At the turn of the year, we like to make a big list of our favourite ‘name your price’ / free music on Bandcamp, in part because it helps us mention albums we didn’t get a chance to write about, but also because such releases are prone to flying under the radar and the process of scouring Bandcamp for new music is always fun and fruitful.

However, as always, we want to point out that ‘free’ does not have to mean pay nothing in this context. Indeed, the title of the post says ‘free’ music because it’s snappier than ‘name your price’ music, but really that’s a convenient/attention-grabbing misnomer. Last year we spoke about how paying artists makes for the best soil in which to sow creative seeds, and things are no different now. Indeed, with the dawn of Spotify and the all-powerful algorithms, it is more important than ever to support independent artists and labels, and in reality there are already enough free ways to consume music that we don’t need to encourage another.

So please delve into the below list, curated entirely by humans, and spend whatever is left of your Christmas money when you stumble across something you like. We can vouch for the quality of everything here, so don’t be afraid to judge a record by its cover to begin with.

Alex Napping – Mise En Place Ama Divers – Shadow Seeking Sun American Poetry Club – If We Try and Become Flowers Ana & Ina – On Dockweiler Beach Andrew Younker – Microchasm Bad Sleep – No Fun Benno, va – flood ep Be Softly – Your Glass Head Against the Brick Parade of Now Whats The Beths – Great No One Beverly Tender – What Have You Done To My Water Boosegumps – on the way to meet you Brunch Club – s/t Camila Ortiz – Fall Apart The Chats – Get This in Ya Coma Cinema – Loss Memory Cop graveyard – are you happy you’re here? Crake – By the Slime Mould Di Caprio – Sleep In Docks – Montseny EP doggo – Rare Crush Dumb Things – s/t Dump Him – Venus in Gemini Erik Kramer – A House, Floating In The Middle Of A Lake Ex-diel – DEM-MASTER father truck- stealing flowers from the neighbor’s lawn Fat Stupids – Reaction Felony College of the Streets – Harvested Handouts The Firs – In the Front Room With a Light On fog lake – dragonchaser / inference 3 Furnsss – s/t ggpeach – Melt girl valley – eternal picnic gorgeous bully – great blue gum country – s/t the happy birthdays – homebody harmony woods – Nothing Special Heavy Knits – Keeping in Touch Henoheno – Remember EP Heritage Unit – enjoy moving on High Bloom – implied sun Honey Power – Tuck Yourself In Human Kitten – Velvet Waltz Infinity Girl – Somewhere Nice, Someday Jared Nueve – Black Metal Dad John Rossiter – Neverending Catalog of Total Garbage Heartbreak Aggregate KCIDY – Lost in Space Kenny 3 – haha bingo kissed her little sister – ram Laptop Funeral – Pretty Punk Leyland Kirby – We, so tired of all the darkness in our lives Life is a Minestrone & Hidden Bay Records – Lost Songs & Other Favourites Lilac – Sun Loam – Sonder/Monolith Look Mom, I’m on TV / Coastal Car – Split Macseal – Yeah, No, I Know Making New Enemies – Group Picture Vol. 6 Maneater – s/t Matt Sturgis – Mommy Issues / Daddy’s House Melaina Kol – Face Eating Phantom Men Mike Pace and the Child Actors – Get Soft Nervous Dater – Don’t Be a Stranger Neurotic Friends – s/t Nice Legs – Strange Famly oso oso – the yunahon mixtape The Paranoyds – Eat Their Own Parker Lee – No Good Mornings Pavey Ark – Leaf By Leaf Philippa Zang – embarrass yourself Posse – Horse Blanket Posture & The Grizzly – There’s Something About Kairi printing shed – altar boy Puzzlecuts – No Max Amount remambran – peace child music Ricky Eat Acid – A whole lot of music from past few years, all of which i hope you enjoy RNP – Raft of Doubt Rose Dorn – Speak Later See You At Home – Be Happy Sidney Gish – No Dogs Allowed slow ref – s/t Soda Lite – In Eco Soul Slime Embalming Fluid Inc. – Water Spartan Jet-Plex – Uncomfortable Quarters Special Explosion – To Infinity Stal Kingsley – Useless Boy Stephan Kreussel – Early Sunshine Faces – Nightblue Suss Cunts – Newby Talons – After Talons Teen Brains – s/t Tennis Club – s/t thanks for coming – google search: what to do with your life when the world is ending tombo crush – pass thru Twelve Gardens – Tape Three Tyler Burkhart – Lost Days The Vernes – s/t Viewfinder – Born Ticking VNLVX – Is Unlux Wall of Stars – Center of Heaven Weird Star – Party Now Weller – s/t Yankee Bluff – Slovenian Daisy Yourself in Peace – Shouting Back At The Voice That Looms

Here’s a handy mix featuring one song from each of the free / ‘name your price’ albums featured: