Pick up the latest issue of Music Connection — or check out the magazine’s website — for my feature article on pop-music newcomer Hailey Haus.
The French Tips: Flipside Fest Pick of the Day
Posted in Interviews with tags French Tips on 09/25/2022 by Kurt Orzeck
Can you remember the best time in your life? Like, really remember it — the sensory experience, how it affected you emotionally, the “belly feeling” (as Wend’s Riley Johnson calls it). Is the part of your life so vivid in your mind that, closing your eyes, you can mentally transport yourself back in time to relive that experience again?
Right now, as you read this, tens or hundreds of thousands of people — or maybe millions (but probably not billions) — are enjoying not just the best time of their life so far, but maybe the best time they’ll ever have. It’s a good thing we humans can’t see into the future, because we’d obsess over the clock ticking down till the moment our life ends.
Continue readingWend: Flipside Fest Pick of the Day
Posted in Interviews with tags Flipside, Flipside Festival, Wend on 09/24/2022 by Kurt Orzeck
The must-see band today, the second day of the inaugural Flipside Fest in Garden City, is actually one of the first scheduled to play. In a city with many promising bands, Wend are one of the most ambitious — and riveting.
While early in the day, Wend’s Main Stage slotting speaks volumes about a band that hasn’t yet produced a full-length. Curious music nerds looking for a point of reference might consider Rachel’s, the chamber music band from Kentucky that rode the rise of underground post-rock popularity with Quarterstick Records bandmates June of 44 and Shipping News.
Continue readingL’Éclair: Flipside Fest Pick of the Day
Posted in Interviews with tags Flipside, Flipside Festival, L'Eclair on 09/23/2022 by Kurt Orzeck
Treefort is, hands-down, Boise’s premiere music event. But once it’s over in the spring, a “long winter” of music inactivity ensues in the City of Trees. The biggest contributing factor is that Boise isn’t on the radar for most touring bands.
Enter Flipside Fest, a new three-day music event starting from today and ending Sunday in Garden City, which is next door to Boise. The team that runs Treefort Music Fest — which is trying to set up a new venue in downtown Boise — organized this shindig as well.
Continue readingNew Releases 9.2.22: Megadeth, In Grief, Ensanguinate, 156/Silence
Posted in New Releases with tags 156/Silence, Defacing God, Megadeth on 09/02/2022 by Kurt Orzeck
This week, we examine a long-awaited album by one of the biggest heavy metal bands ever, an expertly crafted debut by a Danish band and the most bottom-heavy metal/hardcore record in recent memory.
Continue readingMantar: Making New LP Was A Nightmare
Posted in Interviews with tags Mantar on 09/01/2022 by Kurt Orzeck
Ten years into their career, the German two-piece are marauding back with a new slab of sludge, black metal and melodic doom. It’s a gem of a record, even if they admit that “recording this album was no fun. It completely blew and sucked through and through.”
Read my full Mantar profile as it appears in the new issue of New Noise, which just hit stands.
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: The Wild Ones
Posted in Interviews with tags Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, BRMC, Jason Spaceman, Spiritualized on 08/28/2022 by Kurt Orzeck
Today we take a brief respite from heralding the posse of promising artists emerging post-COVID in not just the U.S. but across the world. Have no fear: We’ll get back to the up-and-comers soon enough. But for now, The Bad Penny is taking a breather and dusting off a hard-to-find yet epic conversation with the legendary Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
We’re rolling out the exhaustive interview shortly before one of San Francisco’s most iconic garage/psych bands celebrates it 25th anniversary next year. Buckle up: This cover story from the May/June 2002 issue of Amplifier is one of the more comprehensive accounts of BRMC that you’ll find anywhere.
Continue readingMuse, Sigh, Becoming the Archetype: Best New Releases
Posted in Lists with tags Becoming the Archetype, Muse, Sigh on 08/26/2022 by Kurt Orzeck
Hop over to New Noise to check out our favorite new releases that just dropped.
Creeping Death: Psycho Las Vegas Preview
Posted in Interviews with tags Creeping Death, Frozen Soul, Psycho Las Vegas on 08/09/2022 by Kurt Orzeck
It was 3 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon, the last day of Psycho Las Vegas 2021, at the House of Blues. Day Three of America’s best heavy-rock event (Day Four if you include Thursday’s kick-off pool party) often finds festival-goers picking crust out of their eyes and sipping beers with shaky hands as they brave through the finale.
Such was the case on this day — but, with the venue full to the brim, astute patrons noticed an undercurrent of anticipation that signals something special is about to go down.
Any music fan who has witnessed a show that puts over a band knows this sensation. Like an aroma guaranteeing a meal is going to deliver even before the first bite, the feeling of a band about to break is as tangible as it is undeniable.
With that, a band from Dallas called Creeping Death tore it up at the House of Blues, spewing forth a concoction of death and thrash metal that left the bleary-eyed attendees shellshocked and hungry for more.
Continue readingAmon Amarth, Liminal Shroud: Best New Releases
Posted in Album Reviews, New Releases, Reviews with tags Amon Amarth, Fearsore, Liminal Shroud on 08/05/2022 by Kurt Orzeck
Hop over to New Noise to check out our inaugural roundup of new releases that drop today.
