Dire though it is we can’t get all get together for a big old Samhain soirée this year, the thinning of the veil is very much upon us. To mark the occasion, as per tradition, here’s our annual seventy-five track alternative Halloween Spotify playlist, featuring everyone from John Maus, Broadcast and The Cramps to Flying Lotus, Suicide and Throbbing Gristle.
Frontman of Belfast’s premier garage-psych proposition The Dreads, and would-be character in an M.R. James story, Ben Harris takes us through some of his Samhain favourites. Timberjack – Come To The Sabbat Sabbats were pretty much an invention by judges and inquisitors during the 14th and 15th centuries that became mythologized before people then started actually practicing their own sabbats themselves. I find this and cans are a great opener to any sabbat. The Electric Prunes – Shadows One of the first songs I learned to play on the guitar was an Electric Prunes song. It wasn’t this one. Grand Theft…
A quick search for Irish horror films yields recent films like The Killing of a Sacred Deer and The Little Stranger. And fine films they may be, but they are categorised as Irish due to the presence of the Irish actors; Colin Farrell and Barry Keoghan in the first instance and Domhnall Gleeson in the latter. While both of those films are respectably creepy choices (Sacred Deer is particularly uncomfortable watching), the list below contains some lesser-known Irish horror films set in Ireland with a predominantly Irish cast and crew. There are plenty of other great ones out there, but here…
John Carpenter’s soundtrack to his 1978 classic Halloween remains one of the greatest horror scores of all time – a fact reflected in the many tributes and remixes of its main themes over the years, not least Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ cover of the film’s menacing and instantly recognisable main theme. Last Halloween, Belfast producer Herb Magee AKA Arvo Party offered his own take with a “VHS Mix” interpretation that blended original with a lo-fi, wonderfully warped aesthetic and shuddering synth work more redolent of Carpenter’s soundtracks to the likes of Assault on Precinct 13. Now, in the year of our Lord John Carpenter…
We’ve all been there: the Halloween soiree is well under away and ‘Don’t Fear The Reaper’ is on its third outing in two hours. As much as you totally nailed that leg solo the second time ’round, there’s a burning – nay, practically murderous – need for new tunes to see in Samhain in style. Pre-empt that happening all over again by taking advantage of our seventy-five track alternative Halloween Spotify playlist, featuring everyone from John Maus, Broadcast and The Cramps to Flying Lotus, Suicide and Tangerine Dream.
For the Final Girl, nothing’s really final. Laurie Strode might have thought it was game over when a doctor in a raincoat put six holes in the chest of her masked attacker, but Halloween wasn’t even close to done with her. Strapped to the wheel of fate, she was brought back, again and again, for twenty years, enduring more nastiness, more reboots, more bloodline backstory. For survivors, surviving is a full-time job. For the eleventh film in the franchise, writers Jeff Fradley, Danny McBride and David Gordon Green (who also directs) plunged a butcher’s knife into the heart of the…
Ahead of Devil’s Night Disco this Halloween Eve in Dublin, Loreana Rushe talks to renowned composer Claudio Simonetti about performing the acclaimed soundtracks for Profondo Rosso and Suspiria live with Goblin and how horror as a genre has shaped his work. Hi Claudio. I’m very happy to be chatting to you and looking forward to Devil’s Night Disco in Dublin, which promises to be a very special show on Halloween weekend. How are you currently preparing for the double bill? We’re very fortunate to perform Profondo Rosso and Suspiria for a long time and I don’t think we’ll have any trouble in doing a…
In this Halloween special of AAA (Access All Areas) we spent the scariest evening of the year with Sons of Burlap as they performed in front of a packed out crowd at The Bar With No Name in Belfast. Our photographer Tom McGeehan captured the sons, comprised of members of ASIWYFA, Axis Of and family, in the dressing room back stage as they turned each other into zombies (see what we did there?) They soon went on to play for over 40 minutes, and even included a trad-punk-experimental-instrumental-ridiculous cover of the Tetris theme tune. Click the gallery below for more photos of the night.
Clannad played the Waterfront Hall in Belfast on Halloween night to an intralled crowd. Photos by Joe Laverty.
Without any hint of exaggeration, we love, honour and observe Hallowe’en more than pretty much anything else here at The Thin Air? Easter? Pah! Christmas? Pffft! We laugh in the face your cheap crackers, familial small talk and ceaseless indigestion. Yes, for us, Samhain eve is where it is well and truly at. And to commemorate that fact, our Autumnally-inclined editorial team have very happily selected three of their favourite Hallowe’en songs each. Read, listen and go forth into the night. Brian Coney – Editor Graham Coxon – Bonfires Conjuring some truly wonderful images of late-on-Halloween-night solitude, ‘Bonfires’ by Graham…