Death Hags – Le Vampire (Stella Cover)
Genre: Indie Pop, Garage Rock
Halloween songs have existed for long enough that they are now a tradition enjoyed by millions. We’ve accrued enough good Halloween songs over the years that the music has transcended mere novelty status or cartoon quirkiness. There are enough camp, gruesome-fun songs that people often speak of their favourite eras when these were made as if debating any other music genre.
For some, the vivid, horror details of some of the scary songs that have acquired success in the past decades are a bit too much. Horror-rap and ghastly industrial-rock apparitions simply don’t play into the dark fairytale feel that some of the morbid-themed songs of the 1960s seemed to possess.
Death Hags is ready to deliver Le Vampire for just that set of audience. Playful, creepy, but also, childlike Le Vampire is a real gem. The song itself is a cover of a largely unrecalled French-pop song of the 1960s. Death Hags substitutes the sophisticated instrumentation for a garage rock orchestration that hits upon the same alluring formula. For those that enjoy their Halloween enjoyed somewhere cosy where original Addams Family episodes are always playing, this is a welcome soundtrack.
SuperSpeeder – The Night
Genre: Psychedelic Rock, Garage Rock, Alternative Rock
You know, in the entertainment world, there’s a real thin demarcation between the storyteller of gruesome tales, and the tortured artist rambling like a madman. Often, it’s hard to know which is which. But, when faced with this uncertainty, the folks writing the copy know the direction on which to lean.
Craziness and extravagance make good copy. Madness makes for a good read, and there are plenty of these stories in the rock world. However, sometimes, sadly, they ignore the quality of the work created by some of these people. For example, Roky Erikson’s The Evil One is one of the great horror-themed collections of songs one might be hoping to find. Regardless of the subject matter, Erikson’s singing is superb and the songs are expertly put together. This fact often gets overlooked.
SuperSpeeder’s Halloween season offering, The Night, is a worthy continuation of that misty, swamp sound. We are hopeful that the crazed spectacle of the lyrics and artwork takes nothing away from the performance in the view of the public. This is cool stuff. It’s soulful, passionate singing. It just happens to be about things that might take your life
This Halloween, consider the work of a soulful rock singer for your creepy playlist.
