The Bad Penny‘s friends at Veil of Sound have assembled a nifty 2025 recap that encompasses the records, concerts and other highlights that the German website’s 10 contributors enjoyed the most last year. Check it out here.
Archive for the Lists Category
Veil of Sound Shares Bad Penny’s Favorite LPs, Gigs, More From 2025
Posted in Lists with tags Agriculture, Chat Pile, Chat Pile and Hayden Pedigo, Cloakroom, Deafheaven, Der Weg Einer Freiheit, Messa on 01/16/2026 by Kurt Orzeck10 Best Free Bandcamp Downloads #8: Gridfailure, Glorious Depravity, Be Nothing
Posted in Lists, MP3s with tags Be Nothing, Count Your Lucky Stars, Death Obvious, Glorious Depravity, Gob Psychic, Gridfailure, Hiding Places, Living Houf, Living Hour, Saddest Landscape on 01/15/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
1. Be Nothing – Be All the Nothing You Can Be EP (September 2023)
“This follow up to the trio’s 2020 self-titled album offers more of their signature riff heavy, sarcastic punk,” label Strange Mono said in a statement.
2. Gridfailure – Live Improv at the Kingsland – Brooklyn, NYC – 09/07/2024 (March 2025)
“Entire improvisational set from The Kingsland (RIP) in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY on September 7th, 2024,” label Strange Mono said.
Continue readingBad Penny’s Top 10 Most Popular Stories of 2025
Posted in Album Reviews, Lists, Reviews with tags At the Gates, Brokedowns, Dark Tranquillity, Death Pose, In Flames, Indecline, Nightrage, Psychic Pigs, Softcult, the Jesus Lizard on 01/13/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
The title of this post tells it all. But some of the bands on “The Bad Penny’s Top 10 Most Popular Stories of 2025” might surprise you.
1. The 20 Best Scandinavian Melodic Death Metal Bands of All Time
3. Friends of The Bad Penny Share Their Top 10 Lists of 2025 Best Albums
5. Pet Sounds #76: Cat Lovers Psychic Pigs Named Their Band as a Derogatory Slur Jabbing the Police
Continue reading10 Best Free Bandcamp Downloads #7: Floating, Coilguns, Skyjoggers, In Lieu, Gift, Porch Coffin
Posted in Lists with tags Coilguns, Floating, Gift, In Lieu, Jute Gyte, Skyjoggers, Transcending Obscurity, Tumbleweed Dealer on 01/09/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
Strapped for cash but hungry for great music? Don’t worry, The Bad Penny has your back. Here’s a rundown of 10 rad releases, most of them recently issued, that we came across on Bandcamp this week.
(Note: If you do have some green to spare, please show your thanks to these deserving artists and labels.)
1. Various Artists’ Transcending Obscurity 2026 Label Sampler
Mumbai, India-based Transcending Obscurity, which The Bad Penny profiled extensively last year, has outdone itself with this year’s edition of its annual label sampler. The freebie corrals 26 blistering songs by extreme-metal bands from across the world, not the least of whom are Veilburner, Haxprocess, Endspace, Verdun and Death Obvious.
2. In Lieu’s Failing in the Right Direction
Our ears are still ringing from listening many times to Hooligan, the solid record that Minneapolis noise-rock band In Lieu unleashed upon the masses in October. In delving deeper into the group’s catalog, we discovered their debut record, Failing in the Right Direction, which the band made when it was only a two-piece. Sure, it’s not as well-crafted as Hooligan, but given that vocalist/guitarist Nicole Post and drummer/bassist Lucas Margulies were basically kids when they made the record, it tickles and titillates.
Continue reading10 Videos of Musicians Falling Offstage Mid-Performance: Dave Grohl, Lady Gaga, Olivia Rodrigo, Axl Rose, Pink, Demi Lovato
Posted in Lists, Videos with tags Axl Rose, Dave Grohl, Demi Lovato, Gene Simmons, Lady Gaga, Olivia Rodrigo, Pink, Vince Neil on 01/09/2026 by Kurt OrzeckBest New Music Videos (December 2025): Earl Sweatshirt, Nothing, Darsombra, Zenith Passage
Posted in Lists, Videos with tags Darsombra, Earl Sweatshirt, Florence Road, Gavial, Infinity Knives, Juni Habel, Nothing, Ponte del Diavolo, Prune Carmen Diaz, The Zenith Passage on 01/08/2026 by Kurt OrzeckWe’re a bit late with The Bad Penny’s collection of best new videos this month. (Thanks a lot, Obama Santa!) That said, viewers who grew increasingly anxious awaiting our Best New Music Videos for December should be most pleasantly surprised, now that the post is finally live.
This week, we cobbled together 10 new and – for the most part – zany clips by Earl Sweatshirt, Nothing, Darsombra, The Zenith Passage, Ponte del Diavolo, Juni Habel, Gavial, Infinity Knives x Brian Ennals, Prune Carmen Diaz and Florence Road.
Happy viewing!
1. Prune Carmen Diaz’ “Arcadia”
2. Darsombra’s “Mellow Knees”
Top 10 Most Popular Bad Penny Posts of 2025
Posted in Lists with tags Bobby Bray, Brett Bradford, David Yow, Eugene S. Robinson, Locust, Mark Lanegan, Rivers Cuomo, Robyn Hitchcock, Scratch Acid, the Jesus Lizard on 01/08/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
The numbers are in, and boy are … the numbers in.
What the ranking of The Bad Penny‘s most popular posts of 2025 indicates about this website can be interpreted in any number of ways. Would you like us to prattle on and on with theories and statistical data backing the sharp uptick? Yeah, we didn’t think so.
Instead, let’s cut straight to the (Chevy) Chase. Ergo, we bring you the rundown of The Bad Penny‘s most popular posts of 2025:
Continue readingThe Bad Penny’s Top 50 Best LPs of 2025, Pt. 5: Deafheaven, Orbit Culture, Agriculture, Mclusky, Messa
Posted in Lists with tags Agriculture, Deafheaven, For Your Health, Halo Effect, Mclusky, Messa, Orbit Culture, Ossuary, The Armed, Vildhjarta on 01/06/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
A lot of fucked-up up shit happened in the U.S. this year. Way, way too much of it. For many of us Americans who actually carry values in our hearts instead of bloviating about them or slapping bumper stickers on our monster trucks, it was almost too much to bear.
Fortunately, 2025 also saw the release of a staggering number of stellar records, which made the year a little more … well, bearable. Hence, for the first time ever, The Bad Penny is deviating from its usual annual tradition of limiting out favorite listens to just 10 and breaking them into a five-part series containing 10 records per installment.
What follows is the fifth and final batch. (Go here for The Bad Penny‘s favorite albums, #11 through #20; here for #21 through #30; here for #31 through #40; and here for #41 through #50.)
1. Deafheaven – Lonely People With Power (Roadrunner)
• Deafheaven Frontman Dives Deep Into Each Song on New LP
• From the Vault: Deafheaven’s 2017 Tour Setlists and First-Ever Show in Boise – An Analysis
2. Orbit Culture – Death Above Life (Century Media)
• Orbit Culture Try To Keep Momentum Going With Next LP
Continue readingBest 10 Psychedelic Albums of 2025 for Treble #10: BLKE’s ‘Living Without Expectations’ EP
Posted in Album Reviews, Lists, Reviews with tags BLKE on 12/23/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
Psych-rock’s greatest challenge is to not wander off and lose the listener; BLKE don’t hold your hand, but you know from start to finish on their Living Without Expectations EP that you are in good hands. Read my full review as part of my 13 Floor’s 10 Best Psychedelic Albums of 2025 for Treble here.
Post-Trash Publishes Bad Penny’s List of 2025’s Top 20 Best Records
Posted in Lists with tags Agriculture, Deafheaven, For Your Health, Halo Effect, Mclusky, Messa, Orbit Culture, Ossuary, The Armed, Vildhjarta on 12/20/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
Thanks to Post-Trash for posting my top 20 favorite records of the year as part of its staff picks roundup.
The Bad Penny (beta) 