lanky bastards

Its that time of year again—apple cider, pumpkin pie, hayrides, and spooky vibes. Its time I rise from the dead (was my last post really in 2018? 😞) to give our faithful readers (all 3 of you) another dose of creepy, lanky tunage.

Last year, we posted Lanky Halloween 2018 at just about the stroke of midnight, Halloween night. I’d love to say we planned the timing just right for the witching hour…. but it might’ve also been because I was a lazy bastard that waited until the last minute to post (and maybe took a little too long trying to perfect the transitions 👀).

This time we’re posting the mix early enough for you to actually enjoy it on Halloween. We’ve brewed up something a little different this year, a Halloween anthology playlist. Thirteen spooky stories comprised of 13 songs each, 169 songs total. (huehue, 69)

Earlier this month I asked the lanky crew to start throwing tracks into another collab Halloween playlist. My secret ulterior motive…. I wanted to steal all their Halloween gems for myself!! MWUAHAHAHAHA!!!! My main Halloween playlist started to grow bigger and bigger, filled with great tracks nabbed from fellow lankers (particularly Hoggy and Poke), but I still needed to give the playlist some semblance of order.

Sometimes I go a little overboard on transitions, listening to the beginning and end of each track a dozen times to get them “just right.” But that takes forever (especially with hundreds of songs) and by the time I’m done with the transitions, I’ve listened to the tracks so many times I’ve started to lose interest. God forbid I find a new song to add once I think I’ve got the transitions down.

Instead of focusing on the sound, I decided to focus on the titles to create a story. I could either make one really long story or break it up into smaller segments. Halloween anthologies are a classic part of the holiday: Creepshow, Tales from the Crypt, Trick r’ Treat—cinematic versions of sharing scary stories around the camp fire. It felt like the perfect fit for the playlist…but I still had to decide how many songs to include in each story.

An obvious number for Halloween is 31 ….but to make things a little easier on myself I chose a smaller spooky number: unlucky 13. Each story has its own spooky theme: vampires, witches, haunted houses, and more. The playlist includes songs from all sorts of genres, which I think keeps things more interesting. Don’t worry though, we made sure to throw some funky ones in there too. Without further ado, I present to you: Hallowe’en Tales: A Lanky Anthology.

The natural next step once you’ve built an anthology playlist of this caliber (brushes shoulders smugly) is to create spooky track-listing posters for each story. I scoured the internet (and finally found a use for pinterest) to find cool Halloween art that fit each story theme. (font used is called “Stranger back in the Night”)

A monster mash with all the classics in attendance seemed a fitting way to start an anthology about different Halloween horrors. I tried to mix up the genres to give a feel for the different types of sounds to expect within.

1. Monster Mash – Bobby “Boris” Pickett, the Crypt-Kickers
2. Dr. Funkenstein – Parliament
3. Dracula: Mondj egy mesét – Piramis
4. Werewolf Heart – Dead Man’s Bones
5. The Zombie – C.W. Stoneking
6. Season of the Witch – Donavan
7. The Devil – The Electric Peanut Butter Company
8. Ghost Talk – The Budos Band
9. Boogie Monster – Gnarls Barkley
10. Dead Man’s Party – Oingo Boingo
11. We Have Candy – Die Antwoord
12. Hell of a Season – The Black Keys
13. Everyday is Halloween – Ministry

The evil love story of two witches and their voodoo child.

14. Black Cat – Durul Gence
15. Witchy Woman – The Hollies
16. Boy Witch – Unknown Mortal Orchestra
17. I Put a Spell On You – Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
18. Haunted Heart – Christina Aguilera
19. Under My Voodoo – Sublime
20. Evil Love – Meat Puppets
21. Voodoo Child (Slight Return) – Jimi Hendrix
22. A Witch’s Daughter? – Jean-Bernard Raiteux
23. Embodiment of Evil – Meat Puppets
24. Twelve O’Clock Satanial – Air
25. Witch’s Coven – Mark Korven
26. Lucifer Rising 1 – Bobby SeauSoleil

The witching hour seems to draw out all the psycho killers, so try not to commit any horror-movie-sins this Halloween (investigating noises, going into basements, x-rated activities…).

27. Nightmare on Fro Street – A-F-R-O, Marco Polo
28. Descent Into Madness – Flying Lotus, Thundercat
29. MANIAC – Kid Cudi
30. Fatal Fantasies – Gold Fir
31. Thriller – Michael Jackson
32. Somebody’s Watching Me – Rockwell
33. The Killing Moon – Echo & the Bunnymen
34. Theme from Psychomania – Sun Dial
35. I Don’t Wanna Die – The Unicorns
36. Psycho Killer – Talking Heads
37. Chains – Gatekeeper
38. Free to Scream – EMEFE
39. You’re Dead – Norma Tanega

Okay, so maybe you died in the last story. That’s a bummer. But the good news is the dead don’t sleep on Halloween. So wake up, its time to bite the neighbors.

40. Cementerio Club – Pescado Rabioso
41. Necronomania – Vampire Sound Inc.
42. Dead Eyes Opened – Severed Heads
43. Sealed in a Grave – Triton Warrior
44. The Dead Won’t Sleep – Mountain Witch
45. Zombi – Goblin
46. Bloody Days Bloody Nights – RZA
47. Unreal Sounds – Fabio Frizzi
48. From the Dead – Shintaro Sakamoto
49. Meat Grinder – George Atwell
50. They Are Night Zombies!! – Sufjan Stevens
51. Mama Loi, Papa Loi – Exuma
52. We Are the Dead – David Bowie

Goosebumps, Monster House, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark—what’s Halloween without a good haunted house story?

53. Halloween – Siouxsie and the Banshees
54. Haunted House of Rock – Satan’s Pilgrims
55. Spooky – Dusty Springfield
56. El Fantasma – Onda Vega
57. Boo Song – Durul Gence
58. Blood of the Past – The Comet Is Coming, Kate Tempest
59. Superstition – Stevie Wonder
60. I Don’t Wanna Go Down to the Basement – Ramones
61. Tenebre Remix 1982 – Goblin
62. Goosebumps – Travis Scott ft. Kendrick Lamar
63. Walking with a Ghost – Tegan and Sara
64. The Horror – The Sorcerers
65. Let’s Leave This Place – Contrast Trio

What would you do if a mysterious man offered you everything you ever wanted in return for an autograph in his book? Don’t mind the small print about your immortal soul.

66. Way Down Hades Town – Anaïs Mitchell
67. I’m Your Witch Doctor – Them
68. Exuma, the Obeah Man – Exuma
69. The Enchanter – The Budos Band
70. You Better Be Good (Or the Devil Gon’ Getcha) – The Jimmy Castor Bunch
71. Evil Ways – Willie Bobo
72. Cris pour les sabbats infernaux et invocation des daïmons – Igor Wakhevitch
73. The Devil is a Woman – Ada Moore
74. Lose Your Soul – Dead Man’s Bones
75. La Danza de los Diablos – Sonido Gallo Negro
76. In Hell I’ll Be In Good Company – The Dead South
77. Lake of Fire – Meat Puppets
78. Satan – Bulbous Creation

After you watch enough iterations of Frankenstein, you just feel bad for the monster. If only he could find somebody to love…

79. Cemetry Gates – The Smiths
80. That Little Old Graverobber Me – Don Hinson & The Rigamorticians
81. Forging the Beast – Jóhann Jóhannsson
82. Dead Man’s Tetris – Flying Lotus, Snoop Dogg, Captain Murphy
83. Sang Pourpre – Igor Wakhevitch
84. Monster – Kanye West, Jay Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj, Bon Iver
85. Feed My Frankenstein – Alice Cooper
86. Swamp Fever – John Cameron
87. She’s Fallen In Love with the Monsterman – Screaming Lod Sutch & the Savages
88. My Beloved Monster – Eels
89. You’re So Dark – Arctic Monkeys
90. My Body’s A Zombie for You – Dead Man’s Bones
91. Midnight in Montevido – Biscaynes with Co-Encidentals

Some witches are good, some witches are neutral….but others are wicked. Water won’t melt this black-magic woman.

92. Wicked Annabelle – The Kinks
93. Black Magic Woman – Santana
94. Suspiria – Goblin
95. The Witching Hour – Wild Nothing
96. A Witch Stole Sam – Mark Korven
97. Witchcraft – La Femme
98. Hocu Pocus – Focus
99. She’s A Witch – Gengahr
100. Evil Woman – Sexton Blake
101. Salem Witch Trial – Kiriae Crucible
102. Your Heart is as Black as Night – Melody Gardot
103. Burn the Witch – Queens of the Stone Age
104 – Burning Sister – Amon Düül II

“Listen to them. Children of the night. What music they make.”

Bela Lugosi in Dracula 1931

105. Night of the Vampire – Roky Erickson
106. Marquee Moon – Television
107. Lost in the Shadows (The Lost Boys) – Lou Gramm
108. Le Frisson Des Vampires – Acanthus
109. Graveyard – Phantom 5
110. Campo de Vampiros – Los Holy’s
111. The Stake – Jean-Bernard Raiteux
112. Dracula pt. 1 – The Jimmy Castor Bunch
113. Spellbound – Siouxsie and the Banshees
114. Soul Dracula – Hot Blood
115. Profondo Rosso – Giorgio Gaslini
116. I’m A Demon – Roky Erickson
117. Vampire – Björn Famne

As a child, demons seemed like one of the most realistic horror film threats (just behind psycho killers, who are really out there 👀). As a result, I was especially afraid of possession stories (the idea of them anyway, I didn’t watch scary movies as a kid….I stuck to the family friendly Halloween flics until high school).

118. Summon the Fire – The Comet Is Coming
119. Acid Nightmare – Xarhanga
120. Devil In Disguise – The Rhythm Shakers
121. Day ‘N’ Nite (nightmare) – Kid Cudi
122. Sette Note In Nero – Bixio Frizzi Tempera
123. I Wrote In Bloog – Still Corners
124. 666 – Dave Bixby
125. El Diablo Y El Ñau Ñau – Ocote Soul Sounds, Chico Mann
126. Body Snatcher – The Dynamites
127. Lucifer Corpus – Writing On the Wall
128. Buio Omega – Goblin
129. Exorcismo (Spectrum) – Pax
130. Inferno – Thundercat

Another one of the sympathetic monsters. The wolfman is cursed. He doesn’t want to hurt the people around him and even tries to get out of town in the 1941 movie…but when the full moon rises, the beast takes over.

131. Black River Killer – Blitzen Trapper
132. Dead Man’s Bones – Dead Man’s Bones
133. Nightcall – Kavinsky
134. Werewolf – The Frantics
135. Little Red Riding Hood – Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs
136. Howlin’ for You – The Black Keys
137. Hungry Like the Wolf – Duran Duran
138. Wolfman Agenda – Shakey Graves
139. Jennifer’s Body – Hole
140. Sacrifice the Moon – Ultimate Spinach
141. She Wolf – Shakira
142. Our Darkness – Anne Clark
143. Werewolves of London – Warren Zevon

Some believe that on Halloween (based on the Celtic festival Samhain) the barriers between the physical and spirit world break down and allow us to interact with ghosts and otherworldly creatures. Sounds like the perfect time for a séance…

144. La Muerte Chiquita – Mar
145. Haunt Me – Samsa
146. Séance – Wizard
147. Black Cat “3 Snaps Up” Version – Janet Jackson
148. Shadows – Ibrahim Maalouf
149. Sansanikhez Koi Baat – Asha Bhosle, Hemant Bhosle
150. Haunted – Dusty Springfield
151. (Ballad of) the Hip Death Goddess – Ultimate Spinach
152. Magic Together – Lack of Afro, Elliot Cole
153. I Put a Spell On You – Nina Simone
154. I Hope I Become a Ghost – The Deadly Syndrome
155. Bury Us Alive – Starfucker
156. Oblivion – Grimes

To close out our stories I figured I’d bring it back to the classic traditions: wearing costumes, carving jack o’lanterns, and trick or treating on Halloween night.

157. Orange Colored Sky – Nat King Cole
158. Pumpkin Pie – Kid Congo & the Pink Monkey Birds
159. This Is Halloween (Pop Version) – Marilyn Manson
160. Fright Night (Nevermore) – Ariel Pink
161. Freaks Come Out At Night – Whodini
162. Evil Approaches – Reel Big Fish
163. Trick or Treat – Otis Redding
164. A Child’s Guide to Good and Evil – The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
165. This Time of Night – New Order
166. Autumn’s Child – Devendra Banhart
167. Hour for Magic – Jim Morrison, The Doors
168. Pumpkin Seeds – Devendra Banhart
169. The Great Pumpkin Waltz – Vince Guaraldi

Happy Halloween you lanky bastards!!