COVID-19 has put the breaks on the music industry for the time being. Local venues have shut down till April at the earliest. Some like The Vic, The Riviera, and Park West not opening until May and tons of tours being postponed for months. But there are still plenty of way to enjoy some excellent musicians and support them in this scary time.

Bandcamp, a digital and merch sales platform for artists around the world, will be waiving their fees across the board until midnight tonight to help with the halt COVID-19 has caused. Additional, many labels will be waiving their fees also well, passing on more to the artists who just had the rug swept out from under them. We suggest you take a look at Bandcamp’s blog on the subject, which offers a handy list of said labels, artists offering exclusive merch, and much more!

Below are some suggestions from the music team of local artists we think you should check out and maybe buy an album or two through Bandcamp.

• Apollo Mighty
• Berta Bigtoe While relatively new to Chicago, this two piece does right by the tasteful palette of ’70s rock through gorgeous production and soulful falsettos.
• Burr Oak
• Byzmuti
• Cavanaugh ( Serengeti and Open Mike Eagle) just released some quarantine recordings !
• Cordoba
• Cory Jose
• The Curls
• Dance Bullies – country/indie/blues/rock group and regular performers in the Front Porch Concerts pop-up series

• DEHD– Dehd rules FFO Omni and NE-HI! Check out our review of one of their live performances here!

• Divino Niño – Need some smooth and delecitble tunes to soundtrack you evneings, then look no further than these amazing songs! Check out our review of their album Foam.
• Emily Blue
• .ethos
• Fay Ray
• Fieldmates

• Fran‘s guitar driven songs with extraordinary vocals are perfect for these self distancing times

• Girl K – You can’t get much better than Katherine Patino’s excellent project! Check out our review of their set with Charly Bliss from TNK!
• The Hecks – Great local band balancing angular post punk and catchy synth rock, with an awesome live show to boot
• Jessica Risker psychedelic folk musician and sound designer
• Joshua Wentz– electronic artist and multi-instrumentalist who has released over 20 EPs and 10 albums
• Joslyn-Marie
• Krystal Metcalfe
• Late Night Laundry
• Liam Kazar has learned and recorded 20 song requests this week for $25 donations to Hungry Brain and the project is now on bandcamp: “With A Song”
• Melvin Knight
• Mother Nature

• OHMME are such a fantastic band that are delivering some of the best experimental rock you’ll hear today! Their on the verge of releasing their second album and we can’t wait! Check out our review of their first album, Parts, here!
• The Phantom Broadcast

 

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exciting news! if you purchase ‘Printer’s Devil’ on @bandcamp this weekend you’ll get 2 unreleased demos that Dave and I made during a session in Petoskey, Michigan in December 2017! these are two songs inspired by two of our favorite TV shows (Ed, Edd, & Eddy + Portlandia). two songs we love but that didn’t quite fit on the album. we’re gonna take em down after this weekend, so get em while ya can! & please support artists today, whether it’s us or so many talented and deserving artists who have been set adrift in this crisis – let’s listen to music today and support each other. shit’s so heavy rn, but these two songs are very light-hearted & we hope you like em 💛 (vid is a take of Anj from the session lol we had so much fun!)

A post shared by Ratboys (@ratboysband) on Mar 20, 2020 at 8:24am PDT

• Ratboys, who are offering two special demos this weekend as well! Check out our review of their set at Schubas!
• Tara Terra
• Tough Break Kid
• Uma Bloo
• uuskhy
• V.V. Lightbody

There are plenty of other great bands on Bandcamp, so take a look around and discover something new!