The annual march of mini monsters is nearly upon us. It’s a wonderfully spooky time where their voracious appetite for candy and mischief are on full display. Here at Poprock Record we dispense ear candy, of course. No tricks, just sweet sweet melodic treats.

Let’s get things started with that classic declaration from imaginative kid games: “You’re Dead.” The tune from Filipino-Panamanian-American folk singer Norma Tanega was initially recorded in the mid-1960s but recently experienced a resurrection as the theme song for Taika Waititi’s hilarious vampire movie and TV comedy What We Do In The Shadows. While originally written as an indictment of NYC’s competitive music scene the track seems perfectly suited for the show. I find its unusual folky tuning and metre absolutely captivating. Well, now that you’re dead, where do you hang? Sonny Falls’ exquisitely drone-y “Cemeteries” gives us clue. Falls provides a nice acoustic guitar-plus-synth kind of musical crypt to climb within. And who knows, you might meet some interesting people there. After all, Jersey City native Jonny Couch turns on a Simon Le Bon-worthy croon to announce he “Found Out You’re a Zombie.” That’s a bit of a date shocker.

Well the monsters have been let loose so we might as well meet a few. Hi Tide Recordings specialise in the very coolest retro sounds, like Asbury Park’s Black Flamingos. Check out the wild instrumental guitar action all over the seasonally appropriate “Tales from the Crypt.” These surf guitar masters definitely stay true to their ghoul here. The Jack Rubies are a 1980s east London outfit back from the grave with their recent single “Poltergeist,” their latest in a series of recent releases after a break of three decades. The results are spooky and atmospheric and monstrously good.  Cheeky poprock outfit Scoopski opted for a whole EP of scary tunes on Halloween with Scoopski. I was torn between featuring  the poppy “Pumpkin Smile” or the more goof-rock “Monster in the Mirror.” What the hell, I’ll let you decide. NYC’s Dr. Ex and the Break-Ups have got the central-casting organ sound for Halloween tracks locked up on “Bye Bye Bizarro.” So groovy. I thought it was going an instrumental until the vocals burst in at the one minute mark. Ok, the song is not really festively ‘all hallows eve’ or anything being about Superman and all but the Bizarro villain focus seemed ‘Halloween-adjacent’ to me.

This year’s ‘ghoul-of-the-month’ are ghosts. Meddling ghosts, loitering ghosts, ghosts in the crosshairs. Big Stir Records have a great big Halloween holiday LP that has just arrived entitled Stir The Cauldron featuring 20 seasonally approved songs. I’m singling out Plasticsoul’s guitar pop delight “The Ghost In Between Us” for your special attention. There’s something so fresh sounding about this track. The guitars sparkle while the song structure falls somewhere between Squeeze and the Cure. Victoria, BC’s The Origin sound like they practically tip toe into the theatre before breaking out the electric guitars and letting loose on “The Ghosts,” featuring some great organ back up. Last year Atlanta-based Four Eyes came out with the freak folk festive The Freaky EP. So seasonally in tune with songs about vampires and the unresting dead. But we’re not going to talk about that now. Instead let’s feature the lofi fab “I’d Rather Be Ghost Hunting” from her 2019 album of the same name. Plucky, seemingly self-propulsive, with a ghostly vocal sheen.

It’s a holiday and oh, what’s that? A new Vista Blue release? Well that wasn’t unexpected. Everybody’s favourite pop culture-riffing pop punk band are back with another seasonal set of songs, this time dubbed Even Dracula Will Be There. Our featured tune is “I Gotta Rock,” a double entendre of culture quips, quoting Charlie Brown and the ever present punk need to just rock. Vista Blue, they’re holiday reliable.

You might be tempted to empty that candy bowl but you know better. Dip into all this ear candy instead – it’ll fill you up without rotting your teeth.

Photo from 1960 movie Village of the Damned courtesy James Vaughn Flikr collection.