1. Imogen Heap‘s “I AM __.”
2. Slowthrust‘s “Midnight Slay”
3. Infinity Dream‘s “Lost Embrace”
4. Ratboys‘ “Light Night Mountains All That”
Archive for the Lists Category
Best New Music Vidoes (October 2025): Imogen Heap, Slowthrust, Rattboys, Matt Pond PA
Posted in Lists, Videos with tags Black Cross Hotel, Das Kope, EVRO, Geologist, Imogen Heap, Infinity Dream, PinkPantheress, Ratboys, Slowthrust on 11/09/2025 by Kurt OrzeckFavorite Films: Heavy Heavy Low Low Vocalist Lists His Favorite Flicks as Halloween Creeps Closer
Posted in Favorite Films, Interviews, Lists, Reviews with tags An American Werewolf in London, David Lynch, Halloween, Heavy Heavy Low Low, Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, Night of the Living Dead, No Country for Old Men, Robbie Smith, The Coen Brothers on 10/25/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
It’s not uncommon for an actor to form or join a band – after all, it takes a certain gene to drive a person to be at the center of attention as much as they possibly can. But this past summer, when we caught up with vocalist Robbie Smith of sasscore squad Heavy Heavy Low Low, we learned that the inverse isn’t necessarily as common.
Sure, he enjoys fronting the band from San Jose, California, and writing and recording their songs – which are so unhinged and berserk that even Guantanamo Bay couldn’t restrain or temper them. Nonetheless, Smith also enjoys stepping away from the physical intensity of the band’s concerts to focus on an artistic endeavor he may value even more than crafting music: filmmaking.
Continue readingFrom the Vault: Dr. Know (Bad Brains) and Brandon Cruz’s Guide To DIY Touring
Posted in Interviews, Lists, Sound Off with tags Bad Brains, Brandon Cruz, Dead Kennedys, Dr. Know on 10/24/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
[This article was originally published on IndiePit in 2010.]
Punks don’t make the likeliest businessmen, for obvious reasons. Capitalism and punk aren’t exactly synonymous – in fact, by definition, they’re more or less contradictory.
But funny things happen in a time of crisis.
These days, more bands are taking more matters into their own hands, whether it be issuing their own material (like Clutch), producing their own records and/or shooting their own videos. But while this trend has mostly arisen out of necessity – the mother of invention, as the saying goes – self-empowerment has historically been a brass ring of sorts for bands adamant about maintaining control over their artistic output. Now they’re managing to find an opportunity in crisis: complete creative control.
Continue reading8 Great Psych LPs From Summer 2025 by SWRM, Zabus, Spaceface, Insomniac
Posted in Album Reviews, Lists, Reviews with tags Go Kurosawa, Insomniac, Late Again, Nate Smith, Orsak:Oslo, Spaceface, SWRM, Zabus on 10/02/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
Albums by SWRM, Zabus, Spaceface, Insomniac, Go Kurosawa, Late Again, Nate Smith and Orsak:Oslo made the cut on my list of great, overlooked psychedelic albums released in summer 2025, in my first quarterly column on the genre for Treble.
On Tyranny: Donald Trump Is More Insane Than the Craziest Musicians Ever, From Elvis to Kanye
Posted in Essays, Features, Lists, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags Captain Beefheart, Daniel Johnston, Donald Trump, Elvis, GG Allin, Kanye West, Keith Moon, Lil Wayne, Roky Erickson, Syd Barrett on 10/01/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
Consider the following:
1. Michael “Pras” Michel, one-third of the Fugees, was convicted in April 2023 on 10 counts related to falsifying business records. Donald Trump was convicted in May 2024 on 34 counts of falsifying business records.
2. Syd Barrett, guitarist and co-founder of Pink Floyd, allegedly took LSD every morning and locked his girlfriend in a room for three days. Donald is allegedly sending individuals who may or may not be documented U.S. citizens to gulags in El Salvador and is publicly urging Americans to not take Tylenol.
3. Keith Moon, drummer of The Who, admitted to accidentally running over his friend and bodyguard with his car. Moon, who was allegedly drunk at the time of the incident, publicly apologized for the tragedy. Donald Trump proudly and remorselessly declared that he “could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters.”
Continue readingBest New Music Videos (September 2025): clipping., Automatic, Pupil Slicer, Smokey Brights
Posted in Lists, Videos with tags Automatic, Big Bill, clipping., Duna Aurora, Kinneret, Monte Booker, Peter McPoland, Pupil Slicer, Smokey Brights, Today Is the Day on 09/30/2025 by Kurt OrzeckWe hear ya here at The Bad Penny: We cover too much metal, not enough metal, etc. One common denominator across all genres is that artists are capable of creating captivating, innovative, original, hilarious and harrowing music videos regardless of genre. With that in mind, here are the clips we enjoyed the most in the month of September, two thousand whatever.
1. Peter McPoland’s “Last Looks”
Nirvana’s 10 Best Videos, Ranked
Posted in Lists, Videos with tags Nirvana on 09/20/2025 by Kurt OrzeckOn Tyranny: 10 Great Protest Records by Refused, Lamb of God, PJ Harvey, Divide and Dissolve, More
Posted in Lists, On Tyranny with tags Chat Pile, clipping., Divide and Dissolve, Fugazi, IDLES, Kishi Bashi, Lamb of God, PJ Harvey, Refused, System of a Down on 09/19/2025 by Kurt OrzeckHow you likin’ Authoritarian America now? To all the conservative “disrupters” out there, The Bad Penny hopes this is what you were wishing for – and (with tongue firmly planted in cheek) that the wave of tyrannical terror sweeping the nation doesn’t drown you in its wake.
Don’t say we didn’t warn you; after all, we launched this On Tyranny franchise in December. But rather than subject you to “I told you so examples” from our 25-part series, we’ll instead suggest some of our favorite contemporary protest records that you can serve as your soundtrack for the weekend. Here goes, in chronological order:
Refused‘s The Shape of Punk to Come (1998)
System of a Down’s Toxicity (2001)
Favorite Films: Point Break 2 Frontman Cops to His Guilty-Pleasure Movies: ‘Mortal Kombat,’ ‘Terror,’ ‘Elvis,’ More
Posted in Favorite Films, Features, Guilty Pleasures, Interviews, Lists with tags Maximum Overdrive, Megalopolis, Mortal Kombat, Point Break 2, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, The Flag, The Terror, These Are Powers on 09/19/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
Earlier this month saw a new release by Point Break 2 – no, not a sequel to the immortal 1991 surfing-undercover-cop-thriller-pseudohomoerotic-unintentional-comedy-action masterpiece starring Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze, but rather a fresh record by a band using that amusing name as its moniker. Featuring members of Brooklyn indie bands These Are Powers and The Flag including Ted McGrath, Point Break 2’s self-titled EP dropped on Naturally Records.
McGrath originally assembled Point Break 2 to bide his time while The Flag’s second LP was in the works. But he hit it off so well with Flag bandmate Ryan Crozier, Jason Robira of Sunwatchers, Fixtures’ Kris Liakos and Billy Bouchard (Ice Balloons, Dancehall Crashers) that they decided to formalize Point Break 2 as a full-fledged project.
And how could they not, with a fuzzy, skronky song as infectious as lead single “Hall of Justice”?
The Bad Penny (beta) 