Seattle Subsonic

DJ Throatslice Brings the CREEP to Your Halloween

October 16th, 2008

I’m officially stating for the record, Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year. I love October with the change in weather, Autumn colors, pumpkin carving, mini candy bars, dressing up, and oh did I mention… it’s my birthday just a few days before Halloween? I grew up having the best birthday parties ever–many thanks to my mom. Often she’d turn me and my slumber party guests out to terrorize the neighborhood with rolls of toilet paper to throw up in the trees if my birthday fell on Devil’s Night. She’d dare us to stick our hand in the box of horrors which included brains (raw ground beef), eyeballs (peeled grapes) and worms (cooked spaghetti with soap). She’d then tuck us into our sleeping bags and put Monster Mash: Sounds of Terror on the record player to fall asleep to. Anyone ever try to fall asleep to a person buried alive trying to claw his way out of the coffin? I don’t think so.

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With all things scary and halloween-like ingrained in my soul, I was the instigator many times in conducting séances, calling out to Bloody Mary in the mirror, asking the Ouija board if Chris Hueter liked me (which I still have today, the Ouija Board, not the crush) and making it my mission in life (as a nine year old) to create the scariest recording on tape–ever. This included me and my friends taking my “old school” tape player (product of the 70s) into the basement and recording ourselves screaming, moaning like ghosts, rattling chains–you know, concocting all sorts of things that go bump in the night. What I would do to get my hands on one of those tapes just to listen to today! Well little did I know, just a few miles away from me lived a young boy in Beverly Hills, Michigan who had the same fascination as me. He loved Halloween from an early age and listened to many sound effects cassettes and records (like Walt Disney’s Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House and Ride Of The Headless Horseman) in his bedroom every October imagining scary graveyards and eerie haunted houses. While my mission was long forgotten after my tape player was sold at a garage sale, his persevered. He grew up to be DJ Throatslice. And for 2008, he’s created It Creeps!, a Halloween mix that offers up chills to the trick-or-treaters, dance grooves to Halloween party goers and a fiendish companion for your dark side when you’re alone and vulnerable (insert Vincent Price’s evil laugh here).
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[audio:http://www.seattlesubsonic.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/creeps.mp3]
C.R.E.E.P.S

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It Creeps! leads you into the dark side with the Blood Skull Trance. With its Twilight Zone feel, it sets up the mood and tone for the entire bewitching compilation. Burning Witches, the next track, has the creepiest computerized voice ever. When I listened to it via headphones for the first time, it literally gave me goose bumps. Next up, DJ Throatslice maneuvers out of the ominous with C.R.E.E.P.S, a techno tinged mix with electronic gurgles and screams as added ingredients, then on to Devil’s Night Dub with its gritty drum and bass hooks. And that’s just the beginning. It Creeps! is a classic Halloween album with both light and dark sides to the music. Some tracks are more serious like 666% and Burning Witches which have themes dealing with satanic serial killers and burning witches at the stake, while other tracks like It Came From The Portal and Surrounded by Werewolves are more of a tribute to the old ghoulish Disney and Pickwick Record’s Halloween classics with their spooky music and sound effects.
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[audio:http://www.seattlesubsonic.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/the-way-i-am-shot-to-the-head-mix.mp3]
The Way I Am
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[audio:http://www.seattlesubsonic.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/surrounded-by-werewolves.mp3]
Surrounded by Werewolves
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DJ Throatslice perfects the Halloween sound compared to much of the low-quality and cheap sound effects out there. What he adds is a gritty soul and beat to the music that makes it highly versatile so it’s fun to listen to and adds the ambiance needed to create the perfect spooky setting without the hokiness. So get on it, check out It Creeps! or his 2008 Halloween EP for yourself. There’s only 15 more shopping days until Halloween, the most fabulous holiday of the year.