Matt's Halloween Mixtape; Part Three

Link to INTRODUCTION
Link to PART ONE
Link to PART TWO
Link to PART FOUR
Link to PART FIVE
Link to THE FINAL CHAPTER

AFI - Fall Children

AFI's 1999 All Hallow's EP is the sound of a band squarely hitting its stride.  All Hallow's finds Davey Havock and company at the earliest stages of their transition from hardcore punk to moody mid tempo neo-goth.  For the albums trim 13 minutes, AFI is entirely in their element blasting dark shout-along anthems of Misfits inspired, horror themed punk.  The disc's opener Fall Children begins with a fluid, creeping guitar run.  Davey drones the opening verse as sinister feedback swells in the background, before finally a shout cracks the song open like a lightning bolt.  From there it is a galloping, almost apocalyptic burst of maliciousness.  Davey seems to be screaming his lungs out from atop a black soapbox, while the backup shouting responds to him like a wolf to a full moon.  Fall Children is a flat out rallying cry for the misfits and weirdos of America to stand and embrace THEIR holliday.  

Man…or Astro-Man? - Put Your Finger in the Socket (Maximum Voltage Version)

The television screen is the retina of the mind's eye. Therefore, the television screen is part of the physical structure of the brain. Therefore, whatever appears on the television screen emerges as raw experience for those who watch it. Therefore... television is reality, and reality is less than television.

This clip from the horror classic Videodrome opens Put Your Finger in the Socket, which from there takes off with classic surf-rock abandon.  Self-described as "space-age surf", Man or Astroman takes their queues from classic surf music with wobbly, reverb laden guitars, but adds a liberal amount of tongue-in-cheek B-horror humor.  The result of course is a unique, energetic sound that is necessary on any Halloween mixture.  

Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi's Dead

Even without frequent name checking of a certain horror film icon, Bela Lugosi's Dead is over nine minutes of pure atmosphere, and essentially a horror movie soundtrack in and of itself.  With all kinds of ticks, clicks, dripping and screeching (all over a crawling, understated bassline), Bauhaus puts you right into the gothic mountaintop castles of the classic Universal monster movies.  The eeriness is palpable by the time the sing-speak vocals come in, deep and dripping with reverb, introducing the undead Mr. Lugosi, aka Count Dracula. 

With exactly two weeks to go, there are a handful of Halloween music legends just dying to be introduced...

Running List

Sonic Youth - Death Valley '69

HorrorPops - Walk Like a Zombie

Suicide - Frankie Teardrop

Acid Bath - Fingerpaintings of the Insane

The Beatles - Revolution 9

The Butthole Surfers - [TBD]

AFI - Fall Children

Man...or Astroman? - Put Your Finger in the Socket (Maximum Voltage Version)

Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi's Dead