friday five - 31.10.08 - ffr halloween party

I love Halloween. I can't think of any other holiday where the music is more fun. Tonight's introduction will be really short (e.g. "here's the music, love it or die"); we have a lot of awesome to wade through.



Atlas Sound - "A Ghost Story" (mp3|5.00MB): Introducing - to kick us off for the night - something inherently creepy and adorable at the same time: children! Or, rather, one child telling the audience - what else - a ghost story. I chose this to start because children frighten me regardless of whether or not they're in costume. Only sheer luck would put me in charge of trick-or-treaters tonight.

J.S. Bach - "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" (mp3|10.90MB): Up next is a piece that I consider to be the epitome of "dark-and-stormy-night" music, and I simultaneously recall THUNDER SKATE!1!!one! at the SkateLand in Yakima, WA playing this while I flailed beneath strobe lights, wondering who in the world thought that putting four wheels on your feet (HI, inertia, pleased to meet you) and rolling on them whilst completely blinded was a good idea. So, wonderful scariness all around, and it's only a slight coincidence that this happens to be one of my favourite classical pieces ever written. (Also, for the traditionalists: here's the original on Youtube; it's played on a pipe organ. I'm sorry about the volume; this is the only interpretation I could find that didn't make me want to flinch with unexpected pauses.)

Peter Gabriel - "Intruder" (mp3|6.73MB): I love this song for so many reasons. It's creepy, it's got a damn good beat, and it grants me passage through the Gates of Nostalgia in a whole variety of ways. However - and I'm not going to be ashamed of this; I will not be ashamed of this - Peter Gabriel sounds hot. And that's a huge bonus. (What is it with me and bad guys? Seriously?)

Blackout Beach - "Cloud of Evil" (mp3|4.45MB): The new single from Carey Mercer's solo outfit (though I honestly can't see this being aired on any radio station lest the listeners explode from the sheer magnitude of their psychological distress), "Cloud of Evil" represents what we know of Skin of Evil, and makes me anticipate this album like you wouldn't believe - if only because I'm dreadfully masochistic and just looove them existential crises.

Burial - "Near Dark" (mp3|5.67MB): It was difficult to follow Blackout Beach with another freaky electronic layer cake of death. But I did it. So, have fun getting to sleep tonight.

Grampall Jookabox - "I'm Absolutely Freaked Out" (mp3|8.36MB): I've grown so attached to this album and it isn't even technically released yet. Well, now I get to share this track with the masses who so desperately need to hear it. DOWNLOAD IT. DOWNLOAD IT NOW. BEFORE I EAT YOUR FACE OFF. (Advanced track used with permission.)

Danny Elfman - "This is Halloween (from The Nightmare Before Christmas)" (mp3|2.98MB): I really don't think this one needs any introduction or explanation. (I've gotta sign this blog up with a Danny Elfman cult or something. No question.) Aah, the memories of our youth. Or, like, three weeks ago. It's a good thing I can watch this movie with my adult eyes and mind because now I know for sure that my crush on Jack Skellington, despite the fact that he's totally made out of clay, is not just a phase. a-HEM.

Genesis - "The Waiting Room" (mp3|6.19MB): Watch as I utilise this blog to show blatant favouritism! Here's some early-Genesis noise for your shivering pleasure. I honestly don't know how to categorise it. Experimental noise-rock avant-garde glass-shards-in-tapioca? Um, it's really freaky. Mmyep.

Bobby "Boris" Pickett and the Cryptkickers - "Monster Mash" (mp3|2.46MB): Another one what needs no introduction. The essential Halloween party song. Return to the Forbidden Planet has corrupted my vision of this song, because now all I can think of is "when my monster from the Id began to rise," and I'm like, dammit.

of Montreal - "Spooky Spider Chandelier" (mp3|2.06MB): I wonder how long it took Kevin Barnes to write this song. I'm pretty sure the man is a machine, regardless. (A gorgeous, gilded, ethnic transvestite machine.) Anyway, it's a poppy little ditty with just the right amount of creep to get your party jumpin'.

Dead or Alive - "Something in My House (US Wipeout Mix)" (mp3|6.61MB): Thunder? Lightning? A dog's violent howl? Frantic, shameless 80s synthesizer beats? For the love of the dead, sign me up! This is another one of those songs that will blow apart the dance floor. I'm not going to tell you how many calories I think I burned just by listening to it.

Talking Heads - "Psycho Killer" (mp3|3.96MB): Fuh-fuh-fuh-fuh, fuh-fuh-fuh-fuh-fuh-fuh. Fun. Not just for Halloween, but for driving down the main streets in your city in broad daylight with the windows rolled down all the way. Don't forget to jut your head forward like a chicken. Ask me all about it in the comments; I am a master of the art.

Creedence Clearwater Revival - "I Put a Spell on You" (mp3|5.17MB): Most of us young folks (okay, make that everyone alive) remember(s) hearing this song issuing from Bette Midler's fabulous pipes in Disney's 1993 Halloween spectacular Hocus Pocus (and here's that video, just because). I adore both versions of this song, which honestly doesn't happen to me very often. I'm so time-torn. I can't decide which decade would have been better for me to experience growing up. THE ANGST. OH GOD.

Electric Six - "I Invented the Night" (mp3|4.52MB): I'm pretty sure Electric Six lives in a dimension where it's Halloween every day and the dimension's soldiers and police line up to dress in pleather and glitter beneath neon lights. Because of this, I desperately needed to include a song from Fire on the playlist, if only to satisfy my fluorescent envy. (IMPROMPTU CONTEST: Who will be the first to make out with someone atop a moose with broad, luminescent genitalia? Will it be me, or our currently detained-in-Canada-and-therefore-at-a-slight-advantage Sunday DJ? STAY TUNED TO FIND OUT. THIS IS NOT A TEST.)

Concrete Blonde - "Bloodletting (The Vampire Song)" (mp3|4.13MB): This is the song, believe it or not, that paved the way for my (almost creepy) TV on the Radio love. I'm serious. The wild chorus and relentless bass are so beautiful to my ears. You cannot resist the 80s.

Oingo Boingo - "No One Lives Forever" (mp3|9.48MB): And finally, to further support the idea that Danny Elfman needs his own wax statue here in FFR headquarters, here's another Oingo Boingo track - the second in a single month. (I don't know; I think I might just get this way around autumn.) Please forgive me. I have an addiction. Admit it, though: you simply cannot have Halloween without the 'Boingo. That is a fact of life.

And just because my cynicism is stifling (unlike the East Coast weather), here's a collaboration video for a song featuring several indie artists (that is what you crazy kids are calling them, right?) of yore. It's a spoof on "Do They Know It's Christmas," and the proceeds from sales went to UNICEF. Check it out. See if you can tell who's who.



North American Halloween Prevention Initiative Website


There you go! Your own spooky FFR mix CD! Happy Halloween!

-- FFR.