Double features have historically been exclusively for movies, such as midnight horror double features or drive-in movie specials. For curated double features, the movies are usually related somehow, through aesthetic, genre, or director. But what about albums that would make great double features? For those looking for a couple of albums to play back-to-back, we’ve got it covered.
‘viagr aboys’ by Viagra Boys and ‘3D Country’ by Geese
A Viagra Boys/Geese double feature works so well no matter which albums are paired together. Here, we’ve paired viagr aboys from 2025 and 3D Country from 2023, but any configuration of their discography would work. The main element that brings these two bands together is their unpredictability. Especially on the first few listens, there’s no way to predict what Sebastian Murphy or Cameron Winter are going to say next. Whatever phrases you think are going to come out of their mouths, there’s an almost certain guarantee its going to be a sequence of words you’ve never heard before.
Inventive and absurdist songwriting is a strength for these two bands. Musically, they both allow themselves to be messy and unpolished. They’re a bit unruly, wild, unconcerned with being perceived. Just total freaks making absurdist rock music for other freaks, the way it’s supposed to be.
‘Ultra Mono’ by IDLES and ‘Who Let The Dogs Out’ by Lambrini Girls
IDLES’ 2020 album Ultra Mono works well as accompaniment to Lambrini Girls’ 2025 album Who Let the Dogs Out. This double feature is a blast of pure, unbridled rage right to the face. Vocally, there’s so much to like about both bands. Phoebe Lunny and Joe Talbot possess a power in their voices specific to rangy punk music, where it sounds like every word is being forced out of their throats. Lunny will often simply scream, a release of pent-up energy that could level a city block.
Another linking element of these two albums is a focus on highly personal yet universal issues. There’s a lot of rage bubbling just under the surface of Ultra Mono. On Who Let the Dogs Out, it boils over and sets everything on fire. In that way, these albums complement each other. Not just musically and vocally, but emotionally.
‘Dreams in the Rat House’ by Shannon and the Clams and ‘Takin’ Care of Fizzness’ by Sick Fizz
Shannon and the Clams’ 2013 album Dreams in the Rat House is a delightfully vintage rock album of the band’s signature acid-rock-garage-jazz surrealism. For its double feature, Sick Fizz’s 2025 surf punk exhibition Takin’ Care of Fizzness is a great complement. While these two albums differ stylistically, they’re more complementary than one might think.
Sick Fizz leans more punk than Shannon and the Clams, so their album is a bit more unrefined and loose. But Shannon and the Clams’ fuzzed-out technique also gives them an unpolished sound, but more retro. Where Sick Fizz goes full-tilt Australian surf punk (Rat Fink imagery and everything), Shannon and the Clams drifts through something like punk rock if it happened in the 50s. These albums make for an interesting double feature, but one that’s definitely memorable.
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