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Big Takeover #96: Michael Gira and Todd Trainer Interviews, Bernie/AOC Rally Coverage, More

Posted in Album Reviews, Essays, Features, Interviews, Reviews with tags Airport 77s, AOC, Bernie Sanders, Built to Spill, Dez Dare, Librarians With Hickeys, Mdou Moctar, Michael Gira, mssv, Onsetter, Pleasure Pill, Plight, Royal Chant, Shellac, Swans, The Big Takeover, Todd Trainer, Unstable Shapes on 06/05/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

The special 45th anniversary edition of The Big Takeover, one of the oldest and last-surviving punk-rock magazines, is now available here. The special issue features more contributions from yours truly than every before–and they’re exclusively featured in the magazine:

• a deep conversation with Michael Gira of Swans
• my second feature with drummer Todd Trainer, stemming from the first interview he gave after the passing of his beloved Shellac bandmate Steve Albini
• a dispatch from a “Fighting Oligarchy” event in Idaho that featured Built to Spill, Bernie Sanders and AOC (and drew national attention)
• my reviews of new releases by Airport 77s, Dez Dare, Librarians With Hickeys, Mdou Moctar, mssv, Onsetter, Pleasure Pill, Plight, Royal Chant and Unstable Shapes

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Now Playing: Felgrave, DVNE, A Flock Named Murder

Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews with tags A Flock Named Murder, Conan, Crematory, Dvne, Felgrave on 05/22/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Hop over to Treble‘s Patreon page to read my pithy remarks about the five records I’m most hooked on at the moment. No spoilers. Oh, wait, I’m gonna have to get around to changing the headline to this post …. and the image … and the tags. Cripes. Pretend you didn’t see any of those things and just clink on the link.

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Club Night’s ‘Joy Coming Down’: Two Cent Review

Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews with tags Club Night on 05/22/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Joy Coming Down is an expertly crafted piece of work, as if Club Night—comprising guitarist Ian Tatum, bassist Devin Trainer, singer Josh Bertram and keyboardist/drummer Nick Cowman—can already see themselves playing it in full if not this year then on tours 10, 20 and 30 years from now. Read my lengthy review of the record on Treble.

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Blood Monolith’s ‘Calling of Fire’: Two Cent Review

Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews with tags Blood Monolith on 05/21/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Don’t seep on my first story for Post-Trash, a new music website that launched six months ago and is catching on like an out of control blaze. In my first contribution to the website, I review The Calling of Fire, for which Profound Lore brain scramblers Blood Monolith relentlessly punish listeners over the course of 28 minutes.

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Slow Crush’s ‘Thirst’: Two Cent Review

Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews with tags Slow Crush on 05/17/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

On the title track to Slow Crush’s new album Thirst, one of the leading hopefuls in shoegaze’s ascendant return urges renewal in this unforgiving world we are all culpable of having brought upon ourselves. Read my Treble review.

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Callous Daoboys’ ‘I Don’t Want to See You in Heaven’: Two Cent Review

Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews with tags Callous Daoboys on 05/16/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

I Don’t Want to See You in Heaven is The Callous Daoboys’ latest push into their postulation that Heaven will be deafening and yet widely accessible. Read my short Treble review.

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Rilo Kiley’s ‘That’s How We Choose to Remember It’: Two Cent Review

Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews with tags Rilo Kiley on 05/16/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

There are too many rock-band reunions to count happening these days, but one of the most excitedly received is that of Rilo Kiley, who have already sold out their show tomorrow night at Boise’s Treefort Music Hall. Get warmed up for it by reading my FLOOD review of their greatest-hits record that arrived today.

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Preoccupations’ ‘Ill at Ease’: Two Cent Review

Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews with tags Preoccupations on 05/12/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Calgary post-punks Preoccupations couldn’t sound more comfortable in their own skin on their ironically titled fifth album, which seamlessly alternates between joyful and haunting moods. Read my FLOOD review.

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Mclusky’s ‘World Is Still Here and So Are We’: Two Cent Review

Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews with tags Mclusky on 05/10/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

With age comes wisdom, perspective—and, in the case of the iconoclastic vocalist/guitarist Andy “Falco” Falkous—a practically equal balance between focusing on what’s at stake and the absurdity of what the West has become. Read my review of The World Is Still Here and So Are We, the latest record by his band Mclusky, on Treble.

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Natural Information Society and Bitchin Bajas’ ‘Totality’: Two Cent Review

Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews with tags Bitchin Bajas, National Information Society on 05/05/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, or so the saying goes. But what about when two parts come together and the result is barely a whisper? That’s the fascinating, enigma-wrapped-in-a-riddle of a record that is Totality, an album title that at various turns seems either profound or confounding.Read my Treble review.

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