I recently came across the Instagram page for Baltimore ritual dark ambient artist, USURPER. After checking out a few posted clips, I immediately checked out the Bandcamp page for a better listen. Fantastic dark ambient audio that could work really well in a haunt setting. Go check out USURPER's Bandcamp page and download some great tracks and score some super-limited cassettes. Highly recommended, with my personal favorite release being The Disappointment's Room!
While rummaging around in my attic late last night, I discovered a long-lost treasure buried among a stack of dusty old boxes. I pulled out one particular box, simply labeled, "Fragile - Records." I couldn't for the life of me remember what exactly was in this box, although I knew it certainly wasn't any vinyl records. When I opened it up, I was completely shocked...
It was a set of perfectly preserved, still sealed Polar Lights' Customizing Monster Kits. "The Skull, Lizard & Rat" and "The Vulture & Mad Dog." Everything You Need to Make Your Monsters Come Alive. I had forgotten that I had ever picked them up! They had been tucked away for the better part of 15 years, and they both still had the original $2.99 price tag from the local discount store. Unreal. These plastic model kits were part of a large assortment originally released during the monster kid craze of the 1960s under the well-known name of Aurora. Polar Lights re-released many of these kits in the late 1990s, keeping the original's famous long-box form and incredibly cool packaging art.
These will definitely go on display in my ever-growing collection of monsters and masks! And this score has piqued my interest to see what other long-forgotten monster treasures are buried away in my attic, just waiting to be rediscovered. I'll dig in and post up what I find soon!
The creativity keeps flowing and I was able to knock out the second image in the Highbury Cemetery Graphic Series. No specific purpose outside of a way to generate a spontaneous spurt of creativity during the off-season, and a new way to highlight some of the Halloween prop work that I have created over the past couple of years.
Last night, I threw Douglas Pipes' soundtrack to Trick 'r Treat on the turntable, sat down at the computer and finished this:
You can check out the first image (and read about the art's intent) in the Highbury Cemetery Graphic Serieshere.
I had a spurt of creative energy today, so I decided to sit down and make something. I put my Halloween soundtrack on the turntable, sat down at my computer and threw this together:
A
fun little Photoshop graphic with no real specific purpose, it's a
quick collage of a Highbury Cemetery prop image, coupled with various grunge
clip art pieces and the Highbury Cemetery text "logo." I just spontaneously threw the elements together,
making a few adjustments here and there, and then called it done.
This was a great brain exercise
for me today, just letting the creativity flow. I have a few more ideas
and color palettes floating around in my head and hope to sit down and knock a few more of
these fun graphics out soon. This new series will serve as a nice change of pace from the
usual process of Halloween prop creation, and should ultimately help in the conceptualization of the larger projects planned for this October.
Another Saturday night, spinning some dark ambientand working on some "Halloween stuff." I always gravitate back to Sweden's Kammarheit, as there is a subtle beauty to the rich, layered tracks he produces, always giving me an oddly warm feeling of a cold, dark autumn night. His latest release, Kollektionen, is a collection of tracks from various compilations, his split LP with Phelios, and a live bonus track. Like his other releases, this one has been on constant rotation, with the standout track being, "I Found It Weeping In The Field". So many of his releases could be used so effectively in a haunt setting...
I didn't watch any of the Super Bowl, but I knew that there would be a teaser for Stranger Things Season 2 during one of the commercial breaks. Just bummed that we have to wait until Halloween for the start of it... But Dustin in a Ghostbusters costume is pretty rad!
A cold, weathered hand pierces the rust-laden earth of a late autumn night. Reanimated decay becomes the evening's guide. Masked faces bask in the fiery glow of a jack-o-lantern's illumination. A lifeless finger points the direction toward the next porch-lit house. For this is the night of ghouls and goblins and tricks and treats. This is the night of Hallowe'en...
