Portland's residential dark synth wavers are also back with another super original album that is appropriately named Sinister Vibes. Once described as electronic music from inside a deep dark well, Afraid have climbed their way out onto land and right into your backyard. They aren't just huddled behind the bushes either, they are right out in the open ready to strike you with their soulful ax. Don't bother calling the cops or running away... Afraid's Sinister Vibes will be both heard and felt.
Sinister Vibes is out now on a very hip (from the sound of it) label, Crash Symbol. I would definitely recommend grabbing the tape from those guys and going to see them before they get too hip and move across the state or something. For Portland folks they are playing tonight at Poland Street and tomorrow they are playing in Bangor at COESPACE on Columbia Street. Get Afraid!
It's the spookiest time of the year again, so listen to spooky music!
Goblin were an electronic prog rock band from Italy. Originally known as Cherry Five, the band was commissioned by director and spook-master, Dario Argento to help finish compose the music for his 1975 horror masterpiece, Profondo Rosso AKA Deep Red. With the goal of creating such a beautifully goosebumped-out soundtrack, the band needed a much cooler and darker name, apparently, so they trashed the Genesis-inspired Cherry Five name and were re-born as Goblin. After Profondo Rosso, the band were then assigned to compose all of Argento's next film, a sort of ballet of horror, Suspiria!
Suspiria is both suspenseful and beautiful - a combination of traits that also appears in the soundtrack by Goblin. I'm not going to spoil the movie for you if you haven't seen it; I'm just going to say you will be in for quite a treat this Halloween season if you do see it! It's a classic and don't let the whole ballet thing fool you. A good movie can make anything watchable (plus there's really not much ballet anyways).
Here's a taste of Goblin's "Suspiria" if you haven't already familiarized yourself with this incredible track (or the rest of the soundtrack):
While I've been listening to plenty of hardcore lately, I really needed something metal to listen to. I'm talking dark, black, burnt metal. Luckily, I found just what I've been looking for - MANTAR!
Mantar, who might sound like ten warlocks conjuring up dark souls while riding headless horses at first, are actually a two piece straight from Hamburg, German conjuring up dark souls while riding nearly headless horses. The two pieces used in Mantar's music are the traditional weapons of choice: drums and guitars (with lots of spells cast on it). No bass, no worries; these two gents from Germany know how to keep things dark and heavy just with their essential tools of destruction.
Along with dark and heavy, Mantar also summon the spirits of gloom and doom. The doom elements plus Mantar's use of witch, Norse, and demon-themed songwriting is a perfect mix with your pumpkin spice whatever this October/Halloween season. Be warned though, Mantar's Death by Burning is also the kind of album that could lead you to raise a demon seed inside reproductive organs you didn't even know you had.
Highlights: There's really no dull moment for this 10 song epic but "Astral Kannibal", "White Nights", and "The Berserker's Path" are definitely the record's top bangers.
Similar acts/sounds: metal. Good blackened doom metal.
Side note: Ain't nothing wrong with sludge metal but these guys also don't want to be called sludge metal. I'm just tagging them as such so I remember not to call the sludge.
From the ashes of local legends, Conifer and Ocean came a new experiment to enter the dark dimensions of the musical subconscious. The year was 2011, and new bands from Maine were popping up left and right, including aformentioned louder-than-hell brigade, Awaas. Now it's 2014, and Awaas, like any cool local band should, are calling it quits.
Almost two Sundays ago, Awaas took there music, set it on fire, and rode off into the sunset, (almost) literally. Awaas's final performance was a viking funeral through Casco Bay. While there may or may not have actually been fire aboard the Casablanca booze cruise, from the sound of things it was quite the burial at sea. As a fan of both music and boating, that is probably the most badass way to go out.
Along with the Casablanca Cruise being the final show for Awaas in Portland, it was also the birth of their cleverly titled new album, It's Great Dying. Whether or not the 'waas team knew they would be releasing the damn thing on their death bed, It's Great Dying is certainly their swan song.
Riddled with the instrument of choice circa 1983, the synthesizer, Awaas goes completely in direction not yet heard on It's Great Dying. It seems a bit risky at first, mixing their minimal approach heard on the 2011 self-titled EP with a much more prominent gothic to industrial pop feel. Still, even with the fond interest in the synth, Awaas retained that heaviness that I remember quite well last time I saw them (opening for Thee Silver Mt. Zion in Portland).
It's Great Dying is not like a lot of music being released these days. Coming from Awaas, this is no surprise to me. Awaas is not music you can easily define other than throwing out a few meaningless phrases like krautrock, electro, industrial, or drone with names like Swans, Lungfish, Bauhaus, and The Birthday Party. At the end of the day, Awaas is just Awaas - as cheesy as that may sound - you can't put a finger on something that doesn't have any guidelines or rules other being completely DIY and has the need for really loud synth.
Highlights: "A Simple Horror", "Big Fun", "Tiny Monsters", "Magnetic P.I.", "Cauterize", and the rest of the album.
Also, feel free to read more about Awaas and their final show via Post Mortem, here.
Free To Think are a hardcore band from my third home, Bangor, Maine. Much like my buds Never Relaxed, they are keeping this whole hardcore scene in Maine alive and well. They also happen to be wrestling fans like myself, so I can't not talk about them. This here is their '014 demo which includes a real American outro that can't be missed:
Dark and dreary pop punk rock from Olympia. A three piece possibly possessed by ghosts or some sort of modern-day witch (if that's PC). Margy Pepper are very reminiscent of another band from Olympia that I have talked about before and that band would be RAGANA. This is no coincidence either as they are best buds and do tour together.
Margy Pepper did happen to make it to Mayo Street in Portland a few months sans RAGANA.
Windmill of Corpses are a three-piece crust metal band out of Arizona. With punchy drums and demonic howls, these guys are a guaranteed slap right smack in your little baby face. Get on this if you want to live with your beautiful baby face no more.
Ignominy are a band from Sweden that used to play hardcore but now make sludgy blackened post metal. Through the beating drums and sludgy distortion comes spiraling guitar work; a sound that will quickly get your attention. From the very beginning, Ignominy introduce you to the wonders that their instruments can make when they guide you into a storm of electronic swells. Eventually you find yourself in a dark place with no direction and things are getting intense, then you let the storm take over you. Now you're in the eye of the storm, but it's not so bad, it's actually kind of peaceful in a dark, melancholy kind of way. You sit back as the water consumes your vessel and you become completely submerged. You didn't even bother to put your gumby suit on. You are just sinking as chaos and panic ensues around you.
Once you get to the second song though, you realize you still can't breath underwater and you want to live. So comes this intense burst of emotion as water starts to build up in your lungs and you are fighting to get to the surface. Luckily, by the power of music, you are sky-rocketed (err, sea-rocketed) up to the surface and spat out of the ocean's mouth. After that it's really up to you; a choose your own adventure of heavy and doom-y proportions.
Sounds pretty cool, right?
Come Abuse is Ignominy's newest release and is free for everyone on the internet to listen to and own. So grab this album from the link above and enjoy the shameless trip.
Highlights: listen to this album from beginning to end. Twice.
Scour is the solo project of multi-instrumentalist, Felix Skinner. Skinner also plays in the synth doom/black noise California outfit, Wreck and Reference - which can be heard very clearly through his music as Scour if you are familiar with W&R's stuff.
This self-titled album features 26 songs that start with the letter x. I haven't done much research on the matter, but I'm certain that Scour has more songs starting with the letter x than any other musician/band out there today.
Here's some stuff that might sound like 311 if they were sped up/slowed down/mixed using an iPhone/had different members/weren't into colors/streaked more/were more distorted/were more like Weezer or Cap'n Jazz or Captain Beefheart or early Metallica/didn't twinkle as hard/weren't from Nebraska/had an album coming out this year/weren't on your mom's iPod/etc.
Clearly I'm behind on my Michael Jordan Touchdown Pass listening as I just got word that they have had new songs out on their Bandcamp since last summer. Regardless of all that though, there's no better time like the present to listen to some guilt-free music like Michael Jordan Touchdown Pass.
Did I mention that most of the money you give towards Michael Jordan Touchdown Pass's music goes to his friend in Cambodia's small school he started to help educate and nourish children in the village with art and science? Of course I didn't; I was saving the best news for last!
I found out about these guys after checking out the predominately math rock blog, Plenty of Swords. I was initially turned on to this band in particular due to the description of them being a math rock band with strings (I'm guessing a violin). And even though I would say that We Scare Coyotes are bit more post rock than the average math rock outfit these days, they definitely incorporate the violin very nicely into their instrumental music on this live demo titled after those shoes the kids were wearing in The Sandlot.
This release is still much more post rock-y than their 2012 live demo, Wild Dreams which does not feature any strings if my ears serve me correctly. Still a decent listen for any instrumental/post rock/whatever fan out there, however.
Jakob Battick & Friends may have called it quits in 2011, but it was definitely not the last time we would hear from the likes of either Jakob Battick or his "Friends" - including Jared Fairfield who seems to be appearing just as much on here as Jakob Battick lately. Not to mention that these last four songs by JB & Friends were originally set to be on a split with Jared Fairfield that never happened.
It almost seems like a crime that Jakob Battick and his friends put out such a phenomenal post-humorous release like this on top of all the other stuff Jakob Battick is up to currently (Captain Hollow, new Afraid stuff, etc.) as well as Jared Fairfield (who recently made this). Stop teasing us like you guys should be together still and have so much creativity, okay?
Rumor also has it that Jakob Battick's new project as Afraid will feature Jarboe. That's right, The Living Jarboe from Swans. This is just a rumor as of now, but just crazy enough to be true! When and if it ever happens you can be sure to see here, no doubt.
As for the music itself, these last four songs of Jakob Battick & Friends legacy are probably their best. They know it, too. And while I always enjoyed their other work, this is really some pretty nifty stuff that I can put on constant rotation.
So find yourself a big dark room to sit in and listen to these last four hunting post folk medleys until your bones can no longer take it anymore and you must draw the curtains back and let life return to your body. Except you don't, and your body just stays in equilibrium until your new life begins before your very own eyes.
Or listen to it like a normal person would. I don't care.
Other Friends from JB & F's past: Mark Dennis, Ryan Higgins, Marisha Drown, Nate Pronovost, Milo Moyer-Battick, Dan Littlefield, Johnathan Downs, and more!
Combining black metal and hardcore like no ones business, The Phantom Carriage took me by surprise the first time I heard their 2011 release, New Things about a year back. The Phantom Carriage's careless take on all things heavy and unholy really makes all that they do stand out.
The Phantom Carriage's new release, Falls takes you on a ghostly ride through dark hardcore riffs and blistering drumming with neither ever really staying in the lines of straight-forward black metal for more than a few minutes. This sort of constant changing of style continuously weaving throughout the album is perfectly executed with little to no difficulty; a big factor to why I find this band so interesting and refreshing.
Highlights: "Today We Stand", "Dreamers Will Never Stop Dreaming", "About Being a Father", and "Rejuvenation"
By the way, if you haven't seen The Phantom Carriage, essentially the new year's eve version of A Christmas Carol, I highly recommend it. It's streamable on Youtube currently and is probably in public domain considering it's from 1921 - if not - the book Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness, which The Phantom Carriage is based off of, definitely is. The Phantom Carriage is also known for its ax scene which bears a striking resemblance to that of the one in The Shining (1980). You know, the one "Here's Johnny!" scene.
This is Olympia, Washington RAGANA's first release, entitled, All's Lost. It features the same intense witchy black metal that their new album, Unbecoming has. Personally though, I just listen to both albums, starting with this one, back to back. Nonstop. Every night.
Billy Carr is the solo project of William B. Carr formerly of The Waldos.
Billy sings and plays guitar in a very different way; a different but cool and refreshingly new way. I recently saw Billy play some of these songs at The Butcher Boy/Speaker for the Dead show at Mayo Street Arts in Portland with Peter McLaughlin accompanying him on drums, and while it seemed a bit overwhelming in the electric setting they were performing at, I really do enjoy these songs the way they are recorded here just with acoustic guitar and vocals. No offence to Peter (who also provides phenomenal percussion on Lady Lamb The Beekeeper's new album, Ripley Pine) what so ever, I just think that these songs make sense acoustically. At least for the time being...
I do wish there was some artwork, though.
Ooh, and I almost forgot: Billy Carr also has a doubling session with Matt Houston (formerly of Red Medicine) which is available both for streaming and downloading. It also comes with artwork! Check it out!
I'm pretty pumped to announce that Host, the dark and dreary hardcore outfit from New Hampshire who, I might add, released a very fine split with KYOTY last year will be playing in Portland this coming Sunday - which I can go to since it will kick off my spring break.
The show is being put on by the hard-working folks of Dirigimus Cooperative, which means that this show is probably in a semi-secret location somewhere or behind the train tracks somewhere. It's also being put on around 3 o'clock in the afternoon so you will still have time to make it to church!
This intense cover of two songs originally by Mogwai from their album, 'Come On Die Young' comes from Deafheaven's 12'' split with Bosse-de-Nage. While the "Punk Rock" (the intro), and "Cody" are two different tracks on Mogwai's 2006 release, Deafheaven has combined them into one big post black post metal post rock track.
Deafheaven also mix things up with their choice of a spoken word sample for "Punk Rock". While Mogwai's original featured Iggy Pop discussing punk rock no less, Deafheaven's rendition features the words of William Faulkner (talking about fear I'm guessing) followed by some atmospheric black metal piano!
Take a listen:
Be sure to also check out Bosse-de-Nage's side of the split as well.
...and Mogwai's tracks "Punk Rock" and "Cody" if you haven't heard them before:
Both Deafheaven and Bosse-de-Nage are from the "Bay Area" (San Francisco, California). They both play a unique blend of black metal without being from Norway or looking the part. Some like to call that hipster black metal.
I could care less what they wear or where they're from...
The thing that makes this seemingly dragcore/snoozetronic (words I made up of course) release by some band called WIFE actually really awesome is that this is a side project by James Kelly of Altar of Plagues - one of those atmospheric black metal bands that normal people can get into. What makes that better than if Kelly was some bump of the street who was mistakenly picked up as a rising indie rock star that both Pitchfork and MTV adore? Maybe the fact that Kelly genuinely has an interest in electronic music. I'm not just saying that because that's what his Last.fm says either; I can hear it in Wife and his debut EP, 'Stoic'. I can tell that this young musician is experimenting with electronic music the way people have been for a few years now - with dark bass and slow but lingering beeps and blips - the thing that Kelly is doing differently however, is simple really; He's doing it right.
Highlights: all of it; it's only five songs. "Bodies" is my current favorite though:
Really the only reason I've been holding on to this release until now is the title. Maybe it's a reference to The Royal Tenenbaums or some sort of dark joke, but I'm not too into it. What's inside, 'I'm Going To Kill Myself' however is a different story. It's filled with some pretty interesting grunge-y type punk rock stuff that was hiding from the 90's and just now ready for proper listening.
I'm not going to say they sound like Nirvana even though I wrote they were "grunge-y" because there really isn't such a thing in this day and age. I will say this though, if Kurt Cobain was still alive this would probably make his AOTY list.
It's definitely an album I had to come back to a lot this year. It's a mega grower.
Highlights: "Canker", "Park Her Road", and "Red Bullgirls"
There's not too much I have to say about Old Gray's new release, 'Everything I Let Go & The Things I Refuse To' other than the fact that if it was released earlier in the year I would have been all over it.
Old Gray say they have moved past their old sound of midwest emo as well as past problems, past memories, and from past regrets. For better or for worse, this is their new sound.
The highlight of this album definitely has to be the last track, entitled "Six Years". It features a sample from the pilot episode of one an all time favorite show of mine, Freaks and Geeks. It's also really really sad. Yes really two really's.
Initially hearing that Dead Confederate's Hardy Morris was going to team up with John McCauley of Deer Tick, I was pretty much all ears. I had no idea that along with members of Black Lip, Los Lobos, and Six Finger Satellite, Diamond Rugs was actually going to be one of the silliest indie rock supergroups ever conceived. Don't let that word "silly" confuse you though, this is still a pretty awesome listen once you get past the fact that these seemingly serious bands like Dead Confederate and Deer Tick are now playing songs about boobs and beer.
I'm not complaining.
The origin of Diamond Rugs was a way for John McCauley to play with one of his favorite bands, Los Lobos. After gathering up all sorts of musicians along the way, Diamond Rugs actually started to look not too shabby and with every member contributing their own songs and ideas - it really isn't too shabby.
All in all, you can tell these musicians came together and just had some fun. It's a nice treat to hear all sorts of different sounds coming together and with the same goal in mind. That goal being boobs and beer of course.
Highlights: "Gimme a Beer", "Country Mile", "Blue Mountains", and "Christmas in a Chinese Restaurant"
In honor of Halloween, I present NFT's top 6 favorite Goosebumps episodes (and their books)!
Here we go...
6. Welcome to Camp Nightmare
Plot: A kid named Billy is sent to Camp Nightmoon instead of visiting his family for the summer. Unfortunately for him, Camp Nightmoon isn't your average summer camp. Right from the get-go we are introduced to characters that mysterious start to vanish overnight. When Billy asks his hard-ass counselor about his missing cabin mates he just gets scolded for asking questions. When he asks the man running the camp, Uncle Al, he get's the reply that there was never even campers by those names. More questions start to come up as the story moves on like, what or who is taking these missing campers? What's up with the forbidden cabin? And what's really up with Camp Nightmoon?
Best parts: I love camp-themed anything. Especially when people go to camp and shit-goes-down. The twist is probably the most complex even though it's basically a Twilight Zone rip-off but even re-watching it for this list, I didn't see the twist ending coming. Probably one of the twistiest of twists in this here R.L. Stine series.
Memorable bits: Honestly, I don't actually remember this story all that much until I discovered it just before making this list. I remembered there was a few camp related 'bumps tales I watched as a child and the one I was actually thinking of is an episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark? - a series that was on around the same time Goosebumps started to air. But this story itself impressed me so much even without any nostalgic value that I had to put it on this list. So, here it is.
Campy parts: (Other than R.L. Stine putting the camp in campy)... I don't think they did a very good job with that bad-ass kid with the bandanna and leather jacket. Everyone knows those characters and accessories are reserved for the bullies in the 90's! But no, he was just a friend, and even later on, comic relief. If you are going to put your character in a leather jacket, they gotta be the bully... that's the rules! Also, how did everyone already know each other's names when they've never met before coming to Camp Nightmoon?
Anything else worth noting: In the book version, Uncle Al gives the kids a ride the rest of the way to camp after the bus driver just leaves them in the middle of nowhere, but in the show, they have to walk a mile in the woods.
Plot: One day, a garden obsessive father comes home with two new pieces for his tacky masterpiece of a lawn. The plastic statues standing in the back of pop's flatbed are two tall and ugly lawn gnomes that clearly look like they are up to no good. Turns out they really are up to no good as they start to wreak havoc on the neighbor's - who happens to be some sort of general - spotless yard and garden. Of course, no one's going to suspect that these hideous gnomes that look nothing like small people in plastic outfits as the culprits, so the general starts blaming the son. You know, since young boys are always trying to mess with neighbors' gardens. The son, being the only rational human-being and all, blames it on the gnomes and tries to prove that they are the ones coming to life and FSU-ing all night long...
Best parts: Come on, it's lawn gnomes coming to life and terrorizing stuff! The first time we see the gnomes getting count in the act and how they move and look (even if the gnomes are really campy and just little people in goofy plastic costumes again), it's still kinda creepy. I'll admit it.
Memorable bits: Not sure if this is memorable but did anyone else ever notice how little they used the mom in this episode book? Also, this story reminds me of that All Grown Up episode where someone is stealing all the lawn gnomes in town. Remember that?
Campy parts: The gnomes, The general and his crooked hat, The classic "I didn't do it! I swear" kid and his, "yeah right." sister.
Anything else worth noting: The ending in this story also differs between episode/book. I don't think I read the book but I do remember something about hundreds of slave gnomes trapped in the general's basement or something along those lines.
Plot: It's Halloween and Drew and her friend Walker are pondering what they can do to make this year better as Tabby and Lee (two classic pranksters) have ruined Drew's favorite holiday two years in a row. On Drew and Walker's brainstorming walk home, they run into two of Drew's long lost friends and next door neighbors' Shane and Shana who are in town for the night and have a perfect plan to get back at Tabby and Lee for all the crap they have pulled on Drew. Shane and Shana tell Drew and Walker to invite Tabby and Lee to trick or treat with them and Shane and Shana will cover the rest. So, Drew and Walker hook up with Tabby and Lee for trick or treating with no sign of Shane or Shana anywhere. As the night goes by the group run into two pumpkin-headed figures that know the best spot for candy. What the unsuspecting kids don't know is that the pumpkin heads have brought them to a parallel dimension where you can never stop trick or treating! Are the pumpkin heads Drew's friends? Is this their sick trick to get back at Tabby and Lee? And are Drew's friends even human?
Best parts: The thought: 'what if we could not stop trick or treating?'
Memorable bits: I remember this one pretty well just on the premise that it takes place on Halloween night and while you think you have the twist figured out, Stine goes and twists it up some more! You bastard, you.
Campy parts: While the Goosebumps series weren't by any means memorable for their special effects (was there a kids show in the 90's that was?), the super fake looking pumpkin heads actually worked perfectly for the story since the kids argued that the pumpkin heads are just crappy costumes and got a good spook when they removed one to reveal - dun dun dun - nothing! Unfortunately all the other effects like the talking pumpkin head on the ground and the random orange bolt of lightning were a bit of a miss. I won't even mention when they reveal what the pumpkin-headed friends of Drew actually looked like... Oops.
Anything else worth noting: (Spoiler alert): If the aliens ate those four missing adults, who were those four possessed adults handing out candy in the infinite treat or trick dimension? Also, in the book, the only way to make room for more candy to keep trick or treating was to eat all the candy!
Plot: When a girl (Lucy) leaves her 'blades' at the library after Reading Rangers, she stumbles upon her librarian, Mr. Mortman, partaking in a feast of crickets and tarantulas. He's not just feeding the tarantulas though, he is taking large handfuls of crickets and shoving them into his disgusting librarian face. Lucy continues to watch this hideous act until Mr. Mortman's body turns into... yes... A MONSTER! Unfortunately for Lucy, all her monster bluffs in the past have caught up with her and no one believes her when she tells them she has finally seen a real monster!
Best part: The Girl Who Cried Monster has arguably the best twist in Goosebumps' history. It's by far my favorite twist of any Goosebumps story/adaptation/video game and I dare anyone who has never read or seen this classic Goosebump' before to predict the ending. No, I double dare you!
You'll never get it right.
Memorable bits: Growing up (not that I'm done), I never read/watched Goosebumps for the spooks really. No, I was already into cult horror flix like Stephen King's It and The Leprechaun at the time, not too sound like a cool kid or anything, but I was a bit ahead of my time for my age. What I would really read/watch Goosebumps for - was their twists. The Girl Who Cried Monster was probably one of the last 'bumps books I read and I can still remember it really well. What will always stick in my head from this story, is the twist, of course, but also the way the librarian was described and how much I despised him for some reason. Maybe it wasn't because he was a slimy monster that ate bugs, but rather because he was a librarian. I hate librarians. If I was a monster, I would have eaten him, too.
Campy parts: It's camp-less.
Anything else worth noting: There's a subtle Fahrenheit 451 situation going on this story when Mr. Mortman tells Lucy she should stop reading scary, nonsense stories and start reading more classic novels. This was R.L. Stine's little poke at teachers who thought Goosebumps were not good for children because they didn't teach kids anything. Also, I used to imagine Mr. Mortman was an old lady. I don't know why but I have a feeling it has to do with all the librarians I encountered when I was younger.
Plot: A family of scientists move to a secluded swampy town to study things. The scientists' son, Grady, eventually befriends one of the only kids in town, Will. The kids spend most of their time hanging out in the swamp where the swamp hermit lives. Will informs Grady that the swamp hermit is a werewolf and shouldn't be fucked with and that the swamp is called Fever Swamp because anyone who goes into it soon gets a fever that causes them to do crazy things. One night, Grady and the rest of the family are woken by a howl and scratching at the door. Come to find out that it was just a big dog behind the door the whole time... or at least this time it was...
Best part: This Goosebump' had the potential to be the scariest and most graphic. That is, until I saw the episode adaptation and didn't see any deer guts or blood of any kind. What did I expect though? This is Goosebumps we're talking about. The Werewolf of Fever Swamp is still one of my most remembered stories of the series and, though the twist is not as crazy as The Girl Who Cried Monster, it is still twist. Even if you can figure it out right away. Knowing the twist to this story doesn't ruin the whole thing in this case. That's what makes it such a good story.
Memorable bits: I remember reading this in one day and going back to the library the next day to pick up the episode on VHS. I wanna say it was the closest Goosebumps story out there to gave me the creeps. I think it may have something to do with the woods I had out back behind my house and the time I found what looked like someone's shack. I went in and there was the swamp hermit just waiting for me. I tried to run but it was no use... psych. That never happened. Spooky though, right?
Campy parts: More classic skeptical parents that get proven wrong in the end. Also, why does it seem that the parents in these stories are always scientists or doctors? Goosebumps also always a high likelihood that the story revolves around a family of four and the main character usually just flip-flops between brother and sister. The only 'bumps story I can think of that deals with a single parent and their child's bizarre situation would be, 'Don't Go To Sleep!'.
Another else worth noting: The study the parents were working on was if deer can live in Florida or not.
The real twist: The Swamp Hermit was actually Doc from Back to the Future.
Plot: In an attempt to have a really cool costume for Halloween, Carly Beth looks to an old and run-down but newly-opened novelty shop. Unfortunately, the shop is closed when she gets there but for some reason she is let in my the shop owner. Inside, Carly stumbles upon a back room filled with freakishly realistic masks - one of which she has to have. The shop owner refuses to sell her the masks, however, so Carly grabs the mask, throws her money at the man, and dashes for the door. That night for trick or treating, Carly has the scariest mask and knows it. Along with the mask, she carries around a plaster head on a stick her mom made for her. Coolest costume in town right? Well, come time to remove the mask, Carly is unsuccessful! The mask is stuck to her face and won't come off! Uh oh. What now...? Dun dun dun..
Best parts: The Haunted Mask is the Goosebumps book I first think of when I think "Goosebumps". It's an essential Goosebumps story that also takes place on Halloween!
Memorable bits: For me, The Haunted Mask is probably the most memorable book cover of the Goosebumps series. It's just a classic must-read/must-see Goosebump'. If you didn't read this book or watch the episode when you were a kid, you are truly missing out, my friend. I would even go as far as saying that you are not a true 90's kid even if you were born in the 90's for not reading or watching The Haunted Mask. Which sucks for you since being a 90's kid is clearly the best kind of kid you can be. I would know. The internet told me so.
Campy parts: Not too many that I can think of other than that creepy plaster head Carly carries around that is supposed to be very fragile.
Another else worth noting: Rumor has it that the actress who played Carly Beth actually ate a real sandwich filled with real worms. Also, I can't help but be reminded of Halloween III when I watch this episode. For all those who haven't had the pleasure of seeing Halloween III: Season of the Witch, it's the one without Michael Myers and all the must-have Halloween masks will magically turn the kids into monsters on Halloween night! Or kill them... I can't remember.
I did a little research before putting this list together (but already had my favorites in mind) and noticed that ThatGuywiththeGlasses.com also has a list of the best Goosebumps books hosted by CR in his 'Familiar Faces' series. Turns out, CR and I have a lot of the same favorites! the video he made's kinda corny, but also very nostalgic. Check it out!
Upon first listen of the opening track, "Intro/Black Death" one could have the impression that this is just another screamo/post rock/what-have-you album, but once the voice of spoken word lets up and the instruments start to fade out, a common sound enters. It's the sound some are very familiar with; a sound that reminds them of that phase they went through in high school where they stitched patches on their denim jacket or contemplation running away to become a common day street urchin. It's the sound of old school punk rock music - the kind that was mixed with a little lot of hardcore and made to trash around. Grazes hasn't forgotten those days and neither should we. Even it those days never actually existed...
The rest of the album after the opening track is a head-on freight train of hardcore punk nostalgia. Grazes proves that they are here to keep that sound alive while staying somehow relevant by adding in other influences such as metal and even shoegaze. All in all, it still sounds like the punk music of yesterday; just played for us today.
Similar acts/sounds: Bastions, Pariso, Jackals, Best Friends, Goodtime Boys, Beartrap, Lester Freamon, Cower, Witch Cult and a bunch of other hardcore acts that miss old school punk music, too.
In 2004, the hip hop act with a dark side, Dälek teamed up with the German krautrock lords, Faust to create one of the most mind-bending hip hop albums of all time, Debre Respect, Alder. With both bands/acts taking great influence from electronic noise production and dark experimentation, Debre Respect, Alder makes for one hell of a listening experience. Not to mention that with most songs exceeding the 6 minute mark with long passages of disembodied beats and rhythms, this is not your everyday radio friendly hip hop. Nope. Not quite trip hop and not quite death rap... this is some krautrock induced, dark ambient inspired, hip hop right here. Give it a try!
Progressively instrumental 'math rock' from San Diego featuring the all members of Mister Valentine (I believe) except The Unbreakable Brian Warren who went on to extra in the movie, Jarhead.
Reminds me of early Battles stuff but a little lighter on the instruments with some post rock tendencies thrown in there.
A brand new one from the P-town noise punk outfit, Heavy Breathing. Features Travis from Butcher Boy among other cool things. I have yet to see them play their songs together but from what I've heard from this release, it sure sounds like something that's worth doing.
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