Xgau's writing for Salon now

I figured somebody would pick him up. Ooh, look and he even got a slam in on the Gipsy Kings:

Until recently the gadje's choices boiled down to melodramatic, multicultural flamenco, the truncated jazz tradition of Django Reinhardt and then, for too long oh Lord, the mawkish "rumba flamenca" of France's answer to Air Supply, the Gipsy Kings.

I've been listening to The Lilac Time's first album recently (just re-released with extra cuts). Any fans? It's sorta Indie 80s brit pop but more acoustic and accomplished (think...Simon and Garfunkel crossed with The Wedding Present).

For those of you who downloaded the Halloween mix, any favorites? Emmett likes: "The Lurch," "I'm A Vampire" (Future Bible Heroes - excellent lyrics, fun to sing along. Even more fun to hear your 10 y.o. son proclaim that he is a "Bitch goddess from beyond the grave.") and "The Vampire Club" by Voltaire.

This last was playing when we parked the car so we sang the chorus together six times in a row on the way to our apartment.

I used to date a girl who loved that Lilac Time album. Haven't heard it since roughly 1992, though.

Mostly Ghostly has been stuck in my head, and I enjoyed the juxtaposition in Ulalume. "The Vampire Club" is brilliant, and makes me hreat Voltaire even more.

Yeah, liked the Voltaire. Just adoring "Mr. Ghost Is Going to Town", "Lookout Mountain", "Remains of the Day", "Theme from the Spooky Bunch" and that's just the ones I gave four stars to on first listen. Takes a while to shake out all the favorites, truly.

I'm going to go see M. Ward play tonight! I'm excited--I really liked "Post-war" and from what I understand he's very good live.

Here's someone else's Halloween Mix: [link]

Marilyn Manson covered "This Is Halloween?"

I have to remember to log into BR2 and download Hec's Halloween mix. I'll do that tomorrow.

Marilyn Manson covered "This Is Halloween?"

Yep. There's some sort of re-released version of the NMBC soundtrack with cover versions of the songs by various artists.

The first of three mini-mixes for Halloween. I've been getting a whole lot of good music from You Folks, and I'd love to respond in kind. Hopefully, this doesn't repeat too much that I've gotten from you. (Except where noted!)

(All links are YSI -- let me know if they need renewing.)

Monsters:

One Step Beyond theme -- Old British TV show, with a stately start to our Halloween journey.

Mannequins, HDRC -- Could I resist adding in a post-apocalyptic Hugh Dillon song... especially one that's arguably about zombies.

Nemesis, Shriekback -- Still love this one after all these years. "You know, evil is an inexact science." Someday I'll figure out a vid to go with this song...

Zombie Compromise, Shadowy Men From A Shadowy Planet -- More zombies. I keep meaning to do an all-zombie mix some day... but my Halloween mix will do in the meantime.

Todd, Jonathan Coulton -- "Re: Your Brains" has already been mixed and offered up by me and others, so here's some proof that Coulton isn't a one-monster sort of songwriter. In fact, he's making the zombies look downright cuddly by comparison here.

The Little Black Egg, The Nightcrawlers -- One of those songs that gets weirder the longer you listen to it. Because this is one egg that's just not right.

And finally -- a zip file of all these songs, for people like me who don't want to DL all these songs individually!

Nemesis, Shriekback -- Still love this one after all these years. "You know, evil is an inexact science." Someday I'll figure out a vid to go with this song...

I adore this song. I used to sing it to Dread Beastie cat all the time. ("Big black nemisis ...")

Wicked and Weird, Buck 65 -- My thanks to Heuradys for this one, which has been playing in the back of my mind this week or so....

Saturday Night in the City of the Dead, UltraVox -- back from when they were still fun. Yes, they were, I was surprised as anyone to find it out....

No Such Thing, Th' Legendary Shack Shakers -- my thanks to SA -- I feel morally certain that you could make an awesomely funny Supernatural vid with this one.

Mr. Ghost is Going to Town, The Five Jones Boys - My thanks to Hecubus for this vocal gem, which is as cute and wiggly as a basket of skeleton puppies.

The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror -- You know, the show may be funny, but this is a damn good little pastiche of spooky horror music. As with the incidental music for the classic Warner Brothers cartoons, the soundtrack has a wonderful depth to it.

Rockin' Bones, Ronnie Dawkins. I don't know much about Dawkins, aside from him sounding about 14 on this song... but what a song it is. "Now when I die don't you bury me at all/Just put my bones up on the wall...."

... And the comprehensive Zip file for the people like me who are too impatient to DL each song individually.