Just a brief post to share some mixed versions of a pair of older playlists I made for Halloween in 2012, 'The Midnight Hour' and 'Strange Shadows'.

The first of the two was an attempt to evoke a kind of eerie, middle-of-the-night, alone-in-a-dark-house, semi-dreamlike feeling. The second one is more ominous, yet more punchy – a shorter, more fun companion to the former's journey of haunting beauty.

This is part of an effort I've been slowly making to give my old playlists a new home. I put a lot of effort and love into creating my playlists on there, but for years 8tracks has been stuck in a limbo of geo-restriction and royalties nightmares. Although the site recently returned after seemingly shuttering for good, it is still only accessible in limited countries and even then, many songs are not playable. Re-listening to some of my efforts there, I think they are worth preserving, so I'll continue to add mixed versions to Mixcloud.

Fun fact: both mix images are screenshots taken from the 1970s Rod Serling television series Night Gallery. 'The Midnight Hour' image is from the intro to 'The House', and 'Strange Shadows' is from a scene in 'Certain Shadows on the Wall'. You can watch this wonderful series for free here (I found that a VPN set to the USA works if you get the 'not available in your location' message).

For more of my earlier Halloween playlists and mixes, visit my playlists page.

The Midnight Hour

Mixcloud | View image | Duration: 1 hour 39 minutes

Tracklist:

Heart-stopping glances. Stolen moments. Giddy highs and melancholic lows. Tender feelings, guilty pleasures. A love affair you can't resist, right or wrong.

The collection of songs on this mix, 'Autumn Rendez-vous', evoke all the beauty, drama and heartache of all-consuming – sometimes forbidden – love. It feels cosy and romantic, but can suddenly leave you devastated.

Mixcloud | View image | Duration: 2 hours 5 minutes

Bien sur, such a mix had to include a good dose of French and French-inspired pop. Who better to set the tone here than Françoise Hardy, the master of wistful longing and comforting sadness? The mix features, and is named for, the English version of her 1966 song, 'Rendez-vous d'automne'. Françoise also pops up duetting with Blur on the alternate version of 'To The End', and her presence is felt elsewhere, like the track from The Yearning's gorgeous 2016 album Evening Souvenirs, which was heavily influenced by Ms Hardy's oeuvre. There are also a few translations of gallic songs here: Jimmie Rodgers 'The Lovers' is a cover of Jacques Brel's 'Les Amants de cœur', Greek sixties girl Tammy interprets Pascal Danel's 'Les Trois Dernières Minutes', and Ethel Azama, under the auspices of Martin Denny, does a show-stopping rendition of Jacques Prevert and Joseph Kosma's 'Les Feuilles Mortes'.

The beautiful cover photo of Françoise is by Jean-Marie Périer.

Tracklist:

Mixcloud | View image | Duration: 2 hours 4 minutes

A minor dilemma for me, as a blogger living in a different hemisphere to almost all of my readers, is when to share a mix that seems so perfect for a particular season. I've had this mix in mind as a soundtrack for spring, but wondered whether to post it in your spring or mine? I've decided perhaps this is an ideal time for you and I alike, as my springtime begins, and maybe some of your summery days still linger as it turns to autumn. Whatever the weather, I think this provides some much-needed sunny cheer. It's music for daydreaming out the window.

This mix was inspired by, and shaped around, the simple, escapist joy of the song 'Up, Up and Away'. Written by Jimmy Webb and originally recorded by The Fifth Dimension, the harmonic slice of breezy listening was a big hit around the world in 1967. I wanted to create a mix with a feeling of pure escapism and floating away from troubles. Is there any song that better epitomises this?

The version I decided to include here is the less familiar Supremes' cover from their 1968 album Reflections, which is a little sweeter and more buoyant to my ears, and of course has Diana Ross' irresistibly silken vocals. It's nestled among a collection of songs I find uplifting, comforting and sometimes achingly beautiful (wow, that Aretha cover of 'Over The Rainbow').

A psychedelic mix just in time for Christmas! There's not much I need to say about this that the title doesn't already tell you. All I will say is, on playing it through, I noticed it's kind of an odd blend of cheerful and sinister – but hey, that seems apt for Christmas! It's named for a song by The Smoking Trees from the superb Active Listener Christmas Album from 2012. (A name-your-price download on Bandcamp, it's well worth grabbing). Oddly, I only noticed after compiling this that there are quite a few tracks from 2012, for some reason. Apparently that year was a fine vintage for Christmas psych!

Hello all! Been absent from the blog for much longer than intended, I'm sorry to say. But I hate to miss another Halloween, especially since my blog is named for a Halloween urban legend. So I've managed to squeak in a mix just in time!

'A Curse On You' is in a similar vein to my last couple of mixes: more of a haunting atmosphere than strictly horror-themed selections, though there are a few of those as well. I like to make my mixes a bit of an emotional journey through different moods and sonic textures, especially when fairly long like this one, which comes in at two hours and eight minutes.

This mix is packed with vintage European soundtracks, moody experimental pop, electronic forays, an abundance of 60s psych rock, and more. There's some of the sensual, affecting vibe of my previous mixes, but with more of a gritty, dirty punch - at least that was the aim!

Please enjoy this trippy spookfest! Here are the artists and songs featured in this mix (click 'Hide details' to see a simplified tracklist):

Who needs the same old sappy Christmas tunes when there's a whole world of weird and wonderful festive music to explore? I love digging into the many fascinating, original takes on holiday music that countless artists have recorded over the years. And sometimes, the more bizarre, the better. My first Christmas mix this year is a collection of some of the most enjoyably unconventional seasonal tunes that I've come across. Some are simply delightfully eccentric, while others get genuinely weird... and even a little creepy. If you need an antidote to the cliches and suffocating sentimentality that can be hard to escape at this time of year, hopefully you'll enjoy this mix of freakish festive goodness!

Beware of my Halloween mix this year: it will magically seduce you, take you to heights of beauty and pleasure... before you soon find unsettling and downright terrifying things start to happen. Erotica and horror combine in this blend of vintage soundtracks, dark folk-pop and other sensual, yet deadly, delights.

Please note that this sorcery gets very saucy indeed so you probably won't want to play this at work or around children – unless you're prepared to answer a lot of questions.

Tracklist

1. Jirí Bažant & Jirí Malásek - Erotica 2 (1975. From the Barry 7's Connectors compilation, 2002)
2. Anna Biller - Fairy Lady Harp Music (The Love Witch soundtrack, 2016)
3. Paul Giovanni and Magnet - Willow's Song (The Wicker Man soundtrack, 1973)
4. Manfred Hübler & Siegfried Schwab - Peoples Playground (Version B) (Vampyros Lesbos soundtrack, 1971)
5. Cocteau Twins - Beatrix (Treasure,1984)
6. Goblin - Witch (Suspiria soundtrack, 1977)
7. Midnight Movies - Oh Twilight (Midnight Movies, 2004)
8. Piero Umiliani - Fotomodelle (Svezia, inferno e paradiso soundtrack, 1968)
9. François de Roubaix - Les Dunes d'Ostende (Les Lèvres Rouges soundtrack, 1971)
10. Neal Gardner - The Case of the Bloody Iris (Giallo, 2013)
11. Adrian Younge Presents Venice Dawn - Midnight Blue (Something About April, 2011)
12. Ennio Morricone - Sottintesi (Il gatto a nove code soundtrack, 1971)
13. Bat for Lashes - The Wizard (Fur and Gold, 2007)
14. The Sirens - Femmes (1976. From the Mondo Erotico compilation, 2002)
15. Delired Cameleon Family - Weird Ceremony (Visa de censure n° X soundtrack, 1976)
16. Piero Umiliani - Streghe e convegno (Riunione, sarabanda, purificazione) (Angeli bianchi... angeli neri soundtrack, 1969)
17. Pierre Raph - Crotch Batterie (Requiem pour un vampire soundtrack, 1971)
18. Zdenek Liška - Witches Firewall (Malá morská víla soundtrack, 1976)
19. Isobel Campbell - Lady Of Snakes (O Love Is Teasin' EP, 2006)
20. Cat's Eyes - Door No. 2 (The Duke of Burgundy soundtrack, 2014)
21. White Noise - My Game of Loving (An Electric Storm, 1969)
22. Norbert Glanzberg - The Blonde Witch (The Blonde Witch soundtrack, 1956)
23. Prudence Rees-Lee - After the Moon (After the Moon single, 2017)
24. Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions - Into the Trees (Until The Hunter, 2016)
25. Richard Hayman and The Manhattan Pops Orchestra- Love, Your Magic Spell Is Everywhere (Tender Moments, 1961)

Credits: Mix illustratiion from the cover of the 1967 gothic romance novel, Strangers In The Night, via My Love-Haunted Heart.

The Galaxy Electric are an avant-pop duo from Washington, DC, whose striking debut was one of my absolute favourites of last year. Creating cosmic pop songs using such an interesting palette of sounds, I knew their influences and tastes would be worth mining. So I asked the band members, Jacqueline and Augustus, if they'd make a playlist for me and they kindly agreed. Listen below to their selections, a superb mix of early electronics, way-out pop and other sound adventures. I love how the first track, Ken Nordine's captivating spoken word tour through an imagined 'Sound Museum', sets up the melange of weird and wonderful sounds to come.

Tracklist

1. Ken Nordine featuring The Fred Katz Group – The Sound Museum (1957)
2. Daphne Oram – Wool (1967)
3. Peter Reno – Secrets of the Deep (1969)
4. Joe Meek & The Blue Men – I Hear A New World (1960)
5. Delia Derbyshire – Ziwzih Ziwzih OO-OO-OO (1968)
6. Jean-Jacques Perrey – E.V.A. (1970)
7. Silver Apples – Walkin' (1998; recorded 1969)
8. The Soundcarriers – Step Outside (2010)
9. Broadcast – Microtronics 14 (2005)
10. Amphitryon 38 - Daphne Oram Single (1957)
11. Stereolab – Italian Shoes Continuum (1999)
12. Francis Bebey – Tumu pakara (1984)
13. Roj Stevens – Bongo Workout (2009)
14. Os Mutantes – Bat Macumba (1968)

Playlist curated by The Galaxy Electric. Mixed by me.

If you haven't yet heard their fantastic album Everything is Light and Sound, you can stream and buy it from their Bandcamp page.

Links: NewsWhistle – Interview with The Galaxy Electric
The Galaxy Electric on: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

Like so many, I am angry, confounded, saddened by the state of the world. 2016 just keeps kicking us in the arse. I won't spill any trite words about the power of music in troubled times. I don't even think making ourselves feel better is entirely the point. I'm wary of self-tranquilising to the point of becoming numbed or complacent; we need that sense of horror and anger to foster meaningful action. Anger, I think, is not something to be afraid of if it is not hateful or violent or self-destructive. That said, I'm aware good people need to draw strength from where they can – to be inspired, to experience catharsis, to feel soothed, to preserve their mental health – in order to be effective, to go on, to heal. And that's where music can come in. What I like to turn to runs the gamut from angry and cynical, to inspiring and thought-provoking, to calming and reassuring. Here are a few songs I thought I'd share.

Jarvis Cocker - Running The World

Starting at the angry, cynical end of things, Jarvis Cocker's blunt song 'Running The World' from 2006 pulled no punches in describing exactly who has the power in the world, and is unfortunately truer than ever. The song is an incisive, darkly funny critique of capitalism and politics.

Barry McGuire's classic scathing protest song, 'Eve Of Destruction', perfectly captured the countercultural mood of its day. Written by nineteen-year-old P.F. Sloan, it was a number one hit for McGuire in 1965, and it's hard to imagine anyone spitting out these lyrics of disgust and frustration better than he does in his blistering growl. Many of the lyrics are, obviously, specific to political circumstances of the time, but much of it still resonates and could apply as readily today. Particularly potent is McGuire's delivery of the line about religious hypocrisy: "Hate your next-door neighbour / but don't forget to say grace." Also, message aside, I am a fan of the fact the word 'coagulating' is incorporated into a rhyme.

It's interesting when a work of art's message feels relevant again and you find its meaning becomes clearer than before. I guess I always saw this as a somewhat fatalistic song about impending doom in an age of atomic fear, but now it's hitting me as a rebuke against complacency, against refusing to see potential catastrophe, and against the normalisation of things that should rightly invoke alarm. Sloan saw it as "a love song to and for humanity" and "a prayer" and hoped it would help "open a dialogue", but instead he and McGuire were ousted from the music industry.

"This is a cold war, you better know what you're fighting for" sings Janelle Monáe so powerfully on 'Cold War', from her 2010 Afrofuturist pop masterpiece, The ArchAndroid. The line 'I was made to believe there was something wrong with me' always chokes me up, and now more than ever, too many are afraid of their children growing up to feel like this. Monáe has said of this and other songs of hers: "I try to create songs that are uplifting because this world can drive you insane". 'Cold War', though it faces a sense of pain and injustice head-on, is not a bitter resignation; it ultimately uplifts: