For their 10th album overall and first in five years, Omaha indie-rock stalwarts Cursive didn’t opt to release Devourer through their own label, 15 Passenger – or Omaha-based Saddle Creek Records, for that matter – but rather Run for Cover Records. Read the full story in Music Connection‘s print edition or on its website.
Cursive Say ‘Easy Hangs Over Zoom’ Led To Run For Cover Signing
Posted in Interviews with tags Cursive, Mike Mogis, Tim Kasher on 08/03/2024 by Kurt OrzeckRick Froberg’s Handwritten List Of His Favorite LPs
Posted in Features, Mementos with tags Drive Like Jehu, Hot Snakes, Obits, Rick Froberg on 08/03/2024 by Kurt OrzeckIt’s unlikely we’ll again witness an underground rock musician quite like Rick Froberg, whose original, speedy and catchy post-punk stylings amounted to pure fun. The singer/guitarist and – for all intents and purposes – frontman for Drive Live Jehu, Hot Snakes, Obits and other esteemed bands tragically passed away from a heart condition around this time last year. In memory of the sweaty, spastic, singular musician, here’s a handwritten list of Froberg’s favorite albums that he sent yours truly 14 years ago:
… And You Will Know Us by the Trail Of Dead, Sigh, Black Anvil Offer Priceless Tips To Broke Bands
Posted in Interviews on 07/22/2024 by Kurt Orzeck
Check out my new series on New Noise in which veteran musicians offer advice to young and financially struggling bands on how to tour without breaking the bank. … And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Sigh and Black Anvil divulge their money-saving methods in the first installment.
Milly’s ‘Your Own Becoming’: Two Cent Review
Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews with tags Milly on 07/21/2024 by Kurt OrzeckWith Milly frontman Brendan Dyer’s gentle vocals contrasting with crunchy guitars, each of the 10 songs on their second album sound like wanna-be Silversun Pickups tunes—albeit ones that never would’ve made the cut on one of that vastly superior band’s records. Read my complete review via New Noise.
Los Campesinos!’s ‘All Hell’: Two Cent Review
Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews with tags Los Campesinos! on 07/21/2024 by Kurt Orzeck
Cardiff seven-piece Los Campesinos! are more comfortable with their identity than ever before on their seventh LP, a culmination of all the band’s genre experimentation over the past two decades. Read my full review of All Hell via FLOOD.
Refused Vocalist: ‘Revolution Isn’t Going To Happen Overnight’
Posted in Interviews with tags Dennis Lyxzén, Refused on 07/20/2024 by Kurt OrzeckWith the health of Dennis Lyxzén unclear after he apparently suffered a devastating heart attack, we send our best wishes to him—and bring you a previously unreleased interview with Lyxzén from November 2019. Go to New Noise‘s website to read our conversation, during which Refused’s main man shares how he envisions the shape of the world to come.
Kvaen’s ‘Formless Fires’: Two Cent Review
Posted in Interviews on 07/19/2024 by Kurt OrzeckNew Wave of Swedish Melodic Death Metal entry Kvaen succeed throughout the entirety of The Formless Fire, even in its weak spots, as the band’s passion for writing and performing stellar songs trumps all else. Fresh blood doesn’t get more bloodthirsty than this. Go to New Noise or click below for my full review.
Armlock’s ‘Seashell Angel Lucky Charm’: Two Cent Review
Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews with tags Armlock on 07/18/2024 by Kurt Orzeck
Melbourne duo Armlock opt for the less-is-more approach to heartfelt lyricism and layered instrumentals to deeply affecting results on their all-too-brief second record. Read my full review via FLOOD.
Idaho’s ‘Lapse’: Two Cent Review
Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews with tags Idaho on 07/17/2024 by Kurt Orzeck
Idaho is best known for producing more potatoes than anywhere else in the U.S. In recent decades, it’s become so red that Idaho is now neck and neck with Mississippi as the most right-wing state in the Union. Idaho boasts the most miles of rivers than anywhere else in the country. The majority of its residents are virulently anti-government land conservationists not just suspicious of but resentful toward anyone who isn’t a third-generation Idahoan or older. Along those same lines, what today’s Idahoans feel more strongly about than anything else is their pure, white-hot hatred of Californians.
Continue readingAt The Gates Eye Next LP; Tomas Lindberg Talks Philosophy, Literature In Epic Conversation
Posted in Interviews on 07/16/2024 by Kurt Orzeck
We left virtually no stone unturned with Lindberg, a hyper-literate social studies teacher who is far more obsessed with the magical realism of authors like Jorge Luis Borges and the philosophy of pessimism espoused by Eugene Thatcher than overexposed occultists like Aleister Crowley. Enjoy one of the headier, epic interviews with one of the most crucial members of not just MDM but of heavy metal on the whole in the last 30 years, via New Noise.
The Bad Penny (beta) 