Some Short Spooky Selections

Finally making good on an idea I've had for some years but always just missed or plain forgotten about. Every year I think 'I should make another Halloween tape thing' - made a good compromise that one year with a Spotify playlist but as with a lot of things in my collection - some of the stuff just plain isn't available to stream legally and will probably never be. Not this time though, I've gone ahead and compiled a suitably spooky selection of tunes for this year. I'd hesitate to call it a mixtape like I have my other ones but I have tried a little bit to do some creative transitions where possible - kind of needed to with the abrupt end of the TeddyLoid tune after all. I'll be posting a full tracklist and mini-breakdown after the player!



TRACKLIST:
TeddyLoid - Zombie (TV Version)
Mr. Oizo - Pourriture X
Alec Lambert - Silly Game
Sidewalks and Skeletons - VALLEY OF WOLVES
Kensuke Ushio - Empty Eyes
Akira Yamaoka - Heaven's Night
Akira Yamaoka - Alone In The Town


We kick off with my No. 1 provider of Electro House nostalgia in TeddyLoid. His soundtrack contributions for Panty & Stocking With Garterbelt go hard (no pun intended!), Zombie is a bonus track included on a pack-in CD with a volume of the show so it probably won't be available on streaming like the other albums from the show are, if you're after some delish electro house circa like 2010 I highly recommend them all. Given it's sudden end I had to come up with something, and I settled on the spookiest version of Oizo's Pourriture series - 'X'. It's not my favourite of the lot, I think that would have to be Pourriture 7, but I can't deny the change up in sound on this one makes it feel like it's from a horror flick.

A new addition next with a bit from the soundtrack to Heaven Will Be Mine - not a spooky game but a lot of it's soundtrack is haunting. And Silly Game strikes a nice balance between the two especially in the latter half. Next we get some classic witch house style vibes from Sidewalks and Skeletons. Originally one of the few artists on my list with no specific track in mind - as the name might suggest a great deal of Skeleton's output is of that particular spooky vibe. I ended up picking something a little less well known from them - as much as I love tracks like Drifter I felt it better to shine a light on other tracks this time. If you enjoy that, you'll not put a foot wrong by picking up the whole album.

And a soundtrack roundup to play things out, a beautifully atmospheric piece (among many others) from Kensuke Ushio's soundtrack to the 2019 Boogiepop And Others. Ushio's work has fast become some of my favourites in recent times, both under his own name and his Agraph alias as well - gorgeous glitchy IDM offerings aplenty from him. Of course, what would a spooky selection be without some bits from Akira Yamaoka? The man behind some of Silent Hill's most famous soundtracks and sound designer for the original 4, his works are sometimes unsettling but sprinkled throughout are lovely bits of ambience and sometimes even full-on Trip Hop stuff. I've chosen a couple of those Trip Hop pieces from Silent Hill 2's soundtrack to play things out - the two in question play back-to-back on the official released soundtrack and flow together near seamlessly. Yamaoka cites Portishead as an influence and I think that's plain to see on these two. And that wraps the selections for this year, it was fun to finally get them down for once - hopefully I remember to do the same next year!

I'll be back sometime the middle of next week with another regular post, but I hope yo enjoy this little tape in the meantime. And of course, as always, stay safe and enjoy the music!

-CVF

Spooky Electric

Was planning to post this a little earlier, and have more tracks in it too but it's been very busy as of late. What's that saying about mice and men? Anyway, figured I'd best get it out there seeing as we're getting close and also I'm pretty sure it's the 31st already over in the states. So please enjoy my carefully curated list of vaguely Halloween-y tunes. There's no real order to them beyond the first 4 or so, so feel free to shuffle!



It's a real mixed bag of upbeat and downbeat too, the most recent additions being what precious little of Akira Yamaoka's Silent Hill soundtracks there are on spotify. Hopefully there's some stuff in there that you dig, and if you'd like to follow the playlist I plan on adding to it a little more over the next couple days. I found it much harder than in previous years, but then again my library has grown considerably since then. Regardless, enjoy and I will see you all again soon!

-Claude Van Foxbat

Ilictronix Podcast: The Halloween Special 2018!

It's a Halloween Special! Claude and Adam share their favorite spooky tracks.

Right on time this week, with our suitably spooky selections to trick or treat your ears. Our trend of going ironic with our intro tunes continues, what could top our hardstyle 4th of July special? well, some Skeletonized trap might do just that! Outside of that, my selections are a far cry form my old days of posting dancefloor-orieted tunes I take a dive into my library and dust off some of the darker sounds I have on offer; the downtempo streak continues with my first offering being some gorgeously macabre Dark-wave (though not before the terrifying spectre of eurobeat makes a very brief cameo in the intro!) Adam takes us on an eclectic ghost train of selections, ranging from Industrial to House and Acid and back. I didn't want this ep to descend into slightly spooky dancefloor stuff and I think we pulled that off spectacularly, Apologies in advance if these selections aren't your bag, we'll be back to our usual programming come next week! Tracklist and show notes follow as always:

Tracklist:
SPECIAL FAKEOUT Intro:
Mega NRG Man - Back On The Rocks (ends at 0:22)
Spooky Scary Skeletons (NoXuu Remix)

Claude’s picks:
Suilen - Zakuro
Clark - Vengeance Drools
Akira Yamaoka - Nightmarish Waltz
Hayato Matsuo - Badrick
El Huervo - Ghost


Adam’s Picks
Blawan - Why They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage?
Nine Inch Nails - Sin
Jenny Hval - Female Vampire
Bam Bam - Wheres Your Child?
Sax - Don't Turn Your Back On Me (Halloween Mix)

Outro:
Carpenter Brut - Escape From Midwich Valley (Live)


Show Notes:
I immediately found that Dr. Dre produced tune I mentioned offhandedly with some vague googling, contrary to what I said Dre isn't ON the track but rather produced it. It's called (fittingly enough) Monster Rapping by Laylaw, released in '85, it's a far cry form the G-Funk and gangsta rap stuff that would make Dre's name much later.

Adam's contribution to the show-notes came in the form of a link simply labelled SKINNY PUPPY - LIVE 1986, definitely worth a peek if you want to hear what Adam was talking about, doubly so if you're like me and just like peeking at different aesthetics of genres and decades!

A little light on the show notes this week it seems, I have an itching feeling I've missed a couple but give me a day or so to have a proper scrub through the full cast and I'll add any that are missing. I'm goign to echno wat I said towards the end of this episode and just ask you all to be safe out there no matter what you're doing this eve (or this weekend too) and of course to enjoy the music. Myself and Adam will be back next week with more of the usual, I think we've figured out the background noise issue but you'll all know when I do. We'll leave the light on for ya.

-Claude Van Foxbat

Spooky Sounds

Halloween time, time for tunes. Had some really great picks in the last couple of years and I hope to continue the trend! Without further ado onto he tracks! (no art this time b/c I don't have any scary paintings, so have this picture of a bat)

Starting off with a more recent tune from recently covered Swede Simon Viklund. This tune was made for some Hotline Miami / Payday crossover and it's pretty stellar. It really captures that neon drenched 80s feel of the Hotline soundtrack and the bank robbing vibes of Payday quite nicely. With just a smidgen of inspiration from artists like Danger & Feed Me, this one better be on your playlist for the 31st!



Kittin with the opening track from her suitably spooky album Batbox. Her production is on point as usual, unlike the dancefloor/listening sides of I Com, her second definitely dwells more on the dancy side of things. If there were ever a rave in a haunted mansion, this would be the tune to open it with for sure.



And finally some FlyLo with some wonky disjointed beat action form the Pattern + Grid World EP. It took me a while for some tracks on the EP to click for me, this one included, but when they did it was magic. Save this one or the morning after when everything is still a little hazy.



-Claude Van Foxbat