Variant Cause | The Bad Penny (beta)

Archive for Variant Cause

10 Best Free Bandcamp Downloads #16 (Albums-Only Edition): Alienatör, Nux Vomica, all under heaven, Iris Temple, Carbon Tomb, Variant Cause

Posted in Lists, MP3s with tags 'Deadly Vision' OST, Alienatör, all under heaven, Audiarrhea, Carbon Tomb, Hässlig, Iris Temple, Nux Vomica, Side-Line Magazine, Variant Cause on 07/17/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

Welcome to the 16th 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. We deserve lotsa high-fives this time around, because all 10 picks are full-lengths – of the highest quality, naturally – which makes us the most benevolent music outlet on the website. And which, in turns, explains we’re so unimaginably financially destitute that Merriam-Webster needs to adopt a new phrase for it.

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

1. Alienatör’s Pariahs (September 2019) and Regrets (November 2002) (self-released with help from the Canada Council for the Arts)

Hailing from Thunder Bay, Ontario – the municipality where Paul Shaffer also famously (?) grew up – Alienatör held the noise-rock torch between the years they released their two full-lengths. Whether Brad King (vocals, guitar); Sean Skillen (bass, vocals); and Simon Paquette (drums) threw in the towel after those two marvelous migraine-inducers is unclear. The three guys might also have a new album on their hands – but we say that without a shred of certainty, as there’s no mention of it on Alienatör’s Bandcamp page, and their Instagram account is still hyping Regrets. Isn’t that like two newlywed parents getting strangers to kiss their baby in Target because it’s a newborn? Perhaps the Target redshirt on duty can answer our questions. More likely, though, questions, critiques and the like will melt away upon taking Alienatör’s Pariahs and Regrets out for a test drive.

2. Side-Line Magazine‘s United 1 – The Freya Files and United 2 – The Odin Files by various artists (Side-Line)

If you’re even somewhat aware of The Bad Penny‘s devotion to democracy and whole-scale rejection of fascism, it’ll come as no surprise to you that we included these two comps – both released Friday – in our latest Bandcamp Freebies roundup. In fact, we just published an illuminating conversation with Bernard Van Isacker, the Belgian magazine editor and music fan who helped see these Ukraine-supporting collections to fruition. Learn a thing or two about the Ukraine/Russia war that could determine the fate of democracy in that part of the world, and throw down (as little or as much as you want) for these two darkwave compendiums.

Continue reading →

10 Best Free Bandcamp Downloads #15 (All LPs/EPs): Verdun, Austerity Program, In Tears, Holy Pinto, Malevich

Posted in Lists, MP3s with tags haha Laughing, Hässlig, Holy Pinto, In Tears, Malevich, Oceanlord, The Austerity Program, Variant Cause, Verdun, Your Trip Is Short on 06/28/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

Welcome to the 15th 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. We deserve lotsa high-fives this time around, because all 10 picks are full-lengths – of high quality, of course – which makes us the most benevolent music outlet on the website. And which, in turns, explains we’re so financially destitute there needs to be a new phrase for it.

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

1. Verdun – Abyssal Womb

You likely won’t remember – because it’d be weird if you did – that a Verdun song was feature on a compilation issued by our favorite most-generous record label, Transcending Obscurity, in January of this year. If you remember liking that song – we’ll say it again, you must have some kind of brain disorder or you’re wicked smaht, because we have zero recollection of it ourselves – then download Abyssal Womb immediately. They’re French. They traffic in the scummiest strains of metal: doom, blackened sludge, all the components of a healthy diet of despicable debris for the ears. Why aren’t you listening yet.

2. The Austerity Program – Backsliders and Apostates Will Burn

Yours truly interviewed The Austerity Program for Treble 13 months ago, and it was a good time. The better man participating in the conversations was fast-talking Justin Foley, one-half of the noise-rock duo, who works full-time as a union organizer as well. The band just posted their 2010 record, Backsliders and Apostates Will Burn, for free on Bandcamp. It’s the latest sign that Foley and his bandmate, bassist Thad Calabrese, are far more badass than the rest of us heathens ever will be.

3. Variant Cause – Hit Songs Vol. 1

Variant Cause are one of those bands that were so cool it’s like their speed was set to hyperdrive and we could only marvel at them zooming over our heads like that Empire Strikes Back scene in which Han, Leia, Chewy and C-3P-lame-0 witness something like that happening. Spokane’s Variant Cause were a revered anti-grunge band before the movement even started in Seattle; somewhat ironically, the most important grunge studio wizard, Jack Endino, has worked his magic on these Variant Cause tracks, and the results are righteous.

Continue reading →