The Bad Penny (beta)

Shellac’s ‘To All Trains’: Two Cent Review

Check out my FLOOD review of To All Trains, which is presumably the final studio album by indispensable, iconoclastic noise-rock outfit Shellac. The analysis also includes some my reflections on the band’s guitarist/vocalist and one of rock’s most singular engineers ever, Steve Albini. (His song “Bad Penny,” created with his previous outfit Big Black, inspired the name of this website.)

Days before Albini suffered a fatal heart attack at his own Electrical Audio studio in Chicago, the underground legend agreed to talk with me about To All Trains (Touch and Go), 26 years after our first and only other conversation. A transcription of that first interview will surface online soon; sadly—but not a smidgen as sad as his passing—the second rendezvous never transpired.

Leave a comment »

Jesus Lizard Interview and Exclusive News: The Naked Truth, Pt. 1

Posted in Interviews with tags David Yow, Jesus Lizard on 05/17/2024 by Kurt Orzeck

What’s up next for the gang of not-quite-yet-geriatrics? In addition to one-off festival appearances, are David Yow and company creating their special brew of music: classic-rock, spray-painted with a punk-rock sensibility? Our probe begins with this article originally published via New Noise.

Leave a comment »

Camera Obscura’s ‘Look To The East, Look To The West’: Two Cent Review

Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews with tags Camera Obscura on 05/16/2024 by Kurt Orzeck

The Glaswegian chamber-pop quartet’s comeback record finds the group nestling back into its comfort zone, soothing the soul like the band used to. Read my full review on FLOOD‘s website.

Leave a comment »

METZ’s ‘Up on Gravity Hill’: Two Cent Review

Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews with tags metz, Sub Pop on 05/11/2024 by Kurt Orzeck

The Toronto noise-punks’ fifth LP sees their familiarly angular guitars working through melodies that range from ear-sweetening to atonal, furthering the mystery that is the Sub Pop band METZ. Read more on FLOOD.

Leave a comment »

Orbit Culture Plan to ‘Come Back Big’ in 2025

Posted in Interviews with tags Century Media, Orbit Culture on 05/09/2024 by Kurt Orzeck

The Swedish metal band is eager to proving they aren’t just another melodic death-metal band from the country that brought legendary status to the subgenre. Read more of my interview with them courtesy of Music Connection.

Leave a comment »

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum ‘Got on Top of a Pile of Festering Rat Carcasses’

Posted in Interviews with tags Sleepytime Gorilla Museum on 05/07/2024 by Kurt Orzeck

Don’t believe that headline? Check out my feature on the wild — and wildly unclassifiable — band in my Music Connection profile.

Leave a comment »

Inter Arma’s ‘New Heaven’: Two Cent Review

Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews with tags Inter Arma on 05/04/2024 by Kurt Orzeck

The Virginia sludge quintet’s fifth album, issued via Relapse Records, exhibits Inter Arma’s penchant for probing the innards of metal and reconstructing it into a seamless new visage. Read more on FLOOD.

Leave a comment »

Flipside Fest’s Fall Festivities Fizzle for 2024

Posted in News with tags Flipside Festival, Treefort on 04/29/2024 by Kurt Orzeck

In another setback for the struggling music scene in Boise, Idaho, the promoter of Flipside Fest announced today that they have canceled this year’s installment of the event.

The promoters behind the festival, The Duck Club, said the multi-stage, multi-day event will happen again next year. Nevertheless, the cancellation of Flipside Fest 2024 is the latest black eye for concert organizers in Boise, following one of the most lackluster Treefort Fest events in recent memory.

“Don’t worry, Flipside friends: We will be back!” read a post on the website for promoter The Duck Club. “You may be asking, ‘Why is Flipside taking a year off?’ To put it simply: the Duck Club team needs a bit of a summer break.”

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

Drahla’s ‘Angeltape’: Two Cent Review

Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews with tags Captured Tracks, Drahla on 04/27/2024 by Kurt Orzeck

Drahla’s sophomore album, released via Captured Tracks, sees the Leeds-based trio overcoming grief over instrumental flourishes that recall yesteryear while artfully resisting the lure of entering a time machine. Read more of my album review on FLOOD.

Leave a comment »