New Jersey Artist Heads Up “Songs From Quarantine” COVID-19 Fundraising Bandcamp Compilation

Apr 28

Apr 28 New Jersey Artist Heads Up “Songs From Quarantine” COVID-19 Fundraising Bandcamp Compilation

Nothing makes diehard music nerds happier than listening to new music. In fact, within this culture, it’s generally regarded as a coup, if you are the first one to share or post about a new band you heard before anyone else.

Sara Barry, a solo artist who makes indie rock music under the name “Teen Idle,” from Asbury Park, N.J., recently decided to put together a compilation CD that would not only expose more people to the songs of emerging bands, but also raise funds for World Health Organization’s COVID-19
Solidarity Response Fund (https://covid19responsefund.org/)

When we were in the early stages of this pandemic and places and events started to shut down, I was feeling frustrated that everything felt so beyond our control,” says Barry. “I noticed more and more musicians doing live stream concerts on Instagram. I wanted to bring people together in a music-related way and also raise awareness and money for coronavirus-related charities, but I felt like there was already an overabundance of live concerts on social media. Instead, I had the idea to make a quarantine album with other indie artists who I knew would join me in raising money to support COVID-19 relief.
I reached out to musicians in my local scene in Asbury Park, N.J., but wanted the scale of the project to be bigger, so I went on Bandcamp in search of smaller artists with really solid songwriting. I spent what I think was the entire day on Bandcamp listening to different artists and searching very specific keywords. I ended up sending almost a hundred emails asking artists if they’d like to write a song in a time crunch for this comp.
I didn’t want one genre to be represented too heavily so I looked for artists from all genres, even experimental, or songs sung in a different language,” says Barry. “It just seemed exciting to have variety on there, and it was a risk I was willing to take, because I know not everyone will like every song on the compilation even if they all sounded similar.

The result is a 12-song album from artists around the globe entitled “Songs From Quarantine.” Genres include alternative/indie, dream pop, experimental/ambient, Psychedelic, acoustic ballad and full-fledged rock.

The lineup includes:

200 Shams, pop/electronic funk, Cairo, Egypt @200shams https://linktr.ee/200shams
Deal Casino, alternative/indie, Asbury Park, N.J. @thedealcasino https://dealcasino.bandcamp.com/
Hualun, experimental rock/ambient, Wuhan, China @hualun.org https://hualun.bandcamp.com/
Japanese Heart Software, dream pop, Melbourne, Australia @JapaneseHeartSoftware https://japaneseheartsoftware.bandcamp.com/
Kraus, pop/experimental/instrumental, Auckland, New Zealand https://kraussss.bandcamp.com/
Max Connery of Sonic Blume, dream pop, Asbury Park, N.J. @sonicblumeband www.sonicblume.com
Teen Idle, dream pop, Asbury Park, N.J. @teenidlemusic https://teenidle.bandcamp.com/
The Churchhill Garden, shoegaze/dream pop, Lucerne, Switzerland @thechurchhillgarden https://thechurchhillgarden.bandcamp.com/
H E A V Y C O A S T, indie pop, United Kingdom @heavycoast www.soundcloud.com/heavycoast
Shallow Waves, alternative/psychedelic/noise, Toronto, Canada @ShallowWaves https://shallowwaves.bandcamp.com/
Sir Frances Fake, dream pop, Wall Township, N.J.

Most of these songs are new and original, except for Deal Casino’s “Just a Cow,” which is an alternate version of a song they released in March, and Max Connery’s “I Did Acid With Caroline,” which is a hybrid with the first half being original and the second half a cover of a Daniel Johnston song.

I wouldn’t have been able to pull this off without any of the incredible artists involved, so I just want to thank them for trusting me with their songs and this project, as well as some others,” says Barry. “Green Witch Recordings, a New York-based DIY vinyl and cassette label, helped with the logistics concerning the cassettes. Mark Stephenson of Clean Analog
Mastering , Lakewood, Fla., mastered the compilation, and Bandcamp waived most of its share of the profits.

The compilation was officially released Thursday, April 16 exclusively on Bandcamp in a digital version ($9) and cassettes ($13), in a limited run of 35. These are available for pre-order now, and include the digital version. All proceeds are to be donated to COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. To listen and/or order,
go to https://teenidle.bandcamp.com/ .