As you most likely know by now, there’s a new holiday celebrated by musicians and music listeners all over the world. It’s called Bandcamp Friday, where the online music platform drops their commission and gives all the profit to their artists. I put together some recommendations, new and old, including some stuff you may have missed. Click on the cover art to take you to each album page.

Dave Kerzer has a pre-order up right now for his third solo project. If you’re aware of Mr. Kerzer and his close-knit community of prog-artists, you’ll know this is a highly anticipated release. For the first time Kerzner has combined collaboration with his bandmates from four different bands/projects: In Continuum, Sound of Contact, Mantra Vega and Arc of Life! Featuring an all All Star cast of Prog musicians including Fernando Perdomo, Durga McBroom, Nick D’Virgilio, Marco Minnemann, Randy McStine, Matt Dorsey, Billy Sherwood, Jon Davison, Alex Cromarty, Stuart Fletcher, Ruti Celli, Joe Deninzon and more! He has 5 different editions of this CD including a 4-disc set which includes outtakes and new recordings of Sound of Contact songs with a special autographed art-print. When you pre-order the special editions you can also get your name in the liner notes as a thank you.

Schooltree’s Heterotopia CD is now out of print, but the digital album is well worth the purchase. One of the best albums from 2017 and possibly the Lamb Lies Down on Broadway of the new generation. If you missed this one, I don’t feel sorry for you anymore, because now you know this exists! Their official debut album Rise is also a fantastic album to add to your digital collection.

A lot of wonderful music was released in 2021, so you may have missed this one! Really cool grounded prog-rock that actually rocks. Great riffs and nice gritty hard rock guitars are here, while the band is fronted beautifully by Melissa Jane Dichiera (singer of L.A.’s Lady Zep). Check it out!

This collaboration between The Amorphous Androgynous and Peter Hammill is worth getting into, and I’m still getting into it. If I ever get around to writing my favorite albums from 2021, this will be included. Man, this takes you all over the place, and I love it. The cool cover definitely represents the music well, although you can’t really describe it- I would just experience it for yourself.

One from 2020 that I still can’t get enough of is Magenta’s Masters of Illusion. It has many breathtaking moments and the performances are top notch. And of course Christina Booth’s voice is like butter. It may be one of my favorite albums from Magenta, although I haven’t been through there entire immense discography.

Anything from Phideaux is worth listening to (and purchasing!) including his most recent Infernal. Some people swear by Doomsday Afternoon or The Great Leap, but my favorite of his is the dark and mysterious Snowtorch. Great journey of an album, has a classic feel with a modern edge. It looks like there are no CDs here (I have mine), but both the LP edition and digital are available. I’m not sure, but I think most of his discography is also here.

The Endless Collection, from Izz was just released last month. Well, 3 songs from it, anyway. While the songs are at a very un-proggy average of 3 minutes in length, supposedly they will be adding songs to it throughout eternity. So in that regard, it’s going to be longer than any album in existence! Any of the Izz albums are fantastic as well, and while they’re not all on Bandcamp, any of the ones that are, are worth checking out.

While we’re on the subject, one of the ladies of Izz, Laura Meade, released her solo album The Most Dangerous Woman last year, and is joined by most of the other Izz members as well. While it’s short by today’s standards, the album is wonderfully crafted and the performances are great. It’s available on CD, vinyl, and digital.

So, my friends- RUN, don’t walk, to Bandcamp right now and check some of this stuff out! I know the artists will appreciate it! Enjoy and have a wonderful Bandcamp Friday!