DoT EP98: Blood On Black Wax Authors Aaron Lupton and Jeff Szpirglas Talk Horror Movie Music, Plus New Music From Miss June

The Department of Tangents Podcast

I had been thinking a lot about how sound - the score and incidental music - effect the mood and even the story in horror movies and looking for a way to discuss that on the podcast when I came across the book Blood On Black Wax: Horror Soundtracks On Vinyl, written by this week’s guest conversationalists, Aaron Lupton and Jeff Szpirglas. It is, as the name would imply, a guide to horror movie soundtracks, including scores and compilations, that can be found on vinyl. But it’s also a history of the changing styles of horror films, a peek into the minds of composers like Jerry Goldsmith, John Carpenter, and Goblin, and an art book with beautifully rendered reproductions of album art work. The book covers everything from The Shining to Street Trash, from the incidental sound collage of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre to symphonic scores like Goldsmith’s brilliant work on Gremlins.

Both Lupton and Szpirglas review soundtracks for Rue Morgue magazine, and they have an expansive knowledge of their subject, and somewhat different tastes. Their descriptions can be fairly granular, down to describing common horror soundtracks instruments like the waterphone, which we talk about here. I’ll post a demonstration of that instrument on the blog so you can hear it for yourself. They also talk about details like how good George Romero was at finding the perfect library-sourced music on a budget, how many genres of music horror soundtracks cover, the resurgence of soundtracks on vinyl, and even the complexities of reproducing soundtracks live with the movie playing on a screen behind the musicians. And I also ruin Avengers: Endgame for Aaron. Sorry, Aaron.. You can find Blood On Black Wax at all the good bookstores, and some record stores, and online in all the usual places. And you can also find more of their ongoing work in Rue Morgue magazine.

I discovered this week’s featured track while I was getting ready to produce this episode. I’d had another song in mind, which you will hear in a future episode, but this one is perfect for this episode. With its chaotic guitar riffs and punk attitude, it could easily be the lead single from a horror movie soundtrack. And it is, in a way, because the video is a short horror movie itself, featuring a young couple looking for a place for an amorous tryst in what looks like a creepy concrete warehouse, as young couples often do. And, also as young couples often do, they find themselves menaced by ghoulish employees who just won’t let them be. Miss June’s debut LP, Bad Luck Party, will be out September 6 on Frenchkiss Records. I think you’ll be hearing a lot more from them. Keep track of them on their website, and you have to love this, at www.ihatemissjune.com, on Instagram also under ihatemissjune, and on Facebook under missjunenz.