by Neil Cleary-Trask

So, over six years ago, a friend had the great idea of making a mix cd which would be, as the title suggests, an ode to horror. I had the great idea to steal his idea, as I love spending hours and days making elaborately compiled and edited theme mixes. So we each set about our mixes without knowledge of how the other's was being built, and what of. Mine became "Frightened And Without Hope", and is a mix of actual horror movie score cues and music, for me at least, which was evocative of a horror movie.

There was a particular vibe I was going for with this, those Horror movies which have an almost oppressive feeling of doom and hopelessness. Ones which also made me feel as though I was teetering on the brink of madness. Movies like Night Of The Living Dead, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Shining, Pet Sematary, The Ring (2002), The Exorcist, Bug or, hell, even Martyrs. But I also wanted to couple that with a narrative of familial loss and the Supernatural like you'd find in Don't Look Now, The Other, Audrey Rose or, again, some of the others already mentioned.

For this issue, I decided to tinker with the mix a bit, and cheekily, but appropriately, added the "Director's Cut" signifier.

Download Frightened and Without Hope: An Ode to Horror (including printable artwork) here.

FEATURING: Siouxsie & The Banshees, Rachel's, The Children's Hour, David A Jaycock, Russell Haswell, Bauhaus, Xiu Xiu & Grouper, Hair Police, Aphex Twin, Memes, Long Hind Legs, Smegma, Liars, Dorine Muraille, Damon Albarn & Michale Nyman, The Caretaker, Broadcast, Inca Ore, Orion Rigel Dommisse, Tim Krog & Jan Bartlett & Ed Christiano, John Harrison, Ennio Morricone, Swans, John Carpenter, Can, Southern Man & Pykrete, Jay Chattaway, I Am Spoonbender, Wendy Carlos, Joy Division, and Helium