a dumb mid-20s band” (their words), don’t let their self-deprecation fool you: their second album is punk that knows when to be both thrashing and playful, striking an excellent balance on every song.

Love Indie?

Get the latest Indie news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more

The Finks – The moment the world rushed in

Oscar Mestitz is one of the most under-appreciated figures in Australian music. Under The Finks moniker, he’s been releasing tender and quiet records since 2012, recalling the melancholic wit of Belle & Sebastian. While his solemnly-spun tales of modern life showcased an incisive songwriter, his new six-track EP sees him turning further inward: five of the songs are instrumentals, with only the title track containing any vocals. Mestitz turns his songwriter’s ears to new collected sounds – digital and analogue effects combined into a powerful and enveloping ambient wave.

HMS Ash – Beach Reach

Melbourne trio HMS Ash are, and always will be, indebted to Mac DeMarco. What stops them from being weighed under by his slacker rock influence is a keen understanding of the historic jangle pop of their home country. On Beam Reach, their second album, the dreamy rhythm is always anchored by sincere lyricism that tackles everything from gender identity to mental health.

Dag – Pedestrian Life

Coming from iconic Brisbane label Bedroom Suck Records is the long-awaited second album from Dag. Led by Dusty Anastassiou’s insightful songwriting and emotive existentialism, their debut record, 2017’s Benefits of Solitude, is one of the best Australian releases of the last decade; it deserved to reach a much wider audience. Returning four years later, none of their power was diminished. Honest words sung in a droll drawl, Dag capture the melancholic beauty of the Aussie suburbs like few others.

EXEK – Good Thing They Ripped Up The Carpet

EXEK make playful post punk with a dreamy undercurrent. On their new record, the group traverse everything from field recordings to romantic new wave, krautrock to dub. The songs are thickly textured, each one standing firmly on its own outside of the collective. Innovative and intriguing, when so much of the recent post punk revival has become uniform, EXEK know how to emerge from the crowded field.

Alien Nosejob – Paint It Clear

There’s a reason that Jake Robertson is a low-key legend in Melbourne’s DIY music community. As Alien Nosejob, he consistently releases without ever declining in quality. He conforms to no specific genres and incorporates whichever instruments he feels like playing. In 2020, he released three strong records and followed that up with two others this year. The second of these, Paint It Clear, is perhaps his best so far. He recalls the incessant DIY trailblazer Martin Newell (The Cleaners from Venus), a true musician’s musician. Listen to Paint It Clear before Robertson has another Alien Nosejob record ready within the week.

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.
to Rolling Stone magazine
to Rolling Stone magazine