Spooky Good Halloween Music? No. But There's Superchunk doing Misfits, Bowie Scary Vid, House of Frightenstein, David J, and Much More!

Happy Halloween.

No time to make a Halloween mix, go see Eric Alper if that's what you're looking for.

David Bowie - Love Is Lost” (Hello Steve Reich Mix by James Murphy for the DFA)


Superchunk - Children in Heat (Misfits cover)


Another Misfits cover! Save the Day doing Skulls


Wax Fang does Misfits' Halloween


Return to Transylvania - A short doc about Billy Van

Return to Transylvania from Ben Kane on Vimeo.


Steve Wynn & the Miracle 3 - Halloween


Skaters - Let the Heads Roll


Might as well have some real Misfits, right?


Black Sabbath - Lady Evil


Can't do Halloween without Forbidden Dimension. Here's My Family Curse.


Anthrax - Devil You Know


David J with Jill Tracy - Bela Lugosi's Dead (Undead is Forever)


Aaaaand here's the original by Bauhaus.


Kids interview bands interview one of the Nameless Ghouls from Ghost BC:


Crocodiles - All My Hate and My Hexes Are for you


Faith No More was always spooky. even the cover of Easy was somehow scary.




Dickies - She's a Hunchback


Haunter - Blood and Thunder


Drivin' 'n' Cryin' - Moonshot


Steel Panther - Death to all but Metal - NSFW!!!!


Hoodoo Gurus - Dig it Up


Caught a Ghost - Time Go


Josh Ritter - the Curse


Hilary Grist - Waltzing Matilda


The Fratellis - Halloween Blues


Oingo Boingo - Dead Man's Party

The Pursuit of Happiness - Love Junk is 25!

So The Pursuit of Happiness's Love Junk recently passed its 25th birthday. Wow.

Those large glasses. That impossibly-straight hair. The points in the show where Moe Berg let Kris Abbott drive all of the guitar so he can point at the crowd, gesture wildly, and stomp around the stage. Above all, those songs. A modern take on power pop in a year when Cheap Trick was trumpeting a power ballad, before people widely-used terms like indie or alternative, Love Junk boasted loud guitars without veering into bad metal. Sweet harmonies without getting syrupy (sorry Cheap Trick, you went too far) - who carried around back-up singers in those days? Just TPOH. Berg's lyrics could straddle that teen confusion/burgeoning awareness line, hit the college kids in the wordy brain part, or just sound right even when you're not sure what he's talking about - like many perfect rock 'n' roll lyrics.

Produced by Todd Rundgren, Love Junk managed not to fall into the traps of many '80s records like overusing heavily-processed drum sounds or extra-cheesy vocal effects. It doesn't sound like a Rundgren album, doesn't necessarily sound like a made-in-Canada album - just a near-perfect record.

Hard to Laugh


Ten Fingers
I'm An Adult Now


She's So Young


Consciousness Raising As a Social Tool


Walking in the Woods


Beautiful White


When the Sky Comes Falling Down


Looking for Girls

Man's Best Friend


Tree of Knowledge


Killed by Love


Down on Him

The Bonaduces - New Tune Armadillo Has a Hard Shell, But is Candy Inside

The Bonaduces have released new music for the first time in 15 years, one song to pique your interest in a new album coming...sometime in the next year. You can purchase Armadillo by naming your price at the band's Bandcamp page. Crunchy guitars, punchy drums, munchy bass, and sweet harmonies - sounds like The Bonaduces to me. Here's a new article with some info on The Bonaduces, and the always-stellar Music Ruined My Life can give you some great background on the band.



Older stuff:

Sara's Black Pyjamas


Really Powerful Telescope


Megan is a Fruitloop

Ghost B.C. - If You Have Ghost, Covers of Roky Erickson, ABBA, Depeche Mode, Army of Lovers

Ghost B.C. are releasing a Dave Grohl-produced EP entitled If You Have Ghost, which of course will feature a cover of Roky Erickson's tune If You Have Ghosts. Sounds amazing, and you can pre-order here (it will be released Nov. 19th). For some reason, I was expecting scary death metal with Cookie Monster vocals, but this is as melodic and harmonious as I could desire.

If You Have Ghost


Three other tracks on the EP will also be covers, here's the tracklisting:

1. If You Have Ghosts (originally recorded by Roky Erickson)
2. I Am A Marionette (originally recorded by ABBA)
3. Crucified (originally recorded by Army of Lovers)
4. Waiting For The Night (originally recorded by Depeche Mode)
5. Secular Haze (Live) (recorded live at Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn)
All tracks except Secular Haze (Live) recorded and produced by David Eric Grohl.

The version above reminds me a bit of John Wesley Harding's version from the Roky Erickson Tribute album "Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye" (a superlative collection that you should track down at all cost).



Abba cover - I Am a Marionette


Army of Lovers - Crucified


Depeche Mode - Waiting for the Night


Here's what Ghost B.C. sounds like doing some of their own tunes. You have to watch a few of these videos if you want to know about this band. I am intrigued, how 'bout you?

Monstrance Clock


Secular Haze


Here's a couple more from that fine Roky Tribute.

REM - I Walked With A Zombie


Doug Sahm & Sons- You're Gonna Miss Me

The Watchmen - Free Album Download Live at the Hopetoun, The La's and Nova Mob Covers

 The Watchmen have been teasing fans about sharing some "Old Rare tracks, outtakes,demos", and the band has come through with a full album of acoustic tracks recorded at the Hopetoun in Australia. It's worth the little wait, because the sound quality is excellent, and the song selection is stellar as well - seven tunes from Silent Radar, plus All Uncovered, as well as covers of Nova Mob's Admiral of the Sea and The La's Timeless Melody. You can download them all for free here.

 The acoustic versions offer some interesting differences from the original studio versions, like as Daniel Greaves replicating some sounds made by Joey Serlin on the album (such as on Brighter Hell). You even get a Watchmen ditty that's never been released, Everywhere is Grey, which makes me really hunger for some other unreleased tunes that never saw the light of day. "Old Rare tracks, outtakes, demos"...bring 'em on.


Track Listing
1. Do It
2. Any Day Now
3. I'm Waiting
4. Brighter Hell
5. Timeless Melody
6. Say Something
7. Everywhere is Grey
8. All Uncovered
9. Stereo
10. Admiral Of The Sea
11. Silent Radar


Stereo Live in Australia
 


You can keep up with Watchmen goings-on by following 'em on Twitter - @Watchmenmusic.

Can't remember if I ever posted this, so here it is, 'tho it is unrelated to the Aussie live acoustic stuff, it is pretty good.

Red Vienna - Lights Out

Vancouver's Red Vienna have released a new tune, Lights Out, available on Bandcamp or iTunes. RV mainman Jahmeel Russell (Kittens, Projektor, Black Halos, KenMode) is a former Winnipegger and a good fella, so I usually pay attention. This song seems to have a bit of an '80s influence to me, Killing Joke perhaps? Nice ringing guitar, always-passionate vocals, cymbal-riding ecstasy.

 Lights Out
Some older stuff for ya: Blood Letter
The Best Words