Strange Musical Tales: The September 2023 Vinyl Spin Challenge Thread

Day 27 - LOCKE & KEY (Joe Hill, 2008)
Limited comic series later turned into a Netflix show and oozes with Lovecraftian influence. The original comic names the fictional New England town where the story takes place as “Lovecraft”. After becoming more familiar with the controversial nature of Lovecraft’s personal legacy, Joe Hill switched the name of the town to “Matheson” for the TV show (to honor a different dark fantasy author). The story centers around a mansion with hidden keys (and their corresponding locks) that each possess different powers when opened. And a banished demon that wants to trick his way back into the real world.
Play an album that involved some controversy and/or mentions keys

"Drop off the key Lee..."
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Day 28 - THE DREAM-QUEST OF UNKNOWN KADATH (Lovecraft, 1927)
Robert Randolph embarks on a dream-quest to find a majestic city that appears in his dreams. Randolph Carter is a recurring character appearing in 7 stories.
Play something that includes a recurring character, theme and/or motif and/or a recurring song and/or mentions a city you particularly appreciate returning to.

Grandaddy - The Sophtware Slump

The opening track has a brief, quiet recurrence of the synth line from their song "A.M. 180" off their previous album, and this album also introduces the character of alcoholic robot Jeddy 3, who shows up again on their most recent album (Last Place).

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Day 29 - THE THING (John Carpenter, 1982)
Play something that mimics or sounds like another song, either as homage, happenstance or flagrant copying and/or play the song that it sounds like and/or play something from an artist that you would not trust in real life and/or features aliens.

Hey - a great riff is a great riff...





Nirvana - Nevermind

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Killing Joke - The Singles Collection 1979-2012

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Day 26 - THE SECRET OF THE TOMB (Robert Bloch, 1935)
Play something from an artist that seems to have been around forever and/or that features a secret and/or a code and/or a message in the run-out groove.

"Untitled (under label hidden track)" - Lazaretto (2014) - Jack White

The "ULTRA" LP version of this album has ALL of the secret vinyl doodads: hidden songs, secret grooves and holograms that materialize when the record is being played. Unfortunately, I really don't like this record, and only keep it around for it's neato features :(

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Day 28 - THE DREAM-QUEST OF UNKNOWN KADATH (Lovecraft, 1927)
Play something that includes a recurring character, theme and/or motif and/or a recurring song and/or mentions a city you particularly appreciate returning to.

"Awesome God" - Love Unstoppable (2009) - Fred Hammond

This choice is kind of cheating because, like all gospel albums, the recurring character, theme and/or motif are all "God". Still, it's a great record.

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Day 29 - THE THING (John Carpenter, 1982)
Play something that mimics or sounds like another song, either as homage, happenstance or flagrant copying and/or play the song that it sounds like and/or play something from an artist that you would not trust in real life and/or features aliens.

"Rain" - Release Some Tension (1997) - SWV

This is my favourite song that pays homage to another tune. "Rain" was a popular single for SWV that is based on the Jaco Pastorius song "Portrait Of Tracy". I've included them both below in case you want to compare.

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Day 29 - THE THING (John Carpenter, 1982)
Several of Carpenter’s films feature cosmic horror elements. The Thing in particular has elements of At The Mountains of Madness and an invading alien force that can mimic humans and is beyond comprehension.
Play something that mimics or sounds like another song, either as homage, happenstance or flagrant copying and/or play the song that it sounds like and/or play something from an artist that you would not trust in real life and/or features aliens.

Kinda obvious choice but this album is so good and I haven't played it in quite a while.




Elastica - S/T

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gafacaode said:
Day 29 - THE THING (John Carpenter, 1982)
Several of Carpenter’s films feature cosmic horror elements. The Thing in particular has elements of At The Mountains of Madness and an invading alien force that can mimic humans and is beyond comprehension.
Play something that mimics or sounds like another song, either as homage, happenstance or flagrant copying and/or play the song that it sounds like and/or play something from an artist that you would not trust in real life and/or features aliens.

Kinda obvious choice but this album is so good and I haven't played it in quite a while.




Elastica - S/T

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I don't know this band or album; why is it an obvious choice?
 
Day 26 - THE SECRET OF THE TOMB (Robert Bloch, 1935)
Written by a Lovecraft protégé, this story is about a man who tries to unlock the secrets to eternal life that is supposed to be hidden in his family’s tomb, by digging through books from Lovecraftian lore like the Necronomicon.
Play something from an artist that seems to have been around forever and/or that features a secret and/or a code and/or a message in the run-out groove.

Catch up time!

Bob Weir met Jerry on New Years Eve 1963, and is still going strong 60 years later. Plus, TIL there is a message in the deadwax of Terrapin Station.

vinylstatistics.blogspot.com

Runout Groove Etchings #1

blog about collecting vinyl. Cool Finds. 45's, LP, records, record stores, vinylstatistics, duke dunton, LP, covers, vinyl, turntables. vinyl
vinylstatistics.blogspot.com vinylstatistics.blogspot.com

Grateful Dead ~ Terrapin Station

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Potato-Socks said:
I don't know this band or album; why is it an obvious choice?
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Is it Wire you don't know? Pink Flag is one of those late-70's classic "post-punk" records. Often cited as the record that marks the end of the original punk era and the start of the next thing. I may be wrong, but it's one of the first albums to pack a ton of short tracks. Each track is full of energy but don't sound repetitive - they basically come in, deliver their idea and end. The record became incredibly influential. Other than the homage by Elastica, off the top of my head, there's Green Day's Dookie that followed that short track formula and REM that covered "Strange" on Document. It's often cited as an influence by punk, alt, britpop bands.

The album aged really well too. Their next two records are completely different but also influential in their own way.
 
Day 29 - THE THING (John Carpenter, 1982)
Several of Carpenter’s films feature cosmic horror elements. The Thing in particular has elements of At The Mountains of Madness and an invading alien force that can mimic humans and is beyond comprehension.
Play something that mimics or sounds like another song, either as homage, happenstance or flagrant copying and/or play the song that it sounds like and/or play something from an artist that you would not trust in real life and/or features aliens.

Destroyer "Kaputt" (2011 Merge; 2021 reissue)
The synth lines that back most of the tracks on here always feel to me like they were lifted right off of Nick Rhodes's work on Rio. Especially on the title track, where that synth reminds me of "Save A Prayer". The use of saxophones is another cue taken from Rio. I don't believe it's an accident either, because one of the tracks on Kaputt is titled "Nagel's Marimba" - Patrick Nagel is the artist that created the cover art for Rio. It's no wonder I love this record so much.

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...aaaaaaaaaand what the hell, after that explanation, I just can't let this opportunity go by. So here it is. I really couldn't go through my entire challenge month without getting this on. :)

Duran Duran "Rio" (1982 EMI Japan)

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Day 27 - LOCKE & KEY (Joe Hill, 2008)
Limited comic series later turned into a Netflix show and oozes with Lovecraftian influence. The original comic names the fictional New England town where the story takes place as “Lovecraft”. After becoming more familiar with the controversial nature of Lovecraft’s personal legacy, Joe Hill switched the name of the town to “Matheson” for the TV show (to honor a different dark fantasy author). The story centers around a mansion with hidden keys (and their corresponding locks) that each possess different powers when opened. And a banished demon that wants to trick his way back into the real world.
Play an album that involved some controversy and/or mentions doors, locks and/or keys and/or relates to New England in some way.

This band is from Cape Cod, the album was recorded in Hyannis and features the song "I Hate Tourists". Doesn't get much more New England than that. And track 3 is "They Won't Unlock The Door".

The Freeze ~ Live From Cape Cod 1980

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Day 28 - THE DREAM-QUEST OF UNKNOWN KADATH (Lovecraft, 1927)
Robert Randolph embarks on a dream-quest to find a majestic city that appears in his dreams. Randolph Carter is a recurring character appearing in 7 stories.
Play something that includes a recurring character, theme and/or motif and/or a recurring song and/or mentions a city you particularly appreciate returning to.

Kinda surprised this wasn't played yet. The album was developed to be an infinite loop. Each song segues together, and the last song segues into the first.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard ~ Nonagon Infinity

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Day 29: THE THING

Sugarhill Gang b/w Chic - “Rappers’ Delight” b/w “Good Times”

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The first (and only, sadly) record in a series of RSD releases pairing classic hip-hop tracks with the songs they sampled (or remade, in this case), and since Chic weren’t credited when “Rapper’s Delight” first came out, you could call it flagrantly copying.
 
Day 29 - THE THING (John Carpenter, 1982)
Several of Carpenter’s films feature cosmic horror elements. The Thing in particular has elements of At The Mountains of Madness and an invading alien force that can mimic humans and is beyond comprehension.
Play something that mimics or sounds like another song, either as homage, happenstance or flagrant copying and/or play the song that it sounds like and/or play something from an artist that you would not trust in real life and/or features aliens.


The link between Going to California and Given To Fly is pretty well known, to the point where when Mike McCready was interviewing Robert Plant they joked about it, and Eddie referred to Given to Fly as "Given to California" when they played it at a festival that Robert was at.

Led Zeppelin ~ IV

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Pearl Jam ~ Yield

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This also gives me a chance to post this fantastic video of Given to Fly from Touring Band 2000 and some incredible ASL interpretation. Nothing to do with the prompt, but the work of Kim (who has since sadly passed away) is just beautiful, and worth clicking through the block for.

 
Day 30 - STRANGER THINGS (Matt Duffer & Ross Duffer, 2016)
Play something from the 80s and/or inspired by the 80s and/or that features bicycles and/or anything at all relating to any cosmic horror theme covered during the month and/or what the hell, aliens.

Good times @Turbo.

This is from the 80's, many folks ride their bikes down in the park, Gary Numan is quite obviously an alien and that little trike thing he tools around with in this video is horrific...



Gary Numan - Living Ornaments '79 And '80

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Day 29 - THE THING (John Carpenter, 1982)

Bruce Springsteen – Nebraska
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Like @ranbalam, I was feeling a bit stumped for today but then I was streaming the new Charles Wesley Godwin album when I drove up-island to pick up my son this afternoon when the song "10-38" immediately solved my dilemma because all I could think about was "Mr. State Trooper!"

Turns out upon looking up a video to attach to this post that Godwin wrote his song as a sequel to Springsteen's, so that would certainly make it an homage.

 
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