New Songs For Those Night Thrills

Before you could say “Please, no more music” I’m here dropping new music. Yes, I’m currently sitting on a back log of new music I recorded starting in October. If you’re paying attention I released a 4-song EP of instrumental music just a couple weeks ago, but those were all a year’s worth of music I’d been sitting on for a bit. This new batch is still warm from cooking them up between October and December. Not piping hot. You’re not going to burn your mouth when you take a bite, but still a little gooey at their center.

Where the last batch was more loop-based, downtempo electronic music these new songs are sounds of the season, if you will. Recording them in October thru December I wanted to make some songs that captured the feel of fall; changing leaves, crisp air, and withering light at the 5pm mark. Songs you’d hear in the back of your mind walking a trail in the cool of November, or trailing behind the kids as they trick-or-treat on Halloween night(your kids, not some random kids. That’d be creepy.)

I’m a sucker for moody tunes, that’s probably why I’m a fan of the imagined soundtrack. Of course it began as a pre-teen when I first started watching horror movies. John Carpenter was a big part of that – thanks to Halloween, The Fog, and Escape From New York – but I think the first horror soundtrack that truly stuck in my brain and echoed in it for decades to come would be Fred Myrow And Malcolm Seagrave’s score to Don Coscarelli’s classic Phantasm from 1979.

I can very clearly remember staying up way past my bedtime watching Phantasm with my dad. It played on the The Late Show on channel 28(our local ABC affiliate.) The lights were all off and we sat on the couch and watched this totally absurd, bizarre horror flick which at the time was only a couple years old. I never felt scared watching it; more as if it was some strange dream. Not sure if the spurting blood from the silver orbs was edited or not, but the whole movie was just so alien to anything I’d ever seen before. I think my dad would attest to that as well. The only part that freaked me out was the end when Angus Scrimm’s ‘The Tall Man’ appeared in the kid’s bedroom at the end and boomingly spoke “BOY!”. Then the Jawa-like zombies pull the kid into the mirror. That kind of freaked me out. The rest felt like a bizarre fever dream taking place in suburbia.

The music of Myrow and Seagrave was pitch perfect in every way. It never force fed the fear via overwrought synthscapes and electronic string stabs to force you into panic. It was more subtle than that. Almost harpsichord tones emanated in a subtle way, with eerie undertones for good measure. It was a soundtrack of its time, bringing to mind Lalo Schifrin and even Walter Rizzati but in a more subdued way. There is the intent of fear and horror, but it gives us space to live in the music and be carried almost subconsciously into the void.

So this new EP called night thrills goes for more subtle pleasures. You don’t have to imagine being chased by dwarfed dead people in brown cloaks, silver orbs with weapons attached, or a giant in a suit and dutch boy haircut to enjoy it(but by all means please do if that’s your thing.) Could be a soundtrack for a walk, or music for a road trip. Or for just sitting blankly on your couch contemplating our existence. The sky’s the limit.

I don’t like using this place for self promotion, as I feel there are far more talented folks making far greater music than I. There’s so much good music out there that it’s sometimes hard to keep track of it all. I know I don’t keep up like I used to. Gunking up the pipes with more music that’s far less superior just seems like I’m adding to the problem. But hey, this is my site so I guess I can chew the fat about whatever I want. Today I’m chewing on this new 4-song EP I made called night thrills. Give it a listen if you like. Download it if that’s your thing. Pay what you want or just snag it for free. Just so you know that if you do drop some change in the jar at the counter I’ll use it to buy a coffee and maybe a donut.

Enjoy your Hump Day.