Archive for the The Visionaries Category

The Visionaries: Sadness Finds His ‘Purpose’ in Music, Readies for Breakout Year in 2026

Posted in Features, Interviews, The Visionaries with tags , , on 12/16/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

“If I have a purpose in life, it’s to make music.” That’s a powerful statement from a young man named Damián Antón Ojeda, whose solo blackgaze project Sadness exudes the sincerity, intensity and deep emotion of an artist proving his credo through his art. All those factors combined make him an ideal entrant in The Bad Penny‘s new series “The Visionaries,” in which we interview introverted musical savants who typically don’t do many interviews. Following Aaron Turner and Jute Gyte, Ojeda is in very good company.

While Sadness has crafted dozens upon dozens of releases over the past decade or so – most recent the exquisite EP Shimmer – 2024 marked the first live performance for the project. But now, having really broken out of his shell, Ojeda is ready to tour next year and – while he’s too humble to say so himself – is well-positioned for global domination.

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The Visionaries: ‘Dungeon Synth’ Master Jute Gyte Exudes Empathy in Rare Interview

Posted in Features, Interviews, The Visionaries with tags , , , , , on 12/14/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

“If I’m focusing on sources of human suffering, then maybe it would be nice to put [part of the proceeds I earn from selling that] material to try to alleviate some of that suffering.”
-Jute Gyte

This year, The Bad Penny has had the incredibly unexpected, transformational, good fortune of interviewing more than 200 musicians across the globe. But as 2025 (mercifully) comes to a close, we’ve reflected on many of those conversations and come to realize that we connected with some truly exceptional human beings who just happen to make music.

These are individuals who often but don’t always work in isolation, truly treat making music as a cherished endeavor, take their work seriously, have a very strong work ethic and regiment – and, as a result, transcend the simple act of songcraft, recording and performing live.

To these remarkable individuals, music is not a diversion, and certainly not a means to striking it rich or becoming famous. They devote themselves to their craft because it is their vocation, their calling – not their calling card to getting signed to an oily record contract.

Last week, The Bad Penny unofficially launched a new series, which we’re calling “The Visionaries” – a term each humble subject of the series will surely reject, but sorry guys, them’s the breaks – with an uncharacteristically intimate look into the creative process and soul of underground legend Aaron Turner that Treble generously published.

For the first “official” edition of the series “The Visionaries” published on The Bad Penny, we are thrilled to present you a conversation with perhaps the most unsung drone-metal musician of the century, Jute Gyte (Adam Kalmbach). If his name doesn’t sound familiar, don’t be embarrassed; hell, this guy flies so low under the radar, he would probably rather you don’t know who is, so long as his music is getting out there and assuaging some music listeners (particularly those who gravitate toward challenging listens).

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The Visionaries: Journey to the Center of Aaron Turner

Posted in Interviews, The Visionaries with tags , , , , , , , , on 12/10/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

If an ultra-prolific music maker writes and plays songs in the woods, do they really exist if no one can hear them? Not if they release the music in the form of records, one supposes. But it is kinda the case these days with Aaron Turner, the former frontman for Isis; member of Sumac, Old Man Gloom and Mammifer; collaborator of Pharaoh Overlord; father; illustrator; swimmer; and deep thinker. Join Treble for a journey into the mind of one of the most fascinating and prolific underground artists of the last 25 years.