I've really enjoyed the growth of Bandcamp over the past few years and watching young and upcoming artists really taking advantage of it as a tool for distributing their music. I've lost count of how many fantastic bands I've discovered via the site, particularly since some of my favorite genres seem to be the heaviest users (stoner rock, doom metal, psych rock, etc).
Possibly my favorite discovery yet has been Glasgow's The Cosmic Dead, a quartet that formed back in early 2010 and has already unleashed a formidable catalog upon on unsuspecting world - the majority of it most easily purchased directly through the band's Bandcamp page. Describing their music is difficult, mostly because any tag I could slap on them feels reductive and not quite right. Put it this way, the band jams out on very long form songs (it isn't uncommon for their songs to hover around the 20-minute mark) that incorporate elements of psych rock, jazz fusion, acid freakouts, stoner rock, doom metal, space rock, prog, improvisation, among many others. Basically anything that uses a lot of fuzz and nods in the direction of hallucinogens.
The Cosmic Dead are on my mind tonight because I finally got around to hearing their most recent album, Inner Sanctum (available here), and it is an absolute doozy. One of those records that makes me very glad I have yet to finalize my albums of the year list, because it is very likely to snake a high position. Consisting of four tracks over 74 minutes, this is the band at their exploratory best. "The Mass of Betelguese" (this should clue you in as to where the band's head sits most of the time) is my standout after one listen, but really all four tracks are terrific.
Anyway, I encourage you to head over to their Bandcamp page and stream from some of their albums. I can highly recommend the self-titled album and the Psychonaut compilation in addition to the latest. The live stuff is also tremendous, I really hope they make it over to the U.S. one of these days.
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