Fresh off playing a co-headlining set in Tokyo with another legendary idiosyncratic group, Sparks, Cornelius (real name Keigo Oyamada) is finally turning his sights again to his illustrious music career even though he’s engaged in loads of admirable endeavors over the years. Cornelius’ new album – which marks his eighth studio effort – is called Refractions, a title that appears curious at face value but speaks to the changing sounds that permeate the album.
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Thank you to the devoted readers of this unconventional, iconoclastic and oftentimes just plain nutty music website – and also to those who just happened to stumble across it – for making Aug. 18, 2026, the most highly traffic day since The Bad Penny launched November 25, 2009. Traffic is not the be-all, end-all of this website, but it’s also worth noting that we surpassed our total numbers for the entire year of 2025 early last month.
Every single prop (that’s what the cool kids say nowadays instead of “all the props,” so get onboard, yo) goes to the readers who have consumed (we prefer “ingested”) one or more of our tens of thousands of posts, whether they be the multitudinous stories on The Jesus Lizard – who we are proud to say is the most popular band on The Bad Penny – to our invaluable (which is to say, value-less) post on the Best Albums of 1909.
Every day till all this goes away, we’ll continue to try to both educate and entertain you, turn Bad Penny readers on to good music, steer them away from crapola, buck trends, go against the grain, reject social media (except YouTube, which is our guilty-pleasure equivalent of Obama sneaking out for a cig), protecting all of us in this space from AI infiltration and, most importantly, adhere to what we consider to be our values as best we can.
If you ever have any valuable feedback, ideas worth sharing, rad bands you’d like to see get more coverage and that are a good fit for this website, don’t not never hesitate to contact me directly at korzeck at gee male dot calm. (Apologies for the tortured language; such are the rules on the battlefield in the war against the bots.)
Long live great music, great people with great character (we gotta get around to working on that someday) and great animals. And, lest it need be said, down with tyranny.
16 Underground – Without a Trace EP (Sunday Drive)
Afghan Whigs – Soft Control (Royal Cream/ BMG)
Afrofuturistics (feat. Sons of Ra members) – Enigmatic EP (Big Bonkey)
Jacob Alon – Live From the Roundhouse (Island)
Brendan Angelides – Can You Feel the End Begin? (feat. Serj Tankian; Ancestor)
Arca – XXXXX
Arcadian Wild – Make It Out Alive
Jon Batiste – Black Mozart (Batiste Piano Series, Vol. 2), Monk Meditations (Batiste Piano Series, Vol. 3) and Monk Movements (Batiste Piano Series, Vol. 4)
Becky G – Baraja Bandita
Natasha Bedingfield – Dot Dot Dot single
Benny Blanco – Hermoso (feat. Selena Gomez, Becky G)
Boston Manor – Be Nothing. 10 Year anniversary edition (Pure Noise)
Cavetown – Big Strong Man single
Chico – s/t (New Morality Zine)
Jimmy Cicero – I Will Always Love You 7-inch (self-release)
Elizabeth Cook – Great Television (produced by Shooter Jennings; feat. Wynonna Judd; Thirty Tigers)Credit Card – Devil’s Night/ Dead Internet mixtape (Goth Horse)
Credit Card – Devil’s Night/ Dead Internet mixtape (Goth Horse)
Grace Cummings – Bloodhorse! (ATO)
Cutthroat – Purge EP (M-Theory Audio)
Dana and Alden – Papa’s Boat (Concord Jazz)
Dead Tired – Hornets of Fall (New Damage)
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, it’s undeniable that Metallica – the undisputed kings of heavy metal for many decades running – have massive global appeal. In December, Spotify stunningly announced that fans of James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Robert Trujillo and Kirk Hammett listened to 21,000 years’ worth of Metallica music last year alone. These ChartMasters.org graphs show the band’s reach into virtually every pocket of the world.
Read my full news report on AllMusic.com and check out an exclusive, comprehensive compilation of comments from almost all the participating artists here.
Glen Hansard one of the most prolific and beloved contemporary Irish musicians, has died at age 56.
“With broken hearts, we announce the passing of Glen Hansard in the early hours of this morning,” read a statement on the website of his manager, ATC Management. “We are still dealing with the shock of it all, so we kindly ask that the privacy of Glen’s family, colleagues and friends is respected at this difficult time.”
The cause of Hansard’s death is not yet known.
Read my full news report on AllMusic.
The hypnotic state of sustained, meditative pummelage featured on Destroy Erase Improve and Catch Thirtythree was so distinct that it helped coin a term used specifically to describe the Meshuggah sound: djent. Imitators have come and gone over the years, perhaps flattering the originators of a whole new heavy metal sound, but it’s unlikely, because iconoclasm – or maybe it’s ichor – flows through the veins of current members Haake, Jens Kidman (lead vocals), Fredrik Thordendal (lead guitar, backing vocals) and Mårten Hagström (rhythm guitar, backing vocals and Dick Lövgren (bass).
The band will soon release anniversary editions of both records. Read my full news report on the Meshuggah reissues via AllMusic.
Melissa Auf der Maur returns with her first new music in 15 years, releasing a soundtrack tied to her upcoming art exhibition featuring rare demos and photography. Read my full news report at AllMusic.com.
It’s only taken about two decades to clinch an interview with the one, the only, the mighty Alfredo Hernández, former drummer for Queens of the Stone and Kyuss, and one of the originators of the “desert-rock” that continues to catch on across not just the U.S. but, rather peculiarly, Europe.
Not to be overlooked on Hernández’ resume are stints with (Kyuss founding member) Brant Bjork and the Bros and Yawning Man, and his current status in the band Avon. which QOTSA devotees will recall as one of the song names on the band’s first album. (Lesser-known fact: Hernández co-wrote seven of the 11 album tracks with Josh Homme; and joined forces with the band’s leader as well as Monster Magnet guitar and Homme homie John McBrain to craft “Regular John,” still considered one of the prolific band’s best numbers.)
As for these days, Avon just delivered a new album, Black on Sunshine, in mid-April via Go Down Records. Unsurprisingly, promotional materials for the record suggest three RIYLs: Wouldntyaknowit: Kyuss, QOTSA and Monster Magnet. Filling out the lineup are Emmy-winning guitarist, Airbus band member and Geoff Barrow (Portishead) collaborator James Childs. Palm Springs mainstay Charles Pasarell handles bass. Childs’ guitar and vocalist pal in Airbus playing guitar and sang on “Black on Sunshine” and “Strangest Love” too.
The amount of information Hernández shared in his well-considered answers is nothing less than very noteworthy (we’re not prone to hyperbole, even if it’s all the rage these days). Here are a few main points before you dig in:
• The most salient point made in the premise of the story as you’ve read it so far is wrong.
• Hernández and Josh Homme are still on good terms, and while they don’t talk about their current projects, you might see them play together again at some point.
• Same goes for Nick Oliveri, who brought Hernández into his Mondo Generator project twice, and apparently they had a blast.
• Kyuss and perhaps even QOTSA were modeled at least in part after Hernández’s bands.
Enjoy, amigos.
7.24.26
Atarashii Gakko! – From Tokyo With Love (88Rising)
The Avalanches + Karen O – “Blue Shadows” single
Bayside – Battle Scars single
Black Blood – Holy Man single (Scream for Existence)
Bleached Cross – Wrath (New Morality Zine)
Body Type – Tally (King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s p(doom) Records)
