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.
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:
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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“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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Ivy are in the process of piecing together a second collection of songs featuring their late band member Adam Schlesinger, the band told The Bad Penny in an interview on Thursday.
“[We have a] second record [featuring Schlesinger] that is basically done – recorded, mastered, everything,” Ivy guitarist/keyboardist Andy Chase revealed to The Bad Penny. “We have [yet] to figure out when it would be the right time [to release it].”
The news comes roughly three weeks after Ivy issued Traces of You, the indie-pop band’s first album in 14 years. The album consists of 10 songs Schlesinger made with Chase and vocalist Dominique Durand from 1995 to 2012—essentially the duration of the band’s career.
Chase and Durand reunited to complete the compositions along with backing keyboardist and guitarist Bruce Driscoll, who played a pivotal role on Traces of You with his writing, mixing, production, and engineering contributions (additional players included guitarist Jody Porter and percussionist Brian Young from Fountains of Wayne).
Schlesinger was one of the first well-known American cultural figures to die from COVID shortly after the pandemic hit. The universally beloved musician was better known as the frontman of Fountains of Wayne and the stockpile of awards the profusely prolific producer/writer amassed for his work in the TV and film industry: three Emmys, one GRAMMY, and an ASCAP Pop Music Award; to boot, he notched Oscar, Tony, and Golden Globe nominations.
Bar/None Records released Traces of You on September 5.
Go to Ivy’s Bandcamp page to buy a copy of the record.
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“The desire to make something different for the sake of being different or recognized for intellectual prowess is not only pretentious but reductive and asinine. That’s the death of art to me. Great art is made equally for fulfillment of the self and to give back to the world which we are infinitely indebted to for allowing us to be or exist in the first place.“
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Today marks the end of a very, very long journey completed by a young group of particularly talented musicians. It seems almost mythical, the story we’re about to relate to you, but rest assured that every scintilla of it is true. Even if it was relayed to us by fresh-cheeked rock ‘n’ roll fans who could pass as teens. And even though they hail from Los Angeles, where fiction is often truer than the so-called truths that its residents tell one another.
Before we tell the tale of Mildred, which concludes tonight in Colorado, consider for a moment how shitty it is that society derides young people for being idealists, for having dreams, for wrapping themselves in a warm blanket of hope that they’ll lead a pleasant life because that’s what innocent human beings such as them deserve. Pause for a moment to reflect on the damage done to young people, perhaps aspiring artists in particular, when their parents or teachers or counselors decide to lower their expectations out of a misguided abundance of caution. Dreams aren’t always dashed or crushed by the failure of the individual who had the audacity to concoct them. Oftentimes dreams are disregarded because it can be a pain in the ass for the caretakers of children to help youngsters achieve them.
Fortunately, reassuringly and inspirationally, this is a story about a group of young musicians who stuck to their guns and didn’t cede their aspirations as soon as the going got tough. Much to the contrary, what you are about to read is — with all due respect to military veterans and disabled people — the act of resilience personified. And boy, can’t we at least all agree how that is in such short order these days?
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Isn’t Jeremy Enigk adorable? Cute as a bear, the softhearted might even say.
In the off-chance you’ve never heard of him before – or the even offer-chance (?) that you’ve never heard of Sunny Day Real Estate, the recently reunited post-rock pioneers – Enigk doesn’t look like this anymore. He’s all grown up now. In fact, the sweet-sounding singer/songwriter is actually celebrating his 35th birthday on Thursday, as the stalkers among us are probably well aware.
Since the above photograph was snapped, Enigk has put out a backpack’s worth of albums. But his recently released solo effort, OK Bear, actually marks the first time he’s slapped an image of himself onto a cover.
Why? Well, it’s funny you ask, because we just asked Enigk during his recent IndiePit interview, the first part of which we posted last week (you might wanna read that article before going forward with this one, since in it he provided all the 411 on OK Bear). In addition to what you read prior, we also chatted with him in detail about the album imagery and beyond.
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If Nashville band Friendship Commanders sounds familiar, it could be because you’ve visited this website before (and if that’s the case, we’re very grateful). We met the melodic post-metal doomsters in May and interviewed one-half of the band, Buick Audra, about her new solo endeavor. During the conversation, we learned about the guitarist/vocalist’s affinity for cats, and tucked away that knowledge for future use as part of The Bad Penny‘s Pet Sounds series.
Well, now is the time we’ve decided to use that card and crown Friendship Commanders as the 65th participant in our ongoing series (which launched less than a year ago, if you can believe it). The timing of this installment is even more appropriate, as the band – which also features Audra’s partner, drummer/percussionist/bassist/synth player Jerry Roe – is releasing a new album, titled BEAR, on Oct. 10 through Magnetic Eye Records.
While a couple of weeks stand between Friendship Commanders and the celebration of their bottom-heavy beast of a record, today we introduce you to two of the band’s biggest, and by far furriest, supporters.
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The Bad Penny (beta) 