Artists Of The Week: Discover, Support, Share

It is another Bandcamp Friday today so let’s get to business of offering three bands to consider spending some money on today. First up, is the excellent new indie rock from Baltimore’s Proper Nouns, followed by disjointed and angular uniqueness in Brooklyn’s Birthday Ass and lastly some killer rock and punk from Melbourne’s Jackson Reid Briggs & The Heaters. That name alone should have you buying up their music! As always, if you like an artist please support them and purchase a physical copy – those streams just don’t pay out!

Proper Nouns
Baltimore, Maryland

Proper Nouns is lead by Spencer Compton and their debut LP, Feel Free, is out April 23rd via Phone Booth Records. The record seems like a therapeutic output for Compton as it journeys through his past medical debacle and the limits of freedom. The album has an indie pop snap to it as it was engineered and mixed by J. Robbins (Against Me!, Two-Inch Astronaut) and mastered by Jonathan Schenke (Parquet Courts, Snail Mail). The record is personal and political so it rages in all the right spots as each upbeat track has a solid foot tapping rhythm to it. It is really easy to compare Proper Nouns and Compton’s style to that of Ted Leo as his voice and his ability to blow out a track are very similar. This is one of those album discoveries that you will thank us later for!

Artists With Similar Fire: Ted Leo / Spoon / The dBs

Proper Nouns Bandcamp

Birthday Ass
Brooklyn, New York

The disjointed and angular ideas behind Birthday Ass were created by Priya Carlberg (vocalist, composer) and she formed the band with her friends from the New England Conservatory. Their backgrounds in jazz and improvisation shines on their sophomore album Head Of Household. The record is creatively all over the place as its song structures quickly shift and move and the brass instruments sneak in and out. It sounds a little chaotic but Carlberg keeps it all together with her vocal inflections that are energetic and spirited. If you are looking for something different – Birthday Ass is your find today! The new album will be out April 23rd via Ramp Local.

Artists With Similar Fire: X-Ray Spex / 8-Eyed Spy / Mannequin Pussy

Birthday Ass Bandcamp

Jackson Reid Briggs & The Heaters
Melbourne, Australia

From the opening riffs on the intro track to Jackson Reid Briggs & The Heaters new album, Waiting In A Corner, you can just feel the energy surging as the Melbourne band is about ready to take off. The album is out today on Legless Records and represents the groups fifth LP that is full of raucous zest. The bigger thing you might notice on this album is the heightened production as all of its pieces are a bit clearer to the ear like the big rock chorus on “Been Waiting.” Or on the big crowd call out in “Eaten Alive,” you can hear the grit and gruff and can only imagine how this song will pop in a live performance. Honestly, Jackson Reid Briggs has a lot of classic rock running through their punk and back in the day would have been a huge success opening up for AC/DC while today sharing a stage with the excellent Stiff Richards, IDLES or Jeff Rosenstock would be a great lineup. Check them out now!

Artists With Similar Fire: J Roddy Walston And The Business / CIVIC / Stiff Richards

Jackson Reid Briggs & The Heaters Bandcamp