Archive for the News Category

Thank You, Bad Penny Readers!

Posted in Essays, News with tags on 08/18/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

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.

New Releases 8.14.26: Afghan Whigs, Sweeping Promises, Holissstik, Radiator Hospital, Real Numbers, Chico (Updated 1:42 p.m. PT)

Posted in Lists, New Releases, News with tags , , , , , , , , , on 08/14/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

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)

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Metallica Tribute Album to Feature 17 Bands From 14 Countries

Posted in News with tags on 08/13/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

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, Star of Treasured Indie Musical Romance ‘Once,’ Dead at 56

Posted in In Memorium, News with tags , on 08/06/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

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.

Meshuggah Tees Up Anniversay Editions of ‘Destroy Erase Improve,’ ‘Catch Thirtythree’

Posted in News with tags on 08/06/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

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 (Ex-Smashing Pumpkins, Hole) Releasing First New Music in 15 Years

Posted in News with tags , , on 07/28/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

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.

Exclusive: Ex-Queens of the Stone Age Drummer Alfredo Hernández ‘Is Always Ready’ to Rejoin Amigos Josh Homme, Nick Oliveri to Jam – and Even More

Posted in Exclusives, Interviews, News with tags , , , , , , , , , on 07/26/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
(L-R: Alfredo Hernández, James Childs and June Kato)

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.

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New Releases 7.24: Joudy, Body Type, Psycroptic, Avalanches + Karen O, Lockstep, Yeti on Horseback, Mesh, Meshuggah (+11 Rad Videos)

Posted in Lists, New Releases, News with tags , , , , , , on 07/24/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

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)

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Amon Amarth Finally Announce New LP, Breaking Longest Dry Spell of Career; Unveil New Video Too

Posted in News with tags , on 07/22/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

Amon Amarth are finally being summed back from … Valhalla? They never died or broke up, but they’ve been off cavorting somewhere probably involving thunder, fireballs and drinking horns filled with Fireball.

Breaking the longest stretch between studio records since they started releasing them in 1998, four years and two months, the sons of Odin and high-ranking heroes of Swedish melodic death metal will release The Allfather Awakens on October 2. They also released the above video an hour or so ago.

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Exclusive Video Premiere: Weather Happy’s ‘It Leaks Out’

Posted in Exclusives, News, Videos with tags , , on 07/20/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

Blondie (well, Debby Harry) famously sang: “One way or another, I’m gonna find ya/ I’m gonna get ya, get ya, get ya, get ya.”

U.K. noise-pop duo Weather Happy have their own, similar refrain – “It Leaks Out” – that they express in their new song of the same name.

“There’s certain things you just can’t hide,” vocalist/guitarist Holly Carter sings on the angular, off-beat and yet irresistibly catchy track. “Tiptoe around and you might.”

Debuting today on The Bad Penny, the tune is the first bite at the apple that we’re getting of Weather Happy’s new EP, Moth, due October 30 on Easy Does It Records. Produced by Idlewild guitarist Rod Jones, “It Leaks Out” was the natural first single, the band told The Bad Penny in an exclusive statement.

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