Archive for Florist

See Florida’s Face-Flattening Fearsome Foursome Florist Say Adios to Their Stomping Ground, Crowbar

Posted in Interviews, Videos with tags , , , , on 07/27/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

One chapter ends and another one begins.

Florist – a band from Tampa, Florida – left desert-doom devourers speechless after releasing their first album, Contact, in 2023. They’ve been on a roll since then and just signed two weeks ago to Ripple Music, perhaps the fastest-growing heavy-metal record label on the planet. But while Florist’s prospects are bright – Ripple is reissuing their Adrift EP on August 21 – the band was bittersweet when The Bad Penny caught up with them on Friday.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

10 Best Free Bandcamp Downloads #17: Restless Spirit, Meltt, Florist, Nott, Délirant, Couch Slut Covers Fugazi

Posted in Lists, MP3s with tags , , , , , , , , on 07/24/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

Welcome to the 17th installment of The Bad Penny‘s Bandcamp Freebie series, in which we handpick our favorite free songs on the platform and dish them up for your consumption. Are we gonna get out of this thing alive, dear readers? Let’s not think of that, shall we, even though I just asked you.

Ladies and gentlemen, we entreat you with our latest batch of free music of the highest quality. (And the lowest price.) Not as many full-lengths time around as in recent editions past. But we think you’ll survive. All 10 titles featured here free. And yes, you ARE welcome.

(Note: If you’re financially capable of supporting any of these artists and/or labels, please consider doing so.)

1. Restless Spirit’s “Clarity,” 1922 EP, “Ripped From Me” and Harvest EP

Restless Spirit came through Boise last year and blasted the doors off the Shredder with the mighty Gozu. Desert rock, stoner metal, prog and psych rock … Restless Spirit touch almost all the heavy-music bases on the self-titled album they released last year through Magnetic Eye. As a way of congratulating them on their recent tour with another breakout band worth hobbing knobs with, Witch Ripper, find all the Restless Spirit goodies mentioned above at a pay-what-you-want rate on Bandcamp.

2. Meltt’s s/t EP

We’ve had lotsa fun with Meltt in recent years, chatting up Vancouver’s most dependable source of psych-rock before their Treefort Music Fest set in 2003 and gabbing with them about their favorite movies a few years later. Well, today we’re privileged to welcome them into yet another one of The Bad Penny‘s ongoing series, Bandcamp Freebies. Meltt have a formidable catalog; hear for yourself.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

The Bad Penny’s Top 50 Best LPs of 2025, Pt. 3: Keep, Florist, Pharaoh Overlord, Gaupa, Igorrr

Posted in Album Reviews, Lists, Reviews with tags , , , , , , , , , on 12/14/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

A lot of fucked-up up shit happened in the U.S. this year. Way, way too much of it. For many of us Americans who actually carry values in our hearts instead of bloviating about them or slapping bumper stickers on our monster trucks, it was almost too much to bear.

Fortunately, 2025 also saw the release of a staggering number of stellar records, which made the year a little more … well, bearable. Hence, for the first time ever, The Bad Penny is deviating from its usual annual tradition of limiting out favorite listens to just 10 and breaking them into a five-part series containing 10 records per installment.

What follows is the third batch. (Go here for The Bad Penny‘s favorite albums, #31 through #40 and here for The Bad Penny‘s favorite albums, #41 through #50.)

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »