Nashville’s Night Machine has put out two EP’s already this year and has now released an extremely timely LP of synthwave tracks entitled Themes of the Dead. The eleven track album functions as an appropriate soundtrack to the spookiest holiday of the year, Halloween… particularly if you’re the type that likes to dance the evening away into a drenched sweat.

Almost every track contains a subtitle that gives more insight to the primary and provides a layer of ominous context. “Pods (The Invasion)”, “Countess (The Vampire)”, and “Hookhand (The Hitcher)” are prime examples of this kind of storytelling. One might make the assumption that these subtitles are direct references to old horror movies but from reading album synopsis directly from Night Machine himself, this does not seem to be the case.

On the whole, the album manages to find a balance between the foreboding presence of synthwave and far more dancefloor genres. Listening to “Dead Party (Zombie$)” or “Menance (The Stalker),” you aren’t so much creeped out as you are inclined to let yourself dance freely. Even the dead need a release sometimes.

Back in 2014, Transylvania Tapes released a compilation of “Nashville area bands and musicians performing spooky songs” entitled Spooky Sound FX. The thirteen track compilation manages to cover a lot of ground stylistically, ranging from Misfits style rawk with a barked chorus (Bang Boys) to hypnotic electronic beats with a spoopy vibe (Bee Pee) to instrumental goth that sounds like a Cure b-side (The Urns). A little Halloween variety makes for a much more rewarding listen.

Of the bands listed here, three (Wild Minds, Boo Dudes, Western Medication) are recognizable. This may be a sign that band turnover in the Nashville area has become a problem in the last four years or several of these “bands” were just made up for the purposes of contributing to this compilation. I’ve searched around for more tracks from “Bee Pee” and come up short.

More compilations of this style should exist and this compilation should be a template for 2019 to make it happen again.

If you heard the 2018 Halloween episode of the WOTT Music podcast then you heard Terrible covering Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” with a clever turn of genre and style. That cover is part of an EP of cover songs entitled The Devil Is Drunk, I Am Halloween that also includes versions tracks originally from The Misfits, Tom Waits and Ryan Adams.

Obviously “Thriller” is Halloween appropriate given its history but one could argue that anytime one band covers another they are “putting on a costume” of sorts. Maybe that’s a stretch but I stand by it!

In order to fully appreciate the spin that Terrible put on these covers, you need to know the originals as well. So, do a little compare and contrast with the above Bandcamp embed and the originals linked below.

• The Misfits – Horror Business
• Tom Waits – Murder In The Red Barn
• Ryan Adams – Halloweenhead
• Michael Jackson – Thriller

With the premiere of “Little Less Left“, the third video from New Man‘s debut Sings, it’s clear that wearing your heart on your sleeve should be a pre-requisite for any good pop song. Lyrically, the song focuses on the hardships of leaving the past behind; both as a Konmari Method of minimalism as well as learning to emotionally let go. “Little Less Left” doesn’t try to hide that melancholy feeling but it does wrap it in a veneer of glee, presented as nonsensical “bah bah’s” and soaring harmonies.

As noted in our album review, Sings has an “everything including the kitchen sink” approach to a lot of the tracks. For a less skilled songwriter, this could result in a chaotic cacophony but here we get a literal representation of that multitude of voices working together as the video culminates in a Brady Bunch style grid of voices harmonizing.

On the whole, this is the most ballad-y of the tracks on the record but certainly one that we can all relate to.

Rarely does an EP leave me with the feeling that I need to revisit an artists catalog and catch up on my Classic Batman but they’ve managed to accomplish just that.

Let’s get something straight right out of the gate here, Ska is not my preferred genre. In fact, I downright dislike it. Sure, I can appreciate a skanking tutorial but the buck stops there.

That being said, my disdain for the genre is exactly the point with Boo Dudes latest Halloween offering, Ska Ska Scary. The band has always managed to find a balance between being actually talented and actively trolling you. Their whole existence is based on taking the expectations of Halloween music and flipping them on their head. On Haint Anger, their most accessible release, they hop between traditional country, B-52’s style pop and 50’s parody rock. Since that 2017 release, they also released Halloween music in March, a song about taxes, a drugged out psych rock track and the happiest Friday the 13th song you’ve ever heard.

The fact that Ska Ska Scary may incite a facepalm of bafflement is actually a win for the band. I may not want to actively listen to it but I respect them for actually finding a way to blend the two worlds.