I didn't want to make a mix using tunes I'll want to play at the Apocalypso party, so this is a more downbeat selection. The sort of things where, if I played them ordinarily, I'd then imagine I'd seen a grisly, overfed spectre from the corner of an eye. It would flit there, eerily, just on the periphery of my vision, always just out of sight; until finally it would jump out right in front of me, scaring me half to death. Of course, it would just be the Pictish Trail, slightly pale, arriving at the DJ podium to tell me to play something more upbeat. And, before you know it, there I am playing italo-disco at 3pm in Anstruther Town Hall. It's a nightmare we've all lived through. Anyway, here's the mix...
Michael Tanner - Vinegar Tom
Beautiful droner from the witchy Plinth feller. The sample is from an old Storyteller Book & Tape, which I can assure you were a big deal in the more sophisticated parts of your school playground in the 1980s.
http://storytellerpartwork.com/
with some howling by Goodiepal, from the b-side of an untitled 7"...
Graeme Miller & Steve Shill - Midwinter Rites
Golden Teacher - Sweat Bath With Saturn
Midwinter Rites is the b-side of the Moomins 7" Finders Keepers released for Record Store Day, and it sounds just like a Golden Teacher track to me, so there you go, Bob's your slightly weird and stabby uncle who always wears a dead bird as a mask.
Xosar - Eye Of The Wavestorm
Beautiful, deep dark track from Xosar, ruined by intrusive samples of Winnebago Man. I've played the same samples over Holden's The Caterpillar's Intervention when I've DJed at a couple of Lost Map events, and it worked really nicely, so I resurrected the idea here, but switched it around a bit. Apologies to all the artists in this mix whose profound and moving music I have devalued and sullied in the name of gig promotion.
Figure Study - Pirouette
I found this tune when digging around for stuff to play at the Lost Map Hallowe'en party last year. Total banger, rereleased by Dark Entries... a gem.
Alison's Birthday - Miriam's Wonder
Lo-fi spookiness on unbeatable Brighton label Tuff Enuff. Perfect soundtrack to your next seance. We're getting into lost highway territory here now...
The Hacker - Night Drive
Unknown Artist (Wrestlexotica mixtape on Treguard)
P.H.F. - Nite Drive
I think I first heard P.H.F. when Keel Her shared his tunes on Facebook a few years ago. Highly recommended lo-fi sugar-rush pop punk from New Zealand.
Nuslux - Shadow In The Cosmic Mirror
Unending spiral stairs that wobble like synths under your feet, on Finland's Ikuisuus.
with an excerpt from The Dreams In The Witch House by H.P. Lovecraft read by a computer and
Dekoboko Hajime & Yamantaka Eye - Bad Hawkwind
This track is the low-level screaming. It's on a really good album called Nani Nani. I can't listen to this tune though, it makes me feel physically ill. It's about 20 minutes long too. Smackos - Landing At White Owl Ridge
Just another winner from the abyss-like Cyclopean depths of Danny Wolfer's discography.
Then it's back to the rural unease where we began, with...
The Hare and The Moon - The Willows
and Holden - The Caterpillar's Intervention with Isla Cameron singing O Willow Waly by Georges Auric and Paul Dehn, from the film The Innocents. The final horror in this mix, a track with a sample that isn't even in time. If you listen to it enough times though, it starts to sound sort of right. You'll have to trust me. This is also the sample on The Hare and The Moon's song, which someone has made a terrifying video for, using clips from The Innocents. I haven't seen the film, but it turns out it's based on the book I'm currently reading, Henry James' The Turn Of The Screw. Which is a bit of a creepy coincidence, eh? Aaaaargh.