FORTHE’S BANDCAMP PICKS: FALL/WINTER 2022-2023

Support Local Music on Bandcamp Fridays!

Musicians have been getting screwed over by shady business deals as long as there’s been a music industry. The modern way of doing so is of course receiving little-to-no compensation for online streaming. Apps like Spotify generally only pay between $.003 and $.005 per stream, according to Business Insider. 

Any day of the year, one of the best ways to help an indie musician is through Bandcamp and on Bandcamp Fridays, artists receive an average of  93% of the proceeds of the sales of their music! (On all other days they still receive an average of 82%.) If you can’t do it this month, fear not. Bandcamp Friday will be held the first Friday of every month in 2023, with the exception of June and July. The importance of supporting local artists and musicians cannot be stressed enough. Buy independent music! Go to shows!

In this edition, FORTHE team members Erin Foley and Jasmine Navarro have selected new works by Nebulaz Beach, Rufrano, Self Improvement, and Slice to share with you, as well as a playlist of recordings posted on Bandcamp between October 2022 – January 2023 by a bunch of other talented local artists. 

In a city as abundant with talent as Long Beach is, there is no way this is a comprehensive list. We are sure there are many that have been inadvertently omitted. Your help is welcomed! If you know of any fabulous new local releases, as always, please send them our way via erin@forthe.org.

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SELF IMPROVEMENT – Visible Damage

Released Oct. 6

Originally self-released on December 24, 2021 to cult-like underground acclaim, this re-issue of Visible Damage marks the band’s new partnership with Pittsburgh-based label Floating Mill records. Self Improvement began with Pat Moonie (bass/guitar/vocals) and Jonny Rza (guitar/piano) swapping demos between Long Beach and San Francisco. According to  the pair, they had intended on creating a sound inspired by Circle Jerks, a shared favorite. Their demos landed on something else entirely. When the tracks were shared with singer Jett Witchalls she decided to experiment with recording vocals over top.  From there, Self Improvement was born. With Dylan Hadley joining the recording process on drums, the group took their demos to Wiggle World in Altadena to be recorded/mixed/mastered by Spencer Hartling. The final product: a mesmerizing and succinct debut album peppered with angular, infectious guitar hooks, a nostalgically beefy rhythm section, and Witchalls’ alluring English accent lofting and melting over the mix.

According to Self Improvement’s Bandcamp, Witchalls wrote most of the lyrics while heavily medicated for epilepsy. The album touches on the eerie sensation of feeling like a stranger in one’s own body. On “Fear and Power”, which takes off like a runaway train, they slip into an almost Kate Bush-like shriek as the guitar and bass play in unison:

It’s alarming / that you can’t (feel?)

Something’s very strange

It’s alarming / that you can’t see 

Something has just changed

The album also features a cover of the 1997 aggro-industrial classic “Firestarter” by The Prodigy that is far moodier and punk rock. With a run-time of just under 24 minutes, Visible Damage left my head spinning and my ears begging for more.

– JN

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Rufrano – White Herons

Released Nov. 6

Nearly three years after her last release, Rufrano has returned with White Herons, a beautifully stripped-down EP from Doe Records about a very vulnerable time in her life.

Minimalist guitar and vocal harmonies set Rufrano’s heart-wrenchingly honest lyrics at the forefront of this release; she is giving listeners a glimpse into her life during a formative, transitional period. Named after a symbol of independence and renewal, White Herons explores the feelings that accompany growth, grief, anxiety, and change. Entirely self-recorded and mixed/mastered by J.P. Bendzinski, this intimate EP almost feels private in its self-reflections on complex situations such as seeing an ex lover on a dating app, beginning a new relationship, and mourning the loss of her father. 

On “A Long Time,” she asks her new partner to reveal the parts of herself she cannot understand on her own:

Long ago I found out

I am the one I cannot know

But every time I fell in love

Please look at me, tell me you know

Something that I don’t

While themes of sorrow and confusion saturate the album, Rufrano also exhibits a determined inner strength. On “Exercise in Positive Thinking,” she sings about anxiety surrounding health problems and is critical of her tendency to panic-google symptoms:

Well I  googled all my symptoms and now I can’t take it back

It’s a sickness of my kind, I don’t think there’s a cure for that

But you know I’ll never let myself lose control

Despite the heavy nature of the song, there’s a wittiness about it too, with the chord changes bobbing up and down and a fun, dissonant solo in the outro.

The title song closes the EP, with Rufrano reflecting on the loss of her father and reckoning with her own mortality. On “White Herons,” she splices memories of her childhood with visions of a future in which her father is there to witness her milestones. She ends the song with:

The water is wide without wings to fly

See you holding my hand when it’s my time

When it’s my time

The album left me with a sense of catharsis and renewal. Even in the midst of tremendous loss, Rufrano seems to be making her peace with the divine timing of it all.

– JN

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Nebulaz Beach– Demoz

Released Nov. 22

With elements of jazz, hip hop, and neo-soul, Demoz by Nebulaz Beach is a continuous no-skip 4-song groove. The creative mastermind behind the electric piano-driven EP is Gerardo “Jerry” Garcia, a musician/vocalist/producer who has a tight band, a soulful voice, and an easygoing vibe.

Garcia brings Nebulaz Beach to life with “2-3” talented musicians, according to him; depending on the availability of busy guitarist Miguel Partida. His mainstays are Kyle Rosa on drums and  Chris Conde on guitar or bass while Garcia handles keys and vocals. (Conde, Partida, and Rosa are also members of the experimental LA-based group Memory Den.)

On January 29, before the 4-piece performed it live at the E. Anaheim venue Supply & Demand, Garcia introduced the song “Sidewayz” as his favorite. The first song on the EP, it is also the first song I had ever heard of his and I was immediately hooked on the infectious rhythm of  its electric strings. Something about it had a little “What A Fool Believes” Doobie Brothers flavor that I love—so much so that I almost thought it was a sample or extrapolation until I listened closer to them both. 

Two days prior to that performance, he had refined and re-released the first three songs—“Sidewayz,” “Roadz,” and “Ruckuz”— on an EP called Bliss. (Garcia says Demoz’ 4th song, “Demonz,” was left off since it is the outlier as the only rap song.)  A super dope music video for “Roadz,” was also released on the day of the show. Directed by Zach Rabago AKA Rake, Garcia says it is visually an amalgamation of all his favorite things such as his dog Obsidian and his love for Japanese car culture.

I’m coastin’

Road’s open…

Both making the video and the amount of support his music has been receiving seem to have exceeded Garcia’s expectations. I mentioned to him that I was impressed by the sophistication and cinematography–Garcia is literally standing in a parking lot with a car operated by professional drifter/stunt driver Sean Adriano doing extremely fast circles around and around his unprotected body (he assured me it was not some CGI effect). But what Garcia couldn’t believe was that he got the epic overhead shots I was raving about because his friend just showed up and hooked him up. It was unplanned, his friend just popped up with the perfect tool to help take his creative vision to another level. The serendipity of that and the encouragement he has been getting has been affirming for him, he is quick to express both his gratitude and surprise.

Visuals for “Sidewayz” and “Ruckuz” are still to come. As Garcia keeps steady coasting, creating intuitively, and otherwise doing his thing, I believe he will only continue to see his Beach community grow.

– EF

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Slice – II

Released Dec. 10

Even big name artists like Bjork have spoken openly about their frustrating encounters with sexist gatekeepers in the music world. The hardworking musicians of the band Slice—Megan (vocals, guitar), Alex (vocals, keys),  Barbara (bass), and Kelsey (drums)—are no strangers to this ubiquitous issue. (Based on their precedent, all band members will be referred to by first name only.)

Over their 7-8 years of existence, Slice has built community and found awesome, welcoming spaces but they also have had many encounters with mansplaining scenesters and misogynists. The opening track on their new album II celebrates a world where that isn’t the norm.

According to Barbara, “FYBC,” or  Fuck Your Boys Club, is named after an underground spreadsheet that had been created to help femmes and non-binary indie musicians connect to set up their own tours.

On Slice’s instrumental ode to that resourceful crowdsource document, they give the toxic old guard the finger. “FYBC” comes in steady with a vibe of “move, we are coming through” and continues to build; in musical components, in expansiveness, in joy. Though the song had begun in a way that could almost be perceived as melancholic or at least mysterious, by the end it has built itself into something defiantly jubilant.

Now that they set the scene, that expansive groove and colorful ambience continues. II moves on next to the dreamily upbeat “Everyone Has a Story” (everyone has a story to tell / so be yourself) and then finishes with the nonsensically lovely Cocteau Twins-inspired “Biyuu.” Short and sweet and definitely on repeat.

II is technically Slice’s third album. In 2015 they released an eponymous album when they were just a trio consisting of Meg, Barb, and Kelsey. In 2016, Alex would join the band and, as it was the first one featuring all four members, their 2018 album was titled 1.  Both I and II were recorded and mixed by Dylan Wood (Very Crush) and mastered by Nick Townsend. The new album also features lovely artwork by the super talented Alina Kano AKA gravybuggo.

Make sure you check out a show next time they play out! They are just as great live as they are in the recording studio and the energy of the community adds a whole other delicious layer to this slice of shoegaze heaven.

– EF

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ALSO CHECK OUT:

bobby blunders – “monuments”
Released Oct. 7

Dave William & MajicBulletTheory- The Return of S.P.A.R.K.Y. 
Released Oct. 14

Jasmine Canales – “Last Longer“
Released Nov. 7

Hoop Jail – Health & Association
Released Nov. 18

Jagged Jein – Pith & The Peel 
Released Nov. 30

Chorus Pedal – Typo Landscape 
Released Dec. 1

Box Dreams – What You Make
Released Dec. 6

Tha Prince Th$ – On My Way 
Released Jan. 1

Bushfire – SOME HOLY SHIT
Released Jan. 13

Zoey River – Deathbedbeats
Released Jan. 13

Basico – “OOH YEAH (139)”
Released Jan. 29

Nights Templar – Year One
Released Jan. 31

Please send your suggestions for future features to erin@forthe.org.