Buy Some Music: BAYANG (tha Bushranger)'s picks for a post-streaming world

We’re delighted to announce the return of Buy Some Music as a regular column, here at the home of Sydney’s most comprehensive gig guide.

This week we’re hearing from Harry Baughan — aka BAYANG (tha Bushranger) — one of West Sydney’s most uncompromising and passionate voices. Harry announced last Monday that he was removing his music from all streaming services with a direct and matter-of-fact announcement, also encouraging readers to “READ MOOD MACHINE BY LIZ PELLY xx”

• Listen to the playlist on Bandcamp

On a phone call this week, Harry unpacked his feelings — and suggests he’s part of a broader sentiment:

“I feel like a lot of people were already having second thoughts about using Spotify, myself included. So when the news about Daniel Ek came around, I just went, ‘all right, I want no part in this.’

"But then … people would be like, ‘Oh, is it still going to be on Apple Music? Still going to be on YouTube?' etc. And I sat there and I thought about it, and — like I said in the post Daniel Ek is just a product of this tech class… there's a lot of stuff in that realm that I don't want to be complicit with, including the playlisting ecosystem, how much it's been pushed and sold to DIY and independent musicians as a platform where you can compete on equal terms with, like, Beyoncé.”

He’s pretty happy with where he’s left his streaming career:

“I think I can pretty honestly say that I gave it an honest crack, you know what I mean? By the time we pulled everything, I think I had amassed 100,000 streams on Spotify, maybe a little bit more. I can't say I didn't try and see the merits of that platform.”

But now we get to hear from Harry himself, with an amazing selection of cuts from across Sydney, Australia, and beyond.

We’re experimenting with making Buy Some Music selections available as a Bandcamp playlist, a new feature for the platform that's still in beta. You can stream the whole thing here — you’ll need to be signed in to Bandcamp to listen. Let us know if you find it useful! (And more good news: creating a Bandcamp playlist requires us to purchase every track featured, so it's one more way your support makes its way back into the pockets of independent artists.)

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Teether – YOU GET WHAT YOU TAKE

Digital album • 2018 • Released by X Amount / CONTENT.NET.AU (Melbourne, AU)

This is what started it all off for me. Without this I wouldn't be rapping. Teether's first release I heard, and one that ended up being on constant repeat for me for years. I had never heard anyone around here making music like this. It was so inspiring, and still is. Let the record show who's been putting in the work. 

• Bandcamp

K Rizz – Salbahe

Digital single • 2014 • Released by LEAK 92 (New York, USA)

Easily one of the favourites from the depths of Bandcamp. I don't know how the world even managed to move on from the concept of #PINAYREGGAETON. An undisputed banger – if I learn to DJ properly it'll be solely to drop this one at parties. 

• Bandcamp

Chikchika – Music Yared

Digital album & vinyl LP • 2020 • Released by Music In Exile (Melbourne, AU)

From Music in Exile, beautiful music with roots in Eritrea and Ethiopia.

I actually bought this record randomly on a trip to Melbourne, and I've since fallen in love with everything this label is doing. I'm a sucker for folk and traditional music, so I love that there's a platform dedicated to putting out music from recent migrants and spotlighting the practices they're versed in. Really crucial work, and everything I've heard so far from them has been excellent. 

• Bandcamp

LYCANDOPE – THE CURSE

Digital album • 2023 • Self-released (Canberra, AU)

Let's put some love on Canberra for a second – you'd think the isolation of that city would be a hindrance, but it's platforms like this that have projected the distinct Canberran creative voice into the ether. Lycandope is one such strong and unique project. Dank music produced from DIY experiments with jungle, juke and footwork. Feral. 

• Bandcamp

Provocalz – Heroin & Air Max

Digital album • 2014 • Self-released (Sydney, AU)

I will forever ride for gutter rap, and releases like this are exactly why. Raw, straight to the dome. Gutter rap royalty like Usta and Gunsta gracing the features. Who else could drop something called HEROIN & AIR MAX nowadays? Provovalz will forever be one of the realest to ever do it. 

• Bandcamp

Various Artists – Music From Saharan Cellphones

Digital album • 2011 • Released by Sahel Sounds (Portland, USA)

This release probably marks when I really fell in love with digging for music online. It's a compilation that offers a peek into a rich scene of music traded on Bluetooth; a whole ecosystem of its own. This release will always remind me of being grateful to hear the voices of other ordinary people all over the world. 

• Bandcamp

JuliaWhy? – dust suspended on a sunbeam

Digital album & vinyl LP • 2025 • Self-released (Sydney, AU)

Beautiful dream pop and a recent favourite of mine. This feels like something you can easily show to friends overseas, and feel like you're almost sending a postcard. It's a snapshot of one of the many faces of this city – sweet and melancholic. 

• Bandcamp

SOVBLKPSSY – ROSE PETALS

Digital single • 2025 • Self-release (Sydney, AU)

Please please please more DJs / producers need to be chucking their tracks on Bandcamp. Lemme find that shit, buy it, download it, spin it my own DJ sets. I love a little single-digit purchase for a priceless addition to the library. There's always been really exciting shit happening on the club corners of Bandcamp, our own peers always being strong contributors. This one's hot. 

• Bandcamp

MY DISCO – Paradise

Digital album, vinyl LP & CD • 2008 • Self-released / Numerical Thief (Melbourne, AU)

A classic that you won't find on streaming. One of the best acts to come out of our thriving post-hardcore / experimental heavy music jungle. An early work produced by the late Steve Albini. I really love this album art too – high art pulled violently out of the ground. 

• Bandcamp

obese.dogma777 (fka similarobjects) – Mall Edits

Digital album, cassette & CD • 2023 • Self-released (Manila, PH)

This sums up my relationship with Bandcamp pretty well I think. At 18, I used to message a lot of artists I like on the platform – usually just to tell them I liked their music, sometimes to ask for further recommendations. I made an internet friend then who put me onto similarobjects, who I followed with great curiosity throughout the years. More than ten years later, the two of us finally got to meet in person after they organised a show for myself and Kuya Neil at Apotheka in Manila. It's been such a thrill to see the Filipino scene develop into this: a genuinely groundbreaking release using budots as a jumping-off point into strange and exciting new tropical futures. 

• Bandcamp