From the Shadows, They Appear... Midnight Syndicate Live Shadows

I am excited to be back blogging with something actually fun to talk about! I was given this fun blog material by Midnight Syndicate who have just released their first live album. This album was recorded between 2014 and 2019 at their Midnight Syndicate Live! A Legacy of Shadows concert series performances. These multimedia performances are a chance to experience Midnight Syndicate's music in person, in settings worthy of a Hammer Horror film. I've watched videos of these live performances and they look like they're set in old castle ruins, which are lit in a bright yet ominous way. There are several videos on YouTube showing parts of the show and I'll link to those at the end. 

Midnight Syndicate were kind enough to send me one of their albums and I just gave it a listen. I chose to listen to it in a dark area of the basement, since it's a bright summer day out there. That set the mood for listening to the kind of music, sound effects, and voices you'd expect to hear in a haunted house. I think this album would make a great addition to a classic haunted house themed haunt. I'm talking about that kind of classy, old-fashioned haunted house where you might hear some ghostly piano playing as a spectre glides by.

Now, I don't know if there is a distinct plot to the show, but I imagined a general one as I listened to the CD. I can only give my interpretation of what's going on, and that might be different from what was intended. I took a few notes, down there in the dark, as I tried to visualize what might be happening with each track. I'll give a quick run-through of my thoughts on each.

So we start off with "The Stage is Set" which does set the stage with some whooshing wind and doom-filled heavy bells. It's like a storm approaching. 

Then we move onto "Alchemist's Chamber" which was a favorite of mine. I like organ music (I think this was electric organ?) Then it moves into what sounds like a harpsichord, in a style The Phantom of the Opera might play. Then we get some ghostly voices. I felt like I was walking down a haunted hallway as I listened to this.

"Sigil" is next and I think I had kind of a head's up on what this one was about from watching their videos. There's also some imagery in the pamphlet of what I would call a spooky Voodoo lady, carrying a staff. A glowing sigil or sign was prominent in one of the videos too. This track was more electronic.

The next track is titled "Twilight" and nope, this does not appear to have anything to do with that other Twilight. This track is probably more about spirits emerging at the fall of night. The song starts with a ghostly lady's voice going "woooooo" and then there's a feeling of slowly walking. I could imagine the ghost lady gliding along to this, which again fits with the imagery in the videos/CD pamphlet. By the way, the photos I'm sharing here are from that pamphlet. 

"Creatures of Darkness" starts with that child-like lalalalala. If you're into being scared by what sounds like a ghost kid singing, giggling, and talking, there are some tracks here for you! This one starts innocently enough, then moves into some heavy plodding and a surprise violin solo. Actually, the beginning of this one made me think of Poltergeist for some reason.

"Noctem Aeternus" This is a creepy one to listen to, especially when you're sitting in a dimly lit space like I was. I think the lady on this track was speaking in Latin. It sounded like she was reciting some sort of spell. I might have been influenced by the visuals in their videos again in thinking that. 

"Haunted Nursery" is another one for you guys who like the spooky little ghost kid stuff. The first part of this made me think of chimes ringing in the night or a music box. 

"Gatekeeper" There was a nice beat on this one, along with thunder crashing and crows cawing.

"Into the Valley of Shadows" was very dramatic and dark. I visualized a marching group of skeletons while listening to this. More of that cool organ playing was incorporated into this one. Something I appreciated about this collection of songs is that some of the same sounds and instruments were incorporated into many of them, but in unexpected ways. So there was a connective line between the tracks.

"Kiddieland" caught me off guard because there are not a lot of spoken words on this album. So I was sitting there in the dark, concentrating and writing my notes on this album and then I start hearing a man yelling "Adelaide!" That got my attention. I was googling the spelling of Adelaide just now and ran into another Midnight Syndicate song that's titled "Adelaide" (From their album Gates of Delirium). So there's probably a connection there.

"NightStalker" sounds like its title! I really liked this one. It has a bit of everything: dark booming noises, the feeling of running in the night, electronic sounds, more organ, an operatic ghost lady. 

"Grisly Reminder" There was some nice piano on this one, and what sounded to me like the sounds of a sharp object whooshing through the air. This made me think of a reaper, especially with all that hissing and breathing at the end. The piano would have been pretty relaxing on this one without those other parts I mentioned. 

"Twisted Labyrinth" This was an unnerving track. You get the feeling listening to this that you're being chased, I suppose through a twisted labyrinth. There were a few other bells and sound effects I couldn't quite place.

"Haverghast Asylum" I'm wondering if this one fits with that Adelaide character I mentioned earlier. She sounded like someone in an asylum in that track off the other album. Anyway, this one starts with some great old-timey piano and a woman singing. Could it be an old-timey piano in an asylum?

"Conspiracy of Shadows" And we end with a worried man, a whispered "Thank You", some electronic noises, and some good shrieking from the live audience. 

This album alternates between delicate eeriness and heavy menacing sounds and I felt inspired to see the live show while listening to it. If I find myself near HalloWeekends in Ohio some autumn I'd want to check it out. 

I typed up this blog post just assuming that you are all familiar with Midnight Syndicate. You probably are even if you don't know it. If you have stepped foot in a Halloween store or haunted attraction, you've no doubt heard them. They are pretty much part of the modern Halloween soundtrack. If you'd like to learn more or revisit some of your favorite songs, you can check out Midnight Syndicate on YouTube. 

The Live Shadows full album can be listened to here: Live Shadows

And purchased in CD/vinyl form here: Midnight Syndicate Shop

Here are a few of those videos I mentioned earlier, if you'd like to see some of the live performances and theatrical sets: 

The Live Shadows Album Trailer

Alchemist's Chamber

Creatures of Darkness

I would also like to share a brief video I ran across of Edward Douglas and Gavin Goszka discussing the live show:

Midnight Syndicate Live 

As you can tell, they're nice guys, but should you forget how spooky they can be:

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with exotic, magical music

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Everybody gets around to carving their pumpkin in March, right? ;)

A week or two ago, I watched a Loreena McKennitt concert on TV. I've been a fan of her music for some time, so I really enjoyed it. While watching the concert, I thought how it would be cool to share some of her music for St. Patrick's Day. She's Irish and Scottish, as you can guess from her name.

Some of Loreena's music sounds Celtic and some of it has other ethnic vibes. A few of my favorite songs of hers have parts that sound Middle Eastern to me. You'll see what I mean when you listen to the first song in this concert. I managed to find the concert I watched on TV! Enjoy. :)

A link to the video: Loreena McKennitt ~ Nights from the Alhambra

For some reason, those of you who read my blog in email form don't see the videos. If anyone knows a way I can make it so that videos show up for my email subscribers, please let me know! Maybe there's a setting I'm missing.

You'll get an idea of Loreena's personality and the background of the music she's playing here. There are some neat visuals added in of the places that inspired her.

I actually became familiar with Loreena McKennitt about 15 years ago when I was in a little gift shop. The person working there had Loreena's music playing and I said "Who is this? I love this music". That's the only time I've cared to ask what music was playing in a store. The woman working there seemed surprised. "You haven't heard of Loreena McKennitt?" she said. Nope. I had to wonder if most people had. She then went on to give me an introduction to who Loreena is and what her music is like. I went straight to finding some of her CDs after that encounter at the shop. I'm happy to introduce Loreena's music to those of you who haven't heard of her. And, what better time than today?

Although, looking back to 2012, some of you might remember a Christmas post where I mentioned her song "Mummer's Dance":

A visit from the creatures of Christmas

I wish you all a Happy St. Patrick's Day! I hope Loreena's concert helps get you in the festive mood.

Finding Inspiration Under the Surface

One of my goals in writing this blog is to present the dark and mysterious that hides in everyday life. Pretty much any topic or event contains a spooky element, if you've made up your mind to look for it. My hope is that I can then find some beauty in the darkness I've managed to uncover.

Some of this hidden darkness was discovered yesterday, when I attended a concert being held by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. The Orchestra performed several pieces, each very different from the next. One of these works Ex Nihilo (meaning "out of nothing") was so spooky that I was reminded of you home haunters. This experimental sounding piece of classical music would be perfect in the background of your haunted house or in a scary movie.

I really wanted to share this music with you, but I cannot find it online. This is probably because the composer is sort of sketching out ideas with this piece. He was just sharing what he had created so far with the audience. If I ever find the finished piece online, I'll be sure to share it. You'll just have to take my word that it was spooky!

Throughout Ex Nihilo, there were large pauses between little plucks on the bass or harp. Slight noises out of nowhere can be unsettling! Ex Nihilo reminded me of a two part Criminal Minds episode (No Way Out) that is played non stop around here. In fact it's on TV so much, that you've all no doubt seen part of it while switching channels. I have this episode more or less memorized by now, because I keep watching the reruns for some reason. By this point, I know just the places in the episode where I would splice in Ex Nihilo!

To put it briefly, the episode involves a woman who has a secret admirer. The admirer happens to be a serial killer. He leaves her wind chimes made from the bones of his victims when he travels through her town. Ex Nihilo reminded me of the scene where we hear the "chimes" in the wind:

The No Way Out Wind Chimes Scene

Unfortunately, I was not permitted to embed that scene on my blog. So, just click that link to get a good laugh. Well, at least I did. If you'd like to see the woman who these little gifts were intended for...

Meet Jane:


"A psycho with a whistle, that's not too weird."

I'm sure that the composer of Ex Nihilo was not inspired by anything along the lines of crazy Jane and her bone chimes.

Isn't it funny where my mind wandered while listening to that music? I'm not sure if any of you are this way, but I've always visualized scenes to go along with the music I'm listening to. It's sort of like I'm making up my own music videos. Visualizing music scenes used to entertain me as a kid while listening to my Walkman in the car.

During the concert's intermission, I wrote down a lot of notes for this blog post. People probably wondered what I was writing down so furiously. After making a list of all the blog points, I happened to look up and notice something I'd never seen before. I'm sure it had been suspended there for years, but I just never bothered to see it:

I saw this speaker and thought to myself "that looks like a head." Then I noticed the ear! I learned that what I saw is the Neumann Dummy Head Microphone.

The head is a microphone and inside each ear is a "condenser element", which is supposed to replicate human hearing.

It's amazing what we can notice when we take the time to look around!
 
In other music news, I was lucky enough to snag some free tickets to a preview showing of Rock of Ages this past Thursday! I got the free tickets from a site called gofobo.com and you can get free tickets too! That is if you live in the U.S. and there's a participating theater in your area. How it works is that you are emailed the weekly movie and you must reserve your tickets right away. It's first click, first served with this site. What an amazing deal! I wanted to be sure to share this resource with you guys, and that's the only reason I mentioned the movie. There's not a lot of spookiness going on in this one. Well, not aside from some of Tom Cruise's facial expressions.

I really enjoyed Rock of Ages! It's full of 80's music and a lot of funny moments. Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand are priceless! That's all I'm going to say. Actually, the trailer says it all:


Sometimes it's fun to just sit back, laugh, and enjoy some good old music!

Back to the topic of finding inspiration in everything... A source of spooky visual inspiration recently came from my garden. Some of the veggies I planted from seed have already been harvested and eaten! These radishes, whose roots supply the creepy inspiration, were great. Here's a silhouetted photo of one straight out of the earth. It still has dirt clinging to its roots.

I forgot how hot and spicy homegrown radishes can be. The other pics are of the lettuce and arugula that I also grew from seed. All of these plants were really low maintenance. I just covered the seeds with dirt and watered them occasionally.

The herbs in this photo are parsley and dill.

So, if you'd like to start growing vegetables, and be successful very soon, try radishes and lettuce. If you're a visual artist, you might be inspired by these roots!

Don't the roots look like crawling, tendril-like legs or spindly arms reaching out toward you?

The last flicker of fall

Last week was quite busy for me! I enjoyed soaking up the colors of Autumn during a trip to Cedarburg, WI. Every year, my mom and I head to this old town to see the beautiful scenery and do a little shopping. Usually, some after-Halloween deals await us there.

These wild grapes were growing on the side of a building. Many of the shops in this town are operated in Victorian houses. I go wild about this style of architecture, and I know some of you do too!

OK, Raise your hand if you want to move into this place. It's just beautiful. A lot of Halloween merchandise was moved onto the porch of this shop:

I like the Welcome to the Nuthouse sign.

Check out the Victorian gingerbread details going on here! I'm going crazy trying to remember what the metal details on the roof are called. If someone out there knows, please help me out. I've even added that feature to my own haunted house paintings! So I need to know the name of it.

One Victorian house shop had an old shed out back. The Halloween merchandise had been moved into it. The door was guarded by this skeleton torso.

The shed was actually kind of dark and spooky to enter...

The small amount of light that was cast into the room sparkled off this glittery skull.

We did find this dapper little crow in the old shed, so it was worth looking around!

He is carrying a cute little jack-o-lantern in his wing:

The streets of downtown Cedarburg were filled jack-o-lanterns. I wonder if there had been a pumpkin carving contest in town. I was especially impressed by this gargoyle carving. It looks like it was done with a linoleum cutter.

Here's a goofy one. I think his tongue was made from the pumpkin that was cut out to make his mouth:

I took some photos of pumpkin creatures during last year's Cedarburg trip. Since some of you weren't following me back then, you might want to take a look: Cedarburg Pumpkin Creatures

The sun was setting as we got ready to leave. A beautiful golden glow was cast onto every building. I captured a little of that glow on some stone work at the end of a bridge. The leaves growing around the stonework turned an intense crimson in the light.

This vine of leaves resembled a reaching hand. Look at the variation in color!

Cedarburg really is a picturesque place to visit. It was recognized as a town in 1840, and is rumored to be full of ghosts. Someone I know has had a lot of ghostly experiences there. This might be because she happens to work in an office that is a former funeral home. I know that October ghost tours are offered throughout the town. Whether or not there are any ghosts, it would be fun to view Cedarburg's architecture on an Autumn night!

Mom's Birthday celebrations continued with a Paul Simon concert last Friday. I was lucky enough to win tickets to the show by calling into a radio station. That was an exciting moment. The concert was a few days after my Mom's Birthday, so it was another way of celebrating. It was also cool for me because I've been a fan of Paul Simon's music since I was in grade school. I had a music teacher who was really into his work. Through grade school we listened to his music and watched videos of his concerts. So I'm really up on his catalog of music! Also, I'm a fan of The Graduate soundtrack. Speaking of The Graduate, this is as close to Goth as Paul Simon gets! Really, silence can be one of the most frightening things in the world. Here's The Sound of Silence, complete with the beautiful and thought provoking lyrics:

Every time I hear this song, I think of an English teacher I had in high school. He was kind of an eccentric guy. I remember one day he walked in the room and said in all seriousness "Hello darkness my old friend, I've come to talk with you again." Then he just went and sat at his desk. I don't know if he was having a bad day, or just wanted our attention.

The concert was very casual and intimate. Paul Simon is so incredibly humble. He just walked out like a normal guy and put on a great show. I also think he has a sense of humor, because Frank Sinatra's cover of Mrs. Robinson was playing on the speakers as we left the theater.

Paul Simon's opening act was the Punch Brothers, who I ended up loving! I wasn't familiar with them before this. They play lively Bluegrass music. I'm not even going to try to tie this band to a spooky topic. They just play good music, so I want to share it with everyone!



This is pretty much the experience we had, minus Steve Martin. This video is from their performance on Letterman. I would love to see the Punch Brothers in concert, if they ever visit Milwaukee again. I just love when an opening act I've never heard of, turns into a new favorite band!