October 26, 2007

Let’s Get Scared with Spooky Halloween Mashups

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Mashing PumpkinsHey, look at that, Halloween is next week, and your best chance for spooky revelry is probably this weekend. Is it just me or did that kind of sneak up on us? I haven’t even decided whether I should be Wolverine again. I haven’t been growing my muttonchops so it’s probably moot. Anyway, some of my cohorts in the pointless world of putting songs with other songs have produced a whole compilation’s worth of Halloween-themed mashups, perfect for your costume party or, uh, erotic ball. Called Mashing Pumpkins (and not to be confused with the Irish tribute band), the album had to endure some unexpected popularity after getting mentioned on Boing Boing, and their original website crashed or got overwhelmed or just shut down by unsympathetic web service providers. Now that’s scary. But both Boing Boing and Mashup Town rushed to the rescue, archiving the tracks and offering them for free download; the latter even has the super scary artwork.

Party Ben recommends:
Track 5 – “I Want My Mummy”
A cheeky upbeat combo of The Who, Steve Martin, and some mummy-oriented clips from LA’s Mr. Fab.
Track 6 – “Snap Yo Specials”
While the Specials’ “Ghost Town” seems only tangentially Halloween-related, Lil’ Jon’s growly raps flow perfectly over the top.
Track 10 – “Bad Moon Werewolves”
You can’t go wrong with “Werewolves of London,” and the fact that the UK’s Cheekyboy got “Bad Moon Rising” to fit over the top is nothing short of miraculous.

So is it time for the Christmas-themed mashup albums yet?

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It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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