Ah, Halloween. Is there anything more absurd that we continue to do well into adulthood in this country? Actually, don't answer that, but it is a truly bizarre annual ritual we undertake.. in a good way, I mean. There's candy, joviality, the ability to live out one's secret fantasies without anyone really knowing the difference, and, apparently, generosity. Why, just look at Mr. Springsteen channeling Robert Johnson at the crossroads and Screamin' Jay Hawkins to give you this number, one that comes down decidedly on the side of treat.
MP3 Download: Bruce Springsteen- "A Night With the Jersey Devil"
Tim Fite is offering a free follow-up to last year's Halloween-themed EP at his website. Not only that, but this year's ding dong Ditch! EP is all yours in addition to last year's It's Only Ketchup for ONE DAY ONLY (umm, that's today). So what, you say? Okay, except that Fite makes some of the most original mostly original except for the parts where he samples his contemporaries music around these days AND the EPs are full of titles like "Give Me Candy," "Dead Girl Walking," and "Slash Rules." I mean, why are you even still reading this?
Bradford Cox (aka the man behind Atlas Sound and Deerhunter), meanwhile, no doubt basking in the glow of his band's new Microcastle, has posted a pair of Halloween treats on his blog in the form of "Danse Infernale," and "Danse Macabre." Download them here.
Finally, not Halloween related but a treat nonetheless, the Portland band whose name dare not be spoken around these parts (although we like to call 'em Star-f-er) has just released this new video (via Pitchfork) for their "Rawnald Gregory Erickson the Second." The song, of course, comes from their recent full-length debut on Badman, although many of us have been rocking it since PDX Pop Now! '07.
Oh, we're serving up devils and demons, ghosts and ghouls, and straight up killing and mayhem all day long on the stream, so don't miss it. I know, we never thought Nada Surf could be scary, either. Cat Power's version of "Werewolf," and Blitzen Trapper's "Black River Killer," on the other hand...chilling!
AND, just posted is our in-studio session featuring a few of the supporting players behind the new all-original, all-Portland compilation, (D)early Departed: True Lies in Song Unearthed From Lone Fir. Stream the audio, see the photos, and (eventually) watch the video here.
Happy Halloween!
November 1, 2008 at 3:24am by Robert Fox
I like what you're doing, guys, but a sort of reverse request: please don't play two songs with David Byrne on vocals back-to-back (ok, you put one Nikka Costa song in-between, the theme being funky white people, I guess). I realize he's admired by many, but it felt like a cruel joke when I'd just patiently sat thru one of his songs waiting for stuff I would like better, and then he's back singing about... toe jam. Yay, not.
November 1, 2008 at 8:49am by Jeremy Petersen
OK, well, point taken, but to be fair Byrne was just the vocalist on that second track, a collaboration with The BPA and Dizzee Rascal.
The Byrne Bookend might be seen as two tracks spanning 30 years of the wonder of David Byrne (or something) .... unless you don't like him, which, it would seem, you don't. But the songs don't have that much in common other than Byrne. I'm a bit confused what race has to do with any of this, meanwhile.
November 2, 2008 at 1:12pm by inmemoryofjohnpeel
I caught parts of the Saturday show and thoroughly enjoyed the mix of Halloween songs and a good In-studio. Never mind the Byrne criticism, hopefully no-one who doesn't like Tom Waites was listening!
I reckon the scariest halloween music ever made was the opening to UmmaGumma by Pink Floyd - Sysyphus parts 1-4 - hard to believe that such music was made in 1970.
Great Decemberists song to open the Sunday show - about Valerie Plame! Shades of Arnold Layne and various Kinks songs in there.
Are you doing a new blog or staying with this one?
November 2, 2008 at 1:20pm by Jeremy Petersen
New blog coming! Some, er, technical difficulties over here...
November 2, 2008 at 2:54pm by Jeremy Petersen
OK, IMOJP, let's make that a lot of technical difficulties. There'll be something up eventually, but the threads are always open for whatever you'd like to talk about.....
November 2, 2008 at 3:47pm by inmemoryofjohnpeel
I too will miss the Go Betweens, but with creative output comes lasting access. What's missing is the live experience I have their live performance from my home town 'underground' club (heady days) and then remember seeing them at I-Beam (SF).
IS that XTC track to be played in these final minutes???
November 2, 2008 at 3:57pm by Jeremy Petersen
Wow, those are some memories to cherish in my book.
Oops! I meant to track it down. It wasn't readily available when I went looking and I had intended to track it down, and...well.... no Complicated Game. Maybe we'll shoot for Tuesday's stream? A raincheck for next weekend?
Apologies on that one.....
November 2, 2008 at 4:06pm by inmemoryofjohnpeel
Tuesday might work well. The song has a certain reflectivity... hopefully the prophetic lines (remember from 20 years before the Florida chads) "is really doesn't matter where you put your vote 'cause someone else will come along and change it, and it's always been the same.... it's just a complicated game" will not be the case this time around.
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