The result is inherently personal yet larger than any one life, lead Sara Mae Henke evoking the true dimensions of their interior with songs that can be televisually glitzy (‘Twos‘) or as intimate as a home movie (‘Grenadine‘), and moreover songs unafraid to delve into the most individual of subjects in order to locate more universal truths (as with ‘Nightshade‘ and its examination of difficult relationships). The superstitious ‘Ballerino’ and its Suspiria-inspired video by Ewan Hill collect all of these ideas together into under two minutes, celebrating all sides of an identity while working through memories and learning to love the past while focusing on what is to come.

With a focus on costume, bodies and performance, not to mention a clear taste for horror movies, we thought The Noisy would make for the ideal people to create a digital mixtape of songs to soundtrack your Halloween. Sara Mae kindly obliged, so read on below to get your fill of everything camp and creepy.

‘Picture You’ by Chappell Roan

“Draw the blinds / light every candle…” Okay we’re getting ready for the blood ritual… “It’s ritualistic / counting lipstick stains where you should be…” Chappell has said this is a peek into her alternate life as an indie rock singer. I think it’s so hot and also scary!!! I love the idea of getting to see so many different sides of an artist you love, that this is sort of her Jekyll / Hyde song…

I got to go see Chappell this week for the Damsels & Other Dangerous Things tour, and it was a good reminder of why I make the music I make. Japanese Breakfast was opening for her, and those two divas are quite literally my two favorite artists of all time. It was so emotional for me seeing them so happy, and for all of my time I spend emulating their work, it was also really cool at this moment in my life as a musician to see them enjoying what they do.

‘Friend’ by Trace Mountains

Speaking of Japanese Breakfast, this record was produced by Jbrekkie drummer, and Philly icon, Craig Hendricks. I love the practical effects in the music video, and the production throughout has a real kinship with Jubilee–less guitar-driven and more airy and synthy. Enjoy this wolfy music video

‘Happy’ by Mitski

Besides this song being emotionally gutting and so musically beautiful, it is incredible horror writing. I love how she personifies Happy as an ominous, eerie he/him. A masterclass in lyric writing and storytelling and translating music to a surprising narrative in a music video. There is so much real true dread in the production, that by the time the brass comes in, it’s jarring and sort of out-of-place in its brightness. Brilliant.

‘Half to Death’ by Magana

Mitski’s bassist Magana is my labelmate! This song is somewhere between dread and whimsy, and the production reminds me of “Happy” but also of New York band The Cradle, who I think of as cold weather music. It’s smart and wistful and you can listen to it while you look up at the gray sky and see your breath leave you, just when it’s getting dark enough for the trick or treaters to come out. They sing “I hear you sleep; I’m still drowning in dread.” We’re studying all the affects of scary-ness on this playlist!! We’ve got horror, dread, camp, and…

‘Incinerator’ by Daniel Sohn

“It’s an embarrassment I’m taking care of it it’s my favorite technique for rainy days and losing sleep just take the lighter off the shelf and set a fire to yourself incinerator” Embarrassment! Terror! Daniel is my bandmate and I’m always humbled when I listen to his music. I got to sing backup for him this year and this was my favorite one to learn. Some really fun parts on piano and I always appreciate how seriously he takes harmonies. I learn so much from him!

(In lieu of Nick Drake’s “Pink Moon” which to me is an autumn necessity, listen to Daniel’s “Alkali Moon.”)

‘Allston’ by Twin Princess

I feel like this is a missing song from the Knife + Heart soundtrack. Twin Princess frontperson Pauli is also a Philly musician and she’s got such a beautiful and haunting voice. She’s also a stunning frontperson and with her white blonde hair could absolutely be a compelling Bride of Frankenstein. As a sidebar in my personal music history, Allston is a neighborhood in Boston where all the DIY happens, and where I saw a lot of my own early punk shows!!

‘Louise’ by Tuft

I knew the singer when I lived in Boston, (we worked next door to each other in Porter Square!) and my friend Zenaida and I became obsessed with this EP they put out. I inevitably visit Zenaida every fall when the leaves are changing, and this remains our road trip music across Massachusetts. “Guide me through the dimlit alley / cracked glass and crystal honey” They’re singing to the late poet Louise Glück. What’s more, sit in a graveyard reading Poe, type of Halloween than that?

‘Get Disowned’ by Hop Along

I fell in love with this album in the fall of my senior year of high school so it’s a lot of good nostalgia for me, and I associate it with the seasons changing and getting colder. I think some of the wishing on hurtling stars and genuine dysphoria of this song, “Meteor, make me young, make me young” brings another affect of scary-ness to the playlist!

‘Lace Up’ by Wax Jaw

I got to model for this album art Something to listen to as you put your costume on and get ready to get out to the big party at the old haunted manor!

Honorable Mentions

‘Love That Burns’ by Fleetwood Mac
‘Unholy’ by Kim Petras
‘Our Way to Fall’ Yo La Tengo
‘Unexpected Guest’ by Gia Greene
‘Make You Smile’ by Dear Nora
‘Adeline’ by Dr. Dog
‘Dead of Night’ by Orville Peck
‘Not Your Prey’ Squirrel Flower
‘Baby Don’t Believe’ by Tennis
‘My Name is Carnival’ by Jackson C. Frank
‘Mayonnaise’ by Smashing Pumpkins

So there you have it. A veritable bounty of spooky tracks to soundtrack any festivities over the coming weeks. Though we do have one more song to mention. Because while Sara Mae might be too polite and humble to include one of their own tracks among this digital mix, no Halloween playlist can be complete this year without The Noisy’s ‘Twos’. A narrative driven number which adds glamourous pop and sludgy rock into its cauldron and stirs everything up. Sam Cush further brings the story to life with a fantastic video. What Henke describes as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Grey Gardens meets two dates to the prom.”

The Secret Ingredient Is Even More Meat will be released on the 24th October via Audio Antihero and you can pre-order it now from The Noisy Bandcamp page.

Black and white photography taken from the video for ‘Twos’ by Sam Cush

The post Address to a Meteor: A Halloween Mixtape from The Noisy appeared first on Various Small Flames.

‘Betsy’s Back’ opens with a slinky bass line before opening into a joyous 90 seconds of off-kilter jangly indie pop, a cross between a fun Halloween party song and a sugary 50s pop hit. Feuer repeats the same handful of lines throughtout, often in a charming call-and-response way that belies the scary story it tells, as the titular Betsy returns from the grave with a cleaver, presumably up to no good.

‘Psycho’ is a cover of an old Leon Payne song, the lyrics darl and unhinged, detailing the narrator’s descent into homicidal madness. Feuer delivers the murder ballad in an almost child-like manner, which only ramps up the creepiness.

“I saw my ex again last night mama
she was at the dance at Miller’s store
she was with that Jackie White mama
I killed em both now they’re buried under Jacobs’ sycamore”

‘Carpool’ is a change of pace altogether, a short and sweet pop song that sounds like the soundtrack to some vintage teen movie, before the EP closes on ‘Gloom’, with its steady percussion. Feuer’s vocals swirl and shift like a heavy fog and the instrumentation distorts and bugs out as if recorded in a cartoon haunted mansion, the spooky wordless backing vocals seemingly delivered by chain-rattling spectres.

So forget that Halloween has already been and gone, you can get all the gruesome fun you could ever want year-round with Bloody Death Skull. You can get The Haunting of Bloody Death Skull now from the Bloody Death Skull Bandcamp page.

The post Bloody Death Skull – The Haunting Of Bloody Death Skull appeared first on Various Small Flames.

It starts off with regular songs that are somehow linked with a scary theme before taking a more traditional Halloween vibe, a kitsch spookiness akin to handing out candy in costume to kids with bedsheets over their heads. Finally, in the second half on the mix, things take a strange turn and get weird, an unsettling section best listened through headphones in a dark room.

Beware the Moon: a Halloween Mix from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio.

Tracklisting:

1. Halloween Parade – Lou Reed
2. Werewolf (or …While I Was Casting Demons Out of You) – Tyler Lyle
3. Witches – Low
4. She Just Happens To Date the Prince of Darkness – Say Hi To Your Mom
5. The Bear – Snow Mantled Love
6. Casper the Friendly Ghost – Daniel Johnston
7. Skeleton Man – Evangelicals
8. Dracula is Only the Beginning – COOLRUNNINGS
9. My Body’s a Zombie for You – Dead Man’s Bones
10. Woman – Timber Timbre
11. Colours – JB Newman & The Black Letter Band
12. Dance of the Dream Man – Angelo Badalamenti
13. Fear of the Unknown and the Blazing Sun – Colin Stetson
14. Guilt – Piggy
15. Alone – Alone
16. Childhood’s End – Majical Cloudz
17. Fridge Music – Mogwai
18. The Mirror Reflecing (Part 2) – The Haxan Cloak
19. The Cellar – Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
20. I Know (Jon Hopkins Remix) – David Lynch

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While I’m far from an expert in London’s noir rock scene, and would be therefore could be oblivious to any number of similar groups or artists that adopt this simultaneously sensual and creepy style, I am going to embrace my potential ignorance and say that Shadow of a Dream is a delightfully different EP that is well worth your time.

‘Atmosphere’ is a word being bandied about to describe the EP and you can see why. There seems to be an element of showmanship in all aspects of the act, from the dramatic instrumentation and vocals to the sartorial state of the band and the associated artwork (see the poster below for an example). They seem intent on forming something more than a regular touring band, an image, something recognisable as theirs.

The Lynch reference is a good one. I can imagine Newman performing on a stage draped in red velvet while James and Donna fall out/make up, Bobby and Mike get in over their heads in some scheme and Agent Cooper communicates with the mysterious giant, the music climaxing and falling into lulls at odd moments while the audience either seem hypnotised by the song or else completely unaware there is anyone on stage at all.

For those of you that are into Halloween and that sort of thing, I’m sure you would find a song on Shadow of a Dream that would fit nicely onto a playlist.

The EP is to be launched at a Halloween show in London, with further details on the poster below.

The post JB Newman & the Black Letter Band – Shadow of a Dream appeared first on Various Small Flames.

In order to mark/celebrate the 31st the band are very kindly giving away the album FREE until midnight (I guess Pacific time) tonight. Make sure you grab yourself a copy and share it with your lucky friends.

DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE ALBUM HERE.

For those among you, like myself, who aren’t really into Halloween (I think it’s a much bigger deal over the Atlantic), I’d say this album would be great on Bonfire Night too*. Get it downloaded ready for Saturday.

*Obviously it’s a great album on any night of the calender year.

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