After a quiet few years, the Minneapolis-by-way-of-Alaska emo act  Granddad is back with the brand new EP  What Happens Afte r, just in time for Bandcamp Friday. The release follows up Kellen Baker and Matthew Harris's tumultuous 2018 record Quitter, which chronicles the growing pains and aimlessness felt in your teens and early 20s. Instead of dwelling on the past, Granddad looks at what's coming next with this new EP.   Change is rarely quick and easy, and that is on full display on What Happens After 's opening track, "Not Twenty Anymore." Twinkly guitar riffs break up emotionally wrought lyrics about growing as a person. The opener feels like a natural response to the Quitter track "Slacker With a Death Wish." The desire to be better is still there, but now, growth is a response to being unsatisfied with what you've become. In the bridge, Baker sings about forgetting his early 20s, so he can contend with "becoming a brand new person overni...

Today is Juneteenth, the day that honors the end of slavery in 1865, when troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to ensure the freedom of all the enslaved people. Bandcamp is donating 100% of their share of any purchases made today to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (and on every subsequent Juneteenth). Today is a day to direct attention and money to the voices of Black artists and bands with Black members. That should be the case every day. In addition to those listed below, Bandcamp posted a list of artists with special releases today , many of whom will be donating their proceeds to benefit racial justice organizations. Here is a crowd-sourced database of Black artists to support on Bandcamp. Here is a list of Black Twin Cities community members to support directly. Dua Saleh made a wonderful playlist of Black and BIPOC LGBTQIA+ artists to stream and support directly. Here's a  thread of trans Black women's Venmos/CashApps. The Current also put out a list of ten local artists ...

Hey! In case you didn't hear, Bandcamp is waiving their revenue share for all purchases today, just like they did last month, and will do on the first Friday of the next two months (June 5 and July 3 respectively). Virtually every band and artist you can imagine, DIY or not, has been negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which means they need all the help they can get. Bandcamp is one of the best ways to do that in lieu of going to shows. As a way to spread the love (and financial support), we're shouting out some of our favorites. Buy their music, get some merch if you can. This is by no means comprehensive, but we tried to pack in as many bands as we could (with a slight emphasis on more recent releases). All of these bands/artists are worth checking out and we love them dearly. If you can't afford to buy anything at the present time, stream these tunes on Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal(???), or wherever you might want. Here's a playlist of some of our 2020 fav...