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Big Takeover #96: Michael Gira and Todd Trainer Interviews, Bernie/AOC Rally Coverage, More

Posted in Album Reviews, Essays, Features, Interviews, Reviews with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 06/05/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

The special 45th anniversary edition of The Big Takeover, one of the oldest and last-surviving punk-rock magazines, is now available here. The special issue features more contributions from yours truly than every before–and they’re exclusively featured in the magazine:

• a deep conversation with Michael Gira of Swans
• my second feature with drummer Todd Trainer, stemming from the first interview he gave after the passing of his beloved Shellac bandmate Steve Albini
• a dispatch from a “Fighting Oligarchy” event in Idaho that featured Built to Spill, Bernie Sanders and AOC (and drew national attention)
• my reviews of new releases by Airport 77s, Dez Dare, Librarians With Hickeys, Mdou Moctar, mssv, Onsetter, Pleasure Pill, Plight, Royal Chant and Unstable Shapes

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Exclusive: Miracle Blood Are in for a Bloody Good Time With Epic Tour

Posted in Exclusives, Interviews, My City Rules, News with tags , on 05/19/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Noise punks Miracle Blood are ready to bring the ruckus with an ambitious tour starting July 11 in Buffalo, NY, running through August 2 in Washington DC.

The Beantown badasses are also on the docket for the fifth edition of the ultra-underground Caterwaul Fest in Minneapolis on May 26. In between Caterwaul and the onset of their summer trek, the band will hit up Portsmouth, New Hampshire (June 13); Troy, New York (June 24); and Boston (June 28).

Miracle Blood certainly aren’t allergic to playing live, and this new jaunt will be their most extensive one to date.

“Play new material in front of crowds to kind of see what’s landing right and what maybe needs a little bit more work,” cofounder/guitarist/vocalist Andrew Wong told The Bad Penny.

With so many upcoming engagements, it’s patently obvious that Miracle Blood–who tout themselves as “gnarly noise-punk for the weird at heart”–are on fi-yah. If noise-punk isn’t your jam, give Miracle Blood a shot nonetheless, as they meld their music with mathcore as well.

Expect scenes like this to unfold frequently during Miracle Blood’s upcoming gigs:

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Summer Music Fests Near for Those About to Rock

Posted in Features with tags , , on 05/17/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Read my primers on three of the best music festivals on the planet–Brutal Assault in Czechia, Maryland Deathfest in Baltimore and Wacken in Germany–in this summer music-fest preview feature for Knotfest.com.

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On Tyranny: As US Citizens Get Disappeared and Terrorized, Chile’s Mawiza Reflects

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags , on 04/30/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

The frontman for band Mawiza, who blend metal with Mapuche folk music, reflects on the horrific treatment of his indigenous ancestors by the Chilean military as U.S. citizens are getting disappeared and terrorized by the Trump administration. Read my New Noise interview.

On Tyranny: Mawiza Strive to ‘Rescue Indigenous Moral Values’ in Chile

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Cellista: ‘Creating and Existing Under Trump’s America Is My Act of Radical Resistance’

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags on 04/25/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

If you read one story about the role of artists in our lovely new authoritarian America, please let it be my interview with cellist, composer, aerial performer and resistance artist Cellista. Props to New Noise for publishing this critical interview.

On Tyranny: Cellista Says ‘Being an Artist Is Inherently a Political Act’

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Inside the Label: The Mysterious Sentient Ruin Laboratories

Posted in Features, Inside The Label, Interviews on 04/15/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Sentient Ruin Laboratories, an Oakland-based endeavor founded 11 years ago by an individual who goes by the name “M,” gives superb yet overlooked music—almost always of the heavy, experimental, and obscure variety—the exceptionally high quality that it deserves.

Interview: Sentient Ruin Put a Fine Touch on Niche Heavy Bands’ Releases

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Dusk Sees Hope for Metal in Homeland of Saudi Arabia

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags on 04/04/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

“Trading CDs is illegal. Metal music was illegal in (Saudi Arabia). Music in general (was outlawed) by what was called ‘the religious police.’ ” So says Dusk in New Noise‘s latest installment of On Tyranny, a series about artists making music under authoritarian regimes.

https://newnoisemagazine.com/interviews/on-tyranny-saudi-arabias-dusk-reflects-on-life-as-a-musician-in-a-monarchy/

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Blood Lemon Guitarist Puckers Up to Her Smoochable Cats

Posted in Features, Interviews, Pet Sounds with tags , on 03/28/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Lisa Simpson of Boise breakout band Blood Lemon discusses, for New Noise‘s Pet Sounds series, her two tabbies: Gabriel, who is about 8 years old; and Chicken, who is one-and-a-half years young.

Pet Sounds #34: Blood Lemon Guitarist Puckers Up to Her Smoochable Cats

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They/Live Leader on Growing Up Mormon, Teaming With Drab Majesty

Posted in Favorite Films, Features, Interviews with tags , on 03/25/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Delve into my New Noise conversation with polymath Whitney Mower, who fronts Born Losers Records band They/Live and survived the disastrous fires that recently ravaged Los Angeles.

Interview: They/Live Leader Talks John Carpenter Movies, Escaping L.A. Fires

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On Tyranny: Punk Legends UK Subs Denied Entry Into US Due to Alleged Trump Criticism

Posted in Essays, Features, News, On Tyranny with tags , , on 03/21/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

A new chapter in Trump’s war on free speech has apparently begun, with members of punk legends UK Subs denied entry into the U.S. and detained after traveling to play a concert Stateside, according to The Guardian. The U.K. news outlet cites accounts purportedly posted on the band’s Facebook page. (The Bad Penny does not utilize or endorse social media.)

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