This is a nice little freestyle beat featuring female vocals that is mostly indistinguishable from any other record which came out of Miami in the mid-to-late 80s. It's got the talking keyboard chorus, howling woowoos, and just enough bass to keep the breakers happy.
Seems like that Modern Rocketry track would work really nicely in a mix next to this video. I love the set design in this, looks like a low budget horror set's supposed to look like. And you can't go wrong with the Michael Myers lookalikes pop'n'lockin next to imprisoned femme fatales. Not to mention the beat is freakishly fresh. Wish they still made records like this.
Keeping in the spirit of sharing all things rotten and dead, I put an APB out to all the devil boyz and ghouls out there in my cyber circle to share their thoughts on dark matter. So, I am very pleased to introduce this first submission from HTX native, TENSE. Here's a guy who's really pushing the "Black is the new Black" agenda. If there was any guy in America right now who gets minimal-cold-3rd-wave aesthetics, it's TENSE. And man, did he deliver. I asked for just random thoughts and inspirations revolving around the Halloween theme and here's what he came up with -
The Misfits - Skulls
Ministry - Everyday is Halloween - (DUH!)
Bauhuas - Bela Lugosi's Dead
Skinny Puppy - Deadlines
and let us not forget the seminal 80s vampire classic, "The Lost Boys". I can't tell you how many times I've seen this movie. The Corey's never had it so good, Jami Gertz was smoking hot, and Keifer's look was, and still is, mesmerizing. I'm not one for ritual, but you can bet that I will sacrifice another 90 minutes of my life to relive the fantasy of bloodthirsty, teenage immortality. This video is a great mix too, it has that haunting vocal that chants "thous shall not fall" - gorgeous
Thanks to TENSE for sharing his interests. I'm going to leave with a track from his myspace page. Do yourself a favor and shuffle through his tracks. This guy is one of the hottest in hell. Tense - Cold Rhythm
One of the bestest worstest movies ever. Heres the trailer...
The best part (love how it shoots her repeatedly in the butt)... The whole freakin' movie via Youtube... Parts 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8 And a couple highlights from the unreleased fanmade soundtrack by Chuck Cirino...
It's not Halloween without John Carpenter. These next few songs are all about THE MAN. Carpenter's early movies wouldn't have been nearly as impressive if it hadn't been for his impeccable use of analog synthesizers to create the mood and tone. As an avid soundtrack collector and electro enthusiast, I always find myself coming back to his material. It's truly original, raw, and inspiring. Of all his movies, the title sequence to Halloween 3 stands out for me.
I recently tripped upon this amazing video of a guy repairing an old Prophet analog keyboard. The guy happens to be J-Vibe from the seminal group VSF, who released the underground electro classic "Velocity, Speed, and Force"(but that's another post). Well, anyways, this video shows him laboring over technical repairs to the aging keyboard, all the while playing John Carpenter's "Season of the Witch OST". It's just a fun trip, watching a guy repair the machine that created most of the early soundtracks JC produced. Check it out:
And here's the title track to Halloween III for your listening pleasure
It seems that I am not alone in my admiration of Mr. Carpenter. For the past decade, there has been at least one release per year that mentions, rereleases, remixes, or reworks a carpenter classic. This next track came from the "Disco Undead" compilation from 2003, which presented superb interpretations of the main themes to Zombie Flesheaters, The Beyond, Profondo Rosso, Suspiria, and Cannibal Holocaust by some of the leading members in the 3rd Wave, italo-electro revival. This next track is a unique and interesting take on the original and classic, Halloween theme
Finally, one of my favorite albums w/ the Carpenter stamp has to be from the Individus Analogues label. It's called "European Tribute To John Carpenter" and from what I understand, copies are scarce. I was fortunate to see Le Syndicat Electronique in NYC back in 04 and picked up a copy of this album. It's interesting that at the same time his label was heavily focused on this minimal wave exploration of horror inspired soundtracks, stateside bands like Zombi were exploring the same sounds but with more of a focus on the prog-like components of Goblin and the like. I find the parallels intriguing. This is one of the best from that release, a rework of the Escape From New York theme
This has got to be one of my all time favorite Halloween movies. I remember watching this on USA late night back in the late 80's as a young lad and it totally freaked me out. The skeleton lady yelling "Brainssss, Brainnnssssss" still rings in my ears. Not to mention the fact that I still get stiff when I see the sexy punk slut dancing nude in the cemetery, moments before she's devoured by brain eating zombies. Brilliant.
This track has actually been passed around the blogosphere in the last year, but I can't resist reposting it. This is a highlight from the soundtrack
"Possession" is a vividly haunting horror film by Polish art house director Andrzej Zulawski. At times the intellectually rigorous narrative can seem daunting but the imagery is visceral and enchanting. It truly remains one of the most effective horror films ever made. Not to mention a visual landscape which hints at Bergman, Kubrick, and even Argento's best work. Do yourself a favor and check this out
Now that we've excorcised our eyes, let's anoint our ears with the blood of little boys. Since we're on the subject of possession, my mind immediatley went to the devilish lolita, Linda Blair. Heres a lovely 1976 disco rework of Mike Oldfield's classic theme to the Excorcist. The Champs Boys Orchestra - Tubular Bells
Ghost Exits is an on again/off again synth punk duo from Brooklyn, NY. They released a highly sought after e.p. on Social Registry back in 2003. They mix a very raw, lo-fi blend of dubbed out post-punk beats with a leaning towards early electro. These guys were hot in the early 00's, playing with likes of !!!, ESG, James Chance & The Warlocks. Somehow, every Halloween I'm reminded of this wicked track and always intend to work it into a "Suspiria" themed mixtape. Maybe this year!!! Ghost Exits - She is Beyond Good and Evil
