The recent slide into insignificance suffered by MySpace caused a joyful yelp from the Internet masses, happy to see retina-frying page design and “Tom” become things of the past. Though the death of a million sparkle-encrusted banners does improve the overall quality of the Internet ever so slightly, MySpace’s sink into irrelevance does signal a strange transition point for the online music community. MySpace once was the place to go for music on the Web, giving major-label darlings and the garage rockers from down the street a chance to reach new people. Now, though, I’m not sure what website will step into the void left behind by MySpace (and, yeah, MySpace didn’t vanish but I’ve already noticed plenty of artists moving away from the platform). Facebook just isn’t as good as MySpace was at sharing music, while places like Bandcamp and Soundcloud work well but actually finding new artists can be a pain. The Hype Machine remains a total pain in the ass.
Electronic artists Luka Uemura recently released his EP/2 on Bandcamp, and though finding it isn’t easy, pushing through the digital unknown ends up being worth it. This short offering – three proper tracks with a “skit” tacked on – features excursions into ambient territory and more beat-friendly places. Opener “Amb #1” immediately recalls Emeralds “Candy Shoppe,” leading with a keyboard line that’s more Legend Of Zelda than Willy Wonka but still playing out over a drone of that eventually envelops everything. Uemura’s other two proper tracks on EP/2 sound a little livelier, the twinkling toy-box groove of “Underlight (EP Edit)” being the highlight. The whole thing is free right here, but Uemura makes entrancing stuff that would probably be worth the money. Who knows how many other similarly great artists exist in the corners of the Bandcamp universe.