We all know and love the usual stereotypical Halloween music fare, but there’s only a number of times you can hear “Thriller” before we all want to bring out the cross and garlic. In recognition of this fact, WVAU offers five songs you might not have thought of that will chill you and thrill you this night of fright.
1) St. Vincent: “Marrow”
Annie Clark’s second album Actor excels at the tight-laced, tense fantasy-horror seen in films like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (you laugh but that creepy forest will give anyone nightmares). In “Marrow” Clark starts off quietly muttering that “muscle connects to the bone” and continues to lay on the tension until eventually breaking – calling out “H-E-L-P, Help me. Help me” as her guitar caterwauls behind her. This is definitely not one to listen to as you walk alone down an empty street
2) M83: “Don’t Save Us from the Flames”
Car accidents have always been a popular thing to sing about – something about everyday machines careening out of control is attractive to people (protip: do not watch David Cronenberg’s Crash on a full stomach). M83 is one of the only bands brave enough to give us a depiction of the last moments of the victim of a car crash in their chilling song “Don’t Save Us from the Flames.” The lead singer describes his predicament matter-of-factly. He’s bleeding badly, trapped in a burning wreck and doomed to die. All he can think about, though, is this woman (possibly also in the car?) whose name a ghost keeps screaming out. Between the painful descriptions and the howling synths, “Don’t Save Us from the Flames” will stay with you for a while.
3) Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: “Red Right Hand”
You can’t have a Halloween list without including something from either Nick Cave or Tom Waits and “Red Right Hand” by Cave is one of the best songs for the holiday. It feels like something directly out of a twisted folktale. A mysterious stranger that creeps in the shadows of the viaduct by the edge of town will offer you whatever you most desire. His gift comes at a price, however. The tall man begins stalking his pray every moment of the day. He’s driven by his unearthly red right hand, which considers its victims only “a microscopic cog in his catastrophic plan.” It’s the perfect mix of blues, gothic and Lovecraftian horror.
4) Clinic: “Distortions”
Is it just a darkly humorous love song? A crazed rant of a psychopath? Whatever “Distortions” is, I’m scared of it. The song hits everything on the list for musical horror; the technological constant drone in the background, the lead singer’s emotional mumblings, vague threats and allegations. It all makes for a frightening listen. If you can survive the chorus without feeling a chill you’re a braver person than I.
5) Dan Deacon: “Paddling Ghost”
Okay, okay this isn’t really a scary tune, but how can you not like a tale of a seafaring ghost who meets and horse and goes on all kinds of wacky adventures? If you don’t end up smiling and tapping your feet to this chipper ditty you either can’t stand the Wham City collective or are the dead come back to life to stalk the living. Either way, I’ll probably going to run away when I see you.
The Cass Roots Movement
Sundays 4pm-6pm facebook page Show Description
For a break from your mundane tuesday routine tune in and jam out to an eclectic mix guaranteed to make you dance or sing along. Shows will often have awesome unifying themes, like my annual Thanksgiving show featuring only songs about food.You can expect to hear all kinds of music including folk, world beats, some riot grrl, hip-hop, rock and much more. I’m be dancing at the station, so why arent you dancing yet? Name of Favorite Other WVAU Show
Indecisive Times
A few posts ago we told you guys what our “Vet” DJs were listening to over the summer, now we have the freshest new material direct from the headphones of our new DJs and Freshman. First years Holla!
Kaitlyn Fitton was into The Shins – “Caring is Creepy” and other Sub Pop artists.
Sophomore Leah Boatright was all over the indie spectrum with Ty Segall – Melted, Lemons – s/t, Baths – Cerulean, Women – Public Strain, Gorillaz – Plastic Beach, Tame Impala – Innerspeaker, and Future Islands – In Evening Air.
Heather Palmer aka “DJ Wolftits” was listening to lots of hyperhip tunes: Wavves – “King of the Beach”, Harlem – “Friendly Ghost”, Best Coast – “Boyfriend”, and Washed Out – “Feel it all Around.”
Maeve McDermott’s song of the summer was Drake - “Thank Me Later.”
Adam Lock had The xx, Black Moth Super Rainbow, The Octopus Project, and Toro Y Moi on repeat.
Peter Gill had no shame to folk with The Tallest Man on Earth – The Wild Hunt, and Whiskeytown.
Kevin Bishop was listening to the Summertime! EP of CMJ indie pop band, The Drums.
Sharon Din favorited experimental front man of Lemon, Ty Segall, and simple & happy swedish singer songwriter Jens Lekman.
Jesse Drucker was feeling Sun Ra and his Arkestra.
Alex Morphew played Beck – Midnite Vultures, Beat Happening – Music to Climb the Apple Tree By, Born Ruffians – Say It. Plus she played zombie death polka music, a genre which i didn’t know existed, until Alex told us.
Cassie Wiegmann of the Cass Roots Movement was listening to Sleigh Bells‘ Treats album, and The Black Keys‘ new release, Brothers.
Will Thomas embraced Phil Spector’s the Back to Mono Box set.
Jeff Elkin was listening to Agnostic Front’s Another Voice.
George Machado was hyping a number of acts: Animal Collective, Passion Pit, The Antlers, She & Him, The Flaming Lips, and Darwin Deez.
Our sole AU facility DJ, Yana Shabaev, was digging Bibio, Caribou, Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s, T. Rex, Robyn Hitchcock, The Left Banke, and The Cure.
And finally, John de Jongh liked Lil Wayne’s new track “Single.” We say, Free Weezy!
Music Director Roxanne shares her experience with indie rock band Cymbals Eats Guitars.
Standing outside the Black Cat before the show, I heard a guy behind me remark to a stranger that, “tonight is The Thermals and two other bands that sound like The Thermals.” Being in the mood for a night full of energetic indie-punk, I was game. But although Cymbals Eat Guitars possessed that same kind of frantic energy as The Thermals, to group them together would really be a misnomer.
Where The Thermals bank on maintaining an energetic fervor of an hour long sing-a-long-able set, Cymbals Eat Guitars look for more surprises. Lead singer Joseph D’Agostino (who may actually prefer the name ‘Joseph Ferocious’ according to Wikipedia) often switched from almost whispering his boy-like vocals into the mic, to a full-on scream fest. The keyboards echoed this – hints of distinguishable melodies peeking through the walls of guitar noise and hazy wails, individual electronic plinks of keys pushed out and then immediately gobbled up. But those hints stopped just there- as hints, perhaps only there to remind the listener of what Cymbals Eat Guitars truly isn’t, any sort of indie-punk to which you can tap your toes, or maybe even any other genre you’d like to fit them into. Cymbals Eat Guitars exist more to make you forget the individual instruments and leave you picking up the pieces of your face that fell off when it met their sound waves. By the close of their set I was left amazed at the level of energy and emotion exerted through the whole thing. Joseph D’Agostino was constantly retuning strings that just couldn’t keep up between and during songs, all while beads of sweat dripped down, shooting off and reflecting the light (and probably splattering the front row). I felt like they were playing like they had one night to prove everything they were, everything that their music was – of course it was just another show, but that fact is just what shows that they have already proven everything.
Now that fall weather is blustering into campus, we’d like to take you a few weeks in reverse to summer!
Over the summer our DJs went all over the east coast, west coast, midwest, down south, usa, and all over the world. Depending on where they were, they probably got a few misquito bites, maybe interned on the hill, and hopefully got a little bit more vitamin d than normal. But now they’re safely returned back to Tenleytown, D.C., USA. In August we asked our veteran DJs to send us their favorite songs of the summer 2010.
Here’s a list of what was in our DJs’ headphones when WVAU was out of session.
Jackie Goncalves was spinnin lots of new tracks from LCD Soundsystem like, “Dance Yrself Clean,” Niki Minaj, and The xx.
William Maye liked the pop hit on Top 40 radio- “OMG” by Usher ft. Will. i. Am.
Travis Mitchell and Julie Szymaszek stayed true to the 2000s, Travis with Wolfgang Amedeus Phoenix by Phoenix, and Julie with Nelly’s “Grillz”
Roxanne Bublitz was gettin real indie with Local Natives – Gorilla Manor, and Thao and the Get Down Stay Down – Know Better Learn Faster.
Michael Karsch was diggin Big Boi – Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty, Big K.R.I.T. – K.R.I.T. Wuz Here, Rick Ross – “BMF”, Chris Brown, Tyga, Kevin McCall – “Deuces”, and Notorious B.I.G. – “Kick in the Door”
Our GM Dan Raby was digging the females with Janelle Monáe’s The ArchAndroid, and Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own.”
Kevin Kunitake was keepin it cool with Al Green, Stevie Wonder, The Roots – How I Got Over, Janelle Monáe – The ArchAndroid, and The Black Keys – Brothers
Morgan Wheaton was gettin down with “the oldies station that constantly plays at my job.”
Dianna Loevner got hot with New Jersey house from Tony Humphries – “Mix the Vibe.”
Charlie Wolf was listening to Sweetgreen Festival 2010 artist The Love Language, particularly the album Libraries, and the track “Heart to Tell.”
Angela Varela was rocking out to artists from the Creators Project NYC: Die Antwoord, and Gang Gang Dance along with other Pitchfork favorites in electronica this summer: Salem, Crystal Castles – “Suffocation”, and Robyn – “Don’t Fucking Tell Me What to Do.”
Dan Remick-Cook was listening to the fresh new hip hop, Chiddy Bang.
Hannah Barker was into acts from all over the charts from K’naan to Johnny Cash, Joel Plaskett and N.E.R.D., Tiger Jk, Dok2, Bonnie Tyler, The Black Keys, and Yolanda B Cool feat. Dcup – “We No Speak Americano.”
Louise Brask listened to a lot of German and Turkish ‘Kinderpop,’ and M.I.A.’s new album /\/\/\Y/\.
Ryan Gaffney was into Major Lazer & La Roux’s collaborative mixtape – Lazerproof, and Broken Bells‘ 2010 self titled album.
Emily Lagg was punking it out with The Clash – Sandinista!
And Claudia Nunez thankfully didn’t waiver far from her spicy latina flair with: DJ Chachi’s summer mix, Split Personalities‘ mixes, 90s & early 2000s latin “amor” music, and Rihanna – “Rude Boy.”
