Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Great Bandcamp labels you should check out

Ant-Zen and Hymen
This one is a no-brainer; Ant-Zen is one of the best if not the best record labels in the world for power noise, and its sister label Hymen is arguable the best IDM / electronica label in the world (yes I know about Warp Records, I don't think they're anywhere near as good as Hymen, I don't care how sacriligeous that is). Both labels have pretty much their entire discography of the last 10 years on Bandcamp, where you can stream and listen to however much you want for as long as you want with no ads, or buy albums for a very cheap price (usually about $10 per album), with a big chunk going to the artist. How good is that! Want to find out which Synapscape album is the best? Keen to finally discover the tribal sounds of This Morn Omina or Tzolk'in? Knock yourself out!

Love Hz
This is a recent discovery of mine. It's a bandcamp-only label, and it is really interesting and unique music and I am totally in love with it. Love Hz (get it? cute title huh) produces basically hardcore techno, with a cinematic / emotional / atmospheric feel to it. Some strings, pianos, pads, etc, running alongside dark crunching German / Dutch style hardcore techno make for a wonderful combination. Even the aggressive German hardcore legend Stormtrooper released an EP on Love Hz, and it is fantastic. Definitely one to watch!

Cryo Chamber
This label was started by Simon Heath aka the busy dark ambient act Atrium Carceri, who put out a whole bunch of good albums on Swedish juggernaut Cold Meat Industry before they went into indefinite hibernation. I thought they were a bandcamp only label (especially as they advertise themselves as a 24 bit label, and audio CDs only store music at 16 bit resolution), but it seems they put out CDs as well. Anyway, Mr Atrium Carceri has put out a couple of recent albums on this label, a cool science-fiction themed ambient side project of his called Sabled Sun has put out a few albums, plus a whole bunch of new up and coming dark ambient artists have albums released here also. I guess they all have to find a new home now that Cold Meat is gone... and despite the name, Cryo Chamber seems to be a very warm and welcoming home. Go get yer dark ambient on right now dammit!

Industrial Propaganda Records
Well this label does what it says on the tin: it releases big, bad, ballsy hardcore industrial techno. Mainly via EPs, plus some compilations, and some old fashioned mixes. I don't recognise most of the bands on this label but who cares, they all sound awesome!

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