COVID-19
Today Bandcamp is once more waiving their share of sales to benefit artists during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, many artists are donating 100% of their sales to Black Lives Matter causes, making today a great day to put your money to good use.
To aid in directly supporting black musicians, artist Stephanie O'Byrne has compiled a list of black musicians who have music for sale on Bandcamp. The spreadsheet is being updated continuously throughout the day.
Will Pugh, lead singer of Cartel, has released a new EP under the name TAURIDS. The project is a collaboration with Adam Bokesch and Bobby Holland.
The new EP is available now, courtesy of Field Day Records. A share of proceeds will be donated to MusiCares for their COVID-19 Relief Fund.
From Will’s announcement on Instagram:
I’ve got a lot to say about this and that will come in the near future. For now, I’d just like to let you know that this is my first musical adventure outside of Cartel.
I started writing this a long time ago and finished it last year. My fellow creators on the production side are Bobby Holland and Adam Bokesch. They saw the vision I had for the songs I had written and got in the boat and started paddling towards the shore with me. I’m so excited to share this with everyone now because it was gonna be a while before we released this. With the situation at hand, it seemed like the universe was telling me “now.” The lyrical content and the overall theme of this EP are suited for what we’re all going through. This is for all of us now.
Punchline has recorded a delightful sonic plea to their fans in the form of “Just Stay Home.”
During this unprecedented time in humanity’s history , where the most we can do is nothing, Punchline have both embraced and technologically defied quarantine to record this new song remotely.
Hello dear friends— This strange window in time gave us a creative window to bring this song to life. Some songs take years to write and some come out in nearly real time. “Just Stay Home" was the latter. STAY HOME PEOPLE! This feels like 9/11 if someone told us that 9/11 was gonna happen, but not for 2 weeks, meaning there’s a chance we could save thousands of lives by not leaving the house.
It’s a lot to process. Mentally, it’s been a tough few weeks. It hasn’t hit as hard here yet in Pittsburgh, but following what’s going on in New York and Italy and in so many cities - it’s crushing. We hope this song gives you the feeling of hope and love. We’re thinking about yinz. 💕
We always talk in our band about how, in times of grief and confusion, we’re thankful to be obsessed with music, which gives us the luxury to open a recording session and get lost in recording a song. It’s wondrous thinking about all the books you’re writing, the meals you’re whippin’ up, the nintendo points you’re scoring, the miles of timelines you’re scrolling lol - it’s ok. We’re all doing it (Is it okay though??)
Thanks for listening. Please enjoy. Written and recorded by Punchline. Mixed by Marc McClusky. Mastered by Dan Coutant. Photo/art by Brendan Walter. PS Would it be cool if we made a music video for this out of footage submitted by all y’all of yinz in your homes? Let’s hear your ideas. <3
Benjamin Gibbard has released a new song called “Life In Quarantine” to benefit Aurora Commons, a Seattle-based non-profit that provides a safe space for people temporarily experiencing homelessness.
The airports and train stations are full of desperate people
Trying to convince the gate agents that not all emergencies are equal
But no one is going anywhere soon
No one is going anywhere soon
Wash your hands and keep your distance. Stay safe everyone.
