Dark Asylum Music

VIKTIM to release Debut EP!

darkasylummusic@gmail.com (ninetwelve) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 02:44:00 +0000

Dark Asylum Music will release Viktim's debut EP, As Love Turns Gray, on January 26 at Digital Ferret.

Viktim was founded in 2001 by frontman Eddie Threat, the culminating act of a punk rock youth gone electro. After a few short months of intense gigging a review of a Viktim live experience read like a short list of the signs of the apocalypse, complete with fire, brimstone, the rising dead and social decay.

Bringing the anarchy of scum-punk to the electro crowds of Philadelphia took its toll in 2004 when stage antics went wrong. Tragedy was barely averted when a mic chord noose lifted Eddie Threat off the stage at Philadelphia's The Barbary, bringing the show to an abrupt and morbid halt.

Even suicide didn't stop Viktim from bringing its unique brand of theatrics to audiences up and down the east coast. Angle Grinders continued to shoot sparks, foreheads continued to bleed and being a member of the Viktim Live Experience without health insurance was at your own risk.

Viktim rode the wave of violence all the way to New York in 2005, headlining the NYC INDUSTRIAL FESTIVAL. During the performance Viktim proved that the guitars weren't just for show. Frontman Eddie Threat explains, " Music is meant to be played live. People don't pack into bars to hear you play your CD and monkey around. They come to see you play your songs, with all the mistakes, improvisations and risk of death inherent in Viktim."

Like a diesel truck running full throttle with no oil, the violence takes its toll. In 2006 Viktim, tired from six years of full throttle industrial theatrics, took a break. During the time off Viktim decided to finally record an album- something they'd seen as hitherto pointless, demos were enough to garner live gigs, and live performance was all that mattered. But without steady gigs the fans had no way to listen, and the grew restless,

Necessity resulted in the recording of AS LOVE TURNS GREY, due out January 26th 2010 on Dark Asylum Music. With a debut record under its belt, Viktim will return to the stage, no doubt to leave fans with an experience that reads like a police blog. Especially "Drunk and Disorderly"

Good friends MHMH release Debut Album!

darkasylummusic@gmail.com (ninetwelve) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:08:00 +0000

Mommy Hurt My Head, one of my favorite bands and a good friend, have an interview / review online for the debut album: http://www.brutalresonance.com/

They're a bunch of oldschool guys making some of the best genre music. This is their debut release and you should all listen to it, hit up their page and show some love.

Here, I'll make it easier for you: http://www.myspace.com/mommyhurtmyhead

Let me know if you love them!

Artists Please?

darkasylummusic@gmail.com (ninetwelve) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 03:45:00 +0000

We're designing a zombie-tee. Need an artist ;) Now accepting submissions! Contact for more info.

n00z

darkasylummusic@gmail.com (ninetwelve) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 01:27:00 +0000

So whats going on here at DAM?

Well we're currently mixing AS LOVE TURNS GREY- the debut EP from cyberpunk group VIKTIM fronted by lunatic Eddie Threat. We love Eddie, we also fear him. Don't be surprised if years later when VH1 does the "Behind the Music" for us we reveal we agreed to put out Viktim because he threatened us.

Just kidding- Viktim has been a mainstay of the scene around here for over seven years. They made it ok for the rest of us to play brewpubs. Eddie Threat has done a LOT for philly - goth and I'm fucking excited to have his raw tracks to mix before the rest of you!

Want a taste ? Check our videos, or our youtube channel: http://www.darkasylummusic.com has the link! The promotional video for As Love Turns Grey featuring Except You! And a shitload of gore.

Also we're working on a new project. Secret tho :) We'll announce when its ready!

What else is in the works? The Broken Heart digi-single by Immaculate Romance is upcoming after Viktim, followed by the IR CD Single. Then we'll be courting a few other projects. At the very least another digital compilation featuring My Parasites, Syrenn Music and Dj Dicepticon (no one's told him yet, so if you are his friend break the news ok?)

Short List of things to look forward to in 2009:
VIKTIM - As Love Turns Grey
Immaculate Romance - The Broken Heart Digital Single
Immaculate Romance - The Breaking CD EP
Dark Asylum Music Ghoul Party Volume 2
and more surprises!

Vacation over ?

darkasylummusic@gmail.com (ninetwelve) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:48:00 +0000

So we took the mandatory two weeks off after Halloween!

And in that time got a lot of work done and decided on a few big things!

We'll have an announcement about that soon as we get the graphics up to celebrate it. But I figure this new development is to "Dark Asylum Music" what "SEND MORE COPS" is to "Return of the Living Dead"

Also Skinny Puppy was in town today and I got my Vinyl copy of DIG IT signed! FUCK YES!

Halloween 2009, TEH AWEZUM!!!

darkasylummusic@gmail.com (ninetwelve) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:28:00 +0000

Everyone seems to have been in the spirit this year! Maybe its the recession and the horror movie revival going on lately...

...But the simple pleasure of Halloween seems to have been in great supply this year!

For my part, we released two free albums, got the ball rolling on the label, and definitely had a fantastic weekend.

Carving pumpkins while watching the Halloween series in order. Hard cider and the utlimate ale six pack (Ichabod's Pumpkin brewed Ale, Bealzabuth 13%, Punk'n Ale, a nice Pumpkin Stout, Smuttynose... you name it!). Baked pumpkin seeds. We got the wedding website up and running (autumn themed of course!), played a big show in New york @ SMACK! Fetish, came home and spent all day brewin' up a Halloween Feast:

If you want the recipe for ANY of these let me know, I'm writing a Spooky cook book!

Course 1: Vampire Soup + Bat Toast

Course 2: Pumpkin Ravioli from Scratch

Course 3: Hard Cider, Pumpkin Chicken, Carrots, Potatoes, cooked onions!

Dessert: Pumpkin Pie, Candy Corn, Halloween Cake.

A great year, and thanks to all of you who Haunt our cities and keep this spirit alive!

Also we discovered why Halloween is the best holiday. You don't have to see your family and there is candy.

Two weeks off, then we start planning for next year. Who's ready?

Cream of Bean + DAM In the News

darkasylummusic@gmail.com (ninetwelve) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 05:17:00 +0000

To celebrate our article in the local paper: http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20091016/GETPUBLISHED/910160375/-1/getpublished/Free-Halloween-Treat-from-Dark-Asylum

We cooked up a batch of a nice harvest Recipe, cream of black bean soup!

Ingredients:

1 Can Black Beans

2 Tbs Butter or margarine

1 Cube Chicken Bouillon

2 Cups water

1 Cup milk / creamer

2 tbs herbs of choice.

½ tbs salt

Serves 4

Fill medium saucepan with 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Place cube of bouillon, butter and black beans into saucepan and heat until bouillon is dissolved. Lower heat and add milk, herbs and salt. Stir for 3-4 minutes. Serve hot!

Enjoy our CREAM OF BLACK BEAN soup with a nice cold IPA. I suggest http://www.smuttynose.com

Use black bean soup as an appetizer for rustic chicken and serve with Smuttynose barleywine!

Rebel Without a Clause - Our Manifesto

darkasylummusic@gmail.com (ninetwelve) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:54:00 +0000

Its a full time battle just trying to stand on your own two feet as a musician. Today's world is built on especially loose footing as a generation of end users are growing up with the idea that paying for music is completely optional.

Heck, even those of us who remember the scratch of a fresh needle on vinyl were dubbing cassettes and investing in CD-R drives before anyone had even heard of Peer to Peer- still someone somewhere in that original chain had to purchase media. For every bootleg there existed at least one soundscan sale. And back in the days of tape deck to tape deck hi-speed dubbing we still had significant generational degeneration.

Even as the Music Industry sand castle started to crumble, our 56k modems limited our Mpegs to lower bitrates and websites could only offer short soundbytes without prohibitive bandwith issues.

However now as high speed internet and terrabite drives are devouring record sales, bit torrent websites have replaced record stores.

The RIAA's heavy handed lawsuits are not the answer. They simply sour people on artists and labels even further and create an atmosphere of antagonism. The sad truth is that technology is what made music an industry and technology has technology has imploded that industry.

Now the issue of paying for music, even for hi definition audiophiles, is a choice. Do I choose to support an artist or not to?

When I decided to start running Dark Asylum as a label and not just a yearly haunted attraction project I knew I'd be contending with the attitude of convenience in a less than ideal economy.

The label and our music is small enough that we don't have to worry too heavily about bootlegging. In six years of providing haunted orchestral music to individuals and industry events I've never once lost a sale to downloads.

That being so I am uniquely advantaged that I have the freedom to offer Dark Asylum's music as a choice. While many labels are scrambling to retain rights to their music and license it out to TV or Movies or whatever else might get a quick buck- I don't see that as a long term answer. My basic premise is to offer free music.

The albums we have are great and have been proven so in numerous haunted attractions and homes for half a decade. Rue Morgue hailed our debut release as, "A strange and subtle stroll through the audible darklands... Suitably foreboding and never panders to cliche."

So we're going to keep it simple, respect our fanbase and respect the new market.

We're going to release free music and pay music. An equal mix of both.

In that spirit- we're releasing our first free albums this year directly to Haunt Industry amateurs and professionals. Halloween is where we got our start and where we keep our heart (we keep other people's in the freezer though).

If anyone deserves a break its Haunters who understand the idea of thankless effort and shoestring budgets. So enjoy MIDNIGHT, dark asylum's free release for Haunted Attractions.

http://www.darkasylummusic.com/buy.html

Download it, play it, share it. Its yours. As my first record said:

"UNAUTHORIZED DUPLICATION IS INEVITABLE."

Happy Haunting!

Dark Asylum Remix

darkasylummusic@gmail.com (ninetwelve) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:58:00 +0000

If you don't already know, The Wired are a Philadelphia band that Dark Asylum Music simply loves. They have a kitchy blend of industrial, metal, trip hop and.... well the best way to describe them is Dark Electronic Music.

We were pleased when Dark Asylum was given a remix kit for "Miserable World" and decided to approach it in true spooky fashion and do a simple chamber music version of their downtempo triphop track.

They are releasing a single soon and we've been told they like the orchestral version of their track enough to include! Hooray! So... keep your eyes peeled for "Miserable World" and the Dark Asylum version of it!

Meanwhile, feel free to download any of our free halloween albums! The season draws near!!

CATALOG! Up and running! NEW DVDs & CDs!

darkasylummusic@gmail.com (ninetwelve) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 05:45:00 +0000

We've finally made our entire catalog available for purchase online! This includes ghastly horror soundtracks for your haunting needs this Halloween, horror-ebm band NINETWELVE's debut release and a creepy assortment of custom made DVD's!

Albums:

Various Artists Ghoul Party 2009
- Free Download!

Dark Asylum's The Terror Cycle
- Out of Print
- Less than 10 REmain

Dark Asylum's Malice
- Out of Print
- Less Than 50 Copies Remain!

Dark Asylum's House of Tears
- Out of Print
- Less than 60 Copies Remain!

Dark Asylum's Midnight
- Free Download! Coming soon!

Ninetwelve's American Zombie

Videos: 3 1/2 Hour Continuous Play DOUBLE FEATURES! Just like a real drive in! Vintage clips from the 60's and 70's as well as ambiant sound effects! Its like you're really there!

Drive In Double Feature Volume 1 - DRIVE IN DOUBLE FEATURE VOLUME 1: The Ghost / Bloody Pit of Horror
Drive: In Opening
Spookshow Reel
Trailer: Kill Baby Kill
Trailer: Dracula's Daughter
Trailer: Frankenstein 1970
Trailer: Prehistoric Women / The Devil's Own
Drive In: Radio Active
Feature One: The Ghost
INTERMISSION (10 Minutes)
Short: Casper The Friendly Ghost
Short: The Cobweb Hotel
Feature Two: The Bloody Pit of Horror
Drive In: Goodnight

Drive In Double Feature Volume 2 -DRIVE IN DOUBLE FEATURE VOLUME 2: Invasion of the Bee Girls / The Amazing Two Headed Transplant
Drive In: Opening
Spookshow Reel
Drive In: Coming Attractions Trailer: Black Sabbath
Trailer: Curse of the Werewolf
Trailer: Cannibal Girls
Trailer: Scream and Scream Again
Drive In: Save Free TV (Monsters!)
Feature One: Invasion of the Bee Girls
INTERMISSION (10 Minutes)
Short: Phillips Shaver Nightmare
Short: Private SNAFU's Booby Traps
Feature Two: The Amazing Two Headed Transplant
Drive In: Goodnight

Drive In Double Feature Volume 3 - DRIVE IN DOUBLE FEATURE VOLUME 3: Grave of the Vampire / The Terror
Drive: Saftey
Spookshow Reel
Drive In: Coming Attractions Trailer: Lady Frankenstein
Trailer: Driller Killer
Trailer: Prehistoric Women / The Devil's Own (BW)
Trailer: I Bury the Living
Drive In: The Ratings System
Feature One: Grave of the Vampire
INTERMISSION (10 Minutes)
Short: Betty Boop: Minnie the Moocher
Short: Felix the Cat: Ghost Break (Silent)
Feature Two: The Terror
Drive In: Goodnight

New Store and SOUP!

darkasylummusic@gmail.com (ninetwelve) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:26:00 +0000

So hell is conspiring against me to prevent me from getting my store up on time!

Yesterday I had a fresh cup of coffee, three extra hours free and some cash in my pocket for a redbulll should the need arrise (from the grave?).

But... the finace, Dracula bless her, insisted we put anew cieling up in the art studio we're building her. So, 3 planks of drywall and fun with a power drill later we're starved and tired.

What better time to convince my Lady Frankenstein to try .... red peppers. She hates them! But I was determined to use the new recipe I got fro Recipe.com for VAMPIRE SOUP. Sounds perfectly Ghoul-ash doesn't it?

Anyway, a trip to the liquore store and grocery later we return with:

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus additional for pans
4 pounds red bell peppers, cored, halved lengthwise and seeded
2 medium onion, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2-1/2 cups hot chicken or vegetable broth
1-1/2 cups half-and-half
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Sounds good already I know! Well just follow this 2 step process (?! MORE LIKE TEN!) and you'll have some good eatinn'.

1. Preheat broiler and arrange rack 5 to 6 inches from heat. Lightly oil 2 shallow baking pans. Arrange bell pepper halves, in a single layer, in pans. Broil, turning occasionally, until edges are charred, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a blender.
2. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over moderate heat. Add onion and garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Transfer to blender, add broth and puree until smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids). Transfer mixture to a large saucepan; whisk in 2-1/2 cups water and the half-and-half. Heat over moderate heat, whisking occasionally, until hot, about 5 minutes. Stir in vinegar; salt and pepper to taste.
3. Ladle soup into mugs and serve with bat toasts.

Diabolicly delicious!

Well she tries a cup. I've surprised her enough times with my dishes that she went out on a limb.

And she agrees. This is now the first course in our upcoming HALLOWEEN HARVEST feast.

So far our meal is as follows:

Vampire Soup with Bat Toast.
Pumpkin Ravioli with butter and nutmeg served with fall wine.
Pumpkin Chicken over brown rice served with onoins, potatos and hot apple cider.
Spiced wafers and pumpkin mousse with an autumn ale for desert.
Monster Martini's into the night!

I'll probably try to include a few classic Halloween games in there. I'm planning the evening to be like the old Halloween parties of the 20's when Halloween was mostly an adults holiday.

Dinner, drinks and games!

Oh but yeah- between impromtu construction and a night of enjoying our harvest food my plans to update the Dark Asylum store and Tag all the new free music died.

HOWEVER TONIGHT IT WILL RISE LIKE DRACULA FROM THE TOMB.

and by midnight you'll all have something to enjoy!

Happy Haunting kiddies.

Big Things for Dark Asylum! FREE CD? DVD?

darkasylummusic@gmail.com (ninetwelve) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:32:00 +0000

Well well.

Last night the Mrs. and I enjoyed my new recipe, Pumpkin Chicken with Rice. It was delicious! So much so that I've shared the recipe here (See yesterday's blog). A good "harvest meal" like that really gets the orange blood flowing! Tonight I'm being less creative and using recipe.com's grymmore for Vampire Soup! Should be delicious and a good appetizer for the Cider and Wafer desert (and isn't that what its all about?)

Anyway, creep cuisine aside... I have two announcements.

First, Next Week I'll be releasing Dark Asylum's MIDNIGHT, a full length album for home haunters. A chillingly crafted assortment of orchestral tracks to embellish *any* home haunt.

This album is free for all to download and enjoy- however I ask that only HOME AND HOBBY haunters use it without express permission. This is a gift to the home haunt enthusiets! Keeping with the Dark Asylum tradition though- this album is of course also free to use for commercial haunts- I simply ask that they link back to Dark Asylum on their webspace, a little bit of code that I can even provide for you! (Beat that!)

The second is that my fiancee was sick all week and so to cheer her up I started putting together Drive in Video compilations... Using public domain footage, trailers and movies I strung together a full Drive iN experience from the first welcoming reel, to intermission and short features, complete with the light sound of 'outdoor crowds' getting popcorn and if you listen closely ... a projector running somewhere in the distance! Yes even vintage advertisements for the next spookshow coming to town! There are currently four DVD's running roughly 3 and a 1/2 hours each. Next week these DVD's will be available for purchase at the price of 10 dollars, or 15 for the special edition "Halloween in a Box" (Comes with your Drive In Double Feature, a Dark Asylum CD for haunting your home, and pop corn!).

>:) So how do you get one free? We'll a contest is in the works... and let me promise you it will be dastardly!

Ok everyone,

Happy Haunting! Keep your eyes peeled for MIDNIGHT free download!

GHOUL PARTY STILL AVAILABLE ONLINE FREE FOR THIS HALLOWEEN SEASON!

Pumpkin Chicken Recipe! EXCLUSIVE!

darkasylummusic@gmail.com (ninetwelve) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:40:00 +0000

2 1lb Chicken Breasts
1 Green Onion
1 Tbs Nutmeg
1/2 Tbs Cinnamon
1 Pinch Clove
1/2 tbs Cilantro
1/2 Tbs Salt
3/4 Cup Pumpkin (from a can)
1 Cube Chicken Bouillon
1 Potato
1 Cup Rice
2 tbs Olive or Vegetable Oil

Fill a large pot with four cups of water and quarter potato. Place potato and chicken bouillon in pot over HIGH heat (let the potato and bullion mix with the water as it comes to a boil).

While the water is coming to a boil, half each chicken breast so you have four strips. Salt and pepper to taste- set aside. Chop onion and set aside.

Mix Nutmeg, Cilantro, Cinnamon, Clove, Salt and pumpkin in a bowl and wisk until smooth. Set aside.

As pot comes to a boil- Heat oil, chicken and onions in a pan while preheating oven to 350F.

Turn chicken while simmering until it is no longer pink. Add contents of bowl and place in oven. Cook for 20-25 minutes.

When water from the pot is half boiled away, remove potato and add to contents of oven, add one cup rice and cook for 20-25 minutes.

The rice and chicken should both finish at the same time-

Place strips of chicken on rice with pumpkin sauce on them.

Drain the pan and add pumpkin sizzled onions to rice.

Serve hot with hot apple cider!

Video Asylum

darkasylummusic@gmail.com (ninetwelve) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:20:00 +0000

So without much Ado we rather amateurishly pieced together some videos to go along with Ghoul Party 2009!

Cut together from some of our favorite horror movies and trailers, these 10 videos are the start of our YOUTUBE CHANNEL!

So please, enjoy GHOUL PARTY 2009 with some chilling and macabre imagery and get october started RIGHT!

http://www.youtube.com/user/darkasylummusic

Also GHOUL PARTY is STILL a free LP for your haunting needs! Side 1 Features dance music from Goth Industrial to Coldwave, perfect for purtried parties or rotting romps!

Side 2 is your instant Haunted House, featuring dark orchestral moods and sounscapes to send shivers down your spine!

Dark Asylum ROMANCE?

darkasylummusic@gmail.com (ninetwelve) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 07:50:00 +0000

Today the fiance was sick, so I made her a DVD (: It starts out with a 'welcome to our drive in' proceeds with a 30 second 'spook show' spot, 4 trailers, a brief word about how to tune your radio in to the movie, The Ghost, intermission, two animated shorts, Bloody Pit of Horror and a farewell from the management. Added a projector reel sound and light 'outdoor crowd' sounds. Photoshopped a double bill DVD cover too!

GHOUL PARTY 2009 FREE DOWNLOAD

darkasylummusic@gmail.com (ninetwelve) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 01:10:00 +0000

FREE! 2009! "GHOUL PARTY" a terrifying romp through our catalog of haunting industrial and chilling orchestral music! Presented in TWO PARTS! Side A featuring sound effects and vintage horror trailers is a dance-driven pre-mixed halloween dance album PERFECT for putrified parties and ghoulish gatherings! Side B is a mix of orhcestral horror to send shivers down your spine! Perfect for home haunts and scaring your mother! Download this free Halloween Album RIGHT NOW and enjoy 40 minutes of free ghastly sounds!

Track List:

Leave Now! (Grim Introduction)

Halloween (Dance band Immaculate Romance covers the Misfits Classic!)

Tenebrae (ninetwelve takes a STAB at goblin's earie theme to Argento's post modern horror masterpiece!)

I'll Put A Spell On You (Immaculate Romance screams and cries their way through this voodoo inspired seasonal staple!)

Madre D'Tenebrae (ninetwelve remixees Mother of Darkness with shades of Suspiria!)

Bela Lugosi's Dead (coldwave band VIKTIM explores their Gothic roots with Bauhaus' breakthrough track Bela Lugosi's Dead!)

Midnight (Haunting orchestral music by Dark Asylum)

Giallo (Michael Pallante creates a theme song to an imaginary Giallo movie!)

Risen (Dark Asylum tries to raise the dead with this eerie selection!)

Sinfonia Giallo! (an EPIC ten minute medley of Italian horror themes drawing mainly on the work of Goblin and Fabio Frizzi, dedicated in loving memory to Lucio Fulci. FULCI LIVES!)

Enjoy ten tracks of pure terror for FREE this Halloween! LISTEN IF YOU DARE!

Scar Stuff Tribute

darkasylummusic@gmail.com (ninetwelve) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:18:00 +0000

With the exception of @ZombiePumpkins and perhaps Rob Zombie- no one else has fueled our love of Halloween and monsters quite like Jason from http://scarstuff.blogspot.com/

He shared his needledrop collection of vintage halloween and horror records have been a great source of nostaligia and inspiration over the years and indeed were my inspiriation to collect and then create Halloween music in the old tradition.

Though his two home made compilations Ghoul-A-Rama and Spook Party have simply floored me. Not only are they a brilliant collection of bizzare, obscure and timeless halloween themed music but the mixing, while admitedly sometimes misguided, of sound effects, horror trailers and rain... lots of rain, its ghastly, ghoulish and outright.... Great.

So its with a hat tipped to http://scarstuff.blogspot.com/ that I reveal that the Halloween 2009 Sampler will take the form of Ghoul A Rama and Spook Party- a mixture of original tunes and sound effects with public domain horror trailers and some very odd and obscure recordings from my own archives.

So, keep your eyes peeled thursday! And for some of you I'm assuming that's literall. A little bit of background music while you wait for latex to dry comin' at you!

Happy Halloween

Pictures from Electric Control!

darkasylummusic@gmail.com (ninetwelve) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:51:00 +0000

Check out our for pictures of EDDIE THREAT Djing at Raver Jim's new night ELECTRIC CONTROLL! Another free event with great drink specials.

And of course... New Wave era Ministry!

Special Treat this Halloween

darkasylummusic@gmail.com (ninetwelve) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:16:00 +0000

And no we're not talking about Mrs Dark Asylum's candy corn cookies.

Nor are we talking about the free show at Digital Ferret in Philadelphia PA featuring associate artist Syrenn at which those cookies shall be served!

Midnight, the free home Haunt EP from flagship act Dark Asylum, will be available at midnight 10.9.09.

Maybe its the Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale (official beer of Dark Asylum Music) warming my heart, or the fact that we got our first whiff of rotting leaves here in the City of Brotherly Dismemberment... but I'm so overtaken with the Halloween Spirit (No, not a subsidiary of Spencer Gifts LLC) that I'm going to start this journey off right and release the Halloween 2009 Party Sampler free as well.

While I'd love to say that this is entirely out of love for the season and excitement over the label's initial offerings- there's a more fundamental issue at play here.

Part of Dark Asylum's mission statement is to offer music in a way that reflects listening habits. Instead of fighting against technology and the economy in the name of profit margins (not that we don't HAVE them per say) we are choosing to respect our listeners and fans.

Music is a service- not a product.

Therefore we are looking to serve the community as well as represent our artists. And frankly I believe strongly in our artists and the music they represent and my first duty is to get you all listening to them! So, download, share, play at your haunt or party, bring it to the clubs or to the cornfields-

Technology is what made music an industry and technology shall return it to a the craft it once was. Bach was paid to write music- but he never sold manuscripts or liscensed oratorios.

Perhaps this was a little more than you bargained for- back to the spooky next post I promise!

Halloween 2009 Preview!

darkasylummusic@gmail.com (ninetwelve) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:12:00 +0000

Four tracks from the 2009 sampler ranging from moody orchestral haunt music to all out dance savagery available NOW!

Tenebrae - ninetwelve: A coldwave reinterpretation of Goblin's classic main title from Dario Argento's famed Giallo TENEBRE. A timeless and creepy dirge with a polyrhythmic breakdown that is as haunting as it is unforgettable. Certain to turn a few heads at any costume party, especially if Raegan is there.

I'll Put A Spell On You - Immaculate Romance: A dance floor friendly of Screamin Jay Hawkins' infamous breakthrough hit. Steeped in rumors and suggestions of occult origins, I'll Put A Spell On You is essential to any collection of creepy tunes. With an orchestral climax to chill even the most rotted rockin' bones Immaculate Romance's debut track is guaranteed to make you shiver!

Midnight - Dark Asylum: The title track from Dark Asylum's upcoming free Halloween EP for home haunters. Its lulling tune and dynamic swells suggest a graveyard at midnight where your mind may or may not be playing tricks on you.

Risen - Dark Asylum: Also from Dark Asylum's free EP, Risen continues the theme of rising undead, as in the cemetery ghouls exit tombs and pound on the walls of their crypts. This eerie set piece rises and falls in dissonant calamity until finally overtaking you in sheer terror- Terror of the LIVING DEAD!

Enjoy this preview of our first release coming in October!

First Tracks of 2009! On the myspace.

darkasylummusic@gmail.com (ninetwelve) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:07:00 +0000

Ok! Today we finally got 4 new tracks uploaded, we have:

While we get our flash player working, you can preview them at MYSPACE !

Tenebrae by ninetwelve (http://www.ninetwelveband.com).

I Put A Spell On You (Immaculate Romance)

and two Dark Asylum tracks, Midnight and Rise.

These will all be appearing on our initial release, Dark Asylum's Halloween 2009, hopefully that'll be the first of many to come!

Look for more tracks in the coming weeks (: and for now enjoy this art:

Music Today!

darkasylummusic@gmail.com (ninetwelve) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Spent the weekend mixing, sadly didn't make it out to Eastern State Penn.
The benefit of this is tonight we're going to be posting a few tracks finally!

Everything will be from The Dark Asylum Music 2009 Halloween sampler, any suggestions on a clever title for this series? We aim to release them yearly!

Tonight look for: Dark Asylum's Midnight, Spider's web; Immaculate Romance's I Put A Spell On You, Halloween and a little teaser of this and that!

Work continues on the Dark Asylum free HOME HAUNT EP, still looking for feedback on how exactly to work the content! Suggestions encouraged!

The "Great Work" Continues!

darkasylummusic@gmail.com (ninetwelve) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:41:00 +0000

So we're taking a break from the Halloween 2009 sampler production and possibly hitting up Eastern State Penetentary this weekend! Nothing like a classic haunt for inspiration- though I'd rather take the historic tour. Its such a beautiful building that it doesn't need the dressing up though.... 13 Rooms is a fantastic haunt.

Anyway! We did a remix of a song by cyber/metal band VIKTIM in exchange for use of Bela Lugosi's Dead on the sampler. That'll be available soon we hope!

And now the big puzzle- the free halloween EP! We're looking to put out six tracks for halloween with a common theme. And we want to know exactly WHAT DOES A HAUNTER LOOK FOR IN A SOUNDTRACK? there are a myriad of Halloween albums out there... from heavy metal to cartoonish kids disks for parties.

Do we put out different 'scenes' ? Sound effects? Moody orchestral? Victorian orchestral? Rock?

Anyway! The dark asylum catalog is being remastered before Halloween. And production continues on our first release for this season.

Whats next? We'll be putting out Immaculate Romance's The Breaking in time for valentines hopefully! goth / dance And Spooky (:

Links to all this great music soon to come! The

darkasylummusic@gmail.com (ninetwelve) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 04:29:00 +0000

Uploaded some edits of the first pictures! somehow this will translate into the album art for halloween 2009 which will be a mix of orchesral, spooky and dance versions of classic songs.

A preliminary track list for this party-friendly halloween CD:

Midnight (Dark Asylum, Orchestral)

Bela Lugosi's Dead (VIKTIM, dance / Industrial )

Halloween (Immaculate Romance, dance / goth )

Tenebrae (ninetwelve, dance / industrial )

I Put A Spell On You (Immaculate Romance, dance / goth )

Mother of Darkness (Suspiria Remix) (ninetwelve, dance / goth)

Giallo (ninetwelve, goth)

Spider's Web (Dark Asylum, orchestral)

And more to come!

Our first album cover!

darkasylummusic@gmail.com (ninetwelve) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:19:00 +0000

Did a photoshoot today and got some good images for Dark Asylum Music's Halloween 2009! Available soon!

Posting the pics by the end of the evening hopefully!