On the first Friday of every month, Bandcamp holds Bandcamp Friday. This event finds the digital music platform giving all revenue made from purchases over the 24 hours directly to artists.
The first installment of this event in 2025, however, offers a twist to the usual Bandcamp Friday formula. Artists still receive their cut, but the platform will donate its share to the organization MusicCares who is helping those impacted by the devastating wildfires in Southern California earlier this year. You’re still being exposed to and assisting great artists — from Japan or elsewhere — but also offering aid in the wake of a natural disaster.
Various Artists — POST DAISY BELL
Experimental Japanese pop label KAOMOZI celebrates and reimagines what’s possible musically with synthesized voices on new compilation POST DAISY BELL. Named after the song the first computer programmed to sing performed back in the early 1960s, this set of songs spotlights Vocaloid producers creating tracks prominently featuring digi-generated vocals, sometimes from familiar names such as Hatsune Miku and other times sounding much less recognizable.
On one level, it’s a showcase of just how versatile this instrument can be, as contributors push it to left-field places and more pop accessibility throughout. Yet they are also showcasing it purely as musical texture, tossing aside any of the concerns of “lore” or narrative so common in the Vocaloid community. Instead, it’s a reminder of the creative spark the technology still contains. Get it here.
MARU303 — ACID TOOLZ
Kind of in the way the above compilation showcases just how flexible synthesized voices can be, Fukuoka producer MARU303’s ACID TOOLZ spotlights the many ways acid house squelches can be deployed and reimagined. Sometimes they pair them against jolly 8-bit notes and other times let a full barrage of spiky synths rain down over a hyper beat. The key is, MARU303 always finds a novel angle of the element. Get it here.
Various Artists — THE RAVING SIMULATOR 2
The followup to Tokyo dance music label SPRAYBOX’s 2023 experiment in remote raving, THE RAVING SIMULATOR 2 brings together producers with vocalists from myriad scenes to create club-ready bangers. This edition goes international, with South Korea’s subversive pop act The Deep helping bring some aggression to the uptempo “Gasoline,” while domestic voices such as Lilniina and e5 bring pathos to the party alongside swift beats. Both a great excuse to let loose at home, and a nice snapshot of communities intersecting. Get it here.
Sanketsu Tenshi Bungaku-chan — Shinryo Geka
Imagine a soundtrack to adolescence. Now try to think of what teen life would actually sound like. It’s far messier than anything typically used to convey this time in someone’s life in film or TV, and oftentimes feel contradictory. It’s that latter element that makes this album released via Siren For Charlotte so riveting. Pop-punk guitar chugs give way to pure distortion, while jaunty melodies glitch mid song and give way to digital mayhem complete with distorted voices. At times bursting with anger, other times feeling downright trippy and dissociative, and other points still euphoric, it’s a messy symphony to the teenage experience. Get it here.
cosame chan — Wraiths
I know we are all thrilled to be knee-deep in 2025 now, but let’s not rush on from 2024 quite yet. Osaka emo-leaning rock creator cosame chan’s Wraiths technically arrived late last year, but it has just arrived on Bandcamp. Wonderful timing, because it’s a shadowy highlight from the last 12 months, balancing melody and moodiness just right. Get it here.
Chihei Hatakeyama — Lucid Dreams
Prolific ambient artist Chihei Hatakeyama returns with a calming set of tracks inspired by a lack of sleep. Lucid Dreams arrives, according to Hatakeyama themselves on the release page, after two years battling insomnia, with the soothing songs — sometimes brushed by electronics, others featuring acoustic guitar blurs — representing the space between shut-eye and alertness. It’s soft and certainly relaxing, but Hatakeyama’s ability to make familiar sounds sound unearthly adds the slightest touch of the surreal to this listen. Get it here.
meow — YUME
YUME served as the soundtrack for an IRL art exhibition organized by the artist meow, yet even when removed from the physical space it was meant to soundtrack, it’s an absorbing experience. Soft synth melodies and string plucks get the slightest of thumps courtesy of digitral percussion on tracks like “Blink” and “Iruka,” while others play out as enveloping electronic ambience with twinkles on the border. Get it here.
in the blue shirt — Be Rich / Bullseye
Ryo Arimura’s in the blue shirt project puts its focus on the want for wealth on this new two song set. While the theme, art work and vocal samples sliced up like ticker tape reference big money, the tracks themselves revel in a joyful bounce, with the producer turning vocal snippets into pogoing beats. Now that’s a million-dollar sound…available to all. Get it here.
Oyubi And Kush Jones — Sin Jyuk Guen EP
New York’s Kush Jones links up with Tokyo footwork wizard Oyubi for a fittingly kinetic pair of songs released via Trekkie Trax. Here, the pair bounce ideas off one another and come up with a footwork cut and a Chicago house workout featuring elements of both blending together to create a club treat. Get it here.
the sub account — the sub account EP 05
If you don’t know the sub account, here’s the gateway into its wild world of anime, J-pop, idol and beyond remixes. EP 05 gathers an eclectic collection of bootlegs that find the project adding extra juice to an assortment of anime openings, netlabel deep cuts, virtual artist singles and more. The essence of every original comes through, but the sub account up the energy — and have plenty of fun — finding a way to turn them into floor fillers. Get it here.
