Prestige Format Picks // 2 May 2025

it's bandcamp Friday

Author

Ryan Ruppe
May 02, 2025 • Read this in about: 5 minutes

This is like my third high-anxiety week in a row

And it’s Bandcamp Friday, so this week we’re doing some retail therapy. None of these pictures are mine, so I added lots of links to compensate

Here’s what I’m buying for Bandcamp Friday today:

I stole this shot from their bandcamp page

I unexpectedly got super into Bill Orcutt’s guitar playing when someone in a group chat linked his album How to Rescue Things and it hit me like a truck. I found it after the end of 2024 but it probably is one of my undocumented favorites of 2024. This awesome interview with the Guitar Quartet got me listening to this album a few times and I love its semi-chaotic shredding and how adjacent it is to those minimal superstars Glass & Reich. Technically I bought this one before I realized it was Bandcamp Friday but it’s close enough to count.

another stolen bandcamp shot, but it’s very much my aesthetic

I’m ride or die for Lullatone. I discovered their stuff in college on a free netlabel and have been a fan since. My kids fall asleep to Little Songs About Raindrops every night and I’ve used their sample sets in my own music. Yes, their stuff has been used in a lot of commercials and internet videos to the point that it’s easily made fun of, but their music is so thoughtfully crafted and beautiful.

this is a more standard product shot, also stolen

I’ve been a TV on the Radio fan since the early days, and I’ve been a fan of Tunde Adebimpe for just as long. He’s a true renaissance man: an actor (loved him as the single dad in the Star Wars Skeleton Crew show!), a cartoonist/comic artist/writer, he even does some voice acting and soundtrack work for animated shows like PBS’s City Island, and AppleTV+’s Strange Planet. He’s released some solo singles before, and I’m stoked for a whole album from him.

it’s a CD

Honestly this might be album of the year for me. They’ve not lost their sludgy shoegaze roots, but this Cloakroom album feels more song-y to me in the best way. They’re slowly drifting towards a more Starflyer 59 sound, which is the highest possible praise I can bestow.

Let’s wrap this up with some fun links

You can see all of the music I’ve purchased on Bandcamp here, though be aware that I subscribe to some labels and have purchased entire catalog deals from some artists and labels, which makes my collection a lot to sift through.

I listen to all of my music using Plex running on a computer at home and the Plexamp app on my phone and other computers. (I bought a lifetime plex pass a while ago.) It mostly works, and I can download stuff to my phone when I want to listen offline.

One of my favorite synthesizer companies released a new thing this week, the Bastl Instruments Kastle II Wave Bard. It’s like a wild patchable sampler and it’s rad as hell. They also released the firmware, which can be put on the other Kastle II, which is how I’ve been able to play with it! Videos to come on my Instagram & TikTok & Youtube

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