I guess it’s Halloween today. I can’t tell because I’ve been locked inside at work since Monday. I am dressed as Overworked Miserable Son Of A Bitch, which is a step up from the last couple years when I came dressed as Bitterness And Contempt.

If you’re into Halloween tunes and, like myself, couldn’t get to the Magic Stick last Saturday to pick up a copy — you can order the 33-track, double CD Ghoul’s Delight! A Monster Party Record right here. Ten bucks for thirty-three tracks, including songs from The Hentchmen, The Dead Bodies, Beggars, Scarlet Oaks, Serenity Court and more. Take a listen to Ghost City’s contribution:

[audio:http://jasper.webvomit.com/audio/06 - Ghost City-Sweets For The Sweet.mp3]
Listen to more tracks here.
(If either the band or the label want me to remove this track, just ask. Normally, I’d ask first but I have zero time for that now.)

That’s all I have time for today. What’s happening on the web? What’s going on this weekend? Tell me things.

This new weekly column will bring you the best in wonderfully strange music from around the world… past, present and future, with a special focus on soundtracks (porno and otherwise), obscure rock, psyche and strange soul. Also, I will occasionally be posting whole mixes (like the one below) to spread the sound of sleazy listening.

For the innagural post and in honor of the Halloween season, please enjoy not only one of the best songs from any movie soundtrack ever, but one of the best and wildest songs ever recorded by a human being: Magic and Ecstasy by Ennio Morricone.

This psychedelic rock concoction was conceived by Morricone for 1977’s Excorcist II: The Heretic. Discussing this tracks majesty is perhaps redundant when you can just press play and immediately dig the wild organ, the wordless choral vocals and those whip cracks!

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Also, while you’re at it, bear witness to the mind boggling movie trailer for Excorcist II. It is perhaps the best movie trailer ever made… and certainly the best for a movie which is, in and of itself, pretty much unwatchable. Pay special attention for James Earl Jones dressed up as some kinda witchdoctor or something. Whoah!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY0bsaDpYpY

Also, take a listen to this full Halloween mix specially put together for Five Three Dial Tone and all you Halloween lovers. There’s lots of soundtrack stuff, some rock, goth, psyche and more tracks from the Maestro Morricone! My apologies for the perhaps somewhat conspicuous absence of Italian prog/soundtrack masters Goblin. Maybe next year!

Download DJ Lemmy Caution’s HallowSleaze Mix here.

Au Revoir, Messr. Caution.

The Hold Steady played three new songs last night at The Crofoot in Pontiyuck. That slow, low intro to Killer Parties to wrap up a Hold Steady show, I think, has become one the greatest live-show moments available today — not just because of the music, but also the energy. Craig Finn gives his humble, “there’s so much joy in what we do up here, I want to thank you all for sharing that with us” speech, and then the inevitable crowd rushing the stage (which seems to start earlier and earlier into the song every time I see them) and it all ends in a bunch of drunk dudes hugging (like everything else in Pontiac). I had to prove I’d already bought a ticket be to able to leave work for the show, if that gives you any idea of how swamped I am this week. I don’t even have time to fix the sentence structure of what I just wrote.

Set List (new songs in bold): Party Pit // Chicago Seemed Tired Last Night // Chips Ahoy // You Gotta Dance (With Who You Came To The Dance With) // Hot Soft Light // Southtown Girls // Hornets! Hornets! // Joke About (something) // Stuck Between Stations // Massive Nights // Magazines // You Can Make Him Like You // Your Little Hoodrat Friend // Stevie Nix // Positive Jam // Lord I’m Discouraged // The Swish // Killer Parties

I will briefly say that I don’t understand Art Brut. This is the second time I’d seen them open for someone and, while they’re fun to watch, their music does nothing for me. And I think Andy Milonakis is the lead singer. But a lot of people don’t understand The Hold Steady either, so whatever.

(Photos by some guy)

More required reading. There will be a quiz on Monday.

Hey shitty shitty local news, if you order one of these quickly enough you can use it to not be so lame using national footage to cover a local band. Local news is the worst.

I’m sure we all watched The Next Great American Band, and tossed in a few votes for The Muggs. If you missed the show, the greatest moment came when Dicko told Danny Methric “You’re not a great singer” and his immediate response was “I could’ve told you that.”  The definite runner up to that was when Light Of Doom was told that rock and roll is about selling sex, but not when you’re 12, so put a shirt on.  You can hear the singer tell the guitarist “I TOLD YOU.”

I’m sure someone knows the way American Idol worked.. If I know the voting number for a band now, will it remain the same throughout the competition?

Readers, the following was submitted by Web Vomit reader / commenter / sometimes contributer, “Whalebomb”. I felt that it echoed a lot of my Media Companies Are Anti-Consumer feelings, especially after I’d just gotten off the phone with the morons at Blockbuster Online, who basically told me I needed to steal from the internet to get what I was asking for…and then asked me how I was stealing from the internet. We are living in insane times when people are willing to give their money for products and services, but no one wants to offer the products and services we want. Anyway, here’s a bedtime story…

It seems that Lager House is putting together some good local shows for the weekends now. There’s still a void in my Monday-Thursday when I used to see touring indie acts there…with six or seven other people. I’m sure those shows made zero dollars but I appreciated them — bands like The Narrator, Earl Greyhound, The Black Angels, Vietnam in the last year alone, before they were big enough to play The Stick or elsewhere. The Pike Room is doing a great job of putting those shows together in a similar-sized venue but, you know…it’s in Pontiac. So I’ve been there once.

Anyway, Porchsleeper, Great Lakes Myth Society and Deastro play the Lager tonight. Head there after you watch The Muggs advance to the final 10 contestants on Next Great American Band. Or head somewhere else, but just do something for chrissakes.

Tomorrow is the fourth annual Zombie Dance Party at the Magic Stick. That event also includes the release of the Ghoul’s Delight double-CD set. Check out that track-listing. Be sure to dress as your favorite zombie, monster or blogger.

Free DFA EP. Shocking Pinks, Prinzhorn Dance School and LCD Soundsytem. 320kbps.

I’ve been preoccupied with work and OiNK developments this week, so accept my apologies for the lack of random bullshit on this site.

But will a public tracker work? I have my doubts. If everyone can upload the crap they got from iTunes or what they ripped from an shitty audio stream or 160kbps In Rainbows than it becomes crap. I don’t know about this. It’s not going to attract ex-OiNK members if there are not strict rules.

Sorry. Another day with not much time for internetting, but this just hit my inbox so I figured I’d cut and paste some interesting news — especially considering recent events. Not sure if any of you are Saul Williams fans, but a lot of his stuff is really good. Saw him at Lollaplooza in 2005(?).

The FADER Label, the recording branch of The FADER, today announced the release of the new recording by esteemed poet, artist and musician Saul Williams: The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!. Produced by Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails), the download will be available for free or for a $5 contribution to support the artist. There will be no additional options given for purchase of the album.

Musicane, a tool that enables artists to sell their music, will handle fulfillment, processing, bandwidth and customer service. Those who pay will have the opportunity to choose between three download formats: 192kbit/s MP3, 320kbit/s MP3 and Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC), a format that doesn’t remove any information from the audio stream–full CD quality. A full description of each file format with pros and cons will be available on the site. Those that don’t contribute will automatically get the192kbit/s MP3. All versions are 100% DRM free and will include a PDF with artwork and lyrics. Williams’ fans will also be able to embed Musicane’s viral player on their own blogs or profiles, which will broadcast live-updated video messages from NiggyTardust and also contain the option to download or buy the album.

“The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! is the lovechild of Trent and me,” says Williams. “The Niggytardust concept sets me free to do more on stage with costume, etc. than one might expect from a regular Saul Williams show. It allows me to put my theatre training to use. I’ve also thought long and hard about all the discussion surrounding racial epithets etc. and chose this title as a means of furthering the dialogue while also showing how creativity will outlive and outshine hatred of any kind.”

“Working on this project was a real pleasure. Saul was interested in breaking boundaries, crossing genres and defying expectations and we learned a great deal from one another in the process,” says Reznor. “After my own recent dealings with record labels we decided to release it directly to the fans. There are obvious similarities in how Radiohead just released their new record and the way we’ve chosen to. After thinking about this way too much, I feel we’ve improved upon their idea in a few profound ways that benefit the consumer.”

Yeah…not taking donations for less-than-CD-quality files and then charging again for the CD at a later point. Or, you know…pretending you’re going label-free, only to use that hype to sign a new contract with a record label.

Pre-”order” link.