Enjoy The Bad Penny‘s latest roundup of the best music videos that caught our eye last month. And be prepared to be both shocked and awed, as the songs and accompanying imagery run the gamut, to put it mildly.
1. Converge’s “Hum of Hurt”
2. Tiny Music’s “A Snack and Your Money Back”
Split Enz. Crowded House. The Feelers. The Chills. Over the past 50 years, New Zealand has cultivated many bands that achieved an impressive amount of international success – especially for a country with only 5.3 million residents. Now, there’s a new contender from the island country, Dreamweb, that is seeking to join the ranks of those aforementioned titans.
Based in Wellington, Ian Moir and his partner, Tyley Burkin, formed Dreamweb in 2025 as band of the experimental noise/drone variety. But as the couple delved deeper and explored the possibilities of Dreamweb, they gradually incorporated hearty amounts of atmospheric doom and black metal.
Dreamweb kindly reached out to The Bad Penny around the time they released their debut single, “Call of the Void,” in mid-March. For metalheads, the song title might call to mind Denver’s now-defunct metalcore band Call of the Void or perhaps even death/doom-metal band Call ov the Void from Mexico. That is, until one listens to the New Zealand duo. Their sound is far more experimental, adventurous and diverse than those other two acts.
(Moir and Burki generously posted their single as a pay-what-you-want offering on their Bandcamp page.)
While we had a very pleasant chat with Moir, Dreamweb gifted us with something very, very cool: An exclusive conversation between the two bandmates that touches on pretty much everything you need to know about their band. Instead of presenting you with The Bad Penny‘s interview with Moir, we decided to defer to this rich exchange between him and Burkin.
Continue readingEarlier this week, The Bad Penny caught up with Joe Love, vocalist/guitarist of brand-new, badass Boston band Merry Brigade, who freshen up grunge-era alt-rock with a modern sound. The quartet — which also features Dave Holmes (guitar/backing vocals), Kevin Delprete (bass) and Ben Chase (drummer) — self-released their debut EP, DDD, in mid-March. After taking that first step, Merry Brigade are moving full-steam ahead, with their first full-length slated to come out later this year and a second LP — which the band is already toiling away at — poised to materialize in 2027.
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One would be hard-pressed to name a rock star whose legacy can compete with that of David Bowie. The Thin White Duke’s timeless music is arguably more popular and resonant now than even in his ‘70s heyday. Even further, the singular social imprint he left — bending gender norms decades before doing so became culturally acceptable — continues to earn Bowie reverence among younger generations. In a manner that few artists other than Bowie are capable of, he capped off his indisputably enduring career with Blackstar, an album that scored the rare trifecta of critical, commercial, and artistic excellence.
David Bowie Shoots for the Stars — One Last Time
Whereas Bowie peer Lou Reed sadly passed away with a whimper of an album — Lulu, his ambitious yet ultimately lackluster collaboration with Metallica — Ziggy Stardust stuck the landing with his own highly experimental effort, 2016’s Blackstar. Ten years later, it remains confounding how Bowie cooked up a record that incorporated material from his off-Broadway musical Lazarus, genres ranging from jazz to art rock, and salutes to Kendrick Lamar and other unlikely musicians he respected.
From start to finish, Blackstar reflects an artist who had achieved a Buddha-level of enlightenment, as evidenced by his confidence and audaciousness to open it with the 10-minute title track. He wasn’t marinating in egoism or self-indulgence, though: One of the most humble yet ostentatious rock stars of all time entrusted his eight-member backing band to flex their experimental chops too. The rife-with-time-changes “Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)” and the piano-laced, mellifluous “Dollar Days” are the chief examples.
White Denim’s James Petralli talks celebrating 20 years of the band, maintaining a positive outlook, and more ahead of the release of his 13th album, 13. Read my full feature on FLOOD.
Photo credit: Charlie Weinmann
Sorry we’ve neglected you by letting too much time elapse between our last rundown of free music on Bandcamp and this new installment. We’ll make it up to you, we promise. Wait, why are we apologizing? And why are we making promises? Do you really exist? And, for that matter, do we? Probably not. But let’s pretend we do and have some fun. Here’s a whole bunch of handpicked music that you can smash and grab without breaking any laws.
(Note: If you’re financially capable of supporting any of these artists and/or labels, please consider doing so.)
1. Witch Ripper – _
No, you’re not inebriated – hell, maybe you are, but either way, you’re seeing the name of Witch Ripper’s first release as the band intended: a simple underscore. Released in November 2012, it’s fitting to revisit the EP now because the Seattle heavy-rock band’s newest album, Through the Hourglass, comes out tomorrow via Magnetic Eye Records.
2. arm’s length – “loathe” (early demo)
Are we absolutely certain that arm’s length is the best emo band that Ontario has ever produced? No, but we’ll leave it up to you to prove us wrong. (And that involves listening to this demo.) Whatever the case, the lovable lads are about to play a month’s worth of gigs across North America with support from The Callous Daoboys. Just when you thought every clever tour name had been used, these guys came up with a good one: “There’s a Whole World ….” The website for arm’s length lists all the dates.
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It’s futile to source the origins of each song contained on Rare and Deadly, a collection of songs by A Place to Bury Strangers. Some are demos, some are B-sides, and others are incomplete tunes and sketches of songs that were never realized. What’s more important is that Rare and Deadly—unlike haphazardly assembled comps that are often released to fulfill an artist’s contractual obligation—captures the spirit of A Place to Bury Strangers in a way that is ingenious as the band itself. Read my full review on Treble.
Witch Ripper’s kindred spirits – Mastodon, High on Fire and Baroness, to name a few – have done quite well for themselves thanks in part to keeping their creative juices flowing at practically all times. But by taking a slow-cooker approach instead, Seattle’s Witch Ripper have deftly avoided pitfalls like getting overexposed or even overplayed, and they’ve instead siphoned that time into developing a coherent and well-considered sound. Look no further than their new album, Through the Hourglass, which comes out Friday via Magnetic Eye Records. Read my full review via Veil of Sound.
Vibrant, dexterous, and unrelentingly compelling, Seattle hardcore-punks Filth Is Eternal demonstrate on their newest album, Impossible World, that they’ve matured into a band adept at writing songs just two minutes in length. Read my full review courtesy of FLOOD.
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