This year’s collection skews instrumental, with some ambient and some less classifiable, a few vocals here and there, mostly I look for sounds that feel distinct / right, and there are really just a ton of sounds put together here.
There are 130-some artists behind the 135 tracks, and I encourage you to look up the ones you like and support them. Today may not be Bandcamp Friday, but it’s a great day to buy an album (link to the Bandcamp artists below).
Artists I’m excited about on this playlist include Lucrecia Dalt (Colombia / U.S.), Ann Annie (U.S. / Portland Oregon), and Young Man in a Hurry (U.S. / Chicago).
Twenty-five countries and six continents are represented, including Porya Hatami from Iran, and an ambient act I’ve been enjoying for a few years now, Almanacs out of Honduras. The U.S. and U.K. account for most of the artists, followed by Germany (10), Canada (10), the Netherlands (5) and four artists from Japan.
Ada and I made the cover art, taking an oil pastel piece she painted as the starting point in a now-digital drawing. Sure it took nearly 40 variations to get it right, but that’s the fun of it. Love having a collaborator on this part of the project.