Kammarheit - "Dreamhours"

Release The Bats

One ticket to England, please.

From atpfestival:

All Tomorrow's Parties' Halloween extravaganza Release The Bats is back - and it's set to be ATP's most terrifying yet! The Horror Master himself will be headlining the event, which will take place in both London and Manchester.

Next Halloween, John Carpenter will perform - live and in person - a musical retrospective of his horror soundtrack work, his debut studio album Lost Themes, plus brand new compositions. Release The Bats will be held first at The Albert Hall in Manchester on Saturday 29th October 2016, and then at London's The Troxy on Monday 31st October 2016. Both venues will be transformed Halloween style, and attendees are encouraged to dress up for the spooky spectacular.


  

Christoph De Babalon - "Opium"

So I'm sitting around the Cemetery in a post-Halloween funk of boredom, when I came upon this wonderfully dark, atmospheric track. This is from Christoph De Babalon's 1997 release, "If You're Into It, I'm Out Of It."

  

"Hallowe'en Spooky Sounds" 7"

I don't want the Halloween season to be over yet, so I'm going to keep it going with a bonus Freebie Fridays offering! It's a classic vintage 45 record that has been burning up my turntable ever since I scored it back in September.

Sounds Records' vintage novelty Halloween 45 from 1962 is your standard faire, with the usual storm, cats, dogs, footsteps, moaning, laughing and screaming sound effects. It's pretty lo-fi, but the thin, recorded-in-studio sound is what makes this release so great! Classic, silly Halloween spook sounds with classic Halloween sleeve art.

The funny thing about this release is that there seems to be two versions, most likely just label variations. One version has the classic spooky sounds listed on side one and "Storm with Rain and Spookie Sounds" on the second side. The version I have has a slightly different list of sound effects on side one and "Same with space between sound effects," on side two. Regardless, it's still a great little record and it will continue to get some spins on the turntable... 

DOWNLOAD "HALLOWE'EN SPOOKY SOUNDS" HERE.

  

Highbury Cemetery, 2015

Another successful Halloween is in the books, and for the first time in 4 years, I can say we FINALLY had no rain for trick-or-treat!! When the weather cooperates, we get to set up more of our yard haunt display and more kids get to come out and experience the terror!

This was the best show we have put on in years. Although we had a smaller group of volunteers and actors, everything fell into place and everyone had an insanely fun night. And outside of a few minor prop malfunctions, everything ran smoothly and the display was met with a chorus of compliments from everyone who dared to enter... Highbury Cemetery!

As always, a HUGE thank you to the following crew for helping me set up, run and then tear down my display: Sharon, Karen, Laurie, Neighbor Joe, Andrew, Daniel (the guy from up the street who came down and asked if he could help with the haunt), Mrs. Highbury, Nancy and last but not least, Little Christian Highbury. Everything is put up and taken down in one day and without your help, this show could not exist. Everyone on the list went above and beyond to earn their shirts this year!!!

And finally, I can not forget to send a monstrous THANK YOU to every trick-or-treater, parent and curious neighbor who came through the display. We had record attendance this year! You are the reason we do this every year and your screams, laughter and compliments keep us motivated to return with a bigger and better display for 2016!! Happy Halloween, everyone...


Without further ado, I present Highbury Cemetery, 2015:

 

And after the last trick-or-treater ran fleeing from the Cemetery, we had a new attendance record: 342 victims!! That's almost 100 more than 2014. Thank you, everyone. See you next year...

  


  

The Day After...

Every inch of my body aches, but I couldn't be any happier. We set everything up and the weather held out, resulting in our best yard haunt show in years. And we had a much bigger turnout than I expected. I was able to get a little video and some photos before the night time rains came, and we were able to get everything torn down and back into the garage before getting too wet. 

I'm still riding the incredible high from last night's festivities, but I'm going to take today off and just melt into the couch for the rest of the afternoon. I'll have the photos ready to go for tomorrow. I hope everybody else had an amazing Halloween!!