A Halloween Soundtrack

Illustration: SHALTMIRA

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, a time to celebrate all the horrible visions in your head and not get arrested. I loaded up a sexy version of this costume for myself to wear to the Big Halloween Party. There’s plenty of holes in it already but I’m going to make some new ones. I guess we’ll see what comes out of it! Bow wow wonderful.

I’ve heard enough Halloween mixes and playlists to give me the hot heebie-jeebies, which is way less whimsical than it sounds. Gotta get my body washed and prepped for the Big Halloween Party. The standard for any good H trip is to make it transformative for the attendee. Let a jack-of-all-trades like myself jack up your pumpkinparty, let me shine a light right in there with my…what’s this? A jack’o’lantern? Hoo hoooo. I took too many pills. Trick that Halloween treat out properly and normal boundaries of space+time won’t even matter anymore. Non-Euclidean geometry up in the club, DJ on infinite decks with Wiley-voice skipping “HARD” but the instrumental is chiming bells and gurgles? Is this the remix? Shorty next to me is grinding and weeping and I can’t tell where her mouth ends. It doesn’t even matter anymore because my shit turned in to some tentacle shit.

I can’t help you decorate your party, but I can supply you with the sounds you need to make your peer group respect you, with dancing. So I made you a mix:

It’s no “Everyday is Halloween” or anything, but it captures the essence of Halloween as I see it: Sounds for nightfalls, shapes under sheets, real witches and elder young gods filled with strange samples, field recordings, TV personalities, and favorite tracks. Artists include: Black Rain, Frank Sinatra, Breached Hull, Codex Empire, The Bug, Scott Walker & Sunn O))), Cut Hands, Dead Boomer,  Gazelle Twin, Pain Station, Dolly Parton, Clay Rendering, Propergol, and Funeral Parlor. Sweet sounds for sundowns. Gorge your belly and swallow your gorge: this is Halloween.

Published October 31, 2014. Words by Daniel Jones.