3 Halloween Treats

Last year I put together a list of timely releases to help y'all round out those ever-important All Hallows' playlists. I liked the concept so much that I have elected to bring it back this year. (Hey, what you call lazy writing I prefer to think of as a "regular feature!")

I padded the original "5 Halloween Treats" post with some of my trademark snark, in that case directed at those who would water-down the Halloween experience. But, rather than completely retread my previous writing, for this go-round I'll instead cut directly to the chase: keep Halloween evil.

I'm certainly not suggesting that you sacrifice a goat or anything, but rather that we stop trying to sanitize our sinister seasonal imagery. It's not a "fall carnival" or a "harvest festival;" it's a goddamn Halloween party!

Halloween is the one night a year when it's totally okay to get into the full spirit of the silly and the supernatural, when it's fine to eat too much candy and scare the shit out of yourself. In short, it gives you carte blanche to loose your inner child, as gross or grimy or creepy as he may be.

With that in mind, here are some albums to expedite that process.

Manslaughterer:
Yeah, this one is sort of a given. When I reviewed Schaffer the Darklord's latest release earlier this month, I made reference to the fact that "Monsters of Rock (feat. MC Lars)" is a proper Halloween banger. Then I reiterated this by kicking off my latest podcast with that same macabre ditty, but STD has even more to offer in this vein. (A pun!) "Buckets of Blood (feat. KABUTO THE PYTHON)" and "The Invisible Man (feat. Shael Riley)," are two competent additions to any horror-themed set, and "The Other Devil" – my favorite song at present – works perfectly in that context as well. Manslaughterer is a Halloween must-buy.



Eightbreeders:
Fans of Schaffer's rocked-up brand of rap will also likely enjoy the chippy reinterpretations of The Misfits' horror punk classics featured on CalmDownKidder's recently released Eightbreeders tribute. Nearly two years in the making, this 10-track freebie manages to pack an amazingly satisfying punch, easily matching the unabashed listenability of other high profile chip tributes like The 8-bit Album and Da Chip. J. Arthur Keenes' "Skulls," also featured on the most recent episode of RFH, 8-bit Weapon's "Die Die My Darling" and Bit Shifter's "AngelFuck" are instant classics. But personally, nothing puts me in a Halloween-y mood quite like Baron Knoxbury's take on "Some Kinda Hate" and ComputeHer's perfect reinvention of "I Turned Into A Martian."


Amor Sanguinis:
Of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't also pimp the neo-gothic horror of The Bloodclan's recent debut album Amor Sanguinis. Steeped firmly in White Wolf's fully realized (if occasionally convoluted) World of Darkness, it's a gory love letter to Vampire: The Masquerade that, for some strange reason, has yet to generate the buzz it rightly deserves. A highly-specialized collaboration between Scrub Club's MC Loki and Versus Mode finalist Diabeats, much of its lyrical esoteria may be lost on non-gamers/LARPers, but the premise is fairly simple: vampires are real. Got it? Good, 'cause, with that base covered, you can properly enjoy the horrifying hedonism of "Vampire Party," the eerie seduction of "Let Me In" and apocalyptic closer "Gehenna."

Godzilla 2009

Keeping up with the umpteen artists that I endeavor to cover here at Hipster, please! is tantamount to herding cats. I mean, I can suggest that they send me their tour and album release dates or maybe let me know as new tracks are leaked, and, on my side, I can do my best to stay on top of the several dozen relevant sites and RSS feeds, but in the end it's easy for the ball to get dropped. Still, sometimes a message creeps into my inbox that reminds that there's someone looking out for me. That person is Karl Olson.

Though we haven't heard much from Rai Kamishiro since her amazing contribution to MC Frontalot's "Shame of the Otaku," she has obviously been hard at work inside her secret Mecha-Godzilla lair. In fact, her debut album – now known as Electric Sheep – is coming "VERY VERY SOON." Of course, the aforementioned Ultraklystron is taking care of things on the production-tip, and the preview video (which I've embedded below) makes it apparent that the project is even more bright and frenetic than their previous collaborations.

Pre-order information is already available at Karl's site. Meanwhile, Rai is offering regular updates concerning the album and its contents (in her own indubitable fashion) via LiveJournal. There's talk at both sites about a special limited edition print, so get on that shit quick if you want access to alternate cover art, extra tracks and remixes.

I've been a huge fan of Rai's since her appearance on the original Rhyme Torrents compilations, even going so far to co-found a cult based on her inexplicable doctrine, so this is the kind of release news I would term a very pleasant surprise. For those unfamiliar with the Once and Future Queen of J-Nerdcore, you can also hear her cover of Samurai Champloo's theme song "Shiki No Uta" on my very own Nerdcore Undercover compilation, and you can get a glimmer of her delightful eccentricity via our interview from 2006.

Suffice it to say that Rai is one of a kind.