Amen Orchestra - "Mutitled 2" (mp3|7.24MB): Okay, so, here's the deal. This is an instrumental, therefore I'm not certain whether it was intended to convey the concept of ghosts or a haunting or anything of that sort. Not only that, but it doesn't even have any of the related terms in the title. However, if you trust me (and since you're here to begin with, bless your soul, you must have some sort of diligent favour in mind to lay to my absurd music whoredom), you'll download this track right away with the theme most prominently in your head as you listen. Say you go to a diskothek that's been closed for about five years because a murder took place on the main floor. Amen Orchestra details the soundtrack to which your journey would be placed. Beautiful. Symphonic. Creepy.
DeVotchKa - "This Place is Haunted" (mp3|3.81MB): Unlike the lyrical description of the unnamed ghost's disposition, the sweet piano and peaceful echoing vocals in this song both depict a house inhabited by a helpful yet confused spirit. DeVotchKa's Nick Urata sings, you were right, this place is haunted / change the locks, we are unwanted; this seems like more of an excuse than an explanation, and while some small unknown discomfort is avoided by abandoning the place in question, it still leaves someone trapped in-between.
Sunset Rubdown - "A Day in the Graveyard II" (mp3|3.78MB): I had to, okay? I had to do it. You knew that my predilections would lead you here one day, and there you have it. I've been subconsciously searching for an opening for a Sunset Rubdown song since I started this blog, so this is what you get. Oddly cheery and innocent-sounding while maintaining a plot in the ether, "A Day in the Graveyard II" highlights the selflessness in death. Or something. It's a mystery, really. Do you know what Krug means? I don't know what he means. But it's pretty.
Oingo Boingo - "Dead Man's Party" (mp3|14.65MB): Annnnd then we switch to something entirely different. Oh, Danny Elfman. No one could conjure a greater image of skeletons and monsters in top hats with scotch straight in their hands than you. No one could make the afterlife sound like such a happenin' place. The only grief caused by this song, though, is the sort which stems from the fact that Oingo Boingo broke up long before I discovered their greatness. Which means I'll never get to see them live. sigh. Life isn't fair. Oh well, time to die!
Slaraffenland - "Ghosts" (mp3|7.16MB): Another instrumental. Why? Because most ghosts can't do lyrics. It would mess with the whole different-planes-of-existence thing if they could sing along to something you were playing. Besides, instrumentals like this would be completely ruined by words. Slaraffenland's "Ghosts" starts out with percussion like windchimes, and then crescendos and expands to include precise drums. These ghosts had ambition, and it will persist even in death.
As always, send lovemail/hatemail/anymail related to the Friday Five to fridayfiveradio@gmail.com. Requests are always considered and welcomed. See you next week!
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1 comment:
You're right -- "Mutitled 2" seems like exactly the kind of thing you'd want to have playing on repeat for all the trick-or-treater kids who come to the door on Halloween. (Personally, if I were one of those kids, hearing the song would be the treat. Who knows if the other kids would agree?)
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