Stay Home: Independent Musicians Against Covid-19

By Jon Milton

Earlier this week I posted in social media about there being quite a few excellent charity compilations out there now, supporting NHS Charities and other causes such as #saveourscene. The subject of that post was ‘Owed Summer’, a fantastic compilation of 10 very promising bands from Manchester, which you can buy here.   

Today marks the release of two more quality compilations ‘Stay Home: Independent Musicians Against Covid-19’ and Group Therapy Vol. 1. Both bring together a substantially larger collection of artists, with the former the debut release on the Fishbowl Events label, and the latter one that I’ll cover separately in its own right at a later date. The ‘Stay Home’ album straddles a wide range of alternative music genres, including indie, punk, psychedelic, pop and more, bringing together unreleased material, live performances, demos and old releases. For a paltry £8 (digital) or £15 (CD + Digital), you get a massive 42 tracks and exposure to some excellent new artists, and most importantly you’ll be helping NHS Charities at the time when they most need you, as all profits from the project will be going their way.

Five established artists that immediately catch the eye are Helicon, Kundalini Genie, Black Market Karma, Psychic Lemon and Black Doldrums who all contribute excellent tunes, but there is also a veritable feast of other quality psychedelia to gorge yourself on in Ghost Dance Collective, Hey Bulldog, Vulpine Smile, Dorothy Vallens, Frankie Teardrop Dead, Snakes Don’t Belong in Alaska, Ghost Patterns and Eastwood’s Eye.

Other highlights include the art rock of Sherbert Files and the lively indie of Sophie Kilburn, Pet Hates, Daniel Armstrong and Dorcha. The album also has the good sense to end with some experimentation from Forest Mourning. 
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At a guess there must be over 3 hours of tuneage here, which is an absolute bargain. Here’s the bandcamp link, what are you waiting for?