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On Tyranny: 10 Best Protest Songs/LPs, According to Major Spark’s Vocalist and Punk Vet Mark Goodman (Exclusive)

Posted in Exclusives, Lists, On Tyranny with tags , , , , , , , , , on 09/21/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

While working on The Bad Penny‘s On Tyranny series, an idea for a critical installment of the feature came to mind: a list of the best protest albums and songs, as presented to us by someone who knows their stuff. That person is Mark Goodman, who handles vocals, lyrics and composition for Major Spark. Goodman also had tenure in the band Magnet, which also featured Moe Tucker of The Velvet Underground. While Goodman was still a member of the band, Magnet guested for Madonna’s Erotica. (Just a reminder: Today is not April Fools’ Day.)

Meanwhile, multi-instrumentalist Brian Charles – whose friendship with Mark Goodman has lasted almost their entire lives – is the other central figure in Major Spark. The Bad Penny recently interviewed him as well. We’ll post a feature detailing much more about the band and its two central members in the near future. But in the meantime, Goodman gave us a very diverse and undisputed high-quality batch of the best protest songs ever made. We couldn’t hold off sharing the list until October 2, which marks the day Major Spark‘s next album, Kill the Truth, will be out.

1. Billy Bragg and Wilco’s “All You Fascists”
(with lyrics by Woody Guthrie)

Obvious choice.

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Darkthone Tribute: 12 Bands Tell Us Why the Badass Black-Metal Barons Rule on Their 40th Anniversary (Exclusive)

Posted in Exclusives, Features, Interviews, Lists, Videos with tags , , , , , , , , , on 09/21/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

With all the hoopla surrounding bands boasting anniversaries of their major milestones, whether it be sticking together after 30-plus years or playing a tour after decades of dormany, it’s crucial that extreme metalheads don’t forget one especially important 2026 celebration, especially in the black-metal netherworld.

That would be the 40th anniversary of Norway’s Darkthrone, who influenced the development and dissemination of black metal around the world more than arguably any other band not named Emperor, Mayhem, Bathory or Burzum. This year also marks the 35th anniversary of the release of their debut, Soulside Journey – which also was, ironically, Darkthrone’s only death-metal album.

Recognizing those milestones, metal publication Antichrist Magazine – based appropriately in Hell, Norway – released the simply named but dense in high-quality material A Tribute to Darkthrone. It was one of a series of like-minded compilations the outlet has issued and dropped in late July. With enormous help from the rep behind that various-artists collection, we received a slew of testimonials from 12 of the 17 bands who contributed exclusive songs to the comp about why they worship at the altar of Darkthrone.

[Ed. note: Don’t miss our recent story about the similar tribute album that Antichrist Magazine recently issued [best pun ever, right] in honor of Metallica.]

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Exclusive Premiere: Paper Girl Debuts ‘Ohio (Fall 2016)’ Music Video Ahead of Upcoming Emo-Nostalgia LP

Posted in Exclusives, Interviews, Videos with tags , , on 09/21/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

Paper Girl, the Nashville-based emo/folk-punk project led by Sarah Gargano, has just put out the final single ahead of the release of a new album next month. It’s called “Ohio (Fall 2016),” and the video for it exclusively premieres today on The Bad Penny.

Paper Girl was also the title of Gargano’s first single, which itself referenced the John Green book Paper Towns. The new video for “Ohio (Fall 2016)” features the whimsical song playing as the artist bikes to a field, where she sits down and plays the song with a beaming smile on a sunny day. In addition to recalling the days of yore when her music was primarily of the emo variety, one can’t help but be reminded of the ongoing 2016 nostalgia meme, fueled in part by a Gen Z’s longing for pre-COVID days.

” ‘Ohio (Fall 2016)’ is a song I wrote from my high school boyfriend’s perspective about watching me go to college in Ohio and have fun without him after breaking up,” Gargano told The Bad Penny. “It’s probably the folkiest/cutesiest song on the album and the most similar to the songs I was releasing under my actual name.

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The 10 Best German Heavy Bands, According to Native Black-Metal Sons Der Weg einer Freiheit (Exclusive)

Posted in Exclusives, Features, Interviews, Lists with tags , , , , , , , , , on 09/17/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

As musically gifted as they are hyper-intelligent, as hyper-intelligent as they are kind, and as kind as they are wise, there was no better band to approach than atmospheric black-metal masters Der Weg einer Freiheit for The Bad Penny Passport‘s stop in Germany. That’s the name we’re calling our latest series, in which we check in with musicians in countries across the globe to get the real deal on the best bands their homelands have to offers. We’re blown away by your positive reception of the series, dear readers; we surmise it’s because you’re refreshed to be getting listening recommendations from musicians instead of Spotify, the algorithm or AI.

On Friday, Der Weg einer Freiheit released an instrumental version of Innern, the studio album they released last year, and we’ll bring you an interview with vocalist/guitarist Nikita Kamprad and bassist Alan Noruspur post-haste. But before we do, we’re gifting to you a list of Germany’s top 10 metal bands that Kamprad – one of our best comrades, and who we’ve interviewed before – in turn gifted to us. (Der Weg deserve a lofty place on the list, but Kamprad is too humble to have put his own band on it.)

Without further ado, here’s his list, with generously ample descriptions of the featured bands and explanations as to why they deserve to be on it.

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Exclusive Lyric Video Premiere: Sehore’s ‘IA’ Is a Master Class in How to Avoid Getting Trapped in the Algorithm

Posted in Exclusives, Interviews, Videos with tags , on 09/16/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

Familiarize yourself with Spanish experimental art-pop endeavor Sehore, and you will undoubtedly have encountered the most artistically and intellectually challenging musical act in quite some time. Sehore won the Silver Medal for the song “Pesadilla” (“nightmare” in English) and the Bronze Medal for “Bla bla bla (cha cha cha)” (we’ll leave that translation to you) at the Global Music Awards 2025.

With compositions written and performed in extremely complex time signatures, Sehore started last year with the release of its first two albums: Ladencia in January and Husfikbur in September. The group’s project’s album, Ptkbdglmnr (due November 20), is led by the first single “IA.” Sehore describes it as follows: “The rhythmic figures shift between different internal groupings of five (3+2, 2+3, 4+1, etc.), creating a fragmented and unstable pulse that mirrors the theme and is built on the diminished scale. The track alternates consonance and dissonance, using kitsch elements and miniature structures.”

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The 10 Best Bay Area Bands, According to Death-Thrash Hometown Heroes Absolute Darkness (Exclusive)

Posted in Exclusives, Interviews, Lists, Videos with tags , , , , , , , , , on 09/15/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

It’s always cool to get positive feedback from readers, especially those of you who keep tabs on what some lame-ass AI tool referred to as “the iconoclastic website The Bad Penny.” Hell, we’ll take it – and much more importantly, we’ll take your liking of this consummately non-mainstream and non-corporate hub for news, interviews, games, reviews and more about rad bands that mostly lurk underground.

Aaaaaanyway, it’s even more flattering to get kind words from musicians; after all, none of us would be on this website, writing and reading any of the posts, engaging in discussions and finding fulfillment in music in general were it not for those who actually make it. All of which is to say that the new series with the loose title The Bad Penny Passport is attracting so much excitement from artists that it feels like getting blindsided by a tsunami. And that enthusiasm is showing in the bands’ submissions, none better exemplified by this golden treasure of a contribution from Bay Area death thrashers Absolute Darkness.

The band began 10 years ago fueled in part by their love of death metal but also thrash metal, the genre du jour in their San Francisco hometown. Now, the band consisting of guitarist/lead vocalist Ron Dorn, lead guitarist/backup vocalist Douglas Vetter Guitars, bassist Orson Sojo and drummer Scott Russell are readying their second album, Witness to a Dying World, for an October 23 release. There’s more on that below; but first, let’s get schooled by Absolute Darkness and what they believe to be the 10 best Bay Area bands of all time.

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The 10 Best Swiss Bands, According to Native Dark-Jazz-Grind-Doom Experimentalists Convulsif (Exclusive)

Posted in Exclusives, Lists, Videos with tags , , , , , , , , , on 09/14/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

Ever since we got our ears on Anatomy of Rage, the fourth studio album by Switzerland experimental brain scramblers Convulsif, we’ve listened over and over again trying to wrap our heads around its brilliance. (We almost covered every part of the human anatomy in that last sentence.) An offshoot of bassist Loïc Grobéty’s far-out Convulsif Bigband, Convulsif continue to – for lack of a better phrase, even though it’s over-used – push the boundaries of dark jazz, grind, doom, drone and noise. We’re already anticipating Convulsif’s next album, when they’re to incorporate remaining music genres smooth jazz, blue-eyed soul and neo-classical.

Convulsif’s music is badass in its own right, as you’ll discover on Anatomy of Rage or the quartet’s Bandcamp page. But much to our delight and humility, the gentlemen – Christian Müller (bass, clarinet and voice); Jamasp Jhabvala (violin); Loïc Grobéty (bass); and Maxime Hänsenberger (drums) – graciously decided to participate in The Bad Penny‘s latest series, in which we ask musicians from non-U.S. countries what they consider to be their own homeland’s top music offerings. Why embark upon this globetrotting adventure? Because fuck Spotify.

So, without further ado, say hello to Convulsif and the bands they hand-selected as Switzerland’s crème de la crème (fun fact: The Swiss use that turn of phrase the same way the French do!).

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The 10 Best Swiss Bands, Per Convulsif

The Swiss music that has influenced us is very often pioneering. With Convulsif, we continue to offer the kind of avant-garde rock music that is our country’s trademark.

1. Voice Crack

We’ll start with the Swiss avant-garde scene and this duo. They come from a free jazz background and have continually evolved their sound and sound systems. They have released many collaborative albums.

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Like David Yow, Unsane’s Chris Spencer Almost Filled the Role of Vocalist for Punk Legends Flipper (Exclusive)

Posted in Exclusives, Interviews, News with tags , , , , on 09/13/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
David Yow of the Jesus Lizard (photo credit: Josh Pelta-Heller for Phawker)

David Yow’s could very well lingering in obscurity without his iconic tenure as the frontman of the Jesus Lizard (and Scratch Acid) before that. But he’s also sprinkled in some bizarre side projects along the way, including his abstract-art “music” album Tonight You Look Like a Spider, released in June 2013 on Joyful Noise; a stint as the vocalist for L.A. underground rock trio Qui that culminated in their 2007 album Love’s Miracle; and guest appearances at concerts by Shellac, Melvins, the Dicks, Girls Against Boys and Cop Shoot Cop.

But one of the most notable excursions Yow – who self-deported from the U.S. for Portugal during the Trump regime – took in his equally florid and flatulent career was when he took on the role of vocalist for influential punk band and one of Kurt Cobain’s favorite groups, Flipper. After forming in 1979 and taking a decade-long break from 1994 to 2004, Yow filled in for ailing singer Bruce Loose during shows in 2015. Four years later, Yow reprised his role as substitute vocalist for Flipper’s 40th Anniversary Tour in 2019; at that point, Yow was effectively a member of the band, which advertised their shows as “Flipper with David Yow.”

But little do fans know – if any – that Yow wasn’t a shoe-in for Flipper’s replacement vocalist. Chris Spencer, frontman of Unsane – another hugely influential noise-rock band from decades past, along with the Jesus Lizard – recently revealed in an interview with this writer: “I was really a big Flipper fan, despite them having 30-plus members over the years. The ethos of that band was just great.”

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The 10 Best Icelandic Metal Bands, According to the Country’s Own Folk-Metal Act Hrafnablót (Exclusive)

Posted in Exclusives, Interviews, Lists with tags , , , , , , , , , on 08/27/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

As The Bad Penny tours the world, asking musicians in every country we “visit” to name their top 10 bands – usually of the heavy-music variety – we are consistently surprised by the selflessness and passion with which said musicians vouch for their fellow citizens. Thus far, the most striking example of this reassuring phenomenon – a poignant reminder of the positivity of patriotism versus the nastiness of nationalism – comes in the form of Hrafnablót, a brand-new, self-described “sorcerous” folk‑metal band hailing from Iceland.

Pity the fool who thinks of Iceland as a barren country with a frozen music landscape. Much to the contrary, Iceland has a red-hot metal scene, which most of us in other parts of the world are ignorant about only due to geographical location and a lack of sufficient curiosity about countries other than the one in which they reside. Enlighten yourself with this stunning list of bands masterfully compiled by Þórgnýr Einar Albertsson, bassist and backing vocalist for Hrafnablót.

But before you do, check out Hrafnablót’s recently released video for “Heljarhlíð,” the latest single from their debut album, Guðlaugar Saga, due September 11. Pre-order the tantalizing album on their Bandcamp page … you may very well agree with us that Hrafnablót deserve placement on the very list that Þórgnýr so graciously made for us.

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Iceland’s heavy music scene is relatively small and tight-knit, but pretty varied. The bands below range from early death metal to atmospheric black metal, folk metal and shamelessly colourful power metal. What connects them is that each developed a real identity rather than sounding like a smaller Icelandic version of somebody else.

Sólstafir

Sólstafir’s journey from raw black metal into post-metal and beyond is one of the clearest success stories in Icelandic metal. Records such as Köld, Svartir Sandar and Ótta gave them a sound that became internationally recognizable while being unmistakably Icelandic. Bands from here are constantly described through weather and landscape clichés. With Sólstafir, that language actually makes sense. 

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Exclusive: Slothrust Bring on Second Guitarist, Turning One of L.A.’s Best Rock Bands Into a Foursome

Posted in Exclusives, Interviews, News with tags , , , , on 08/26/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

Excitement is building as the release date for the sixth studio album by red-hot Boston rock band Slothrust nears. But there’s some additional news that, while not as seismic as the unveiling of What They Grow in the Garden will be on September 18, band leader Leah Wellbaum (vocals, guitar) exclusively told The Bad Penny that Slothrust is now a foursome.

“We’re both multi-instrumentalists,” Wellbaum said during a video interview on Monday, referring to herself and drummer Will Gorin writing and recording music together in the studio. “He played bass on this last record [2021’s Parallel Timeline]. And it’s been really fun seeing him step into other instrumental roles.

“He’s obviously an incredible drummer and also a really great guitarist,” Wellbaum continued. “It was really fun to see what he would do, what he did on the bass to play with himself and to interact with the music that he was so involved in crafting. And because we both play all the band instruments, it’s fun to be able to explore as a two-piece in that way. That being said, it’s really nice to be able to perform with more people.”

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