Kurt Orzeck
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Articles by Kurt Orzeck
5 Questions with Porcelain
Porcelain are about to shatter expectations with Today’s Minor Victories, the Austin band’s second record that arrives at the end of this week. I can say this with authority because I’ve had the privilege of listening to the heavy band’s record in advance, and it blows their self-titled debut from two years ago out of the water. If you want immediate proof, check out first single “Apocalypse,” which sounds like an Unwound or Atombombpocketknife song that neither band ever got around to releasing.
8 Great Psychedelic Albums from Summer 2026
We often forget that psychedelic music takes on more forms, embraces more sub-genres, than any other music style. It’s a tall order to even count them all: psych-pop, psych-rock, psych-soul, psych-rap, desert/stoner rock, acid rock and freakbeat are a small sampling of psychedelic music offshoots.
Spread Joy : III
In the age of Bandcamp dominance, far too many artists underestimate themselves. It’s best evidenced by decision to post their work at pay-what-you-want pricing. Spread Joy are one of those bands, an underdog post-punk posse from Chicago that could be leaders of the pack. Guided by their self-endowed motto “How to make furniture without tools,” the innovative quartet is growing by leaps and bounds.
Green Lung : Necropolitan
Whereas most artists put blood, sweat and tears into ensuring that their records bear a consistent sound, theme, story line—or all three—Green Lung torched that handbook well before creating Necropolitan. If you thought Black Sabbath threw curveballs with “Changes,” “FX” and “Laguna Sunrise” on Vol. 4, you’ll be agog by what’s in store when you listen to Green Lung’s fourth album for the first time.
5 Questions with Slothrust
For all the buzz that began surrounding Slothrust a few years ago, it’s hard to believe the LA-based band actually formed all the way back in 2010.
Pixies, “Bossanova” [2026 Remaster]
Pixies Bossanova [2026 Remaster] 4AD Let’s make a deal: I won’t devote real estate in this review to pillory the crap quality that saddled the cassette version of Bossanova upon its initial release in 1990, lest those who have jumped on the tape revival bandwagon be offended.
Alabama Shakes, “I Must Be Dreaming”
Alabama Shakes I Must Be Dreaming ISLAND Given that Alabama Shakes have become a household name among even casual rock and roll fans, it’s striking that they only issued two studio records prior to this one during their early-2010s run.
‘70s Albums That Were Punk Before Punk Existed
“Punk” music didn’t start in 1976 or 1977, with Ramones’ self-titled album or Leave Home, which came out in those years, respectively. Sex Pistols didn’t launch the genre with the four singles and album (Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols) the British band released in those same years. The same goes for The Clash’s self-titled debut, released in 1977; The Damned’s Damned Damned Damned and Music for Pleasure, both issued in 1977; or albums by the Buzzcocks, Black Flag or MC5.
John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter & Daniel Davies : Cathedral
There are few film directors more paradoxical than Mr. Carpenter. Responsible for some of the best outrageous yet effective sci-fi and horror flicks of the past half-century (The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China, They Live, Halloween)—initially rejected by Hollywood because they were considered too low-brow—Carpenter has experienced more delayed appreciation than most.
Shudder to Think Prime's First EP in Nearly Three Decades, Release New Video
Just a couple of months after ‘90s indie-rock/post-hardcore legends Shudder to Think announced four autumn concerts for later this year, Monday brought even more seismic news: Craig Wedren and his band of misfits – well, they used to be in their younger years; now they’re matured into very fine gentlemen – are putting out their first record in an eyeball-bursting three decades. Now, don’t get too excited: Who Sent You?
Maria BC’s Marathon Tour of the US Comes to a Close
When an artist decides to devote more time, energy and effort to songwriting than production – as ambient artist Maria BC decided to do with their third album, Marathon – it’s almost inevitable that the musician examines not only themself but their relationship to the world around them.
Brandi Carlile’s ‘Concert for Minneapolis’ Is Now Free to Watch on YouTube
It seemed inevitable from the moment that Brandi Carlile walked onstage to perform a massive benefit concert in the wake of the ICE-provoked melees that occurred in Minneapolis six months ago that her performance would be historic. Now the soaring singer-songwriter is helping solidify the importance and magnitude of the show by making it available for free on YouTube for all to see.
5 Questions with Ty Segall
Ty Segall has become so frequently associated with the revival of garage rock that it can be difficult to remember that he’s his own person. After starting his solo career over 20 years ago, he’s put out more music than Genghis Khan spawned children; his solo releases are too heavy to carry with two arms, and at the same time, his resumé includes tenures with about a dozen bands and collaborations with, well, why are we even bothering to quantify his output anymore? You get the drift.
The Grief Abides: A conversation with Mastodon
Pop stars sing about love. Heavy metal bands play songs about death and violence. It’s the way it’s been since the beginning of time (or, more accurately, since the genres came into being about 100 and 60 years ago, respectively). But what separates the artists from the amateurs is the veracity of how they deliver their material.
Cornelius Breaks the Rules Yet Again – to Winning Results – with New LP Released Today
Holdingcourt in Japan as one of the country’s most enigmatic and reclusive, yet culturally influential musicians of the 21st century (and at the tail end of the 20th century too), Cornelius is making yet another surprise comeback. In step with the artist’s bucking of the rules, he’s releasing a new album on a Wednesday, as opposed to Tuesday or Friday, when the vast majority of records become available for the first time.
Wild Pink, “Still Coming Down”
After documenting his recovery from cancer on 2024’s Dulling the Horns, John Ross returns with an album that reassures us that healing is always within our grasp. Wild Pink Still Coming Down FIRE TALK Wild Pink materialized in 2015 and, in the marketing-saturated world of the music business, faced some challenges from the start.
Hulder : Verbolgen
Verbolgen—which translates to “indignant,” among other English words, in Dutch—may well be perceived as a turning point in black metal, which is currently the fastest-evolving and therefore most fascinating subgenre in heavy music.
The David Bowie Line in 'Heroes' Written About Two Real People Against the Berlin Walla
“Heroes” continues to be one of the most enduring songs in the catalog of David Bowie, whose legacy continues to grow stronger every year since his passing, thanks to the many barriers he broke during his tenure as one of pop music’s most well-respected artists.
Destroy Erase Improve: 30th Anniversary Edition and Catch Thirtythree: 20th Anniversary Edition
Most everyone familiar with Meshuggah can recall the first time they heard their music. That’s because it was foreign, even unworldly to the most seasoned of heavy metal fans. Sustained, pulverizing riffs that congregated like a coven of witches summoning some evil force through their trance-like unification.
REZN, “Cycles in the Infinite Dream”
REZN Cycles in the Infinite Dream SARGENT HOUSE As defined by Merriam-Webster, REZN is the unappealing detritus that accrues at the bottom of a utensil used to ingest marijuana. All right, maybe that M-W citation is BS, but the rest of the sentence is on-point. And it also bears no application to the psych-doom band of the same name that first reared its head in Chicago a decade ago.
The Black Drumset, “Friends In Dark Places”
ALBUM OF THE DAY The Black Drumset, “Friends In Dark Places” By Kurt Orzeck · July 27, 2026 the Black Drumset Austin, Texas ... Friends in Dark Places the Black Drumset . / pre-order buy pre-order buy go to album go to track go to album go to track . 00:10 / 00:58 the Black Drumset Austin, Texas pre-order buy pre-order buy go to album go to track go to album go to track Austin’s The Black Drumset isn’t just a band, it’s an experiment.
The Creem, “A Taste of Cherry”
The Creem A Taste of Cherry CMN The Creem’s debut is a four-leaf clover of a record: hard to find, somewhat mysterious as to its origins, and certain to bring a smile to your face. A joint affair between Nick Thorburn of Islands and Mike Stroud of Ratatat, anyone familiar with the duo’s respective lanes of innocent, feel-good indie-pop will likely get goosebumps upon learning that the two have paired for a new project.
Left to Die, “Initium Mortis”
ALBUM OF THE DAY Left to Die, “Initium Mortis” By Kurt Orzeck · July 23, 2026 Left to Die Tampa, Florida ... Initium Mortis Left to Die . / pre-order buy pre-order buy go to album go to track go to album go to track . 00:10 / 00:58 Left to Die Tampa, Florida pre-order buy pre-order buy go to album go to track go to album go to track Merch for this release: Vinyl LP, Compact Disc (CD), Cassette, T-Shirt/Shirt Music industry B.S. nearly claimed Death—their first incarnation, anyway.
Mono : Snowdrop | Album review | Treble
It wasn’t a trend per se, but in the late ‘90s, three Japanese bands of exceptional talent voyaged to the States and were welcomed with open arms: psych-rock sorcerers Acid Mothers Temple, post-metal stage strutters Boris and Mono. It’s remarkable enough that the trio of bands are all still active, touring and making new music.
Mekons, “Horrorble (Mekons vs. Tony Maimone in Dub Conference)”
At the ripe age of 50, the Leeds post-punk/alt-country collective revisits last year’s under-the-radar Horror LP as a dub record with the aid of Pere Ubu’s Tony Maimone. Aren’t familiar with Mekons? Well, you may be in the majority, even among punk historians—and that’s a damn shame.
Warning : Rituals of Shame
It doesn’t happen all the time, but certainly sometimes trained ears can detect when what they are hearing are songs whose creator has spent years, if not decades, chiseling, reworking, chipping away at and eventually sanding them to what he considers to be as close to perfection as he can accomplish. If such songs were chopped apart lengthwise, at least a couple dozen rings would be exposed on the trunk.
Cola : Cost of Living Adjustment
Here we have one of the most ornately beautiful-sounding albums of the year thus far, with lyrical content that is often bleaker than what you’d find on a black-metal record. Finding the sweet spot between nascent (and even naive) post-punk of the ‘80s and the newest, melodic permutation of the sound, Cost of Living Adjustment or C.O.L.A. is a record that could only be made with two previous efforts already in the can.
Converge, “Hum of Hurt”
Converge Hum of Hurt EPITAPH/DEATHWISH Back in 1990, if you had told any of the hardcore-punk faithful that one of their favorite new bands would ever dip their toes into the seas of concept records, you’d get a look of derision, a laugh, or a knuckle sandwich. Converge have insisted in their public statements that Hum of Hurt is not to be coupled in any way with Love Is Not Enough, which came out roughly three and a half months ago.
The 8 Best Psychedelic Albums of Winter 2026
We often forget that psychedelic music takes on more forms, embraces more sub-genres, than any other music style. It’s a tall order to even count them all: psych-pop, psych-rock, psych-soul, psych-rap, desert/stoner rock, acid rock and freakbeat are a small sampling of psychedelic music offshoots. (Yours truly spoke about this exact topic a few weeks ago, after Pat Leonard—host of the Ohio-based WCRS LP-FM program The Ear Opener—interviewed this writer about psychedelic music.
Elder, “Through Zero”
Elder Through Zero BLUES FUNERAL The magic of Elder continues to be their rare ability to win over listeners who’d normally consider doomy rock music to be a form of abuse.
Future Islands, “From a Hole in the Floor to a Fountain of Youth”
Future Islands From a Hole in the Floor to a Fountain of Youth 4AD Currently playing shows on a stretch they’re calling the “Fountain of Youth Tour,” Future Islands have had a fixation on age and the concept of time elapsing in general since the get-go. But don’t mistake that for vanity; to the contrary, time is a gift in that it inherently provides us with the present—and, thus, the opportunity to be conscious of the bounty of life itself that each of us have—at every given moment.
Led Zeppelin Officially Broke Its Post-Breakup Vow — and Set a Ticket-Sales Record
When Led Zeppelin’s founding drummer, John Bonham, died due to an alcohol overdose in 1980, the classic-rock band broke up, and its three surviving members vowed to never reunite. Guitarist Jimmy Page, vocalist Robert Plant, and bassist John Paul Jones did so informally a few times, mostly for tribute events.
Sonny Rollins, Master Saxophonist and Jazz Pioneer, Dead at 95
Sonny Rollins, widely considered to be one of the greatest saxophonists of all time, has died, according to a Sunday post on his Facebook page. He was 95 years old. "It is with deep sorrow and profound love that we announce the passing of Sonny Rollins," read a statement posted on the page at approximately 10 p.m. ET.
5 Questions with Tigers Jaw
To cop from a Stephen King story title, “Here There Be Tygers.” Don’t recoil; I’m not referring to the ones that tear off the faces of human beings, but rather to Tigers Jaw and the journey the band takes into unexplored territory on their seventh studio effort, Lost on You. “The only thing we want to steer clear of is making the exact same record twice,” insists Brianna Collins of the record, which was released back in March.
Weird Nightmare : Hoopla
Where is the line between what we consider to be a dream and a nightmare? You’d think the answer would be clear-cut: dreams evoke joy whereas nightmares trigger fear. But as the dualistic mind falls to the wayside amid the progression of human intelligence, so does binary thinking: To put it simply, reality is rarely black and white.
Winston Hightower, “100 Acre Wood”
Winston Hightower 100 Acre Wood PERENNIAL There’s perhaps no type of musician more impressive than one who can let their creative juices flow freely as they write and assemble songs—and then make order out of chaos by ultimately producing a coherent album. Such is the case with Winston Hightower and his second album, 100 Acre Wood.
Without Dave Grohl's Punk-Rock Roots, Nirvana Would Be Forgotten
When Nirvana signed to a major label in 1990, they had already established a strong fan base in their hometown of Seattle thanks to the underground success of Bleach, their debut album. But even though the band was just a trio, the consistency of its lineup was tested by a Spinal Tap-esque rotating cast of drummers (the last of which was Dave Grohl).
Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme Reveals the Secret Behind His Famous Rock Collaborations
As the only remaining original member of Queens of the Stone Age, Josh Homme is synonymous with the band that boasts substantial critical repute, commercial success, and peer respect. But as QOTSA proceeds deeper into their 30th year, they’re preparing for two of their highest-profile tours yet this summer, with Foo Fighters in the U.S. and System of a Down in Europe, respectively.
Failure, “Location Lost”
Failure Location Lost FAILURE/ARDUOUS/VIRGIN Of all the many underappreciated alt-rock bands from the 1990s, Failure may have been the most underappreciated. Spurned by snobs when Slash (the Warner affiliate, not the top-hat-wearing guitarist) signed them right out of the gate, the group drifted in the netherworld between the mainstream and underground rock scenes, preventing them from drawing much of a fanbase within either.
5 Questions with White Denim
White Denim slinked into existence in the mid-2000s in Austin while swapping band members and even the capacity of the garage-psych-dub-soul-jazz-prog band’s configuration. It took a couple of years for the project to coagulate, but once it did, listeners sick of genre-pigeonholing gravitated toward the hard-to-categorize band and other groups equally adept at cross-pollination that they may have inspired.
A Place to Bury Strangers : Rare and Deadly
When’s the right time for a band to take a breather and do some housecleaning in the form of sweeping cutting-room floor songs into a tidy pile? Nearly a quarter-century sounds about right, especially for a prolific band like A Place to Bury Strangers, who count seven studio albums and 14 EPs—yes, you read that right—to their name.
Filth Is Eternal, “Impossible World”
Filth Is Eternal Impossible World MNRK HEAVY Could it be that Filth Is Eternal, a Seattle punk band birthed during COVID, knew that while the pandemic would eventually subside, the hedonistic, depraved moral rot that the crisis exposed at the core of the human race would not? It doesn’t matter.
José González, “Against the Dying of the Light”
With his fifth album, the Swedish songwriter considers his deepest of existential queries while maintaining the effervescent, seductive sound that’s the strongest through line in his career. José González Against the Dying of the Light MUTE More than three decades after plunging headfirst into life as a musician, there seems to be very little that José González hasn’t accomplished yet.
5 Questions with Bosse-de-Nage
Experimental post-black-metal band Bosse-de-Nage are a rather elusive lot—as one might expect an experimental post-black-metal band to be. More than 15 years ago, reliably rad record label The Flenser embraced the San Francisco crew as one of its first signings. Yet both parties did so without much ballyhoo, leaving fans of adventurous and challenging heavy music with more questions than answers. Especially because the quartet has still only played 19 concerts to date.
Puma Blue Walks Us Through the “Unnatural” Processes Behind New LP “Croak Dream”
Rather than compiling a double album or reimagining material into acoustic form, Puma Blue’s Jacob Allen created two entirely separate albums from the same creative spark. Released a year apart nearly to the day, last February’s Antechamber and this past month’s Croak Dream are something of a yin and yang to each other.
Mirah, “Dedication”
Gently playful with a fire burning underneath, the artist’s first record in seven years signifies her devotion to the craft of making music, whether the light in her career is burning bright or dim. Mirah Dedication DOUBLE DOUBLE WHAMMY Call it a seven-year itch. Shortly after Mirah embarked on her career in her early twenties, Phil Elverum snatched her up and crowned the irresistibly pleasant songwriter to be part of his experimental folk project The Microphones.
Worry Club, “I’m Freaking Out”
Worry Club I’m Freaking Out GOOD LUCK HAVE FUN/BROKE We’re all quite familiar with the oxymoronic expression “an audience of one”—so who’s gonna stop Worry Club from tweaking the idiom a wee bit?
Cat Power - "Redux (The Greatest 20th Anniversary)" | Album Review — POST-TRASH
by Kurt Orzeck It wasn’t too long ago that an artist could build a massive following by presenting authentic self instead of devoting hours upon hours to self-promotion in lieu of honing their craft. Cat Power is a case study in what we’ve lost by prioritizing clicks, hits, and views over quality. Cat Power is the real deal, and she’s achieved what every artist should aspire to: letting their work speak for itself.
Ratboys Are Singin’ to Bigger Rooms
Chicago’s Ratboys don’t live in sewers, nor do they carry infectious diseases. As a matter of fact, not every Ratboy is even a boy. Even so, as the band’s moniker suggests, they can tap into their inner child at any given moment, whether it be on their records or at their shows—or even in interviews. What could be referred to as “the fifth Ratboy” is an alien that wears a sleep mask and can be inflated onstage to add even more silliness to the band’s performances.
Remember Sports : The Refrigerator
Pop-punk is a genre where, because of its playful and sunny nature, it’s easy to tell which musicians who perform songs in that strain of music are having a good time and putting their heart into it—and those who just phone it in. To be fair, it’s tough to put on a happy face and mean it when you’re not in the mood. And getting older, it becomes increasingly difficult to find the act of discovery and therefore to rouse the joy comes with it.
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