For this year's welcome event they invited any alumni to present something about their experience in some creative way to the current participants. I had been mulling it over here and there but had so much going on last month that I didn't have much time to spend on it... However, during a power outage one day I got a jolt of inspiration and managed to scrape together a little song, kind of anthem-like, which you can hear below:
I was recently listening back to this recording while simultaneously watching home videos of northern flickers dancing atop the roof, and it fit so well that I had to name it after them.
If you missed the previous editions of Hummingtunes, you can find them here: I, II, III.
Bandcamp Friday is upon us once again! For today's edition, we've decided to keep things short and sweet by sharing a list of songs related to one of our favourite subjects—which may shock you—birds! Feathered friends have always served as a natural source of inspiration for composers and songwriters, so there was, unsurprisingly, no shortage of avian-influenced tracks for us to choose from on Bandcamp. We hope you'll enjoy these selections—instrumental and otherwise—from fellow bird-noticing artists we admire. We also invite you to join us in picking up some wholesome tunes this time 'round & supporting some talented music-makers in the process!
Tracks 1-7: Kate⎛⦾⩥ 🎵 ⪪⊝⎞ Tracks 7-14: Seán
p.s. You can find more tunes that we've been humming in our Are.na jukebox.
If you missed the other editions of Hummingtunes, you can find them here.
Next month, Bandcamp Friday returns once more to support the livelihoods of musicians around the world who bring much-needed light and relief to challenging circumstances. For this edition of Hummingtunes, we thought we'd take this opportunity to highlight and reflect upon some of the calming albums which have brought a great deal of relief to our heavy brains and anxious bodies during difficult times. We hope they do the same for yours as well:
This is the first in a series of Bandcamp Friday posts – you can view the rest here.
In light of Bandcamp's wonderful, now-monthly tradition of waiving revenue fees—which resulted in $4.3 million worth of sales directly supporting musicians the first time they did it, and $7.1 million the second time—we thought it would be nice to share some purchasable songs that have been vibrating through our heads lately.
One of my favourite discoveries while virtually wandering Japan last fall with Kate was Minna Kikeru ( みんなきける / “Everyone Can Listen”) — a digital music shop/space created by a group of musicians (loosely emanating around Tenniscoats / majikick) who wanted to showcase & support independent music which is otherwise difficult/impossible to track down outside of 日本, and in the process circulate positive energy and a greater sense of connection throughout their community during the pandemic.
We now have a tradition of listening to Minna Kikeru releases on Mondays here (in a series of alliterative music days, followed by Tape Tuesdays & Wax [LP] Wednesdays), and once a month I buy a few more releases to add to my growing collection — Bandcamp-Friday style.
Read more in the Scuttleverse:
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If you missed our first installment of Hummingtunes, you can find it here.
Tomorrow (Friday, June 5th) is “Bandcamp Friday” — a day when artists receive 100% of the revenue from album purchases! It’s the perfect excuse to pick up a handful of albums on your wishlist, or to discover new artists & sounds to add to your life-soundtrack.
This time around, rather than pick out individual tracks from favorite releases for our Buy Music Club playlist, we've each added four albums in their entirety for your longform listening pleasure:
Stumbled upon some serendipitously simultaneous sounds:
Sonic synchronicity
To explain further:
One morning in March I left the microphone by the window to record some birdsong while I did things elsewhere in the house. One month later, while writing this little piano tune I came up with a few twinkly five-and-seven-note repeated phrases to include at the end of each main section.
🎵 MeadowMakers' Anthem 🌱
Hummingtunes III: Calming Music Edition 
If you missed the other editions of Hummingtunes, you can find them 
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If you missed our first installment of Hummingtunes, you can find it