Nine Philly-rooted projects to support on Bandcamp Friday

After taking a bit of a summer break, Bandcamp Friday is back for the month of August. The digital music retailer is waiving its fees until tonight at midnight PT / 3 a.m. ET, meaning 100% of every dollar you spend on the site in that time goes directly to the artist (or their label, for those who release their music through indie labels that use the site).

It’s a great way to shop local and directly support your scene, particularly in these uncertain late pandemic days, and we recommend you get started with these nine Philadelphia-rooted projects below! For more, explore our past Bandcamp Friday shopping guides, or simply explore the Philadelphia tag on Bandcamp. – John Vettese

Todd Fausnacht – Sketches That Have Slithered Through the Characters’ Shell

New in Todd Fausnacht’s extensive discography is Sketches That Have Slithered Through the Characters’ Shell, a full-length alt-folk jam. Typical of Fausnacht’s musical stylings, Sketches sounds as if it was recorded in an earlier decade, with influences like Bob Dylan and Blind Willie McTell. Layers of finger plucked guitar and vulnerable lyrics are the core of this record, and the surrounding full-band accompaniments make this record a great buy. – Paige Walter

Attia Taylor – “Dog And Pony Show”

Philly born, Brooklyn-based indie-psychedelic singer-songwriter Attia Taylor has been a favorite of ours at The Key since finding her earliest releases on MySpace almost a decade ago. These days, Taylor’s music is wrapped in finely-tuned electropop production, with her trademark minimal, meditative lyrics, and the recent “Dog And Pony Show” is awash in effervescent natural images that keep you coming back for more. – John Vettese

UgLi – FUCK

With FUCK — an album title best not mentioned in mixed company — UgLi premieres their brand of 90’s alt-rock power punk. It’s the kind of self-aware, teenage angst record everyone growing up in the suburbs needs to hear. Even more, it has a mature and slow side as well. UgLi is starting a punk revolution in Philly, and this record is just the beginning. – P.W.

Alikho Igama – “Devil May Cry”

Released earlier this week, “Devil May Care” — the newest from Philly MC and songwriter Alikho Igama — is a groovy single based around jazzy Afrobeat tones and introspective bars. Igama’s voice is gravelly and contemplative in the vein of outside-the-box artists from legends like MF DOOM to emerging voices like Philly’s Savan De Paul, and the song finds him reflecting on rejection and perseverance: “got me feeling sick, I could kick the bucket / but I’ve got a lot more to live, more stories to tell / myself to give, my personal Hell.” It’s a fine an introduction as any to the the collection of singles in Igama’s Bandcamp back-catalog. – J.V.

Nazeer Art’aud – Mister Larry’s Looney Funhouse

This project by Nazeer Art’aud might shock you to hear without a proper introduction: it’s Art’aud’s play on a children’s record but with a dark, twisted message. “Mister Larry” is the ringleader of his own crazy circus. The musical themes on Looney Funhouse are bright and exuberant, but the lyrical ones are grave. But don’t let that scare you away — Art’aud knows rhythm and soul. – P.W.

Tubey Frank – “Rose Colored Shades (Radio Edit with Nazeer Art’aud)”

Speaking of Nazeer Art’aud, you can also hear him in action on this new remix of Philly indie singer-songwriter Tubey Frank’s “Rose Colored Shades.” Originally a solitary folky track from the 2020 album Quarantine Sketches, it’s transformed into a kaleidoscopic psych-pop song of Broken Social Scene proportions, with Art’aud barring down about halfway through the proceedings. – J.V.

TOKiMONSTA ft. VanJess – “Say Yes”

This song might be the furthest thing from a Philly track in this month’s Bandcamp Friday shopping guide, but LA electronic artist TOKiMONSTA’s incredible house / trance reinvention of “Say Yes” — a song made famous by Floetry during the city’s turn-of-the-millennium Black Lily neo-soul era — is a thrilling spin on a Philadelphia classic, with Nigerian-American duo VanJess handling the vocals masterfully. – J.V.

Jackson Pines – Close To Home

For their second full-length and fourth project overall, New Jersey-rooted and Philly-based three-piece Jackson Pines deliver 12 tracks of heartwarming, reflective music that at once shows their folk origins while also flexing the reflective rock sound that they’re gradually growing into. Exploring themes like family ties, youthful nostalgia, and the stress and strain of life in 2020s America, songwriter and frontperson Joe Makoviecki sings with honesty and compassion aimed at bringing folks together in divided times. – J.V.

andrew. – POP 1967

Local indie imprint U Don’t Deserve This Beautiful Art is a reliable spot to hear left-of-center hip-hop — from Philly, yes, but also from all around the country — and Philly’s andrew. is one of the newest members of their big weird family. Local MC Zilla Rocca put us on to this album saying it sounded like “if Blind Melon and beck made a rap album with Guru from gangstarr”; we were immediately on board for the ride. The textures are sleek soul grooves, breezy kit beats, and a vocal that’s grizzly like Aesop Rock on the verses, then channels the spirit of The Biz on the playfully sung hooks. “Sad songs are always easy to write / cause most days that’s how I felt in my life” andrew. raps on the opening “Losing Streak,” and while moments of this record come from these places of deep distress, it’s spun into a thing of joy. – J.V.