Hallowinners

image credit: @galendara

This year's crop of Halloween-related musical releases has been a little light. But I reckon between occupying Wall Street and bitching about folks occupying Wall Street and everyone preparing for the Rapture we've all really had a lot on our collective plate.

Still, there is some good, spooky shit out there, and I am gonna pause for a moment to shine my own little light on a handful of my favorites.

The Halloween mash-up collection is what we can now safely call an annual tradition. We've been gettin' 'em steady since 2004 thanks to the combined might of scene staples like DJBC and Cheekyboy, and they are always positively packed with pleasant surprises. This year's compilation is the double disc Texas Chainsaw Mashacre, which notably includes, among its Duck Sauce and Deadmau5 bootlegs, Sticks Downey's "C.H.U.D.," an original horrorcore cut that I actually included in last year's Halloween Crap-tacular.

The Texas Chainsaw Mashacre volumes 1 and 2 are freely available from the Monster Mash-Ups site, and I insist that you check 'em out.

While not intentionally Halloween-y, per se, the latest from my Canadian homeboy The Garthim-Master should fit in nicely with your seasonal playlist. Combining thick, atmospheric beats from German producer DJ Extend and The G-M's own unique blend of story-driven narratives and impressionistic lyrical gymnastics, Ghosts of Nostalgia is a look back on the beloved entertainment properties of our childhood that's not afraid to take a grim turn. For every breezy "Dude, Where's My AT-AT At?" there is a dirge-like "Krang" or a surreal "After Midnight."

I've actually been grooving to early leaks of joints like "Save the World," "The Crystal Shard" and "Rorschach's Journal" for a while now, but the full release is now available to everyone. For the very competitive price of free.

Expect a full review in the near future – most likely after the limited edition vinyl drops – but in the meantime spend a little quality time with this one yourself.

Lastly comes a brand new single from fellow GeekDad John Anealio. Generally, there are a number of elements I expect from John's songs: things like delicate guitar-work, straight-ahead percussion and cleverly-layered counter-melody. What I don't expect is bawdy humor, but "Undead Love Song" certainly has it.

There are a few easy jokes to be made about a human-zombie marriage (and consummation), and Anealio makes 'em all. The trick is, he's so mellow and earnest with his delivery that you totally don't even mind!

This one is also available as a free download, so add that grisly fucker – I made a pun! – to your collection.

So what about you, faithful readers? What's on your new Halloween listening list?