Happy Happy Halloween!
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And don’t forget to wear your masks! The clock is ticking… 

In 2018 when Arlo Parks released her first single “Cola,” music critics around the world took notice. Two excellent EP’s later and the foundation was laid for a stellar debut album.

Then COVID happened.

This year, Arlo Parks is finally going to properly support her 2020 debut album Collapsed in Sunbeams. It’s a brilliant record, co-written and produced by Luca Buccellati, and “Hunt” is the third single. Like many of their songs, it's a wonderful mix of bedroom-pop and trip hop that harkens back to the Madchester scene of the early 90’s.
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Arlo Parks will be hitting both sides of the Atlantic this year supporting her near casualty and gem of a record. Don’t sleep on her or her producer.

​As the leaves fall from the trees and the nights creep in sooner than before, I think I found the perfect song for the week. Recorded and released in the fall of 1967 as a B-side, “Mazy” never received much attention and within a year The Peep Show disbanded. But over the years this eerie track has developed a cult-like following, and is considered a psychedelic classic today.

What do Joe Satriani, Rush, and the supernatural horror film The Exorcist have in common? The genre forming band Possessed. All were prominent influences, especially on future Primus guitarist Larry LaLonde, who performed and recorded on their first three records.

“The Exorcist” is the first song from their debut album Seven Churches and opens with a tribute to Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, a song now synonymous with the famed film. It’s a frantic, schizophrenic track, with darker lyrics and demonic imagery that slips away from its hardcore punk rock and thrash metal roots.

Over the years, Possessed have been accused of blasphemy and been a target for both the extreme Christian right and PMRC (Parents Music Resource Center), but founding member Jeff Becerra has always maintained that the group’s darker imagery and lyrical content are for shock purposes only, and that the lyrics actually support Christian ideals and denounce Satanism.
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Regardless whether you like this type of music or not, Possessed are a historically relevant group that fought for their art and freedom of speech.

After being urged by her religious superiors to record an album, then Sister Luc Gabriel (Jeanne-Paule Marie Deckers) scored a massive hit with “Dominique.” From 1963 to 1964 the song found its way to the top ten in over eleven countries, and was the first number one record in the United States to be performed by a Belgian Artist. Nearly overnight, Deckers became an international star and her story was the basis of a biographical film.

In 1966, Deckers left her covenant to pursue life as a lay-person. She was devoted to both the Catholic Church and feminism, and in 1967 she recorded “Glory be to God for the Golden Pill,” a song defending women and contraception.
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Deckers sold over two million albums, but never benefited financially from her success. After being taken advantage of by both her manager and record label, she opened a school for children with autism and moved into an apartment with her best friend Annie Pécher. Funding for the school ceased, and in March of 1985 both Deckers and Pécher committed suicide, citing financial issues.