Seven Snack-Loving Songs You Should Buy on Bandcamp Friday

These artists sing about everything from corn dogs and croissants to dying with a mouthful of Wine Gums. What a way to go.

Feb 4, 2022

I made this collage art myself, please clap.

Today, February 4th, Bandcamp is waiving its cut of sales revenue so artists and record labels receive 100% of all purchases. It’s something the company started back in March 2020 as a way to help artists during the pandemic. In the 17 Bandcamp Fridays so far nearly 800,000 fans have bought more than $70 million dollars worth of music and merch. Amazing!

So while you peruse the site for new artists to support, have a listen to these 10 snacky songs. I love them and I think you’ll love them, too. And don’t forget to bookmark isitbandcampfriday.com so you can stay up-to-date on upcoming events.

“Sandwich Sharer” by Illuminati Hotties

This week L.A.’s self-proclaimed “tenderpunk pioneer” Illuminati Hotties (aka Sarah Tudzin) released her new single “Sandwich Sharer,” a bittersweet, crunchy pop tune about a relationship gone sour. Or, at least, that’s what I think it’s about. There’s still love somewhere among all the wreckage, though — one doesn’t let just anyone have the bigger half of the sandwich, you know?

You can preview the tune on YouTube here, and buy it for $1 on Bandcamp here.

Delicious lyrics: “Sandwich sharer / unprepared for / what comes after this / take the big half / I will bite back / what you won’t finish / until we’re finished.”

“Monica” (feat. Snacks) by The Linda Lindas

The Linda Lindas became instant punk rock icons after the Los Angeles Public Library posted a video of the teenagers performing the song “Racist, Sexist Boy” during a special all-ages event.

Since then the band — Bela Salazar, Eloise Wong, Lucia de la Garza, and Mila de la Garza — signed to Epitaph and they will release their debut full-length Growing Up on April 8. You can pre-order that on Bandcamp here.

Like all good punk bands, The Linda Lindas know not every song needs to be a political statement, it’s OK to have fun, too, so in “Monica” Salazar writes about her cat Siamese cat and all the trouble she gets into, from chasing rats to stealing socks to eating chicken wings.

Delicious lyric: “Monica / Chewing bubble gum / Drinking soda pop / She stole my favorite sock.”

“Beer and Skittles” by Japanese Heart Software

Initially, it was the beautiful heart-shaped cake on the cover of Japanese Heart Software’s album SOFT that caught my eye. That piping work, that fluffy pink frosting, those maraschino cherries… god, I love a good cake-themed album cover.

It’s the song “Beer and Skittles” that has lured me in for good, though. The dreamy, ethereal synthpop tune makes it feel like I’m floating in clouds of cotton candy that are slowly melting in melancholy rain. Sublime.

I can’t completely make out what singer Nat Chippy is saying 100% of the time so I’m not confident the song is actually about chewy fruity candy (especially because “skittles” could refer to a type of bowling popular in Australia), but the song’s too pretty for me to care.

“Pull the Pork” by At the Plates

At the Plates is a band I never knew I needed until I found them. They call themselves “culinary death metal for the hungry metalhead” and while their songs legitimately shred, their lyrics are hilarious parodies that tell dark tales of moldy croissants, a kingdom of cold cuts, and fed-up line cooks infecting crepes with “piss and other heinous germs.” Ha! I fucking love you, At the Plates.

Do not miss the song “Starch Enemy,” featuring excerpts of Gordon Ramsay losing his fucking mind.

Delicious lyric: “The dry rub is applied / The seasoning eternal / The pork, submerged into the crock-pot / A barbecue so infernal.”

“Corn Dog Sonnet No 7” by Sincere Engineer

Chicago’s Sincere Engineer is one of my very favorites in this current emo/pop-punk revival. Think 24 Hour Revenge Therapy-era Jawbreaker mixed with Four Minute Mile-era Get Up Kids fronted by a woman — Deanna Belos — who sings about relatable struggles of day-to-day life from the pit of her gut.

Yes, eating a corn dog and falling asleep on the couch is a relatable struggle.

Delicious lyric: “I had a corn dog, I fell asleep / I feel weird now, I had a bad dream.”

“Mouthful” by Pickle Darling

Pickle Darling is a twee-pop project from Christchurch, New Zealand who was first introduced to me via the very great Gold Flake Paint music journal. The song “Mouthful” reminds me of Ben Lee’s poppy solo material, but with a more playful, DIY approach.

Bonus snack points: The song appears on the 2017 album Spring Onion Pancakes. Yum!

Delicious lyric: “With a mouthful of Wine Gums I killed myself / and my lower half descended straight into Hell / and my top half rose up into the clouds, I'm still there.”

“Turkey Bacon” by RashadThaPoet

RashadThaPoet is one of Nashville’s most prolific rappers — he’s released nearly 20 albums and a chunk of them are available on Bandcamp. One standout is 2019’s Jefferson Street Blues, a six-song EP intended to shine a light on Jefferson Street in North Nashville.

Jefferson Street was once a thriving thoroughfare in a predominantly black neighborhood, bustling with shops, bars, clubs, and restaurants. It’s where a young Jimi Hendrix played in house bands in the early '60s and artists including Otis Redding, Etta James, Ray Charles, and more performed at now-defunct clubs like the Del Morocco and Club Baron.

Nashville Scene contributor Brittney McKenna wrote more about its rich history here.

For this particular installment of Snack and Destroy, though, I’m going with a track from RashadThaPoet’s 2014 EP Less Is More because who doesn’t love waking up to the smell of sizzling bacon? (I have been a vegetarian for nearly 30 years. I still love the smell of bacon.)

Delicious lyric: “Y’all wake and bake / I’m talkin’ early morn / I stretch to the ceiling / Turkey bacon in my skillet.”