Strange House
I’m a DJ by trade. Maybe you know this but if you don’t then I’ll tell you. I’m a DJ by trade and DJs are peculiar folks because they begin to see the world the way a painter sees a palette. So if the painter’s canvas is the conduit for his perception of the world then this site, The Whiskey Dregs, is mine and I have to admit… things have been a little bright and sunny lately (I blame it on summer). Consider this next entry the written backspin for something a bit darker. If the the Dregs have been Shaun of the Dead lately then this entry is the Night of the Living Dead or Cannibal Holocaust as performed by Barnum and Bailey’s Circus. If you haven’t heard The Horrors’ Strange House then it’s likely anything I previously wrote won’t mean anything but if you haveheard this fantastic post-punk, rockabilly showdown between King Kong and Baron Samdi then you get the mood I’m in.
The Horrors released this seminal effort, Strange House in 2007, quietly, or not so quietly, developing their legion of fans, raiding their ears with pointy daggers, fangs, and curled rotting fingers. Naturally I love this album. It’s a cartoon world of mayhem, murder, and fun in the vein of ’60s garage music and classic horror films. Ed Wood would have loved this album. Bela Lugosi not so much. The Horrors helped to reanimate goth and post-punk horror, which began with this album — well that’s not entirely true because they released an EP before then but I digress. It is no wonder why so many disappointed fans burned their already classic album, Primary Colours since the cause was abandoned by this band of pariahs.
If you miss Halloween, haunted houses, and getting sick of the sunlight as I am, then rediscover this, re-listen to it, reanimate your insides with this album. Apologies in advance for the cheesy horror references but I’m missing Elvira and bats and skulls and poison candy and graves. Soon enough, my friends. Soon enough.
Key/Killer tracks
+ “Horrors’ Theme”
+ “Sheena Was A Parasite” (admittedly not one of my faves but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention it)
+ “A Train Roars” (This one is a helluva steady anchor for the album)
+ Truly…the whole album is key and killer.
