To appease man’s “best friends,” a reputation they’re going to have to do a better job living up to after all the barking they directed at us, we decided to focus our second installment of Pet Sounds on canines—specifically, ones befriended by the frontman of French brutal death-metal act Benighted. Read the interview on New Noise.
Archive for the Features Category
Brutal Death Metal Vocalist of Benighted Is Dogs’ Best Friend
Posted in Features, Interviews, Pet Sounds with tags Benighted, Julien Truchan on 10/14/2024 by Kurt OrzeckYeah, Vince McMahon Sure Is In ‘Big Trouble’
Posted in Doppelgängers, Features, Fun And Games, Polls with tags Big Trouble in Little China, Vince McMahon on 10/06/2024 by Kurt Orzeck
Lest there remain any doubt that the makers of Netflix’s new six-part docuseries about disgraced multibillionaire Vince McMahon, take a look at the kitschy movie poster that almost surely inspired Netflix’s advertising for Mr. McMahon.
The uncanny similarities between the docuseries poster and the movie poster for 1986’s Big Trouble in Little China beg a bizarre question that you’re welcome to answer in this poll:
Hollywood’s Creepy Critter Clones Capture Cinemas
Posted in Doppelgängers, Fun And Games with tags Alien, Alien Romulus, Infested on 09/10/2024 by Kurt OrzeckOpen your eyes and espy these pricey billboards for two of the summer’s scariest blockbusters. With Alien Romulus and Infested sharing almost nothing in common (we won’t spoil you with any surprises), how did this odd billboard coincidence come to pass? Could it be that the marketing execs at both studios chose to borrow (or even rip off) each other’s idea? Nah. Hollywood ain’t that cynical. Right?
This novice mistake (or prank … or whatever it is) deserves a special place in the annuals of the chronicles of cinematic history.
Check out the posters:
Alien: Romulus and Infested
Rick Froberg’s Handwritten List Of His Favorite LPs
Posted in Features, Mementos with tags Drive Like Jehu, Hot Snakes, Obits, Rick Froberg on 08/03/2024 by Kurt OrzeckIt’s unlikely we’ll again witness an underground rock musician quite like Rick Froberg, whose original, speedy and catchy post-punk stylings amounted to pure fun. The singer/guitarist and – for all intents and purposes – frontman for Drive Live Jehu, Hot Snakes, Obits and other esteemed bands tragically passed away from a heart condition around this time last year. In memory of the sweaty, spastic, singular musician, here’s a handwritten list of Froberg’s favorite albums that he sent yours truly 14 years ago:
PJ Harvey, Sonic Youth, Mastodon, Lil Nas X, Orville Peck: Wacky Merch
Posted in Features, Mementos with tags Lil Nas X, Mastodon, Orville Peck, PJ Harvey, Sonic Youth on 01/11/2024 by Kurt Orzeck
Band patches, stickers and pins are so yesteryear. Check out artist merchandise running the gamut from the hilarious to the bizarre in my latest FLOOD feature.
Bruce Licher on Creating ‘Beautiful Physical Objects of Music’ for Independent Project Records
Posted in Features, Inside The Label, Interviews with tags Bruce Licher, Independent Project Records on 08/08/2023 by Kurt OrzeckCheck out my interview with Independent Project Records founder and former UCLA art student Bruce Licher for New Noise. Buy the latest copy of the magazine, which features the story, here.
Doppelgängers: Mastodon and Metallica
Posted in Doppelgängers, Features with tags Mastodon, Metallica on 02/17/2023 by Kurt Orzeck
Metallica, the biggest metal band ever; and Mastodon, one of the best metal bands of this century, share a lot in common.
For starters, Mastodon started publicly crediting Metallica as major influence shortly after the Atlanta crew became a band in 2000. Six years later, Mastodon covered Metallica’s instrumental classic “Orion” for a tribute album tied to the 20th anniversary celebration of Metallica’s Master of Puppets.
James, Lars and the gang returned the favor a couple of years after that. The thrash gods gave the Atlanta sludge-rockers a huge break by crowning them as the openers for two of Metallica’s European tours. For good measure, 2009’s Guitar Hero: Metallica featured Mastodon’s “Blood and Thunder” as one of its playable tracks.
But the common bonds don’t stop there. There’s a truly uncanny coincidence in two songs by the metal bands, both of which deserve to sit on the Iron Throne. The numbers will be familiar to fans: “Welcome Home (Sanitarium),” from Metallica’s best (or second-best) record, 1986’s Master of Puppets; and “Megalodon,” a gem of a track from Mastodon’s breakthrough record, 2004’s Leviathan.
Continue readingDoppelgängers: ‘It Follows,’ ‘Hereditary’ and ‘In the Mouth of Madness’
Posted in Doppelgängers, Favorite Films, Features with tags Ari Aster, David Robert Mitchell, Hereditary, In the Mouth of Madness, It Follows, John Carpenter on 01/31/2023 by Kurt Orzeck
Three of the scariest horror films from the past 30 years deeply affected audiences for radically different reasons.
Continue readingGuilty Pleasures: Dez Dare Digs Grand Funk Railroad, More
Posted in Features, Guilty Pleasures, Lists with tags Dez Dare on 01/12/2023 by Kurt Orzeck
Dez Dare is up to something. Scratch that: psych/punk/garage vet Dez Dare is always up to something.
Starting on the first day of this year, the indefatigable U.K.-based punk-rock vet posted five cryptic Instagram posts piquing fans’ interest. Each post alluded to a big announcement that Dez — a.k.a. Darren Smallman — plans to make imminently.
Dez promises “records a plenty + weird videos + odd touring + a slick new website” in the posts.
Continue readingBad Penny of the Year: Nicolas Cage
Posted in Essays, Features with tags Nicolas Cage on 12/17/2022 by Kurt Orzeck
If you check out this website, you probably know it’s almost exclusively focused on music. But we’re making an exception here, because Nicolas Cage is about as rock and roll as they come. (And, for the record, his characters actually do sing sometimes, too.)
When Cage legendarily shelled out millions, as if he were allergic to money, he bought dinosaur skulls, a two-headed snake, a haunted house and shrunken pygmy heads.
That’s pretty metal, in our book. Plus, if Cage can be a presenter at Revolver‘s Golden God Awards, he’s allowed to be part of the Bad Penny family.
Continue reading
The Bad Penny (beta) 