Harvey's Midnight Hour

Well, Maybe not

2009-10-14T19:37:00.001-07:00

Okay... maybe not the ONLY file. I ewas playing some lounge music, and laughingly picking out a few songs here & there that might be funny to play as a Halloween podcast.

Didn't really find enough songs to do an actual podcast, or anything... But I did get to thinkin' that after my 'Pirates of the Exotic Caribbean', and finally realizing the complete 'Exotic Haunted Mansion'... see last blog posting below...

...that I never have made an 'Exotic Sounds To Make You Shiver'!

I mean, 'Sounds To Make You Shiver' is still my favorite Halloween record of all time... (grab it now at WonderfulWonderblog) and surely it deserves the same mocking-praise that I've heaped on others. OF course I did the 'Sounds and Music To Make You Shiver' for last Halloween -- but that was done (mostly) seriously, with scary music in the background.

Well, this one isn't! Click here for: "Swingin' Sounds To Make You Shiver"

As You've Noticed....

2009-10-10T14:07:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know... been gone a while.

Yes, I know... I missed Halloween in March this 03/31-- which is not good cinsidering I kinda wanted to make that a 'real thing'.

Yes, I know.. I am not taking part in the Halloween countdown this year.

Well, it gets tough... Here at the Midnight Hour, I try to focus mainly on stuff I have actually edited together myself and I just haven't honestly put the time into doing a lot of that lately.

But I have made this:

The Exotic Haunted Mansion -- 2009 Update.

***RE-UPPED! The fine, friendly folks at Rapidshare have imposed a 10-dl limit on us cheep folks who don't pay the entry fee... sheesh***

... the only file I am sharing for Halloween this year... this is just because, tho, ALL of my own personal Halloween collection is stuff I grabbed from other blogs & it should all be out there somewhere, anyway... there's nothing I could really add to the countdwon. Plus, there should be a few of my older files still available from last year.

Forbidden Planet... Sweet?

2009-01-19T11:36:00.000-08:00

They are commonly called "Forbidden Planet Suite, Parts I and II". they are the bookends to the teaser/trailer that was released in theaters for the Sci-fi Classic, "Forbidden Planet".

What are they?

They aren't on the film's groundbreaking electronic score, by Louis & Bebe Barron. In fact, they don't appear in the movie!

What are they?

They certainly sound kinda 'spacey', kinda like a classic space-opera musical score. If you listen closely to the trailer, you can hear bits & pieces of the the Barron score mixed in.

"That's all very interesting, Harvey, but what are they?"

Well, I'll tell you! They are songs composed by Andre Previn, for other MGM films. 'Part I' is actually the main title music for 'Scene of the Crime', and Part II is the closing credits from 'Bad Day at Black Rock'

And GUESS WHAT? Both of these scores are available on ONE cd, which is available for sale at Amazon.

BUT... as I said above, if you listen closely, you can hear that a creative sound-man at MGM has mixed-in elements from the Barrons' score, along with Previn's tunes, for the trailer. I don't think these songs have ever been released in that form... as a noir-space 'mashup'.

Mashup? Did somebody say mashup? I feel needed again!

Submitted for your approval... my personal recreations, at 192 kbps:

Forbidden Planet Suite, Part I
Forbidden Planet Suite, Part II

Disclaimer: These songs are presented in a form which is unavailable for sale, and provided at a rather low bitrate. It is my intention & belief that offering these as "samples", with the included information & links, will encourage album sales, as I am not offering the full albums, nor the full quality of the songs, nor even a form in which the songs actually appear on the albums. If you like these two samples, please consider buying both scores from Amazon, or your local cd shop, please!

I'm sorry, Cheech. I'm afraid I can't do that.

2008-12-27T14:12:00.000-08:00

Ehhh... quick post to share a couple of files I slapped together, more just to have a giggle than anything else. Mp3 format, not even sure of the kbps....

Open the Pod Bay Doors, Chong...

I'm Sorry, Cheech. I'm Afraid I Can't Do That.

Winchell's Donuts....

2008-10-20T14:42:00.001-07:00

This one's been shared several times; at least once at the Mostly Ghostly Music Sharing Blaaaaaghhhh: the Winchell's Donut House Halloween Record.

I owned a copy of this record in 1976, when I was a kid-- though I haven't seen it literally in decades. It's cute... creepy enough to stir the Halloween gland, with a mild bit of safety advice for the kiddies before going out trick-or-treating.

This is one of those things that make me wonder what's happened to the Holiday I loved as a kid. I mean, nearly everybody was on the same page in those days.. here's a recent story for a California location of Winchell's, planning to set aside Halloween to give out treats to the kids-- only in MY day... the idea of a store planning to give out treats on Halloween wasn't considered news, it was a typical holiday occurrence!! Kudos to Winchell's for keeping up the tradition!!

Sadly... there isn't even a Winchell's Donut House within 3 states of me these days, so I cannot show my suppport by bringin' the kids by on OcT 31-- but I'll be there in spirit! I'll do something donut-related... maybe I'll go to a Krispy Kreme!

But I Digress....

This cute little record has some great features, as Halloween records go: Humor, a well-executed spooky story, and great spine-chilling sound effects.... The effects, in fact, are good enough to stand alone as isolated sfx-tracks. So, I pulled out the ol' audio editor, and chopped it to bits.

Tracklist:

1. The full album
2. The scary story, isolated
3. The sound-effects sequence
4. "It looks like a pumpkin pie... with clothes on"
5. A deep ghost moan (yeah, yeah, same one from my 'essential scary sounds' entry. I know)
6. "Watch out for ghosts." (see above)
7. Pumpkin laugh turns to Witch Laugh
8. Bats
9. Witch laugh, isolated
10. Owl
11. Wind

All are taken from the original album, just edited & isolated for easy use...
Click Here for the Winchell's Donut House Halloween Record

Count Morbida's Chamber of Horrors

2008-10-19T17:12:00.000-07:00

Head on over right now to the Wonderful Wonderblog, and you'll get to see scans of a magazine put out by 'Dynamite' in the 1970's: "Count Morbida's Monster Quiz Book"

Count Morbida was apparently a vampire character who would have quizzes & brain-teases in the pages of a squeaky-clean teen-themed magazine called "Dynamite".. I remember reading several issues at the school library & at an Aunt's house, but I don;t think I ever had my own subscription.

Anyway....

Many Thanks to WFMU's "365 Days Project" for sharing this a number of years ago: Turns out, the magazine put out one of those little plastic records that you coudl pull out from the pages.. or maybe you had to send in for it, who knows. Whatever... this is a cute little mp3 -- audio of ol' Count Morbida leading the listener on a tour of his Chamber of Horrors.

Click Here for Count Morbida's Chamber Of Horrors.

Now What?

2008-10-18T10:36:00.001-07:00

I'll try to post a few more things here & there... but I am by & large out of any meaty, quality Halloween stuff I can share.

Sorry....

I kinda hopped into the countdown on a whim... Even so, I do think some of my posts will help enhance folks' Halloween experience this year.

This one, in particular.

I grew up in the 1970's.. so my ears are geared to the sound effects that ended up in movies, specials on tv, on the radio, and on loads of old Halloween records. There are certain sounds I immediately recognize & love, that put me immediately into a fun-lovin', retro Halloween mood.

Here are a bunch of them:

1. The "Barking Wolf" howl
2. "Castle Thunder"
3. Deep Ghost Moan
4. The 'Dinner With Drac' stalking monster intro
5. The 'Dragging Chain Limp' -a la Monster Mash or 'Sounds to Make You Shiver'
6. Ghostly Wailing Theremin(?)
7. Witch's Laugh -from the Winchell's Donut Halloween record
8. Monster Growls - a la Sounds To Make You Shiver
9. The 'Lady Wilhelm'
-- This is a female voice screaming that I hear all the time in ads...almost as often as the 'Wilhelm' scream-- thus, I believe they are inextricably linked: 'Husband & wife', if you will.
10. The 'Triple Threat' scream-- yet another scream that seems to be used a lot on that old Halloween Vinyl!
11. "Watch Out For Ghosts" - Winchell's scary donuts again...
12. "Whistling Wind"
13. The Wilhelm Scream.. one of the most famous, most used sound effects in modern movie history

Seriously... the Wilhelm Scream is used in loads of films. But I Digress....

Anyway, I love all these sound effects, and I hope they exist forever:

Click here for Essential Halloween Sound Effects.

You Unlock This Door, BABY...

2008-10-14T16:52:00.000-07:00

I had intended to do more exotica-style Halloween tunes this year; ran out of time, tho, before I could do more than just the one new tune. Most of my previous ones are still available; click below:

The Exotic Dark Shadows
Madame Leota's Temptation
Grim Grinning Ghostly Voodoo Dreams, Baxter Style
Grim Grinning Ghostly Voodoo Dreams, Denny Style
The Exotic Haunted Mansion

And, of course... this year's entry:

Click here for 'The Exotic Twilight Zone'

No Turning Back!

2008-10-12T09:37:00.000-07:00

Quick post for the weekend..

House of 1,000 Corpses was a decent horror film-- gets a little criticism, tho.... You have to kind of approach it like a B-movie, and embrace some of the cheezy fun of it, along with the creepiness.

Click here for the audio of the 'Murder ride' sequence.

The Theremin

2008-10-09T09:30:00.001-07:00

The Theremin remains the ultimate in freaky, kooky instruments of all time! Nothing can imitate the spooky, spacey, bizarrely unusual, Halloween-esque voice of the theremin, one of the first electronic instruments ever made... using transistors & antennae it literally converts movement into sound, requiring its player to stand dead still & move only the hands ever so slightly to 'bend' the eerie notes...

When it first was invented, there were attempts to make it a marketable instrument for home use-- including songbooks and a release of albums like 'Music Out Of The Moon' and 'Perfume Set To Music' -- 'easy listening' style music composed by Les Baxter & Ray Anthony, which featured the theremin playing of Samuel J Hoffman, a world-famous Theremin virtuoso.

Check Amazon for the cd 'Waves in the Ether', the re-release of this early theremin music.

Two schools of thought on the Theremin.. that it can be beautiful & classical, such as the music of Clara Rockmore, or that it can be creepy & menacing, such as the groundbreaking soundtrack to the Day The Earth Stood Still-- both of which can still be purchased, see the links to buy them at Amazon.

I love the sound of the theremin.. but, as its not ever likely that I'll ever afford one, or have the time to learn to play one, I've had to fake it.

There's a freeware VSTi plug-in, for you music software users, that simulates some of the creepier elements of the theremin, called the 'Spook Keys' (click to download) -- as well as a lost program from the BBC, a desktop theremin that you play with your mouse-- click here for what is probably the LAST place to get it online!

Here now are a few tunes played on a real theremin, which were given away free from this site:

http://www.thereminvox.com/

There are lots of songs of different styles there... I suggest you visit this cool site, and peruse their library yourself. For the Countdown, I pulled out just the ones that seemed to be the best Halloween-style tracks & put them together into a Zip file:

1. Freddie & the Hitchhikers - Sinners
2. Madam Absolut - Bruit Electronique
3. Roger Ballenger - oooOOOooo
4. Samuel J. Hoffman - Moonlight Sonata
5. Samuel J. Hoffman - So Attracted To You
6. Scott Marshall - Ghost Sonata
7. Ted Matson - Out
8. Welcome - Eviltech

Click to download ThereminVox Songs For Halloween

Bonus: In the early days of my electronic composing, I created this wacky, Halloween-related tune with a sample from the 'Rheem Kee Bass' and the aformentioned BBC Virtual Theremin.
Click here for 'That Was No Martian' in mp3, 192 kbps.

Essential Halloween Tracks

2008-10-09T06:20:00.000-07:00

Classic Creepy Tunes!

Here's a short-but-sweet offering of some Essential Halloween tracks, mostly from old t.v shows. You probably have some of these already, if you're a Halloween/sci fi freak like me. Heck, you probably have most of them.. but you may not have all of them-- and you should.

NO entire album here... just a few tracks-- A few of them aren't available for sale.... for the ones that are, I'm offering no more than 2 tracks from any one cd-- which I offer as samples; if you enjoy these songs, I heartily suggest you buy the available cd's they are from, and you'll get a lot more music.

Click Here for Essential Halloween Tracks

Shiver, Shiver, Shiver....

2008-10-07T13:36:00.000-07:00

"Sooooo.... You want to visit a haunted house, hmmmmmm?"

The Wonderful Wonderblog has posted Sounds To Make You Shiver, one of the best & most famous Halloween Records of all time, as today's entry in the Countdown. So, I thought I'd remind everyone of my old posts about this wonderful record:

Bloodcurdling Stereo
Time to Make You Shiver Some More

Just checked, and it looks like my old share of the Shiver Extras, a 'bonus' cd of sorts with some additional sound effects and variations on the tracks from the album, is still active on rapidshare...

Click To Download 'The Shiver Extras'

By the way, the font at the top of the album is sometimes known as Dracula, and it is available here at 'da font. com'

More Shock!!!!

2008-10-07T09:07:00.001-07:00

Here's a little treat, to go hand-in-hand with yesterday's entry. Remember yesterday?

I do.. vaguely... Creed Tayor's "Shock"; is a kool album of swingin' cocktail jazz, mixed with spooky, suspenseful sound effects....
...But I know what yer thinkin'.. "Harvey, what if I'm not in the mood for a Halloween cocktail, and I prefer my spooky, suspenseful sound effects straight, no chaser?"

Can do!

Here's a zipful of isolated sound effects, carefully taken from the Shock tracks, for your various Halloween purposes... I love the old-fashioned sounds best.. these have all the great retro feel of an old-timey sound-effects record. Word of warning: I didn't really go out of my way to "clean up" a lot of the noise these inherited from the source-- so they are as they are, a bit noisy but no less lovable. Hope you likee!

Click for the Shock Isolated SFX

Shock!

2008-10-06T20:11:00.001-07:00

The classic album 'Shock' by the Creed Taylor Orchestra- ohh, how I love this album! Only a true genius would ever come up with the idea of merging some swingin' 'space-age cocktail' music with eerie sound effects. There are actually several albums in this series, 'Panic: The Son Of Shock', and 'Nightmare' being the other two .... but 'Shock' is my favorite of them.

A bit of trivia.. I believe I once heard the track 'Haunted House' being used as intro music for a comedic segment starring the cult favorite hororr-host 'Zacherley'. In fact, here it is on Youtube. :

But as for the entry of the day...

I got this originally from a totally cool blog called 'Scar Stuff' -- which appears to be on sabbatical these days. The tracks are a 'rip' from an old vinyl record- so just sit back & enjoy the crisp ambience of the hiss & click, baby! But the version I've got is really quiet, for some reason. So I made a few edits, bumped up the volume a little, and I'm offering it today. Once again, I'm only in favor of sharity if the album in question is NOT available for sale... Shock is not currently in print. Darn shame, too... it's a lot of fun. It's one I'd happily buy as a new c.d., to hear it in high quality. That's what sharity should be about, really... not stealing established albums, but getting attention & popularity for old, forgotten stuff like this album... with the hope that maybe by sharity, we'll give these old guys some attention & make them popular enough to be offered for sale again. But I digress...

Click to Download Creed Taylor's 'Shock'

The Very Witching Hour...

2008-10-05T19:26:00.000-07:00

It was the Very Witching Hour of night.

The sky grew darker & darker, as one-by-one the stars winked out their light.

Driving clouds obscured the moon from sight.

I'm always on a quest for the best version of a track. Performers often record several versions of a song, and usually there's one that is considered the best one. There are some that are downright dogs.

Drives me crazy to pick up an album of classics from the 60's or something, that says 'By the original artists!' in huge letters, only to find out yeah, it's the original artists allright.. only they re-recorded the songs in the '80's along with some horrid-quality synthesizer.

But I digress....

Bing Crosby, for instance, sang a version of 'The Headless Horseman'. Bing also provided the narration, and another version of that song, in Disney's classic animated film 'The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow.'

I've come to the conclusion that the version in the cartoon is Bing's best version of that song.

Click here for the version from the cartoon. mp3, 192kbps

A Public Service Announcement

2008-10-03T20:41:00.000-07:00

Why 'Trick Or Treat'?

I read this article: "Why Bother To Save Halloween" about Halloween & Trick-or-treating several years ago, and I couldn't agree more with it.
"What is Halloween anyway? It's just an excuse for big kids to make trouble, little kids to eat too much candy, and candy companies to peddle their wares. Bah, goblin-bug! Or so I thought until, despite all the warnings, I took my three children out last Halloween...."

Definite words of wisdom. Breaks my heart to take my kids around, only to have fewer & fewer houses each year participating in the vanishing holiday of Halloween.

No, Halloween isn't Satanic, it doesn't encourage kids to become pagans, serial-killers... lawyers... I happen to think it's open mockery of imaginary things our superstitious forbears once feared.
Plus, it's a LOT of fun!

I encourage all you kids, parents, teens, slightly creepy young adults.. get out there & Trick or Treat on October 31! Or else, get some candy & offer it up to others who do.
Click: Trick Or Treat, Trick Or Treat....

Spooky Sounds

2008-10-02T14:23:00.000-07:00

Wow, after those 4 types of Halloween CD's... I got one here that seems to break the code!

Spooky Sounds

I bought this cd a year before I bought Cd Creepies... blister-packed, no cd jewel-case. It's about 11 years old. Also out of print, far as I can tell. Sadly, most of the sounds on this one are the same sounds as my entry for yesterday. However-- Spooky Sounds has one advantage over Cd Creepies, which makes it unique & different.

Track # 1 "Music To Scare You By" -- most of this music also appears on the CD Creepies cd.. BUT, in this case a clever producer has mixed the music together, along with sound effects, to give you a full 23 minutes of dramatic, cinematic effects!! And it's a pretty good edit, too! This track is just a little more unique than the typical 'tour thru the haunted house' ambience track.

This cd and yesterday's are like two sides of the same spooky coin.

Click here to download Spooky Sounds! @ 192 kbps

CD Creepies

2008-10-01T19:38:00.000-07:00

Welcome to day 1 of the countdown, October first... my second entry. Whhoops... Is this day 2? It's October First! I'm so confused!

Whatever.

CD CREEPIES
There are actually 4 types of Halloween CD's:

1. Sound Effects
This type of cd could have 50 or more tracks, each track a single isolated sound-effect.

2. Spooky Music
These vary in quality... Most of the ones you see these days, are bad-quality re-recorded cover versions on a cheap synthesizer, of songs that were done much better on some other cd.

3. Halloween Atmosphere
These are the type that are usually one long track, or two, or else 6 or 7 tracks that are several minutes long-- a long sequence of sound effects that are linked together to create a specific mood. I.e there might be one track that is all swamp sounds, or outdoor sounds & digging to create a graveyard sequence. They tend to vary in quality-- the worst of them have about 10 minutes of a sequence, repeated 6 times in the same track.

4. Stories.
These fall into the heading of 'spoken word'; actual ghost stories, spoken aloud.. sometimes with music, other times not.

When you find a really, really good one at a bargain price, that's pretty cool... But hey, you gotta kiss a lot of frogs.

Here's one of my faves... just for utilitarian reasons, it's a useful one. 192 kbps.

Click to download: CD Creepies

This cd appears to be out of print-- it's at least 10 years old, too. It's a mixed-type cd: the first few tracks are instrumental 'creepy' music selections ('Sinister Street' is the best of them), then there are some pretty solid sound effects-- then it ends with a 'monster story'. Personally, I could do without the 'monster story'.

The Poet Macabre

2008-09-30T19:43:00.000-07:00

This is, I suppose, my entry for the first day of the Halloween Countdown 2008.

I'm not totally sure I can post something every day-- I may try to pace myself, skip a day or two every so often, so I don't use up all my 'good stuff' the first week. I'll most likely aim at things I have edited myself, in some way... Which brings us to this curious little file.

The Poet Macabre.

A little backstory: There's a strange & quaint little album, pipe-organ played alongside percussion instruments, called 'Fantasy In Pipe Organ And Percussion' -- Get it now at Amazon, that & 'Pipe Organ Favorites' both credited to one allegedly French wunderkind called 'Georges Montalba', together on one c.d.

Legend has it that Anton LaVey, the founder of the Church Of Satan, once claimed he was actually the organist on these albums, the mysterious Mr. Georges Montalba. Turns out, though.. LaVey's claim has allegedly been debunked-- so the story goes, Montalba was actually a former child prodigy from California, by the name of Robert Hunter. More about that in this article. in The Village Voice

Whatever the truth, the record itself remains an oddity-- it's kooky & strange, great for Halloween ambiance-- why, it even has the Danse Macabre as one of the tunes. Rob Zombie took a sample from it to use on Sinners, Inc., even... I won't share the album, as it is still in print & available for sale. But you know my policy... I'm perfectly comfortable editing one track into a parody, and sharing that.

'Dave' over at M ostly Ghostly Music Sharing recently shared a recording of yet another Satanic figure, Aleister Crowley, reciting poems. One of these, "the Poet" was also sampled by Rob Zombie, in the film House Of 1,000 Corpses. So, I just had to get these two crazy kids together!!

Along the course of trying to edit together Montalba's 'Danse Macabre' with Crowley's The Poet, I discovered something truly freaky.. the words of the poem fit the tune!

Here's the short-but-freaky result of my tinkering, which is now my first entry in the 'Halloween Countdown', suitable as a bookend for your Halloween mixtapes. (nudge, wink...)

Click to download: The Poet Macabre

Heck, this one's pretty 'out there'... I wasn't even planning on sharing it when I started. Happy Freaky Halloween, everybody!!!

UPDATE!

A previous reply suggested that I made the organ music a little too loud, so I've tinkered with the file & made it a little clearer.. longer, too. Here's the 'extended' version; a full 2 minutes, plus!

Click to Download: The Poet Macabre, Extended

The Demon, again....

2008-05-25T22:20:00.000-07:00

No, I've never ridden it.

To be honest, I'm not a roller-coaster kind of guy. This one, however, seems to be right up my alley.

The Demon.

Located at Six Flags, Great America.. which, I gather, is in California?? There's apparently a frightening tunnel of flashing lights you pass thru...

...as well as a stone face with a gaping mouth, that swallows the coaster whole!!

Anyway... as I said, I'm not much of a roller-coaster rider. It's been since I was in high school, last time I rode one...the 'mindbender' --- I won't tell you how long ago that was. But this one, THE DEMON, seems to have an amazing bit of character, of personality.

...But the aspect of its personality that I love most about The Demon is -- of course-- that there's some great AUDIO to be heard!!! It's got a theme song! There's a long comedic routine that plays for the people in line, designed to heighten the sense of excitement as you wait to board!

Here's a little info, courtesy of the Wikipedia:
"...When the Demon first opened in 1980 the speakers placed throughout the ride's queue played the Demon's own soundtrack. The soundtrack included the infamous "Demon Song", which was specially written for Marriott's Great America and was also very memorable. Along with the song there were fake radio broadcasts, some about people who reported to have seen the demon, 1 report about a US Army captain named "Bucky McMacho" bombing the ride, and a few with people trying to lure the demon out of the ride in very strange ways..."

Yeah... like good ol' 'Ermal-Doug'-- just call him Ermal-Doug- -the champion hog-caller who tries to call out the Demon with his famous hog-call! There's also a significant amount of somebody doing a decent Boris Karloff impression throughout the speil.

Of course, thru the generosity of a friend & fellow 'Freaker' -- (i.e. fan of Freakylinks I know from the Haxan boards)-- I obtained a copy of the whole shebang-- the line speil, with the fun themesong repeated twice.

I shared these files once before... but listening to them more recently, I'm a little let down by some of the editing choices I made-- I broke it into 4 parts, and it was a chop-job... also, I think the music overblew the comedy routines a little, making it hard to listen to. So, I've done a little cosmetic surgery on the tracks & I think they are a little better for the effort. Here they are again:

THE DEMON

4 tracks in a Winzip file, I believe they are at a very deceptive 192 kbps-- deceptive, seeing as that it was likely a second or third generation copy that started out at something like 65 kbps maybe? This copy may be at 192, but it doesn't sound like it.

Anyway.... Hope ya likee; grab it while you can!

Witch's Night Out

2008-05-03T22:27:00.001-07:00

Have to put this on my site. This forgotten, under appreciated toon is just too sweet. Sure wish I could get my hands on a decent quality DVD of this... but I haven't seen it aired on television in years.

Oh well. Until it does show up... enjoy.

Update! I ripped the themesong directly from the video.. Here's an mp3 of it -- composed & performed by Peter Rochon of the band 'Saga'. Like the video, this copy is pretty low quality & sounds like crap, but add it to your Halloween mix, anyway! You may just spark somebody's long-lost childhood memory...

Mellow and Lo Fi

2008-04-23T13:44:00.000-07:00

These are the sounds I love to make... turn things choppy & 'dirty'-- toss in a mellotron string-orchestra to make the tune retro...

Following are two of my favorite VST programs-- one, an effect called 'Lo Fi Plus' by Subtek, the other a sample based mellotron emulator by Batsounds called the "Mellowsound"...

The Subtek "Lofi PLUS"
The Batsounds "Mellowsound"

These are VST programs & will require some kind of VST host to be used.

Both of these, being such simple programs, were freeware-- free for the taking on various websites. Neither of them is available any more-- the subtek website & the batsounds website both appear to be gone... I assume they've gone out of business.

If I am wrong, please let me know.. if you are the creator of either of these programs, and you don't wish me to be sharing them. Please let me know, and I'll remove the link.

BUT-- these were given away free for years on the KVRaudio site, as well as on the sites of the guys who created them.... so I really don't think they should mind these VST's still being available free. At least, I hope not.

The lofi PLUS has some amazing qualities to it-- Not sure how to describe it; except that it adds noise and reverb, but mixes them in a very unusual way... it can take a really clean tone, and make it sound distorted or old, or-- my favorite thing---create a very weird ringing 'harmonic' effect. It does some cool nastiness to a crappy-sounding 8 bit mono drum-machine sample! Makes it sound even crappier... but in a GOOD way!

The "mellowsound" is just a sample based synthesizer, utilizing (I think) genuine samples to recreate the sound of that great instrument of the psychedelic 1960' s-- the MELLOTRON! (Which was just a sampler, itself, really...) -- Sadly, it doesn't have the FLUTE, that great Strawberry-fields mellow flutey intro, sob....

Anyway... Got sick of not having these plug-ins on my new PC, so I scoured the web until I found them-- and I never want to do without them again, so here they are on my blog, hopefully to be freeware forever. Get 'em while you can.

2008-04-20T08:39:00.001-07:00

This is disappointing...

47%

Re-Entry Of The Sonik

2008-04-05T11:04:00.000-07:00

Are You STILL One Of The Frightened?

I cannot tell ya the joy I felt, some years ago... when I was listening to an out of print album,... a share I'd gotten hold of, of the album 'Electronic Music' by the Elektrosonics, and realized why it sounded so familiar.

It was none other than the backing music for Tales Of The Frightened; narrated by Boris Karloff

In fact, I don't have to tell ya... here's the original blog entry where I previously mentioned it! I just noticed, my own share of the re-edited 'Tales Of The Frightened' soundtrack is still available at the old 'R-share', grab it while ya can.

So why am I bringing this up now?

Simple. I've just happened upon this blog entry at a blog called "Mutant Sounds"; guess what? Has the follow-up album by Tom Dissevelt-- original Elektrosonic founder, I suppose... called "Fantasy In Orbit".

..and let me tell ya, a lot of these songs are very similar in style, and very reminiscent of the 'second Moon' -- so much so I don't hesitate to recommend it. Thanks to Mutant Sounds for finding this for us all!

Halloween Weekend... sorta...

2008-03-28T19:28:00.000-07:00

Yessiree.... It's that time.

I dunno, it kinda snuck up on me, to be honest. I was hoping to have something more fabulous, than just these mere files. Actually, two of them are several years old, and I've only just got around to sharing them.

At least one took a great deal of effort & time, and I think you'll like it. Not sure there's any other version of this particular ridethro.... er, fantasy file...

Dark Shadows, the Exotic remix.
Collinwood, the Hip-Hop Remix

The Temptation of Leota

Last, but certainly not least...

?????? Mystery Zipped MP3 ??????

Hope you likeee... as usual, I never share anything, unless it:

1. Isn't currently available for sale (in the form I offer it)
2. Has been edited, 'improved' & remixed by yours truly
3. Could technically be deemed a 'parody'...

Now get to work on those Halloween Mix cd's -- you only got like 7 months or so left!

Second Annual 'Halloween in March'

2008-02-29T21:21:00.000-08:00

Halloween in March.

03/31

We had one last year. It was kinda fun.

We should have one this year, too....

Yeah, I know... long time no update. And sorry for the short post this time, too... but I've decided to try & put something together by the 31'st-- I'm hopin' to keep the ball rolling & make 'Halloween In March' a famously observed institution... at least on the web, ayy?

A few Nuggets for Christmas

2007-11-17T12:55:00.001-08:00

Of course, I've been playing all my Christmas albums since Nov 1.

Oh, I can recall the days when it used to annoy me, that the stores would start putting up Christmas decorations so darn early...

I don't seem to mind as much these days. Hmm.. maybe it's because they do the same to Halloween now.. the skulls & webs came up in the stores in late August this year, and I totally love that! I guess it was enough to allay my fears that Santa was gonna pull a Pac-man & swallow up the end of October, too, leaving no room for MY day! But if Halloween can become an overfed attention-grabber that keeps me smilin' for two whole months, I guess I can forgive The Man With the Bag for coming up with the idea-- so long as he knows he's just the closer on the Hallowe... er, excuse me, the Holiday Season.

Anyway.. I'm doin' what I do, the virtual legwork of putting together some audio files that you otherwise might not have gotten to hear. Or, perhaps, ever wanted to. Submitted for your approval: A few nuggets, for Christmas-- Just a meager contribution... a coupla files that might brighten up your next Christmas "comp" cd. I grabbed a couple of these from 'Dave's Mostly Ghostly Music Sharing' Pop over to his site for some Charlie Brown Christmas Special magic... Thanks Dave!

Files

Those Kissin' Bells (Or has this just gotten too annoying?)
Linus's Christmas Monologue/ Hark The Herald Angels Sing
"Can You Play Jingle bells"?
Dancin' to Shroeder's (Vince's) Piano

...aaaaaaand, dance by the light of the moooooon.

Notice the above 'Dancin' to Shroeder's Piano'. Turns out I read somewhere, on that Charlie Brown Christmas-- the LP version of the special-- the scene where Snoopy dances on the piano was left off, sicne it was a mostly visual gag. So, I created that file just make a point: it's not that hard to add just a couple of sound effects, and create a somewhat 'visual' effect with them. Not very Christmas-ey file, that one, but I included it.

A very early Merry Christmas, everybody!

Return to The Mansion....

2007-10-18T19:41:00.001-07:00

It's back.. by mild demand! Got a request from reader 'Ed' , for this old gem, so I thought.. "why not? It's my blog!" So now, I present a re-up of my own little retro throwback to the days of Halloween-on-vinyl, the audio tour known as "The Mansion That Is Haunted."

Yet another of the files that bit the 'big one' with my old pc, I present here, actually, a re-rip of the file from the cd that I burned for myself. Hey, if yer one of those people who sweats the loss of audio quality from such an exchange.. just console yourself with the fact that the sound effects & music were originally ripped from old vinyl anyway, by Jason, at Scarstuff (Thanks for the source material, dude!) and is already loaded with those oh-so-retro clicks & pops.

And yet, I love it so.

The narrator is me, your own Harvey Midnight, making my meager attempt at a Criswell impression-- With this project I tried to skirt the line between being really cheesy, with lines like, 'I too, was once alive... but then I died! And now, I am NO LONGER ALIVE!", and also bearing some real chills, as well. I think I pulled it off, and I hope you enjoy.

Love Criswell? Check out this blog entry!

Think the Criswell narrative is off-putting?
Think you can do better?
Or, just wanna use the sound effects for Halloweenish background ambience?

Here's the entire routine without the narration.

Time To 'Make You Shiver' Some More!

2007-10-13T18:38:00.000-07:00

Yes-- to this day.. 'Sounds To Make You Shiver' is still my favorite Halloween record of all time.There are places online (thanks, Scarstuff :)) that you can grab the original album in all its glory-- Heck, on a prior post, I even provided a link to what may be a cd version for sale on Amazon. (I suspect it's a bootleg, though...)

But.. much as I love it, it does have its own weird quirks. Example: Welll... that constant loud wind through the Haunted House drives me a little nuts.

This was my plan when I created 'The Bride of Sounds To Make You Shiver' awhile back.. eliminate some of the quirkiness, give it my own style, add some of my own original music. However, that file never really lit my fire. Didn't seem to live up as a tribute, to something I've loved since childhood. I felt there was so much more potential to the nostalgia of the ol' Shiver....

So, this year I decided to punch it up a bit-- you know, fire up the ol' multitrack editor, turn on a little Les Baxter, pull out the audio from my favorite Halloween album of all time, and see what shook loose.

Submitted for your approval: The Shiver Extras -- (try to imagine them as dvd extras.)

1. Sounds (and music) to make you shiver
2. Sounds (in the stillness) to make you shiver
3. The dragging chain limp
4. Frankenstein breaks loose-- now with Frankie's 'dialogue'
5. Glass breaks
6. Additional Monster Sounds
7. Additional Screams

The attached files actually represents a lot more work than may be apparent. In order to mix in a musical soundtrack for the original 'Night In A Haunted House', I had to eliminate as much of that howling wind as I could. To do this, I had to hunt for every single solitary sound effect.. and that track is made up of LOTS more that just the effects on side 2 of the album... there are screams, monsters, chains--- heck, I think there's even a police siren mixed in there somewhere. (I didn't keep that one, sorry.) and I did my best to isolate them, and put them in the correct time-frame. (I included the isolated versions, too, in the zip. )

Of course, I didn't stick to that completely. I had to leave in a little of the wind here & about... In places such as the 'Don't turn around...' line, and the 'phantom piano' segment. BUT... also, about 9 minutes into the original track, the original creator must have just gotten tired of trying to fill up an entire side of a record-- so, he started repeating himself. Imagine my shock, when I noticed some of my favorite bits: the 'Don't turn around' line, the 'scat, you cats' line, the ghostly wail... even the Frankenstein breaking loose sequence--- all repeat themselves very quietly within the last 5 minutes.

No biggie.. I felt, if the original artist was gonna screw around a bit, why couldn't I? So I added a few things... just a few, to make this thing a little fun, give it my own spin... my usual 'Criswellian' nuttiness. Listen close for such homages. (Heh... I even hid the "Wilhelm Scream" somewhere in there, too!)

Hope you likee... The Shiver Extras

Hornbook After Midnight

2007-09-16T21:03:00.001-07:00

Hey again... Got a few requests for this one, so I am re-upping it.

As I said in the previous blog entry:

"Despite the title, I haven't included all of the tracks from the 'hornbook' album. That one just has the neatest title! What I did was pick a cd's worth of my faves of about 4 different albums--(and I only hope the engmatic Jason, whom I've never met, doesn't get sick of me 'piggybacking' off of his blog!)-- put them to music, put them together in (I hope) a coherent, thematic track-order... and here they are! Just in time for YOU, to play it at your next swingin' Halloween Horror Party!!"

And after a year of listening to it--I've noticed a fault or three, here & there that drive me nuts.. so I do want to include a disclaimer: This is, in fact, an amateur project, so don't be TOO annoyed with the fact that the music for 'Lavender Evening Dress' switches on & off at odd times, or that I should never have tried to use noise reduction on 'All Saint's Eve'...

Anyway, I still enjoy hearing this collection, even though I was clearly a novice in the world of audio-editing. Hope you enjoy it, too.

A Hornbook For Witches: The 'After Midnight' Edition

Update! 10/13 : ...And here's the fixed version of All Saint's Eve

Is this the real deal?

2007-09-03T10:47:00.000-07:00

Heya.. I'm still here. Sorry for the long silence. I may post something in the next month or so.. definitely I'll have something cooked up by October.

In the meantime...

Sounds to make You Shiver.. Halloween fave album of all time.

Is this the real deal?
http://www.amazon.com/Sounds-Make-Shiver-Various-Artists/dp/B000R9U37Y/ref=sr_1_1/002-9959431-3440811?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1188841592&sr=1-1

Better Late Than Never

2007-04-16T14:30:00.000-07:00

Here we go! You stragglers still checking back are lucky enough to get ahold of this mashup. I managed to find a version of 'GGG' where the music was subdued enough, that it didn't interfere with the vocal too much....

...and I mixed it with Baxter's 'Voodoo Dreams'. I think it's halfway decent. Too late for 'Halloween In March' but plenty early to include it on your party mix for the real-deal in October-- You know you're already makin' one!.

Submitted for your approval: Grim, Grinning, Ghostly Voodoo Dreams, 128 kbps MP3

And keep a weather eye open: I've got several fun, kooky Halloween tunes I created that predate this ol' blog.. Can you imagine, say, a jazzy exotic-y version of the Dark Shadows theme? I may stick them up every so often, just to see who's paying attention.

Ah, There You Are! And Just In Time, Too....

2007-03-25T13:33:00.000-07:00

The Exotic Haunted Mansion. Just in time for 03/31/2007, the first ever Halloween In March. I have been so looking forward to completing & sharing this little kooky mashup.

But.. it's not as cool as I hoped it would be. Oh, the many, many setbacks & obstacles! I have an audio disc full of mp3's of music & effects from the Mansion... get this; My pc decided not to open it. Here I have the full narrative by Paul Frees the Ghost Host, with none of the background music, all set to be used for my mystic mashup... the Leota Seance, the Mellomen singing 'Grim Grinning ghosts' a capella... and I couldn't open it.

But I was stuck. I was so sure this would be the perfect Halloween-in-the-Spring cocktail, what with the Exotica & the Happy Haunts... I decided it was a solid enough idea, that even my own amateurish vocals couldn't kill it. So, I decided that I would take on the mantle of the 'Ghost Host' myself.

I think it turned out well. A few 'dodgy' portions, yeh.... that caretaker's dog is whining for a very different reason, when the Happy Haunts 'begin to vocalize'. Ouch...

As for copyright issues... All songs & effects are copyright their respective owners.., etc, etc... I also invoke the same defense as I used for the Pirates of the Exotic Carribean... this is technically a 'parody' of the Haunted Mansion ride, which gives me a little more breathing-room... Plus, since I did the vocals & most of the sound effects myself, there's really very little of Our Friend Walt's material actually being used. Also, I'm not using any of the the full exotica songs, either---- just low-quality, low-volume, edited versions of them that function more like 'samples' than anything else.... if you like this & want to hear more, I recommend you visit Disneyland, and purchase 'The Exotic Sounds of Martin Denny' 2-disk set, and also grab a Les Baxter reissue or two. Or three... just cuz they are cool, daddy-o.

Anyway... This was fun to make, and I hope it's as much fun to hear. Take a moment (or 10-plus minutes at 192 kbps in mp3 format) to enjoy The Exotic Haunted Mansion.

Oh, yes.... And here's the Voodoo Dreams/ Courtyard Bells mashup, too!

Listen for my quick homage to Criswell, and Ed Wood's 'Orgy Of The Dead'....

Halloween in March!!!

2007-02-07T06:07:00.000-08:00

I think we need one.

Halloween in March!

Halloween in March?

Sure, why not? There are people who celebrate 'Christmas in July' or 'Christmas in August', etc, on the 25th day of those months.. ususally it's a sales thing, but it's kinda cute. So why not give ol' Halloween the same 'props' as its frostier cousin, and celebrate 'Halloween in March' on the 31st of next month?

I suggested the idea over at scarstuff.... a couple of people liked it, so I'm sharing it here.

Not sure exactly what form it'll take... I suppose I'll create an audio file or two to share and post my creepy well-wishes. I'll see what I can come up with over the next month or so.

You do the same, my loyal readers.

Sorry for the long silence, by the way--- If you're just missing me - heh-- check out my more 'civilan' myspace account, where I share my original music; I'm known as Justin M:

http://www.myspace.com/135154158

My 'Criswell' Impression... so bad it's scary!

2006-10-29T08:43:00.002-08:00

My Final Project For Halloween, 2006.

And here it is, my friends, for your free consumption-- in the future. My mish-mash of dozns of old & out of print Halloween albums, all combined, fused... along with my bad, bad impression of Criswell.

THE MANSION THAT IS HAUNTED

Once again, big hats off to Jason at scarstuff-- the music & sound effects I used on this, were mostyl taken from his treasure-trove of out-of-print Halloween albums... Except for some of the music from the Plan 9 film. I tossed in sooo many kooky tributes here... So many obscure references-- even the Beatles at one point. The Beatles?!!? Why, why, WHY!?!?!??!

I tried my best to tread a very thin line... I wanted this audio-file to be just goofy enough, to make it campy.. but still pretty scary & Halloween-ish as well. I think I pulled it off.

And, yes.... that IS my own voice... providing the narration! Since I was a bit 'iffy' on how 'great' it actually is, I have offered 2 files here in mp3 format-- one with & one without the ghostly narrator.

I put a lot of work into this.. hope you enjoy it.

The Mansion That Is Haunted

Listen to it, and then add the phrase 'in the future' to the end of every fortune cookie you open, in memory of The Amazing Criswell.

Try again....

2006-10-28T19:54:00.001-07:00

Well, I've gone & done it... I re-upped the files & updated the d/l links for for some of my entries, including:

Hornbook: After Midnight
Tales of the Frightened, the Soundtrack
Sounds to Make You Shiver, 2006

Hope you manage to grab them in time to let them enhance your Halloween.

Is it November already?

2006-10-20T14:35:00.000-07:00

Wow; 30 days went by quickly!

Or not.

Okay.. what's with Rapidshare all of a sudden? I uploaded this zipfile something like 4 or 5 days ago.. and it has ALREADY been deleted for lack of activity!!?!?!

Their main page says files are deleted after 30 days, not 4!!

I was really hoping that all of these files would be out here, together, up until after Halloween. No such luck.

Sorry, to the people who say entries but missed out on the files. I don't have the green to put into a 'premium' account, so I guess I can make the offer:

"Midnight hour latecomers": if you've only just discovered my blog, and are kicking yourself that you missed a chance to d/lany of these files... let me know! Just leave a reply here, or at the entry. If there's enough interest-- a couple of people, at least, who want to hear one of my expired links-- i'll try to get it re-upped...

No promises, though...

"You're gonna be his chewing gum!"

2006-10-16T13:55:00.000-07:00

The Demon.

It's a Rollercoaster. Famous one... Never rode it myself.

There were two of them, apparently.. one in Gurnbee, IL & one in Santa Clara, CA... Originally they were called 'Turn of the Century' but in 1979, they were retooled and re-christened "The Demon" in 1980.

I have a friend, goes by the online name of "NightmareTony". Plug for Tony: He works on a Haunted House attraction called the Nightmare Park. Check it out... He shared with me, a 25 minute track of the soundtrack to The Demon-- not sounds from the ride, but a soundtrack that played while riders waited in line.

The thing is absolutely hilarious... laugh-out-loud-funny & nostalgic. Here's a little info from the Wikipedia, about the track:

"When the Demon first opened in 1980, the speakers placed thruought the ride's queue played the Demon's own soundtrack. The soundtrack included the infamous "Demon Song", which was specially written for Marriott's Great America and was also very memorable. Along with the song there were fake radio broadcasts, some about people who reported to have seen the demon, some reports about the Army bombing the ride and a few with people trying to lure the demon out of the ride."

The description above does leave out, that the whole thing is played up for big laughs --it's not done seriously at all. The Demon is just a horrible ride, eating the passengers... There's hilarious quotable sillines all thru it:

"You're gonna be his chewing gum!"
"That was a live broadcast from the Demon. Well, it was a live brodcast... had some 'dead air' at the last..."

Anyway... I did a little 'tweaking' -- broke it up into four tracks-- mainly because the 'themesong' plays twice-- I fixed the stereo separation a little more to my liking & also fixed a couple of odd tape errors at the beginning, and here it is, for your Halloween consumption:

The Demon... The Demon... the Demon... The Demon... The DEMON!!

Hornbook: The "After Midnight" Edition

2006-09-30T23:03:00.000-07:00

So... I'm listening with glee, to one of horror's great elder statemen-- the late Vincent Price, chill my bones & occasionaly throw in a laugh or a grim smile. Happily 'grooving' to the many mp3's I now own, of Vincent Price's Caedmon spoken-word albums.. courtesy of Jason's blog, Scar Stuff:
A Hornbook For Witches,
Tales of Witches, Ghosts, and Goblins,
A Coven Of Witches Tales,
A Graveyard Of Ghost Tales

As I enjoyed the sometimes humorous, sometimes creepy-- mostly creepy-- storytelling of horror legend Vincent Price, a thought occured to me. "These stories might be even cooler, with some background music; the whole treatment, like Boris Karloff's 'Tales of the Frightened'!! "

Thus the idea was born.

Thus, I've spent my free time like Igor in the graveyard, scrounging up retro-ish moody music & the occasional sound-effect from numerous sources--I'd prefer a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy on the music, thankee... even though it's all 'out of print' music from various sharity blogs----

(You should KNOW my sharity philosophy: Don't share albums currently for sale! BUT... If it's NOT for sale- indeed, if an old album has NEVER been released on cd, then nobody's getting cheated by sharing mp3's that were recorded from 20-year-old vinyl. If it's not been released on a cd, or a cassette, IN the last 25 to 30 years(?!?!!?!) ..... well, that's because the owners don't believe there's a market for it. The money I'd be spending on unreleased Les Baxter, Russ Garcia, Kenyon Hopkins, , etc, is chump-change to their respective labels & owners; otherwise, they'd BE selling it as cds!)

10/28/06 - The links below have been updated-- if ya missed it previously, here's your last chance before the big H-day!

A Hornbook for Witches: The 'After Midnight' Edition
Part 1
Part 2

Despite the title, I haven't included all of the tracks from the 'hornbook' album. That one just has the neatest title! What I did was pick a cd's worth of my faves of about 4 different albums--(and I only hope the engmatic Jason, whom I've never met, doesn't get sick of me 'piggybacking' off of his blog!)-- put them to music, put them together in (I hope) a coherent, thematic track-order... and here they are! Just in time for YOU, to play it at your next swingin' Halloween Horror Party!!

"They swore they couldn't and wouldn't die!
Books say they did.. but they lie! They LIE!"

Working, working, working...

2006-09-25T22:01:00.000-07:00

Sorry, no update in so long... :(

Give me time. I am working on TWO projects that I hope to get done & up here, in time for Halloween. Good news is, I am CLOSE to 'done' with both--- I'm estimating, ehh, week and a half. Maybe.

See ya soon.

Are YOU one of the Frightened?

2006-08-26T22:46:00.000-07:00

No, this isn't a genuine scan! Just a little photoshop magic... Boris Karloff read scary stories to the tune of some kooky, creepy music on two albums: Tales of the Frightened Volumes I and II. Far as I know, no bona-fide soundtrack to this collection was ever released, under that name.

...However...

There was an album, simply called 'Electronic Music', released, by a band called the Electrosoniks. I was lucky enough to grab it from another sharity blog-- don't ask who, I can't recall-- about a year ago. As I was listening to it, I realized it sounded eerily familiar. Eventually I figgered out it was the same music from the Tales of the Frightened records!!

Here's a little info about the Tales of the Frightened Series. I got this from the Scar Stuff blog, who is quoting someone else:

"The vignettes in this series were written by Michael Avallone and read by Boris Karloff. Each issue of the magazine contains one of the vignettes, neither individually titled or bylined. Several years later Karloff's readings were released as a phonograph record and the texts were published as a book by Avallone."

"The music that runs underneath Boris's voice slowed down and twisted about is Tom Dissvelt and Kid Baltan's masterpiece recording of "Song of The Second Moon"... reissued as "The Elektrosonics-Electronic Music" "

Once I knew where I'd heard it before, I was quite annoyed at how FAST the tunes were on the Electrosoniks album. Seems to me, there'd be some other lovers of this album series, might want an honest-to-goodness soundtrack, at the proper speed, to include as part of the set. So I put myself to the task of editing the songs, saved 'em as 128 kbps mp3's and.. well, here ya go:

Tales Of the Frightened, The Soundtrack

Enjoy...

10/28/06 -- Well, gonna try & re-up these all. I really want to share these for Halloween, On Halloween-- so try the link above again, or any other of my links. Boo!

Bloodcurdling Stereo!

2006-08-25T21:20:00.000-07:00

"Bloodcurdling Stereo!!"

That's what I always thought the cover said; that weird juxtaposition in the right-hand corner of the album cover of 'Sounds To Make You Shiver'. This was (and is) my favorite Halloween album of all time-- I'd play it year round. My best friend & I would pretend to be walking thru the obligatory haunted house, on that fabled night. I'd stare into the huge recesses of that mansion on the front, and try to make out the weird & curious items inside....

"What is that, a blimp?"

I can almost recite the written enticement from memory:

"Listen in terror to Count Dracula!
Scream along with his victim!
Go MAD in the Haunted House!
Hear Frankenstein Break Loose!
Horrific Sounds for Halloween Fun!"

Loved the little tombstone that said "R.I.P-- YOU!" Heck, this is how I first learned what "R.I.P" meant-- I asked my Mom why it was on the tombstone, on this album cover.

Ohhh, the stories I could tell. We used to cover our ears during the screams-- my mother was afraid we'd turn into murderers if we listened to all that screaming & started to like hearing it.

I brought the album along with me to college, even... As my new room-mate perused my record collection, I blurted out in annoyed, oh-so-cool fashion, that my father hadn't let me pack any of his Beatles albums--- the guy pulled out my 'Sounds to Make You Shiver', took one look at it:

...and said "Oh, but he lets you keep one with a blazing skull on the cover."

Ahh, a little Deadpan humor.

Submitted now for your enjoyment is my first stab, no pun intended, at trying to make a Halloween audio mix. An updated version, in loving tribute, of the famous Haunted House track from 'Sounds To Make You Shiver'-- Mine's only 7 minutes long, though(the original is about 15 minutes)--- but filled to the brim with some original creepy music of my own & lots more of those great retro-sounding effects.

10/28/06 -- It's back! Shiver 2006, and hopefully it will stay here until Hallowen Night. The file now includes a kooky Halloween dance mix, as well...

Sounds to Make You Shiver 2006

Thanks loads, to Jason and his 'Scar Stuff' blog, for providing me with loads & loads of great old Halloween records to help modernize the ol' Shiver sound-- and yet, to keep it retro as well...

Scar Stuff!

Get the original album from him, too...

I hope you enjoy your visit to the Haunted House...

The Exotic Carribean.....

2006-08-14T14:53:00.000-07:00

"Ahoy there!"

Here's a little file I created a while back-- a twisted spin on the famous Pirates ride that spawned a couple'a movies... I suppose I'd call this a 'parody'-- as well as a tribute to that nutty aforementioned ride, using the music of the Exotica Masters Denny & Baxter.

If anybody gets their feathers ruffled, I'd like to point out that haven't used the full songs, only low quality, edited versions of them-- any other 'Pirate' audio is from sources which are not currently available for sale.. so NO, I am NOT competing with anything you can buy on Amazon!!

In fact, if you enjoy this music, I urge you to respond by purchasing the 'Mondo Exotica' album from the Ultra-Lounge series, or any of the Les Baxter & Martin Denny classic album reissues on cd, which may be available at your local cd store or Amazon.com.. Plus, this file may serve as advertising & encourage people to see the Pirates film, still in theatres. You're welcome, Mr Mouse.

And remember.... Dead guys sing no high-notes, Baby...

Hold On Just a Gosh Darn Second....

2006-04-22T14:08:00.000-07:00

The Big Ol' Eye.....

Well, if there's gonna be any topic I want to write about ad nauseum... it's gonna be freakylinks.

Not the Fox tv show, per se-- Freakylinks.com, the accompanying fictional website.

It's no longer active, & certainly not at THAT web address!! (I believe it was a porn site, last I heard... so watch it, kiddies!!!)

Freakylinks debuted on Fox TV in the Fall of 2000--- the spring & summer before that, I discovered a kooky website full of strange & oddly humorous paranormal tales.

The Glowing Kittens of Los Alamos
Rock & Rolling Hoop-Snake of Doom
Waiter, There's A Demon In My Soup...

See, the creators of the show had a grand time, pretending that 'Derek' the star of the show was a real person with a real paranormal website-- and a lot of us 'freakers' had loads of fun pretending right along with 'em.

You can still read the site, archived in all its glory at the Haxan films site.

Freakylinks Lives!!

Here are some nice words published about the ol FL-dot-com, by its various & sundry creators:

http://www.haxan.com/portfolio.html
http://www.gmdstudios.com/tin/freakylinks/

Come pop by the Haxan messageboard if ya wanna discuss Freakylinks, The Blair Witch, or any of Haxan's newer projects in the works...

The Haxan Messageboard

I'm better known over there as 'SpaceMonkey'

***082106 -- edited to correct the link to the NEW Haxan Forum.***

I Me Mine....

2006-04-22T10:00:00.000-07:00

Well, well-- I have a blog now.

Not sure what I even want to do with it-- if anything. I mainly wanted to post a comment at a site that wouldn't let me do so anonymously...

Until I decide what or if, here are some links:

http://scarstuff.blogspot.com/

Hurdy Gur!