Mix: A Cool Dark Place to Die

This emerged from its loamy grave for a few converging reasons: every October I rediscover how cool Theatre of Ice was/is, I recently read the new Die Kreuzen book from Feral House, and then just the other day “World in Action” popped up in my Youtube suggested. So here’s a rougher, angrier Halloween mix than usual, though not without its tender moments. 

As always, don’t forget to check out or revisit spooky selections from previous years.


00:00. The Mad Are Sane – “World in Action” from Reality (Inept Products, 1983)

04:22. The Smartpils – “Wolf” from No Good No Evil (Bluurg, 1987)

06:50. Die Kreuzen – “Man in the Trees” from October File (Touch and Go, 1986)

10:20. 13th Chime – “Coffin Maker” b/w “Cuts of Love” (Ellie Jay, 1981)

14:18. Part 1 – “Salem” from Funeral Parade (Paraworm, 1982)

17:35. Phaidia – “Dark Side” from In the Dark (City Rocker, 1985)

21:56. UK Decay – “Rising from the Dead” from Rising from the Dead (Corpus Christi, 1982)

24:52. Alien Sex Fiend – “Dead and Buried” (Anagram, 1984)

28:45. Theatre of Ice – “In the Attic” from In the Attic (Orphanage, 1987)

33:09. The Dark – “The Masque” (Fresh, 1982)

36:45. Spike in Vain – “Opus” from Disease Is Relative (Trans Dada, 1984)

Mix: Campfire Tales

The circle of souls gathered around a fire becomes its own insular universe for the night, a space of shadows and secrets where even the tallest of tales ring truer than death knells. Step shivering into the worlds of these storytellers, where their true identities as oracles or deceivers are not just obscured, but obsolete. Playful scares, arcane séances, surreal premonitions, dreadful dreams. Ghosts and ghouls and grief. Fiction and memory are strange but inseparable tentfellows.


00:00. Unknown Artist – A side [beginning] of Campfire Tales (Tribe Tapes, 2020)

00:38. Ahulabrum – “Also the Smell of Cinnamon” from Daimonic Reality (Atrocity Altar, 2021)

06:16. The False Face Society – first part [excerpt] of Running Me Down (Index Clean, 2020)

08:35. Ghost Food – “Accidental Invocation” from ROT GM (Sweet Wreath, 2022)

12:48. Miranda July – “WSNO” [excerpt] from The Binet-Simon Test (Kill Rock Stars, 1998)

15:15. Ruth White – “Spleen” from Flowers of Evil (Limelight, 1969)

18:04. Fantom Auditory Operations – “Child Witch and the Watcher” [excerpt] from The Child Witch of Pilot’s Knob (The Tapeworm, 2011)

20:43. Vincent Price – “To Raise the Dead” from Tales of Witches, Ghosts and Goblins (Caedmon, 1972)

21:18. No Artist – outro of Map of the Interior (Vitrine, 2014)

25:29. Jack Sutton contacts Dead Airmen” from Okkulte Stimmen: Mediale Musik (Supposé, 2007)

27:30. Filter Body – “Cactus Hotel” [excerpt] from Filter Body 2 (218, 2021)

28:36. Come Look with Me – “Terra Morgana.” from To Air Is Human (self-released, 2020)

31:53. The Marshmallow Ghosts – B side [excerpt] of The Witch Hat House (Graveface, 2017)

36:01. Unknown Artist – B side [excerpt] of Campfire Tales

37:45. Ivor Cutler – “The Darkness” from Dandruff (Virgin, 1974)

Mix: All Hallows’ Eve, Revisited

Less a sequel to than an expansion of last year’s mix. This version is more varied, emotional, and abstract. I hope it helps you get into the spirit of the season before it’s too late.


00:00. King of Herrings – “On Two Legs” from The New Musician (self-released, 2020)

01:09. Ghost Food – “Ghost’s Come Home” from Night in My Mind (Sweet Wreath, 2021)

04:42. Unhallowed Eve – “From Beyond the Grave” from The Midnight Hour (self-released, 2019)

07:43. No Artist – “Asleep in the Pumpkins Patch II” from Cassetus Infernus V/A comp (Liquid Library, 2016)

09:07. Monster Zero – “Haunted Homes and Gardens” from Candy from Neighbors (self-released, 2021)

10:24. Blue Friction – A side [excerpt] of Wollstonecraft (self-released, 2014)

14:32. Faux Faunus – “Wean” from Hollow / Wean (self-released, 2014)

19:34. DJC – “Commercial Break” from Son of Shock (self-released, 2021)

20:08. William Hutson – “Shelves of Dusty Skulls” [excerpt] from Spectralities (Deathbomb Arc, 2015)

26:55. AntiVitalis – “A Crumbling Black Castle Looming in the Fog” [excerpt] from “…wing of Roach,” (Gulik, 2021)

29:23. VHS Spectre – “𝔉𝔬𝔤” from Graveyard Tapes (Origami Vato, 2020)

31:46. 舰长电视 [Captain TV] – “Had 2 B the Wind” from Halloween Mixtape 2014 (Plastic Response, 2014)

34:25. Apparition – “The Grave Robbers” from The Ravenous Dusk (Seance, 2018)

39:34. Amethyst & Gold – “What a Wonderful Night to Die” from A Haunted Housewarming (Handwerk Music, 2019)

Mix: At Home with the Ghosts

I hope everyone has used this gift/curse hybrid of extended home confinement to really get to know the spirits that haunt their dwelling. Mine tend to lurk in the closets and spool up in the corners for most of the day, and they’re not the most congenial of phantoms, but we get along fine in the evening, as long as the thermostat is set just a bit too cold and there’s a baseball game or Poltergeist on.

ghosts_in_corners_dark


00:00. Patrick Gallagher – “There Is No Set Process” [excerpt] from Soundtracks (Hot Releases, 2019)

01:59. Marcin Barski – “Conversation with Father” [excerpt] from Wanda’s Dream (self-released, 2018)

08:47. Luis Alvarado – “La fiesta sumergida” from La voz de Jrguu (self-released, 2014)

09:44. Anne Guthrie – “Serious Water” from Brass Orchids (Students of Decay, 2018)

14:40. Paco Rossique – “The Space of a Door” from Collages & Dispersions (Linear Obsessional, 2015)

19:42. Saåad – “Incarnat II (1888)” from Verdaillon (In Paradisum, 2016)

21:41. Climax Golden Twins – “Ward A” from Session 9 (Milan, 2001)

27:22. Graham Lambkin & Jason Lescalleet – “Soap Opera Suite” from The Breadwinner (Erstwhile, 2008)

33:27. Darksmith – “Crash Landing” from Hatred of Sound (Second Sleep, 2018)

Mix: All Hallows’ Eve

This is the fourth and final of my Halloween mixes. Tomorrow is the big day, so here is a collection of immersive horror-soundscape tracks, spooky samples, and general scariness to get you in the spirit.


00:00. JC Greening – “Trick ‘r Treat” from Halloween Haunts & Terror Tales Volume I: Trick ‘r Treating for Children (self-released, 2018)

02:46. Walt Disney Sound Effects Group – “The Dungeon” from Halloween Songs & Sounds (Walt Disney, 1997)

05:37. Tobe Hooper & Wayne Bell – main titles from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (dir. Tobe Hooper, 1974)

08:55. KevOz – excerpt from “Part 2” of Haunted Halloween: 1 Hour of Spooky Music and Scary Sound Effects (self-released, 2017)

13:04. Black Mountain Transmitter – excerpt from Behold the Undead of Dracula (Lysergic Acid, 2019)

16:40. Nick Reinhart – “Post-Slaughter” from Scary Sounds II (self-released, 2014)

19:59. Vacation Bible School – “t h e _ s a t a n i c _ p a n i c” from Fall Festivals and the Satanic Panic (self-released, 2019)

23:52. Edward Is My Middle Name – “heed” from Halloween / Autumn (wdgrain, 2018)

25:31. Loyalty Freak Music – “The Swamp” from Witchy, Batty, Spooky, Halloween in September !! (self-released, 2018)

28:39. Unknown Artist – excerpt from side B of Campfire Tales (Tribe Tapes, 2020)

32:08. Avery Alexander – “Butcher” from Halloween 2020 (self-released, 2020)

35:00. Climax Golden Twins – “Disappointed Expectations” from Session 9 (Milan, 2001) [continues to end]

37:36. Kill the Hippies – “Buried Alive (Just Before Retirement)” from Spectacular Halloween Sound Effects Vol. I (Phoenician MicroSystems, 2015)

Mix: Grave Rave

The music plays, the bass thumps, thuds, thumps. The moon shines high overhead despite you being 90% sure you’re inside. Fog rolls in across the sticky beer-drenched floor and a chilling wind blows, but it just feels like a nice breeze to your overheated, sweat-drenched body. What’s that on your forearm? Looks like a rash. You go to scratch it and recoil in horror as a decent-sized chunk of skin comes off with a single rake of your fingernails. Kneeling down to pick up the glob of gore only causes more to slough off as the rotted flesh of your back splits wide open, exposing your spine and your rib cage, out of which slide two sluglike, smoke-blackened lungs. You look around in helpless terror to see all of the other clubgoers gleefully shedding their outer layers, down to realize that it’s not beer that stains the floor, but blood, and up to the ceiling/sky, where the moon now shines a deep orange, casting the mass of dancing, prancing skeletons below in a bath of jack-o-lantern light. Welcome to the grave rave.


00:00. Kim Petras – “Close Your Eyes” from Turn Off the Light (BunHead, 2019)

03:47. Darkless – “Unholy” from Unholy (No Tomorrow, 2020)

08:14. Pink Tooth – “Unlock” from Mustard (self-released, 2016)

10:21. Owl Vision – “Dead Shall Rise” from The Black Plague (DGA Fäu, 2011)

14:26. Knife Party – “Ghost Train” from Lost Souls EP (self-released, 2019)

18:42. Toy Shoulders – “Crypt Delivery” from EP G (self-released, 2017)

21:13. KSHMR – “It Follows [Halloween Special Remix]” (self-released, 2015)

24:12. Video Life – “Inner Thought” from Eat Your Friends EP (EDM Network, 2015)

31:19. Randomer – “Stigma” from HS002 (Headstrong, 2018)

37:00. clipping. – “Body & Blood” from CLPPNG (Sub Pop, 2014)

Mix: Wholesome Halloween

Halloween has been my favorite holiday literally since I was born. See below for proof—I’m on the left. I hope you enjoy this collection of wholesome Halloween tunes (appropriate for all ages).


00:00. Lonesome Wyatt and the Holy Spooks – “Halloween Is Here” from Halloween Is Here (Tribulation, 2013)

02:24. Ray Parker Jr. – “Ghostbusters” from Ghostbusters Original Soundtrack (Arista, 1984)

06:19. Dead Man’s Bones – “In the Room Where You Sleep” from Dead Man’s Bones (Anti-, 2009)

09:29. The Marshmallow Ghosts – “The Hearse Song” from The Marshmallow Ghosts (Graveface, 2011)

13:10. Oingo Boingo – “Dead Man’s Party” from Dead Man’s Party (MCA, 1985)

19:30. DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince – “A Nightmare on My Street” from A Nightmare on My Street (Jive, 1988)

24:28. David Bowie – “Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)” from Scary Monsters (RCA, 1980)

29:17. Whodini – “The Haunted House of Rock (Extended Version)” from The Haunted House of Rock (Jive, 1983)

35:45. Rockwell – “Somebody’s Watching Me” from Somebody’s Watching Me (Motown, 1983)

39:31. Orange Hell – “Hybrid Moments” (Misfits cover) from Three Hits From… (Funeral Party, 2018)

Mix: The Shadows of Memphis

Someone once asked if it was perpetually Halloween in Memphis, referring to the oppressive, gloomy, even disturbing atmosphere that was laid to so much tape by many of the artists in this selection, among others. One could spend their entire life studying the complex 90s Memphis hip-hop scene and its stylistic or cultural impact, and this fascination with the gritty and the macabre is just one part of these formidably creative artists’ work that survives in modern trap and other subgenres. This is the first of several Halloween-themed mixes I’ll be posting over the next few weeks (I am attempting to salvage at least some of the holiday spirit that seems to be dead-on-arrival this year), and combines my favorite examples of actual horrorcore both classic and contemporary.


00:00. Blackout – “Mission of a Murda” from Dreamworld (Snubnoze Muzik, 1995)

04:44. Lord Lyrico – “Hell Made Me w/ ayeisaac” from Heartbreak & Savages (self-released, 2017)

07:27. Graveyard Productions – “Lookin for a Murderer” from The Havoc (self-released, 1994)

10:51. JAK3 – “Vulture (feat. DJJT & Outby16)” from Moonlight Radiation (self-released, 2019)

13:13. MC Holocaust & DJ Akoza – “Time 2 Brutalize” from Products of da Undaground (DOOMSHOP, 2017)

15:42. Lady Bee – “Mask to My Face” from Strictly for That N***a (Gimisum, 1994)

19:47. Orange Juice Click – “Homicide” from Gangsta Tales (self-released, 1994)

25:10. Lo Key – “Wassup Now” from Test My Nutz (Street Smart, 1994)

29:41. Slim Guerilla – “Morgue 12 Gauge” from Blue Light Cemetery 2 (self-released, 2020)

31:21. Koopsta Knicca – “Crucifix (feat. DJ Paul)” from The Devil’s Playground (self-released, 1994)

35:24. Krone – “////AMMONIA//// (feat. EVILLAIRE)” from XRK NeBULA (self-released, 2019)

37:43. The Buttress – “Ratcatcher” (demo) from My Name Means Heavy (self-released, 2016)