I <3 Candy Corn!!!

So I can't stress how entirely fitting making a mix of horror-themed songs was during fall semester midterms. It was hard to resist making this an entire mix of horror punk and Bauhaus singles, but I'm pretty satisfied with my results.

Enjoyment of this playlist is best complemented with a bowl of candy corn (or, let's be honest, popcorn balls are awesome too).

01. Daniel Johnston - I'll Never Marry
02. A Raincoat - It Came In The Night [ The very cool and quirky soundtrack from the short film Rabbit's Moon ]
03. Pavement - The Killing Moon [ Throwing the original in here would've been too easy ]
04. Public Image Ltd. - Death Disco
05. Le Tigre - Phanta
06. Funboy Five - Life After Death
07. Evil Dead: The Musical - Death Is A Bitch [ Sort of a silly intermission.. ]
08. Mazzy Star - Ghost Highway
09. Eels - Fresh Blood
10. Sonovac - Human Fly [ A cover originally done by the Cramps - I told you I'd get my horror punk in here! ]
11. Bush Tetras - Too Many Creeps
12. The Misfits - Monster Mash [ Campy as f*ck, but a ubiquitous track for a Halloween mix nonetheless ]
13. David Bowie - Please Mr. Gravedigger
14. CSS - Pretend We're Dead [ Something candy corn-level of sugary sweet they did for BBC Radio 1 back in '07 ]

Download the mix here (until I figure out how to embed links): http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XY709108 .

Ditties For The Dearly Departed

... so "spooky" I'm not so good at, but "kooky" and "altogether ooky" I can do. These are some of my favorite Halloween songs, gathered together to chill and to thrill in the classic tradition:

1. Los Straitjackets -- The Munsters Theme
2. Jonathan Coulton -- Re: Your Brains
3. Minibosses -- Theme to Castlevania III
4. Ray Parker, Jr. -- Ghostbusters
5. White Zombie -- I'm Your Boogie Man
6. Alice Cooper -- Feed My Frankenstein
7. Oingo Boingo -- Dead Man's Party
8. Bobby Pickett -- The Monster Mash
9. Cliff Richard -- Devil Woman
10. AC/DC -- Evil Walks
11. The Blues Brothers with Dr. John -- Season of the Witch
12. CAKE -- Pentagram
13. Hummie Mann -- Main Title from "The Addams Family"
14. Ozzy Osbourne -- Bark At The Moon
15. Warren Zevon -- Werewolves of London
16. Boston Pops -- In The Hall of The Mountain King

I hope it's not too cheezy... but I'm sure to do better next time! This is my first mix and I'm still getting used to my programming... hey...!

Download "Ditties For The Dearly Departed"

Halloweenie: Dead Alive Disco

Technology Fail: Due to an alarmingly slow internet connection, I too had to resort to the one-song-at-a-time upload strategy, despite having my folder RAR-ing to go, (get it? YOU'RE WELCOME).

Anyhow, full tracklist available here, with requisite individual links below.

While I can't surpass the genuine macabre of Midnight Mary or the high lol-factor of Werewolf Bar Mitzvah, here's my very own rag-tag collection of Malevolent Melodies, (DJ Jazzy Jeff counts as one of those, right?) Warning: I steer very heavily towards novelty, and things you might hear on some Hell-bound country hayride.

1.) Bauhaus- Bela Lugosi's Dead

Pardon the (sort of) repeat; but this song is definitely Halloween incarnate. Also, if I were ever the Final Girl in a slasher movie, I'd like to think this song would score the last climactic fight scene.

2.)Alice Cooper- Welcome to my Nightmare

Yea, this is on the playlist. Deal with it.

3.)Dead Kennedys- Halloween

4.)The Zombies- A Rose for Emily

A song based on one of the creepiest classic American short stories ever.

5.)Gillian Welch- Wind and Rain

Halloween is the perfect time for a good old fashioned murder ballad. This is one of my favorites- jealousy, murder, and a haunted fiddle made of a dead girl's bones. Also, there's totally a Twilight Zone episode based on the same legend; awesome factor +100 points.

6.) DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince- Nightmare on My Street

I know two fellows who have some serious problems on their street- a decomposing dream stalker and some potential copyright infringement issues among them.

7.) Chemical Bomb- Aquabats

Eyes melting and rivers of blood washing mankind from earth. Apocalyptic scenarios for the win.

8.)The Animals- We Gotta Get Out of this Place

Look out! It's Jon and Kate OF THE DEAD.

9.)Violent Femmes- Country Death Song

10.) The White Stripes- Little Ghost

11.) Blue Oyster Cult- Joan Crawford

She has risen from the grave!

12.) Ramones- Pet Sematary

13.) The Misfits- Halloween

As you can tell, I'm pretty good at themes.

14.)Iron Maiden- The Number of the Beast

I'd like to dedicate this one to Vivian.

15.)Jefferson Airplane- White Rabbit

I feel this song is creepy enough to warrant inclusion.

16.)The Blue Sky Boys- Down the Banks of the Ohio

Capping out with one last murder ballad. A rejected marriage proposal leads to another death by a river bank. We'd all do well to avoid Southern river banks.

BONUS TRACK:

17.)Charlie Daniels Band- The Devil Went Down to Georgia

Pardon the Repeat Part 2: Sorry High School Kyle, But I demand some genuine fiddle-faddlin'.

All Hallows' Eve

So I felt as though if anyone was more equipped to deliver the scary, spooky, disturbing, or generally unsettling halloween mix, it was me. Therefore even though this mix is a bit long, and I had enough material to make 3 more of these, I think I delivered a pretty creeptastic mix to listen to in the dark and encourage nightmares.

The monster mashy moments aren't plentiful here, but here is some scattered commentary that I think will add some extra dimensions to your listening experience:

I suggest reading up about the The Conet Project and number stations in general, adds a whole spooky level to the recordings.

In addition anything by Scott Walker owns, and the fact that he faded into obscurity after his pop period and resurfaced to record some of the most unsettling music ever recorded is just more proof of how talented he is.

If you recognize The Fall song, it was playing in Buffalo Bill's house during Silence of the Lambs when Clarice is sneaking about his house in the dark.

Also keep this in mind: "The story of The Curse of Midnight Mary, the album, thus goes like this: musician Loren Connors visited the grave of Midnight Mary after midnight on a night in March of 1981. With a tape recorder nearby to document the event, an acoustic guitar in his hand, Connors knelt by her tombstone and played his own strange blues, quietly howling along."

The Psychic TV track is the sound you hear when you make wind instruments out of actual human thighbones.

Finally the Robert Ashley track is potentially one of the most uncomfortable things ever recorded.

Artist - Track - Album

1. David Newman & Van Dyke Parks - B-Movie Show - The Brave Little Toaster Soundtrack
2. Zola Jesus - Soeur Sewer - Soeur Sewer 7"
3. The Conet Project - The Swedish Rhapsody - The Conet Project
4. The Residents - Fine Fat Flies - God In Three Persons
5. Islaja - Rohkaisulaulu - Palaa Aurinkoon
6. Scott Walker - Jesse - The Drift
7. White Noise - Here Come The Fleas - An Electric Storm
8. Catherine Ribeiro + Alpes - Silen Von Kathy - Nº2
9. Oneohtrix Point Never - Eyeballs - Betrayed in the Octagon
10. The Dead C - Hell Is Now Love - Trapdoor Fucking Exit
11. 23 Skidoo - The Gospel Comes to New Guinea - Seven Songs
12. The Locust - Scavenger, Invader - New Erections
13. Aranos - No, Ha! Spring Was Her Need - Magnificent! Magnificent! No One Knows The Final Word
14. Night Recordigns From Bali - Cremation Ceremony - Night Recordings From Bali
15. Jandek - Frosted Field - This Narrow Road
16. The Fall - Hip Priest - In A Hole
17. U.S. Girls - R.I.P. KISN - Introducing...
18. Loren Connors - Chant 6 - The Curse of Midnight Mary
19. Greenpot Bluepot - Warraw 4 - Warraw
20. Psychic TV - Part 2, 23 Tibetan Human Thighbones - Themes
21. Robert Ashley - Purposeful Lady Slow Afternoon - Automatic Writing

In the Morning Light

Nothing is TOO scary in the morning light (unless you encounter zombies. Then it's always scary).

I'm pretty much the biggest pansy you will ever meet, so I tried to include some lighthearted Halloween songs for the wusses in all of us.

Each song links to a download link, but you can also click here for all the songs in one window (sort by "date"). I seriously tried for an hour learning how to compress things into a zip, but the "tutorial" was pretty unhelpful and I'm too tired to keep reading.
Anyway look on the bright side, you only need to download songs you don't already have! Yay!

I made it into a RAR file, FOR ALL OF ETERNITY.
Download album HERE.

1. Harry and the Potters: Song for the Death Eaters

2. The Unicorns: Tuff Ghost

3. Xiu Xiu: Bog People

4. Giraffes? Giraffes!: The Ghost of EPPEEPEE’s Ghost

5. The Velvet Underground: The Black Angel's Death Song

6. North American Hallowe'en Prevention, Inc.: Do They Know it's Hallowe'en

7. Patrick Wolf: Bloodbeat

8. Cut Copy: So Haunted

9. Whalesound: Bones Become a Ghost

10. Múm: Ghosts You Draw on My Back

11. Nouvelle Vague: Bella Lugosi's Dead

12. The Smiths: Death Of A Disco Dancer

13. Sufjan Stevens: They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From The Dead!! Ahhhh! (Pretty obvious choice, but whatever!)

14. Tullycraft: Fangs on Bats

15. The Deadly Syndrome: I Hope I Become A Ghost

16. Girls: Ghost Mouth

17. No Kids: For Halloween

18. Tracy Jordan: Werewolf Bar Mitzvah (If you only download one song, let it be this one)

All God's Children, They All Have to Die...

"All God's Children, They All Have to Die..." - A Halloween Mix

Tracks:

1. RJD2 - The Horror
2. Talking Heads - Psycho Killer
3. Screamin' Jay Hawkins - I Put a Spell On You [Cliché, but totally classic]
4. Chain and the Gang - Cemetery Map
5. Beat Happening - Hangman
6. Old Time Relijun - Vampire Victim [Three K Records songs in a row. Winner.]
7. Primus - The Devil Went Down to Georgia [Sorry, I let "high school Kyle" pick a song]
8. Tom Waits - Murder in the Red Barn [Anyone with Tom Waits in their library is going to put him on this mix]
9. Liars - We Fenced Other Gardens with the Bones of Our Own [Theme album about witches!]
10. New Order - Murder
11. Goblin - Suspiria [Theme of the film of the same name]
12. Fantômas - Spider Baby
13. Photosynthesis - Halloween Jam [Yes. That IS one of those battery-operated ghosts from RiteAid]
14. The Specials - Ghost Town
15. The Gothic Archies - Crows
16. Final Fantasy - The CN Tower Belongs to the Dead
17. Say Hi to Your Mom - Blah Blah Blah [Theme album about vampires!]
18. Modest Mouse - Satin in a Coffin
19. Jeffrey Lewis - If You Shoot the Head You Kill the Ghoul [I'd write that advice down]
20. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - The Curse of Millhaven

Download the mix here


(Cover image used with no permission from Joshua Hoffline Photography)

Brand New Skinny Ghost

Hi everyone! Here is my submission for October/Halloween. "Scary" music isn't really something I'm conscious of, so I went more for dark, moody, and noisy in this mix. Also, I'm pretty sure that using Type O Negative is cheating (or a cop out), so my bad for that. Here's the tracklisting:

"Brand New Skinny Ghost"

01. Atlas Sound - A Ghost Story
02. Fever Ray - If I Had a Heart
03. Björk - Storm
04. Optiganally Yours - Oar
05. Bat for Lashes - The Big Sleep
06. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Stagger Lee
07. Tom Waits - What's He Building?
08. Hovercraft - Phantom Limb
09. Type O Negative - Christian Woman
10. Patrick Wolf - Childcatcher
11. Fuck Buttons - Ribs Out
12. Wolf Eyes - Stabbed in the Face
13. Hymie's Basement - Ghost Dream
14. Boards of Canada - The Devil is in the Details
15. M83 - Car Chase Terror
16. Godspeed You Black Emperor! - The Dead Flag Blues

All files should be properly tagged to add as one complete compilation into your iTunes, but I included the image art and tracklisting in the .zip file, just in case. You can download at this link:

http://www.minusnumbers.com/mixtape

Can't wait to hear everyone else's mixes! Happy October!

-jp