There’s no official video yet for this song, just this lyric one, but no bother – Lamb of God’s “The Killing Floor” is the best metal song of the year thus far. It’s from the band’s 10th album, Into Oblivion, released in March through Century Media/ Epic. The only thing missing is Chris Adler‘s unparalleled drumming. And it ain’t even one of the album’s four singles: “Sepsis,” “Parasocial Christ,” “Into Oblivion” and “Blunt Force Blues.”
While we’re on the topic of Lamb of God, why not share what we consider to be 10 of their other best songs ever? We’ve been meaning to get around to that anyway but have procrastinated because no one will agree with this list. And why would you? There’s always a 50/50 chance that a Lamb of God song is gonna be solid.
“It’s self-help ska, only not as dreadful as that sounds.”
-Be Decent’s Ken Partridge
Be Decent – an instructively named neo-ska quartet from Brooklyn – are fixated on the September 18 release date for their debut record, Now’s the Time. But first things first (or second, in this case): The band needs to slip out a couple of singles to lather captive indie-rockers with interest. The first tune came in the form of “Human Nature,” featuring Ted Leo; today, The Bad Penny exclusively brings you Be Decent’s second single, “You Better Work,” and accompanying video for it.
Calling to mind a reprimand from father or a frustrated exclamation directed at one’s self while trying to fix a laptop, “You Better Work” is a chipper, affirmative song with saxophone flourishes and undeniable reggae influences.
Florist – a band from Tampa, Florida – left desert-doom devourers speechless after releasing their first album, Contact, in 2023. They’ve been on a roll since then and just signed two weeks ago to Ripple Music, perhaps the fastest-growing heavy-metal record label on the planet. But while Florist’s prospects are bright – Ripple is reissuing their Adrift EP on August 21 – the band was bittersweet when The Bad Penny caught up with them on Friday.
Monday bumming you out? Well, take out your phone, start the stopwatch, and we promise yer frown will turn upside down in 60 seconds if you watch any of these songs performed by humans in tandem with puppets. We only picked performances from the original Muppet Show, when the whole Muppet conceit was sincere, unironic and not (too) shamelessly corporate.
It was only a month ago that Fireball Ministry co-founder and guitar virtuoso Emily Burton graciously set aside some of her busy schedule to talk about her and all the current developments that are making her beam at the status of her influential, 27-year-old stoner rock band. (Read all about her successful litigation here.)
When we checked in with her for part two of our conversation, she was in much better spirits and game for talking about some of her movies of all time. For those who don’t live in the loop, musicians have extraordinarily long stretches between †venues, affording them some time to cozy up in a band, rewrite and rewrite and rewrite once again the band’s set list. Burton prefers the latter.
“I think most of us understand that when you politicize art, you got propaganda.”
-Ben Folds, speaking to Senate Democrats at a “shadow hearing” on Wednesday
Ben Folds on Wednesday gave impassioned testimony to a panel of Senators about what he called the “toxic” Trump Administration’s “unlawful” changes to the Kennedy Center. The veteran pop icon further accused a high-ranking official who recently departed the organization for paying “hecklers” to “harass” Yasmin Williams as payback for criticizing Trump during a performance at the Center.
Folds made the remarks at a so-called “shadow hearing” staged by Senate Democrats. Because the party is in the minority, it is not legally permitted to conduct a formal hearing like Republican Senators currently are.
In anticipation of the 20th anniversary of the debut of Tim and Eric‘s Awesome Show, Great Job!, one of the few TV shows that we make some space to cover and discuss, here’s a partial rundown of musicians who appeared on the sketch show. The very best and strangest cameos are up top, the right-up-there picks are right up there on the list, and the last ones are last.
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.
What’s more entertaining than entertaining the possibility that conspiracy theories are actually true? Well, listening to the time-tested, catchy, post-punk tunes of U.K. legends The Jack Rubies, for one. The band, which originally formed in London in the late 1980s, reunited three decades later – with their original lineup intact – to great fanfare.
In the unlikely event that you’re unfamiliar with the band’s sound, SD Ineson (backing vocals, guitar, harmonica) described it to The Bad Penny as such: “Jack Rubies music is a collision of every member’s musical idiosyncrasies. On the face of it, it is a rock band (whatever that means), but there is no pandering to ‘rock’ normalcy. [Frontman] Ian Wright and I met in art school and carried that sensibility into music. Ian is left-handed, and he developed his own unique chord shapes that ‘don’t look right’ (wright!).”
Ineson continued: “Consequently, everybody else in the band had to work from a place of abstract creativity, inventing riffs out of thin air to fill out the picture of what [frontman] Ian [Wright] concocted lyrically (i.e. off-the-wall absurdist irony, with shades of Morrissey and Dadaist poetry). But thrown in sideways are shards of Bolan riffs, Smithsian jangle, Ghosts of Rockabilly twisted into the awkward shapes of the guitar disassemblage of Gang of Four anti-rock. Jack Rubies are pop-rock saboteurs. Engineers of melodic disorientation and what you see is what you don’t get.”
The Bad Penny had the good fortune to kick back (virtually, of course) with the revered band to pick apart some of the most notorious conspiracy theories of the past hundred or so years. Enjoy the chat – and snag The Jack Rubies’ comeback record, Are We Being Recorded? right here.
Join arguably the most amicable noise-rock band to ever come out of Boston – all three members of 7-11 Jesus, in fact – for some lighthearted fun, lotsa laughs and maybe the most definitive account yet of their history, in this recent interview with The Bad Penny. We caught up with the trio shortly after the conclusion of a tour of theirs that ended on June 26 at Wildflower Festival.
Vocalist/guitarist August Darula, drummer Will “The Thrill” Bryan and bassist “Animal” Adam Rioux (The Bad Penny has dibs on the latter nickname) will win you over with their collective humble charm. In fact, they’re probably the first Bostonians to claim such attributes. But in the event their gnarly and noisy music doesn’t, 7-11 Jesus’ recently released White Noise full-length will seal the deal.
