I was hoping to drop another installment similar to last year’s ’scary music for Halloween’ post with six more blood-curdling pieces of music, but decided otherwise when I realized that I couldn’t possibly top those original selections.  So here’s the re-up for those that slept the first time around:

Six Frightening Pieces of Music for Hallow’s Eve

The past few weeks have not only seen the busiest time of the year for me work-wise, but have also been part of an affliction I suffer from known as “late-summer lethargy,” a seasonal affective disorder of sorts that prevents me from mustering any enthusiasm about nearly all music I’m exposed to.  I have about half a dozen near-completed drops that I can’t seem to finish, a handful of new-release write-ups that slipped past their expiration dates, and of course, an infinite number of ideas for various lists of esoteric triviality, most of which will never see the light of day due to my slothful existence at the moment.  Perhaps a weekend jaunt to Vacationland will remedy this, but in the meantime, here’s an odds-and-ends post that I’ll justify with a few links to my brethren.

I’d be lying if I said that there weren’t a few records in the past month that have sparked my affections.  To wit:

Invisible Cinema (2008) by young pianist Aaron Parks had ‘red flag’ tagged all over it when it arrived on my doorstep a few weeks ago.  The blonde highlights, facial permastubble, and “influenced by Radiohead and Death Cab for Cutie” bio blunder just begged to be on the receiving end of my seething vitriol, until I played the disc.  Shockingly, breathtakingly good.  More on this kid later.

I’m still not sold on Stereolab’s Chemical Chords (2008) yet, but their records have always been growers for me.  It’s getting there.

Marco Benevento’s Invisible Baby (2008), however, is one of the best albums I’ve heard so far this year.  I don’t know what the hell to call it, but I loved it upon first listen.  You’ll thank me for this one.

Then there’s this 40-year-old jewel that I hadn’t heard until recently:

“Respect” – Rotary Connection 3:06 (Songs, Cadet 1969)

Yeah.  That “Respect.”  Play it as loud as you feel comfortable with.

For those who haven’t heard Q-Tip’s recent podcast interview on Juan Epstein, it’s pretty much a must-hear.  The part where they bitch to him about cueing the downbeat of “Electric Relaxation” had my sides splitting (via Unkut).

And check Phonte’s reactions to ten slow jams thrown in his direction, from Raleigh, NC’s, Independent Weekly (via No Trivia).

As usual, Jeff “Passion of the” Weiss hits the nail on the head with the near-painful “Swagger Like Us” debacle.  Is this what passes for a ‘posse cut’ now?  Over a goddamn M.I.A. sample??!?

Speaking of debacles, Poplicks has been killing it with their coverage of the latest in U.S. politricks.

Psyched for that new Metallica album, huh, brocious?  Shit, yea - wait, did you say, “no”?  Check Cosmo Lee’s take on the whole publicity machine.  The title of the post says it all.

I wouldn’t exactly describe my Internet connection as “light-speed,” so it was an incredibly big deal for me to watch VBS’ recent five-part series on Norwegian black metal.  This, of course, only served to underline the tremendous let-down that was the ending.  Still, some truly creepy moments here, and there is an eerie serenity to the Scandinavian countryside that I found captivating.

A recent favorite discovery has been Intensities in Ten Suburbs.

Fufu Stew offers up a delicious “fast food” mix that’s worth downloading - and this is coming from someone who rarely, if ever, downloads online mixes.

Give me another few days to get my act together and posting will resume, promise.

I’m aware that it’s been rather quiet around these parts, but free time has been an incredibly rare commodity as of late, with most of it devoted to a serious Napalm Death fixation that’s been plaguing me recently. Truthfully, I simply haven’t really been inspired to write these past few weeks, choosing instead to take a vacation to see family, cooking banquet-sized amounts of food, and dealing with the usual day-to-day trivialities of real life, though I’ve continued to accumulate a few dozen half-completed posts and ideas that will hopefully see the light of day eventually. Until then, here’s the requisite “enjoy these links while I continue being lazy” drop.

Actually, before I commence linkage, I’ll reiterate for the umpteenth time to those who haven’t sent me an email asking why I haven’t been posting in over three months: my RSS feed thingy has been updated since I upgraded to WordPress 2.5 back in April. It’s over on the sidebar, moved up near the top for everyone’s convenience. Update it for a magical, mystical, majestical experience involving coverage of 20 Rush songs in 20 separate posts.

Last October I penned an ill-conceived essay on where I was “at” with indie rock. Last week fluxblog’s Matthew Perpetua concisely nutshelled my smattering of thoughts in one sentence: “We’re stuck with a generation of young indie musicians who are more interested in fitting into pre-existing genres and aesthetic communities rather than developing their own concepts, sounds, and styles.” Then he goes on to suggest that today’s musicians should be studying the ideas of Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989). Brilliant.

Based on his hilarious guest drops over at Passion of the Weiss, I’ve always thought that if there was anyone who absolutely needed an online page for expressing opinions and provoking discussion (some may know it as a “blog”), it was Philadelphia’s phinest, Zilla Rocca. He now has one. It’s called Clap Cowards. Don’t sleep.

What a sad, sad world we live in when a fascinating recent discovery that “a series of chirps and whistles” emitted by Earth and caused by radiation is subjectively summed up by the media as:

“The sound is awful.”

Because natural sonic phenomena should sound like a lost Mozart sonata. Unbelievable.

Dan Love’s beat deconstructions are always first-rate, but his recent analysis of Black Moon’s “Enta da Stage” was particularly stellar.

Moistworks’ entries have been surprisingly hit-or-miss lately, but Brian’s ruminations on drinking certainly fall into the former camp.

So Oh Word’s Rafi logs into his Facebook account one day, and… you just have to witness this hilarity first-hand in order to believe it.

Doc Zeus posts the best review I’ve read yet of Nas‘ latest, titled (of course) Untitled (2008). Suffice it to say that it will not make my Year-End List.

Favorite new site: The House Next Door. The internets need more film blogs like this.

Lastly, I plan on counting down the days until the US release date of Enslaved‘s latest long-player, due sometime in October. To further fuel to my anticipation, does anyone (read: other WordPress users) know of some kind of widget “counter” that I can put in the sidebar? Hit me up via email or in the comments.