Mixtape Reflections ~ Halloween Havoc

Halloween is a unique holiday. A holiday where being dark and spooky and wearing costumes is normal. It forces Americans to go against all of their beloved cultural norms. It’s a night where children and their parents are allowed to trespass on someone’s property to be handed candy for free from strangers. Sure we still get the typical fear mongering about razor blades in candy or someone handing out expensive marijuana gummies (which never actually happens), not to mention whining from the ultra-religious who believe the holiday to be satanic, but that still isn’t enough to stop it. I guess the one thing that’s stronger than America’s territorialism, paranoid fear of strangers, religious misgivings and hatred of free handouts, is its stubborn adherence to tradition. Can you imagine if someone tried to start this holiday in the modern age? It would never happen. It’s only around because it’s been going on for generations. Like public libraries, that’s another thing that would never happen if they tried to invent it today. 

I’ve had a working Halloween playlist that I’ve been adding to and subtracting from for close to twenty years. It started as a mixtape, titled Halloween Havoc; admittedly, I got the name from an old WCW pay per view. Later on I made a CD mix version so it could be played in the car, and this version has gone through two remakes, after the disc got too scratched up. Such an impermanent medium, sadly. But as a result it is much more up to date than the old mixtape I made in High School, particularly benefiting from the ease of finding music through the internet compared to back then when I relied on CD purchases and the radio. 

But now, I can make online playlists with no time limits. So I will share the version of the mix that I would make if time weren’t an issue as it is on CDs and cassettes, trying my best of course to make sure the songs flow together and don’t energetically clash. It’s a subtle science, mix-making. This will be a combination of songs from both the mixtape and CD mix versions, along with a couple new acquisitions such as Slow Danse with the Dead and The Long Losts. Some bands appear multiple times, but I spaced them out. Also, this way you get to enjoy the music videos that go with some of the songs. Particularly important with songs like “Anything Can Happen on Halloween” by Tim Curry and “Blue” by The Birthday Massacre. 

Halloween Havoc - YouTube Playlist

https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUzP1Twau7QKOtPGxZDV-VU6Ak5p_7af4

Halloween Havoc: The Ultimate Edition ~ Track Listing

1. Danny Elfman - Tales from the Crypt theme
2. This is Halloween from The Nightmare Before Christmas
3. Tim Curry - Anything Can Happen on Halloween
4. Aurelio Voltaire - Oh My Goth
5. The Long Losts - Sam
6. Squirrel Nut Zippers - Hell
7. Type O Negative- Black No. 1
8. Howling Syn - Black Moon (note: I was unable to find a video of just this song, so the song is lumped with other songs in the video which you may skip)
9. Zombie Girl - Bleeder
10. Rob Zombie - Living Dead Girl
11. Alien Sex Fiend - Now I’m Feeling Zombified
12. Insane Clown Posse - Every Halloween 
13. Ministry - Everyday is Halloween 
14. Aurelio Voltaire - The Masquerade 
15. Fear Condition - Halloween 
16. White Zombie - I’m Your Boogie Man
17. Type O Negative - Halloween in Heaven
18. Troll - Trollberg
19. Zombie Girl - Dance of the Headless Corpse
20. Switchblade Symphony - Gutter Glitter
21. Bahaus - Bela Lugosi’s Dead
22. Slow Danse with the Dead - Devils Night
23. Type O Negative - All Hallow’s Eve
24. The Birthday Massacre - Blue
25. Zombie Girl - Halloween’09
26. Of Blood and Wine - It’s Not Halloween 

Seasonal Flavors are a SCAM!

 As most of my followers know my tablet was destroyed last week, leaving me with no way to work on my webcomic or my novels, and no outlet for my muse. There's probably not going to be a Doom Scroll this month because I haven't been saving any crappy memes. That's why I felt like writing this manifesto (more like an overly-long Facebook post) against the annoying trend of seasonal flavors. My gripe is not with the flavors themselves, but the fact that they are seasonal at all.

Walking into a grocery store in October is an amazing sensory experience. The smell of cinnamon fills your nostrils, everything is either pumpkin spice or maple. But you better enjoy it while it lasts! In November pumpkin spice will transition over to peppermint. And by January, all that's left are the dwindling leftovers, if you're lucky. By February it's all gone. No pumpkin spice, eggnog, spiced apple cider, none of it. 

But there's no reason for it to be gone!! Okay I get that pumpkins don't grow all year. I get that. But most pumpkin spice has absolutely zero pumpkin in it anyway! It's cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and allspice. Why can't they make it all year? Peaches are seasonal, but I can still buy canned peaches and peach flavored yogurt year round. Why is pumpkin any different? And maple? What, can you only get sap out of a tree in the fall? You can buy actual maple syrup all year long, so what gives?! I want my vanilla maple yogurt all year damn it! Then there's the spiced apple cider. I would buy that all year too, why take it off the shelves? Because it's associated with a certain time of the year? Eggnog has no reason to be seasonal either. Can you imagine if milk got associated with a holiday and thus became seasonal? It's like if you could only buy eggs around Easter. That's how stupid it is.

This is what we get for letting greedy corporations control our food supply. They've singled out these products to be seasonal because it makes more of a profit when they do that. And it works because everyone else just goes along with it instead of questioning it. Of course this is a minor gripe compared to everything else that's wrong with the food industry (unethical treatment of animals and workers, the use of enslavement for the harvesting of cacao beans, coffee beans and palm oil, the fact that grocery stores will sooner throw away unsold food than give it to the poor, the fact that grocery stores being in charge of the food supply while most people aren't allowed to grow their own food is just is another way to force people to work crappy jobs, etc.), but my minor gripe still stands. 

Mixtape Reflections ~ Falling into Fantasy

 

In January 2019 I was working at a terrible call center, which I’ve discussed any times on this blog before, and desperately craved any and all forms of escapism. I was still binge-reading the Oz books between calls on Gutenberg, and found solace in the fantasy genre. So that was where this mixtape originated. It stands in direct opposition to my mixtape Work for Love, which I made right before making this one and covered the horrors I regularly experienced day by day. It’s a mix of mostly fantasy-based songs, or songs that at least captured the mood and had a kind of fantastic feel to them, even if the lyrics weren’t about fantasy. The symphonic power metal band Stratovarius has lots of songs that fit the bill, including the title track “Falling into Fantasy”, so they show up a lot on this tape. There are two songs directly referencing Oz, a cover version of the theme from The NeverEnding Story (while the Stratovarius song “Fantasia” references it), and a song referencing Peter Pan.

On the cover, I dedicated the mix to Princess Ozma of Oz, and drew what is still probably the best picture I’ve drawn of her. I wasn’t mimicking John R. Neill’s style but drawing her in my own style. Next time I do an Oz comic I should reference this little portrait; I’d kind of forgotten about it last time I did an Oz comic. 

I have reproduced the mix on a YouTube playlist for anyone who wants to give it a listen; as usual, Spotify doesn’t have all the songs. 

Falling into Fantasy: YouTube Playlist

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUzP1Twau7QJuKAd77VwWvUokAlcheUnC

Track Listing

Side A

1. Stratovarius ~ Falling into Fantasy
2. Kamelot ~ Center of the Universe
3. Aurelio Voltaire ~ Riding a Black Unicorn Down the Side of an Erupting Volcano While Drinking from a Chalice Filled with the Laughter of Small Children
4. Dragonland ~ The NeverEnding Story
5. Theatre of Tragedy ~ Poppea
6. Stratovarius ~ Atlantis
7. Stratovarius ~ Abyss
8. Scissor Sisters ~ Return to Oz
9. Ministry ~ Game Over
10. The Midnight ~ Crystalline
11. Gunship ~ The Hegemon
12. Karliene ~ Return to Oz

Side B

1. Stratovarius ~ Fantasia
2. Kamelot ~ Memento Mori
3. Tristania ~ Wormwood
4. The Smashing Pumpkins ~ Cupid de Locke
5. The Smashing Pumpkins ~ Galapagos
6. Omnia ~ Fairy Tale
7. Faun ~ Unicorne
8. Kraftwerk ~ Tongebirge
9. La Scaltra ~ Neverland
10. Hybrid ~ Dreaming your Dreams
11. The Smashing Pumpkins ~ Porcelina of the Vast Oceans

Top 7 Songs of the Month ~ October 2021/Սահմի 4514 ~ Carnal Machinery, Node, Slow Danse With the Dead, Скубут

October, the gothiest month of the year. A lot of bands purposely time their releases for this month, especially around Halloween (and those I will probably cover a month from now). And as usual, I’ve not only been listening to new releases, but old classics that I’ve heard for the first time. On the side I’ve also gone on a deep dive into 90s grunge too, chiefly Alice in Chains, but I decided to leave that off the list since those bands get enough attention I think. But they managed to indirectly show up on this list anyway, as you’ll see. Here are some songs I think you should check out if you haven’t already heard them. 

Carnal Machinery ~ Voices

Happening upon a chance livestream was what got me into this song. I’d first heard the track “Twilight Zone” from Carnal Machinery sometime late last year, but hearing more is what prompted me to check out their album Cluster A, which debuted this past July. Carnal Machinery is the solo act of Jacques Saph of Helsinki, Finland, also of the band Virgin in Veil. He began this solo project last year in 2020, while his band was incapacitated by the pandemic and unable to tour. This track is about the state of being schizophrenic and having voices speaking in your mind. It’s an aggressive electronic infusion of darkwave and deathrock, which reminds me stylistically of the bands Silent Em and Buzz Kull, other favorites of mine.

Their debut album can be found here:

https://carnalmachinery.bandcamp.com/album/cluster-a

Node - Colors

Node surprised me again with another upload on YouTube just recently. Node was one of the Armenian goth bands I discovered over the summer along with Jrimurmur and No Man Cry, who made my list this past July with the song “Infection”. They are very reminiscent of Boy Harsher and SYZYGYX. Node’s songs tend to be on the longer side, as evidenced by this song, over nine minutes long. The lyrics consist of a catchy rhyme about colors that wouldn’t be out of place in a children’s book, but that makes it all the more fun. “I’m learning all my colors, I’m really very smart, I put the colors in my head I know them all by heart”. She wisely never tries to rhyme anything with orange or purple. Some of the rhymes are a bit of a stretch though, like “If I were the color brown, I would be a chocolate town”. How can you be an entire town? I can almost guarantee English is not their first language. I always find that charming, though.

As of yet they only have one album out on Bandcamp, Thought Infection, released late last year. They aren’t the only band in the world called “Node” either, so when tracking them down make sure they’re the one from Yerevan, Armenia. Perhaps this track will be part of a future release, but if you want to follow up on the band you can find them here:

https://nodeofficial.bandcamp.com/releases

Slow Danse With the Dead ~ Cold Caress

The CD release of Slow Danse With the Dead’s newest album Babble of Despair, which I had been awaiting with bated breath, finally happened on October 1st. A very limited run, apparently, but I was able to get one. There are still a few left as of this writing. It is also on cassette for the exact same price, although that seems to have sold out now. I hadn’t bought a new CD in forever so I decided to go with that this time, as much as I love cassettes. It makes it easier for me to build my mixtapes anyway, as these songs will likely end up on one of my blank cassettes as soon as the CD comes in the mail. It would be easier at this point to list the songs from the album that haven’t been on my monthly top songs lists these past few months. Lately it’s been a close tie between this song and “Hate You” for me, but the one that is still my favorite song on the whole album would be the title track “Babble of Despair”, which I covered in August. 

The song “Cold Caress” is about someone or something with a cold grip, dragging the singer down by the throat into an “endless realm”. It’s probably metaphorical, I’m guessing for depression or some other mental illness. Only the singer, Johnny Montoya, knows for sure though.

You can find the album here:

https://slowdansewiththedead.bandcamp.com/album/babble-of-despair

Forever Grey ~ Arctic Flower

Forever Grey is among my favorite bands these days, but I am admittedly still working my way through their discography. This song, “Arctic Flower”, is the one song that rivals the beauty of “Cathedral of Hailstone” for me, with the same bleak, icy energy to it. A perfect song to herald the winter in with (and in Florida, a way for me to pretend I live somewhere cold). It’s a beautiful song, bringing to mind images of arctic frozen tundra during early spring when the flowers start to rise up out of the snow and blossom. It would be a very romantic thing to call someone your arctic flower, someone who cheers you up when you’re at your darkest.

This song is off their 2016 album Autumn Calling:

https://forevergrey.bandcamp.com/album/autumn-calling

Скубут ~ Tочка кипения

Stop smoking that cigarette, you’ll ruin your nice voice! Anyway, getting past the obligatory PSA, Скубут (Skubut), my favorite Austrian/Russian post-punk band (not that there are many), recently released a music video for “Tочка кипения”, which translates to “Boiling Point”. This is the first track on their album Сгублен, which released last June. The video gave me reason to revisit this song. This will be the third time they’ve shown up on my lists; not sure why I’m counting with this band, but maybe it’s because I’ve lost count with Slow Danse With the Dead’s monthly inclusions. Real talk though; doesn’t the singer in this video look like he’s cosplaying as the Doomer from all those memes? 

He’s got the cigarette and everything. I mean I guess the Doomer doesn’t have his hood up over his head and beanie, but still, otherwise it’s a dead ringer. Actually toward the end of the video when he’s with his girlfriend the singer does wear just a beanie without the hood up. I wonder if it was on purpose. Maybe he’s trying extra hard to make it onto those Russian Doomer Music playlists. This is peak doomer music. No wonder I’m fond of it.

You can find the album here:

https://skubut.bandcamp.com/album/--5

Sintipon ~ Облака

Sintipon threw me through a bit of a loop when I researched them, I have to say. To track them down I had to go to a different side of the internet from what I’m used to. I kept coming upon a Russian dance pop group, while this song that came up randomly on YouTube sounds like your typical synthpop or darkwave that you would hear in a gothic nightclub. I thought that couldn’t be right. And on their Bandcamp page, which is very sparse and has had no update since 2016, the album this track is from is nowhere to be seen. But upon digging deeper and finding them on VK.com, which is basically Russian Facebook, I confirmed that there is in fact only one Sintipon, a husband and wife duo from Moscow, who made all the music I was finding. I eventually found the album on a site called Qobuz. So I accidentally liked some dance pop. I have to remind myself that Russian dance pop is very different from American pop music. I want to say “better than” instead of “very different from”, but that’s an opinion, not an objective fact. Anyway, I’m not good at identifying genres, I guess, maybe it isn’t really goth. Still catchy. 

Now that I’ve done all the legwork give them a listen, and here’s where you can find more:

https://sintipon.bandcamp.com/

https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/album/-sintipon/qy0ik7i2phjdb

This Cold Night ~ Holding On

I’ve been listening to more from this band, ever since hearing “Black Cherry”, and I like what I’ve heard. This track is off their album While I Disappear, which came out in early 2016. It has a very different, darker sound from “Black Cherry”, more like coldwave. I would compare it to Forever Grey’s music. For some reason I like that really low droning sound that comes up a few times throughout the song. You’ll know what I mean if you listen to it. 

You can find the album here:

https://sination.bandcamp.com/album/while-i-disappear

Nite ~ Would?

How timely, when I’ve been on an Alice in Chains kick for the past three months, for someone to come out with a darkwave cover of “Would?”. It’s always a dangerous prospect to cover a song that so many people know, but I think Nite pulls it off well. As is true of most covers, it succeeds because they aren’t trying to replicate the original beat for beat, nor do they try to mimic Layne Staley’s vocals, but they put their own spin on it. Nite is comprised of twin brothers Kyle and Myles Mendez, based out of Texas. Their other music also has synthwave and dreampop leanings. It’s their own unique sound.

Anyway, when is someone going to put together an Alice in Chains tribute album with goth bands, like those Metallica ones from 20+ years ago? My wallet is ready. 

I don’t think this song is on an album yet, but you can check out their discography here:
https://nite.bandcamp.com/music