Songs in the Key of Creepy

I like music. Most people do, I'd imagine, but I personally prefer to wander into weird territory to find it. For awhile, myspace.com was an awesome place to find music as many new bands and self-promoted artists used myspace's players as a way to get a lot of their stuff heard and would often offer songs for free download. But then the embedded mp3 players changed; if you can still download I haven't figured out how to do it, and as a result my last vestige of interest in that site was lost.

I did find a lot of great, spooky music, though, and figured that I should repay free downloads with free pimpage, so here goes. All of these albums or groups get a firm endorsement from yours truly; Cins would, but it turns out that music makes her grow scales so she lives in a sensory deprivation chamber most of the year. Some of that may be untrue.



First up is Zombina and the Skeletones, a UK-based band that I think is what the 1950's would have sounded like had the Addams Family been the norm.They sing about everything from zombies with one of my personal favorites, Nobody Likes You When You're Dead, to atomic paranaoi with songs like Staci Stasis (I'm sure you can guess why I like that one) and I Was a Human Bomb for the FBI. A lot of their stuff is up on iTunes so you can go sample it, and you can order their albums on their site. I don't have any of their physical albums but I have a ton of their music that I've gotten piecemeal by snapping up an mp3 here and there. My recommended favorites are:
Nobody Likes You When You're Dead Springheel Jack
Their cover of The Monster Mash
Zombie Crush Dracula's Tango

They also have t-shirts and such, and when I can I definitely plan on getting one to adorn my cleavage with. Give them a listen, they're awesome!

Awesomely, I also just found out that they have a series of videos on youtube!




Next up is a very popular independent musician, Voltaire. This man is prolific and if you haven't heard of him at least in passing then I am very surprised. His music is catchy, clever, and frequently filthy. If you've ever listened to his album Ooky Spooky then like me, you will never think of the cantina on Mos Eisley the same way ever again. I really love the musical styles he sets a lot of his music too-- Ooky Spooky was mariachi flavored (and that's awesome for a song like Day of the Dead), To the Bottom of the Sea is sortof steam punk styled, and past albums have worked in a Romanian/Gypsy vibe. His music is alternately upsetting, thought provoking, filthy, or hilarious, and I really dig it all. He also did music a few times for The Grim Adventures of Billy Mandy on Cartoon Network, a show I want on DVD already, dammit.

The first song of Voltaire's that I ever heard was featured on the Projekt Goth labels (I had a friend with a serious taste for hard goth music). The songs in question were Brains (featured as previously mentioned for a Billy and Mandy episode and about a brain eating monster from outer space) and Goodnight, Demon slayer, Goodnight, one of the most wonderful lullabies I've ever heard. encouraging the child its sung for to rise up against the monsters that terrorize him in sleep and defeat them. I have sung it to my nieces and nephews, and will sing it to my own children when I get around to procreating.

Recommended listening is:
Brains Goodnight Demonslayer, Goodnight
Land of the Dead Day of the Dead
Zombie Prostitute
Three Heavy Stones
Kill the Man Upstairs
Almost Human
Ex Lover's Lover
all of Banned on Vulcan, a series of Star Trek based songs, all of them profain and tons of fun
The Vampire Club
When You're Evil
Graveyard Picnic, a particular favorite because it talks about Edgar Allen Poe, an oft-read poet by moi, and not always when I'm drinking.
Alchemy Monday
Pretty much anything else by Voltaire you can find. A few of the above titles are used in the comic book he wrote and drew called Oh My Goth!, another recommend from each of my bitter inches.

Voltaire's awesome, give him a listen if you haven't yet. He's also on iTunes so you can sample, and I'd be stunned if you couldn't find his stuff on youtube. He also has a website, voltaire.net, and is on myspace. Go! Go! I'll wait for you to come back!

Back? Excellent! On to the next contenders!


And the next contenders in question would be The Gothic Archies. As with most of my musical aquisitions I have a series of mp3s from various albums; this is no different. I found these guys through Penny Arcade; they were one of Tycho's lyric snippets in one of his news posts. The lead singer, Stephin Merrit, has a lovely, smooth deep baritone/ light bass voice, a particular weakness of mine. Deep voiced men kinda make my toes curl, and I'm not sure I could even tell you why. Huh. Weird.

The Gothic Archies are sort of gleefully morbid, and happily without hope. They did an album that's a companion piece to Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events books, called The Tragic Treasury, and are an excellent companion indeed.
From this album I recommend:
Scream and Run Away
The World is a Very Scary Place
When You Play the Violin
Crows
Things are Not What They Appear

From The New Despair I recommend:
Ever Falls the Twilight
and
Your Long White Fingers, which seems like it was written for the other mother in Coraline, though that might just be coincidence on my part.
I'm sure I'll eventually have more from these albums to recommend, but at the moment these are all I have heard (bought off of iTunes and worth every bit spent). Really good stuff.

I have a few more, but I'm going to save them for the next post on music; this is turning into a book. I love all of these artists, so please give them some much deserved love!

Who do you recommend in terms of spooky music? Please share; I'm always looking for more!

Now please excuse me; I have to go scrape Cins off; she's getting water-logged. Some of that might also be untrue.