RockOm

This week, considering that it's Halloween and all, we've decided to share with you articles about the darker side of music, death, and all that is frightening and spooky. After all, part of spirituality is dealing with and coming to grips with death, so we wanted to help provide you with some musical inspiration for your Halloween weekend.

Below that we've also included our normal RockOm Roundup links, all that's going on around the world in the areas of song and spirit...

Halloween Roundup

• A Halloween Playlist: The Scariest Albums Of All Time - "I've created a list of the scariest albums ever made. It wasn't easy (seriously, I could've included every black-metal album ever made or Avril Lavigne's The Best Damn Thing), but rather than focus on visceral screams, I went for ephemeral chills. These are psychological thrillers — dense, raw, positively horrifying albums, guaranteed to turn your Halloween into a total fright-fest." (mtv.com)

• Scary songs to put a shiver in your Halloween party - "It’s Halloween and time for some scary songs – and, no, I don’t mean Bobby 'Boris' Pickett’s 'Monster Mash.' I mean really scary songs. Here are 20, arranged chronologically, that’ll give you the chills..." (leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com)

• Slayer to stream entire new album on MySpace Music for Halloween weekend - "Thrash legends Slayer will take over MySpace's Music portal this Halloween weekend to promote their upcoming album, World Painted Blood." (examiner.com)

• What are the scariest rock songs ever?- "Aside from the truly frightening new release by the Backstreet Boys or Bob Dylan's new Christmas album, what are the scariest rock songs to tingle your spine and rattle your senses?" (blog.mlive.com)

Miscellaneous Music & Spirituality Links

• The RZA: Hip-Hop's Prophet - "In his new book, Tao of the Wu, RZA tells the story of his own rise, from the streets of Staten Island to the top of the hip-hop world. He describes the lessons he learned about life, music and spirituality--many of them hard--in the simple, elegant prose of a hip-hop poet." (pbs.org)

• Bruce Almighty - "Springsteen saved me when I was a suburban Cleveland teenager, bored and unconsciously seeking fever and fire. My mom advised channeling that desire into the Catholic Church by praying more. 'Mass is what you bring to it,' she said." (philly.org)

• What makes music beautiful? Alfred Brendel knows - "Interpreters should never assume that understanding the structure of a work might automatically give them insight into the work’s character, atmosphere and spiritual state." (artsblog.freedomblogging.com)

• Sting: Obama best person to handle world's 'mess'- Sting says, "My hope is that we can start talking about real issues and not caring about whether God cares about your hemline or your color ... We are here to evolve as one family, and we can't be separate anymore." (news.yahoo.com)

RockOm Round-up is a quick glance at what's going on around the world in the areas of music and spirituality...

• A Talk With Regina Spektor: Jay-Z, Her Beloved New Musical, and Spirituality on Far - "Some of your listeners have said that your latest album, Far, had too many religious undertones for their liking, and some have even called it 'preachy'. As a listener myself, I feel your references are just drawn from your philosophies, maybe related to your background or to myths and stories that you enjoy. What are your thoughts on this? (consequenceofsound.net.com)

• Holy headbangers - "Hellish images fly out the window when you hear Celestial Portal screaming about 'breaking free' and 'choosing the light'. Blood Covenant looks like it walked right out of LaVey's The Satanic Bible but actually growls about the New Testament."(timesofindia.com)

• Creed Comes Back: Who Still Believes? - "Lyrically, Creed resembles a platitudinous version of U2, indulging in spiritual, religious themes. Sometimes those lyrics get spectacularly vapid..." (kansascity.com)

• Exclusive: Cory Chisel On His Breakout Album - A very cool article and interview with last week's RockOm Featured Track of the Week artist, Cory Chisel (huffingtonpost.com)

RockOm Round-up is a quick glance at what's going on around the world in the areas of music and spirituality...

• The crazy life of Courtney Love - "[Courtney] has rediscovered Buddhism, reclaimed all the friends who care about her, been compulsive with her music and redirected her neurosis into songs. So when she talks about being saved (as she often does), does she mean financially, physically or psychologically?" (timesonline.co.uk)

• Christian music singer Jeremy Camp finds comfort in new album - "Grief touched the family of singer-songwriter Jeremy Camp last month when his wife, Adie, suffered a miscarriage... A song from his latest album -- written more than a year earlier -- brought a new sense of comfort to Camp. 'There Will Be A Day,' a ballad that promises a day with no more tears or pain..." (mlive.com)

• God said, “Rock!”: 8 artists who left secular music for God, then returned - The title says it all. A great article featuring Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens, Al Green and more... (avclub.com)

RockOm Round-up is a quick glance at what's going on around the world in the areas of music and spirituality...

• What music would you choose to die to? - "Ghoulish question, I know, but someone asked me the other day and I keep wondering. The concept of music to die to was introduced to me as a child by Gervase Hughes’s essay on Beethoven in his book Fifty Famous Composers, still the best short introduction to classical music." (blogs.telegraph.co.uk)
• Derek Webb's new album pushes some hot buttons - "Some have accused [Christian Musician] Webb of using profanity to grab attention — not unheard of in ministry. Webb defends the use of the word as an effective use of his primary tool: language. And he's willing to be at the center of controversy, something the former Caedmon's Call member is used to." (kentucky.com)
• American and Muslim, Sufi mystics band goes global - "With a discombobulating mix of blonde hair and ecstatic cries of "Allah, Allah!", the members of Islamic band Debu sway on stage at a strip mall on the edge of Indonesia's capital. Led by a clutch of American siblings, the band of adherents of Sufi Islamic mysticism have become a perennial hit during the holy month of Ramadan here in the world's largest Muslim-majority country." (Google/AFP)
• Hip-hop innovator Russell Simmons seeks world change - "Russell Simmons may not change the world single-handedly, but it sure looks like he's trying. At 51, the hip-hop pioneer, entrepreneur and philanthropist has opened his wallet to causes from funding art and meditation in schools to promoting Muslim/Jewish dialogue to empowering youth to create social and political change in their communities." (chron.com)
• "George Harrison of Counting Crows" Releases Solo Album - "Counting Crows founding member and longtime bassist Matt Malley describes his first solo CD, 'The Goddess Within,' as 'intentionally Beatle-esque.' 'I was always considered the 'George Harrison of Counting Crows,'' Malley said. 'I was always flying off to India to meditate and learn Indian music during breaks from touring or recording. This is the result.'" (reuters.com)

RockOm Round-up is a quick glance at what's going on around the world in the areas of music and spirituality...

• Leonard Cohen's Temple of Doom - "Yes, [musician Leonard] Cohen has just reached the pinnacle of stardom as a senior citizen who is in the midst of a vast world tour. It almost didn't happen, because the tower of song retired in his 60s to become a Buddhist monk. 'Religion is my favourite hobby,' he told Elena Comelli. 'It's deep and voluptuous -- a pure delight. Nothing is comparable to the delight you get from this activity. Apart, obviously, from courting. If you are a young man, that is the more amusing activity.'" (bookslut.com)
• Altz is Gott for Jewish rapper Eprhyme - "Here's what it's not about: cute Yiddish puns, bar mitzvah kitsch, Manischewitz cocktails, or the novelty of a Jewish 'insert unexpected form' (rap, reggae, whatever) star. Here's what it does seem to be about: post-sacred-cow radical pluralism, pantheism, religious consciousness fused with social action, and an uncompromising and unimpressed blend of urban forms and neo-Hasidic spirituality." (haaretz.com)
• Call of the Valley - Pandit Shivkumar Sharma says, "Indian classical music has a spiritual connect. Exploring ideas musically gives me a high. For example, my album ‘Zen’ owes itself to my reading of Osho’s philosophy..." (hindu.com)
• Music Speaks Louder Than Words - "Music is simply that which invites us to remember we are never separate or alone and that we have far more in common with our earth family than we have differences." (toacorn.com)

RockOm Round-up is a quick glance at what's going on around the world in the areas of music and spirituality...

• Lady Gaga Tones Image Down In Israel For 'Spiritual Experience' - "Nine-time MTV Video Music Award nominee Lady Gaga isn't one to keep her fashion choices muted nor her hyper-honest, often provocative statements to herself. But when the songstress touched down in the Holy Land, she seemed to have a change of heart." (mtv.com)
• Remixing Mother India for a new generation - "A distilled version of [the 1957 classic film] Mother India, rescored by a DJ, was screened in London on Saturday to mark the 62nd anniversary of India's independence." (guardian.co.uk)
• Christian Musicians Remember Guitar Legend Les Paul - "With the news last week that guitar legend Les Paul passed away at age 94, I asked a couple of Christian musicians to share some thoughts on the man who changed the music industry..." (beliefnet.com)

RockOm Round-up is a quick glance at what's going on around the world in the areas of music and spirituality...

• Wanderlust Festival: Common, Andrew Bird, John Friend and Shiva Rea Rock Out in Squaw Valley - Last week we posted about the Wanderlust Festival. Here's a great follow-up by a blogger at The Huffington Post (huffingtonpost.com)
• Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash on 'Sun Gospel' CD - "It has long been assumed that Sun Records founder Sam Phillips didn't like gospel music because he discouraged his greatest discoveries, including Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash, from recording spiritual music for his Memphis label in the 1950s. But it turns out Phillips loved gospel music -- he just didn't think he could successfully market it in the mid-1950s when his rock and country records were exploding onto the charts." (latimesblog.com)
• The Sacred Elements of Kirtan (with Jai Uttal) - Yoga and chant singer Jai Uttal on "his experience as a kirtan musician and the sacred sounds he brings to the world." (visionmagazine.com)
• Celebrity yogi Madonna shares spiritual awakening in Israeli paper - "Celebrity yogi Madonna is revered as a singer, a dancer and a music idol to some, but for today she will also be known Israeli newspaper correspondent, the below article from Contra Costa Times writes." (examiner.com)

RockOm Round-up is a quick glance at what's going on around the world in the areas of music and spirituality...

• Musicians' country gathering results in "Glory" - Several top Christian artists "gathered in the rural setting to write and record the old-fashioned way. There's no studio clock ticking, no label executives stopping by, just camaraderie and a sense of creative adventure." The result was Glory Revealed II: The Word of God in Worship. (Billboard)
• Rob Thomas' new album explores darker themes - "Rob Thomas' new CD, Cradlesong, reveals a more complex side of the singer: themes of despair, and even death, are explored in various songs." (Yahoo! News)
• Bridge to Zimbabwe: Music gives insight into African culture - "The music of Shona culture is more important than its notes or the rhythms, it is a spiritual device. 'Music is the framework for how you want to worship,' Murungu said. 'It has healing properties and the affect of bringing peace.'" (WickedLocal.com)
• Band spotlight: South Africa's Civil Twilight - A spotlight on the band Civil Twilight whose spiritual lyrics "weave a tale of hope, longing, love and more and are like thought provoking poems set to music." (examiner.com)