In need of a little music of the macabre this spooky season? Boy, do I have a treat for you!
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If you haven’t run across it yet, allow me to introduce you to this album: “Music of the Macabre” by George Streicher.
Even if George hadn’t popped up in my DMs to introduce me to his music earlier this summer, I have a feeling I would have run across this album and fallen in love.
There is a lot of spooky music out there, but there’s just something about instrumentals that capture the Halloween feels like nothing else—and that’s exactly what “Music of the Macabre” does, making it the perfect Halloween soundtrack.
First, a bit about the composer: George Streicher has worked on a number of projects during his career, from film and television to video games and even live events. Notable credits include the animated films “Go Fish” and “Howard Lovecraft and the Undersea Kingdom” and TV series like “The Smurfs”.
But his love of Halloween is what drove him to create this album for himself. As a kid in the Midwest, Halloween time was idyllic, full of trick-or-treating, hay rides, and haunts. Many of the pieces on this album are written to invoke nostalgia for that experience as well as pay homage to the type of music George remembers being a part of his Halloween as a kid. Read more here.
From start to finish, this album will take you on an auditory journey. At times, it has hints of Danny Elfman, other times scores of favorites like “Hocus Pocus” or “The Simpsons” Treehouse of Terror episodes. There’s even a track in there that includes sounds one of those 90s ghost decorations that would make when triggered.
I love this album for background music while reading. There are also great standalone tracks to add to your existing Halloween playlists for a little ambiance, like “Samhain” and, my personal favorite, “Memories of Halloween”. This would also be great to play on Halloween night as you welcome trick-or-treaters—a spooky melodic scene-setter, rather than the obnoxious scary sounds we all grew up with blasting from houses.
I’m excited to have it as part of my Halloween music collection and hope you’ll consider grabbing a physical copy as well. CDs and cassettes are available on George’s website. I also have my eye on the vinyl in the hopes that another limited release will become available. (It’s also available on Spotify and Apple Music.)
Another cool feature to check out: several of the songs have performance videos—it’s so fun watching the songs come together like this!
You can also follow @musicofthemacabre on Instagram for mood videos and updates.
Happy listening!
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