From the Vault: Are the Pixies Milking It With Their Multitudinous Video Releases?

Posted in Album Reviews, Essays, Reviews with tags , , , , on 09/27/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

(Note: This essay was written before the Pixies released a fifth video, Live at the Town and Country Club 1988, in 2011.)

So, shocker: Some people have been suggesting in the five-plus years since Pixies re-formed that maybe the foursome – who are revving up for another trek – have only been doing it for the money. What a strange, bizarre accusation. Like the plot of a Behind the Music episode, it’s the most predictable question of all for any band getting back together: It’s been alleged of everyone from CSNY to Simon & Garfunkel to Eagles to the Stooges to My Bloody Valentine to Rage Against the Machine to Dinosaur Jr. to the Jesus Lizard and on. And on. And on.

On the other hand, there is some potentially sound evidence that raking in the clams has been the main, if not only, reason Pixies reunited. As evident in the somewhat-illuminating doc loudQUIETloud, one of the DVDs we’ll be focusing on below, David Lovering was on the verge of going broke, falling back on his career as a magician – turning tricks in order to make ends meet, if you will.

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Pet Sounds #67: Miracle Blood Draw Love From Their Guinea Pigs, Cats

Posted in Features, Interviews, Pet Sounds with tags on 09/27/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Noise punks Miracle Blood are road dogs – but it’s cats (and two guinea pigs who sadly passed away) that are the Boston-area band’s animal spirits. Guitarist/vocalist Andrew Wong, bassist Garrett Young and drummer Anthony Bollitier, in a rare break between playing gigs, were game to talk about their love for their furry friends as part of The Bad Penny‘s ongoing Pet Sounds series.

Miracle Blood’s latest album, Hello Hell, came out in November via esteemed label Nefarious Industries. But it’s their past releases that are littered – pun very much intended – with references to creatures of various sorts. There’s their August 2022 song “Pomeranian,” and then three double-single releases from 2019 on which animals are featured on their pastel covers: “Roses”/”Nurses,” “Swollen/Sentinel” and “Bloom/Polite and Calm.”

We chatted up Miracle Blood about their animal fixation, and here’s what they had to say. Or purr.

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Exclusive News: SUMAC and Moor Mother Plotting Second Collaborative LP

Posted in Exclusives, Interviews, News with tags , , , on 09/26/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

SUMAC and Moor Mother, whose collaborative record The Film is one of the most universally acclaimed metal releases of the year, are already planning a follow-up effort, SUMAC frontman Aaron Turner confirmed to The Bad Penny on Thursday.

In response to The Bad Penny noting the widespread positive reaction that SUMAC and Moor Mother received for The Film, Turner replied: “I was very pleased that it got such a warm reception. It felt like a very challenging record. I was confident in what we produced but had no expectation in terms of how it was going to be received. We’re definitely talking with her about more shows upcoming in the near future, and then a little further down the road, to make another record together. I hope that happens.”

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Exclusive Video Premiere: Linda From Work’s ‘Blood in the Water’

Posted in Exclusives, Videos with tags on 09/26/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Seattle garage/glam/dance punks Linda From Work are gearing up for the release of their eminently danceable and joyous self-titled full-length on Oct. 17 – and the band graciously gave The Bad Penny the opportunity to debut the video for its first single, “Blood in the Water.”

We chatted with the band earlier this week about the album and much more. What follows is an excerpt from the interview that deals with the song and its accompanying clip.

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White Reaper Frontman Reveals Which Songs on New LP Brought Him ‘Joy’ and ‘Trouble’

Posted in Interviews with tags , on 09/26/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

White Reaper frontman Tony Esposito candidly comments on each song featured on the Kentucky garage-rock band’s fifth full-length, Only Slightly Empty, in my feature story for FLOOD.

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Arcadea’s ‘The Exodus of Gravity’: Two Cent Review

Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews with tags , , on 09/26/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Billed as “a futuristic synth-rock odyssey set five billion years in the future, in a world where gravity no longer holds us down — literally or metaphorically — but pulsing with the urgency of now,” Arcadea set the bar a little too high with The Exodus of Gravity. It would seem that the band put more thought into the conceptual sci-fi story they concocted, which alone isn’t enough to buoy the record. Read my Treble review.

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Umlaut’s ‘Desolë’: Two Cent Review

Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews with tags , , , on 09/26/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

How the 10 songs that comprise Desolë are generally catchy is what makes this record a true marvel; it’s like watching a knuckleball thrown by a baseball pitcher circle about as if it’s lost its target, only to land smack-dab in the catcher’s glove. It takes mastery to make order out of chaos, and with Desolë, Umlaut earns that distinction. Read my Treble review.

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The Most Oxymoronic Album Title in Recent Memory Is …

Posted in Comedy with tags , , on 09/25/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

From the press release issued Tuesday:

“The first collection to feature stadium-shaking anthems from all four Creed albums, including ‘One Last Breath,’ ‘Higher,’ ‘With Arms Wide Open’ and ‘My Sacrifice.’ Digital edition out today; vinyl and CD available November 21 via Craft Recordings. Band closes out a triumphant 2025 with five-date CREEDMAS tour.”

Lord have mercy.

Much, much worthier of a listen is David Cross’ unforgettable bit on Scott Stapp, which appeared as a “hidden track” on Cross’ It’s Not Funny album:

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Pet Sounds #66: Sangre de Muérdago Frontman Lives in Paradise With His Dogs

Posted in Features, Interviews, Pet Sounds with tags , , on 09/25/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Back in mid-July, we introduced you to Sangre de Muérdago, the only Galician Folk band you have heard of. The group uses Galician lyrics and a litany of instruments used in the Galician tradition to reflect on nature, mysticism and other themes.

We also exclusively debuted “O Abismo,” the first single from Sangre de Muérdago’s full-length album O Xardín, which came out 13 days ago. The band is led by Pablo Caamiña Ursusson, who handled almost too many roles to count on O Xardín. In addition to providing vocals, he also played classical guitar, hurdy-gurdy, music box, pandero cuadrado de Peñaparda, bells, pandeireta, shaker, and steel string guitar.

Another fact about Ursusson, and probably the reason you clicked on this article: He has some of the most gorgeous dogs you’ll see (at least today). We chatted up our favorite Galician musician about his pets and how much they mean to him.

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On Tyranny: Brett Bradford of Scratch Acid, Suckling Hopes MAGA ‘Will Eat Itself’

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags , , , , , , , , , on 09/25/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

“Some who voted for [Trump] are not necessarily bad or gullible people. If that’s the case, they should very well now regret their decision and do what they can to right the wrong. They helped put the fox in the henhouse and should help to get rid of it.”

–Brett Bradford

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Recently, yours truly had the distinct honor of conducting an extraordinarily in-depth and all-encompassing interview with one of the most crucial figures in ’80s underground music and foundational guitarists in noise rock: Brett Bradford, formerly of Scratch Acid and now a member of indie-rock quartet Suckling.

The extensive feature will appear on Post-Trash on October 7, but in the meantime, we’re bringing you, separately, his thoughts on Authoritarian America as part of The Bad Penny‘s increasingly critical series called On Tyranny. Here is that portion of the interview, followed by some additional thoughts that Bradford later shared.

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