KCSU’s Music Directors Mia Templien and Ritika/Ria Janapati know good music. Whether it be 70s folk rock or experimental pop, Mia and Ria are in the crowd dancing along. Their podcast navigates their wide variety of taste and how music from decades past is still relevant today. Join them during their journey in the music department here at KCSU!
Happy October, and happy almost Halloween! The KCSU Music Directors are ecstatic to be beginning their podcast for the 2024-25 school year, and they decided with autumn sneaking in, it’s time for some spooky music recommendations. Mia and Ria breakdown some of their favorite Halloween/eerie music and soundtracks they’ve loved over the years, including Chyna Anne McClain, Oingo Boingo, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Silence of the Lambs.
Like what you’re hearing? Listen to more KCSU podcasts here, on our Spotify at KCSUFM, or anywhere else you get podcasts.
Transcription of episode (provided by Jacob Ruszkowski)
Ria Janapati (Intro)
Hi, I’m Ria Janapati, KCSU’s assistant music director, and you’re listening to the KCSU music podcast. Here at the station, the music department, which consists of Mia Templien and myself, are in charge of the music that hits the airwaves, and it’s our job to bring you our pristine taste. Join us as we navigate the music of Fort Collins and beyond.
Ria Janapati
Hi! This is your music department, I’m Ria.
Mia Templien
I’m Mia.
Ria
And this is our October podcast, Spooky edition!
Mia
We are going to be talking about our favorite Halloween-type albums, songs.
Ria
Yeah, we went with two different approaches, but I think they cover a good amount of the spooky music spectrum.
Mia
Yeah, I went, I went for, like, bigger albums, or I guess I just went with albums in general.
Ria
And I went very much office Halloween party.
Mia
Yeah, which is a vibe that is good.
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
I think that some of my stuff could also apply to that. But you know how it is.
Ria
You know how it is.
Mia
What’s one track to start us off today?
Ria
The first one I’m going to have to mention is a classic from China Anne McClain.
Mia
Okay.
Ria
It’s called “Calling All The Monsters”, and it’s pretty, pretty amazing.
Mia
Pretty amazing.
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
I feel like I always saw that one. I always watched Disney Channel, and they always aired the like-
Ria
The music video?
Mia
The music videos, yeah.
Ria
Where she’s like, going to a Halloween party, and then all the monsters in the mansion start dancing.
Mia
Yeah.
Ria
And she had a feather earring, and it’s pink.
Mia
That is very specific.
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
I noticed that, like, if it’s being played, if they’re like, airing the music video, I’m not choosing to listen to it, but just having watched Disney Channel, you, you’d absorb it.
Ria
Yeah. I also feel that, you know how every Christmas, Mariah Carey comes back for the song.
Mia
She defrosts?
Ria
I feel like this is the China Anne McClain Halloween equivalent.
Mia
Very much so, very much so. That’s good. I feel like, I don’t know, I get very, there’s two vibes that I stick with during, like, autumn, and I think I split them between, like, day and night.
Ria
Ah.
Mia
Because daytime I’m, like, very, very-
Ria
Crisp.
Mia
Yeah! Like, it’s a sunny day, I’m listening like, folksy country like, seventies. Think, like, Crosby, Stills, Nash [& Young], like, America, Jean Clark, like, that kind of vibe. But then the night comes and I am so goth/dark wave/, you know, how would you describe that genre? Like, like The Cure…
Ria
Dark wave is a good way to put it.
Mia
The Smiths. Siouxsie and the Banshees. A little Molchat Doma.
Ria
Yes, I think I put Siouxsie and the Banshees on mine as well.
Mia
Wow!
Ria
But, oh, jumping on that morning idea, I’ll also give a shoutout to “Autumn Leaves” by Cannonball Adderley. That’s a good one. It’s just a jazz song, fully instrumental. But, it’s just so crisp.
Mia
It’s a crisp one.
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
It is. It’s a crisp one.
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
It’s good to have that, like, kind of duality. The duality is very important.
Ria
That truly is your word of the day.
Mia
Duality? I have been saying duality and dilapidated a lot.
Ria
Those D words.
Ria
Me and the D words. I don’t know why, it’s just fun to say. So, I want to pull a couple Halloween type albums, and I realized that these ones are very, like, eighties, like, zolo kind of. Zolo is, like, a, it’s, I always talk about this genre, but it’s, like, a retrospective name for artists that incorporated, like, the sound of, like, West African percussion into their, like, punk, rock, new wave, like electronic tracks. Think like Talking Heads, Devo.
Ria
I was just about to say.
Mia
Very Talking Heads. Very David Byrne. We are two very big David Byrne’s fans-
Ria
Byrnians.
Mia
What did you call us?
Ria
Byrniacs.
Mia
Byrniacs, Byrne Heads.
Ria
Feel the Byrne.
Mia
Yep, Byrne. David Byrne fans.
Ria
We’re Byrnies.
Mia
But another band that fits into that is Oingo Boingo. I heart Oingo Boingo. If I have an opportunity to plug Oingo Boingo, I’m going to do it.
Ria
What’s your favorite thing about Oingo Boingo?
Mia
I enjoy the energy a lot, And I know that, I know that people say that they’re not, they’re not a very serious band, and I think that that’s important to remember.
Ria
Yeah, so? Not everything has to be so serious.
Mia
Truly, truly. Well, I, it’s in the sense that. So the album that I’m talking about on the podcast today is Dead Man’s Party from 1985. Classic, maybe one of their biggest ones. I think my favorite is probably the early 80s, Only A Lad, just because that leads into their more, like, ska-type sound.
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
But they’re just, it’s just very, like, it sounds like music you hear in a haunted house, which I feel, like, is why Danny Elfman, who’s lead singer/main guy in Oingo Boingo, there’s, like, also, Oingo Boingo has, like, eight or nine members, because it’s, like, it’s, like, there’s three trombones, three saxophones. It’s a very brass heavy, brass is also really big in the zolo genre, from what I’ve seen. But Danny Elfman, l, he makes a lot of that very like, he scores all of the Tim Burton movies. So it’s very, like…
Ria
That’s where I know that guy from.
Mia
Like, Beetlejuice, Corpse Bride, like, that kind, Nightmare Before Christmas, you know, that kind of vibe. And so when he did all the stuff in Oingo Boingo, it’s still very reminiscent of that, like, he has, there’s a track on Dead Man’s Party called “Dead Man’s Party”, and it just, it’s so, it feels so free.
Ria
It kind of gives some theatricality to it.
Mia
It does, it does. Like, I just feel like I’m walking through a haunted house, and there’s just singing about skeletons…
Ria
Just feeling like I’m getting chased by a man with a chainsaw.
Mia
He’s like, he’s, like, I got struck by lightning, and then there was a skeleton, and then it was all, the sky was red and oh, and then there’s, like, a really cool saxophone solo for like, two minutes, and then it’s right back into David, like, not David, Danny. Just like Danny, just like-
Ria
Monologuing?
Mia
Monologuing/he kinda of does this, like, yodel, almost.
Ria
Ooh.
Mia
Like, he has a very, like, it’s a very, like, wavery voice. I feel like, when you have, like, new wave, a lot of that. And I know that a lot of bands, side note, I know that a lot of bands feel like they don’t, they didn’t want to be called new wave.
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
But that’s, that’s kind of what they were.
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
The next album I want to talk about-
Ria
You know, I love new wave.
Mia
So yeah. Yeah.
Ria
Be proud.
Mia
I’ve got a Bowie album that I want to talk to, talk about a little bit. But it’s just, it’s like he hated being considered new wave.
Mia
When you say new wave you think like, New Romantics, Duran Duran, like, who?
Ria
Blondie.
Mia
Blondie was very new wave.
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
But Blondie again, could be that, like new romantic kind of sound and like-
Ria
Blondie is new wave.
Mia
Yeah, that’s true.
Ria
B-52’s.
Mia
B-52’s of course, they kind of fit that zolo a bit, I don’t know, though, considerably.
Ria
But, not as much, but I can see it.
Mia
Yeah, just an awesome sound, just something that I really enjoy, new wave, I just, I’m a sucker for synths.
Ria
Yeah, what is, it’s that one band, I forget their name. I think they might just be called Nails. They have that song, “88 Lines About 44 Women”-
Mia
Why does that sound kind of familiar?
Ria
That is what I think of when I think of new wave.
Mia
I’ve never heard that before, I don’t think.
Ria
Oh!
Mia
Is it just, is it just them, like, naming women…
Ria
Kind of-
Mia
And like talking about their traits?
Ria
Each woman gets two-
Ria
Yeah, it’s like, Sarah was a feminist. She really had a gift of gab…
Mia
Yeah.
Ria
Stuff like that and that’s the whole song.
Mia
I feel like I’ve heard that one before.
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
I think I’ve heard about that one.
Ria
It’s fun.
Mia
Maybe it was on my Discover Weekly.
Ria
Perhaps.
Mia
Perhaps it was on my Discovery Weekly-
Ria
Likely place to be.
Mia
Yeah.
Mia
I’ve, me and my Discover Weekly are just, we’re really on a journey together.
Ria
Sometimes it has your back, sometimes it doesn’t.
Mia
Sometimes it will play the absolute worst stuff that I’ve ever heard in my life. And it’s like, you want this. This is the slop that you enjoy.
Ria
Don’t you want me.
Mia
This is what you, this is what you want to hear.
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
That’s another… Human League.
Ria
Human League.
Ria
Yeah. Also, Dead Or Alive.
Mia
I’d say that Dead Or Alive, I feel like Dead Or Alive is kind of, like, a one hit wonder group.
Ria
That’s fair.
Mia
Like, I can’t say that-
Ria
That’s fair.
Mia
I can’t say that there’s any other tracks that I know of.
Ria
For a dollar…
Mia
Soft Cell? Soft Cell.
Ria
That’s also a one hit wonder.
Mia
Pet Shop Boys. Uh-uh,uh-uh.
Ria
I couldn’t name you one other Soft Cell song-
Mia
They have, I feel like, well they’re all covers. They’re all covering songs from like the sixties, from like, The Shirelles, The Creators-
Ria
So a zero hit wonder.
Mia
If you think about it, yeah, I listened to this one song that they had. It was, like, oh, I don’t remember the name of it. Oh, I don’t remember the name of it, but it was one of their songs that they had written of their own accord. And I was, like, guys, guys. This is not, this is not great, unfortunately. So maybe they were better if they stick to, stick to covers.
Ria
All right. More new wave, more new wave. [The] Psychedelic Furs.
Mia
[The] Psychedelic Furs? Yeah, them too. I’m trying to remember the name of the Soft Cell song.
Ria
I’m looking through my-
Mia
Oh! “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” Is the name of the track.
Ria
Never heard of that ever.
Mia
Yeah, it’s not great.
Ria
I’m looking through my Spotify. What they auto-generated for 80’s new wave mix, and some of this is just straight up, not new wave. So that’s fun.
Mia
What’s it giving you?
Ria
They’re giving me Nine Inch Nails.
Mia
They we are kind of, I heard, “Head Like A Hole” the other day…
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
…and I was like, this is a lot sillier sounding than I expected it to be.
Ria
I love that song.
Mia
That’s also a really good way to describe Oingo Boingo. They are silly.
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
They are silly, that is a silly band, silly name.
Ria
But, they are also putting Cocteau Twins, and I’m like, first of all, that gives me firmly 90’s.
Mia
Yeah.
Ria
And also that is, like, dream pop.
Mia
Cocteau’s, they were releasing since, like, ‘81, right?
Ria
Yeah, but I think they’re firmly known.
Mia
Yeah. They lean into that. Which is, there’s a further discussion to be had about genres, about what you want to, what you want to be versus what you want to be presented as.
Ria
One more new, new wave song, I’m going to mention, Eurythmics, “Sweet Dreams”.
Mia
Eurythmics? Yeah.
Ria
That one also is a cover, isn’t it?
Mia
Of “Sweet Dreams”?
Mia
Is it? I don’t think so. Oh yes, yes, yes. Yes.
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
I’m not going to, I’m going to say that with a really suspicious tone.
Ria
Yeah. But also Tears For Fears.
Mia
Tears For Fears. I love Tears For Fears. Their-
Ria
Yeah, me too. Songs From The Big Chair. Just a very, very good album.
Mia
That’s like a perfect album. Another track-
Ria
That one is also another Halloween-y.
Mia
Another track that I got recommended by a fellow DJ at the station, “Sowing The Seeds Of Love” by Tears For Fears. I, Ria and I were going to listen to it. And then I was like…
Ria
Banned me.
Mia
I was like, you can’t, she was like, I’m just gonna listen to it on my own, like, on my own time,and I was like, no, you have to wait ‘til we’re in the same room together and I can play it for you. Because I feel, like, I need to see your reaction, because that one, it goes through a bunch of different phases, and it really, like, I just really-
Ria
Well, I wouldn’t know, because you still haven’t let me listen to it.
Mia
I know, well, someday, someday…
Ria
Sure.
Mia
We’ll listen to it. It’ll be so fantastic and so fun, and you’ll be, like, wow Mia, I’ve it’s like…
Ria
Looking forward-
Mia
It’s like delayed gratification.
Ria
Gulp.
Mia
I imagine you listen to it and you don’t like it.
Ria
That would be really funny.
Mia
I imagine if, like, I’m playing it for you, and you’re looking at me like I’m crazy.
Ria
There’s some, there’s a high chance of that happening.
Mia
Yeah, I want to keep talking about Oingo Boingo, but I feel like we need to add-
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
We need more tracks.
Ria
Yeah, we need to go back to Halloween, so, my turn.
Mia
Happy Halloween!
Ria
I’m also going to give a shout out to the entire, I guess, staying on the theme of theatricality, the entire soundtrack of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Mia
Absolutely.
Ria
Tim Curry, great work from him, just a really fun one, and I remember when I was really little I had to tap dance to “Time Warp”. And looking back, not the most appropriate of movies to be putting the children onto.
Mia
Yeah.
Ria
But, I never had the, like, desire to look up the movie, so it all worked out for the best. But, now I’m a big fan of [The] Rocky Horror [Picture Show] in general. I love how campy it is, and then that also takes me to another spooky musical, Little Shop of Horrors.
Mia
“Little Shop, Little Shop of Horrors”. Are you talking about…
Ria
You could be a dentist.
Mia
Are you talking about the, talking about the movie from the 80’s?
Ria
Yes.
Mia
Or are you talking about-
Ria
Yes
Mia
Thank you. A la Steve Martin and…
Ria
Yes.
Mia
What’s the little guy’s name?
Ria
Seymour.
Mia
Seymour.
Mia
Okay, but, like, the actor?
Ria
I don’t know.
Mia
Oh, man, I heard, didn’t he get punched? In, like, I remember hearing a story about, oh, Rick Moranis.
Ria
Ah!
Mia
I remember hearing a story how a couple of years ago, he was in New York and some guy just, like, punched him, and there was like, security footage, and I’m like-
Ria
That is really sad.
Mia
And, like, in hindsight, I don’t know if it was actually Rick Moranis. It was some old, it was some old guy. So it could have been, I feel, like, I’m scared if I’m spreading misinformation. So if you don’t-
Ria
Take it with a grain of salt.
Mia
Yeah, don’t take my word as gospel. I feel like that, I don’t know if Rick Moranis actually got punched or not. We’ll have to do some secondary…
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
Secondary checking.
Ria
Anyways, different song.
Mia
Different song.
Ria
“Somebody’s Watching Me”.
Mia
“Somebody’s Watching Me”-
Ria
By Rockwell with Michael Jackson, I think.
Mia
Yeah, fantastic feature by the way.
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
Like, seamless.
Ria
I also used to think that Rockwell, the voice of him, was the same voice of the guy from B-52’s.
Mia
Oh!
Ria
Like in “Love Shack”.
Mia
Because he does have a very exclamatory way of singing.
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
It’s like, very…
Ria
Yada-deeda.
Mia
Yeah. He’s like, “I wonder who’s watching me now, who? The IRS?” That’s, I, that’s my favorite line in the song of all time. I don’t know. Maybe showers remind me of Psycho too much. That’s why…
Ria
You don’t shower anymore.
Mia
I don’t shower anymore because-
Ria
I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that.
Mia
They remind me, man, they remind me of Psycho too much, and I can’t handle scary things.
Ria
Do you know that when they filmed Psycho, because it’s in black and white, they use chocolate syrup?
Mia
Yeah, yeah. Relevant in the original 1973 Willy Wonka movie, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, not to be confused with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which came out in 2006.
Ria
With Gene!
Mia
We’re talking about a lot of movies.
Ria
Gene!
Mia
They, with Gene himself.
Ria
Gene, Gene.
Ria
We, remix. We’re just having so much fun. What was I? Oh, yeah, the chocolate river is just, like, it was just brown water. I guess that’s pretty obvious. They wouldn’t use actual chocolate for that.
Ria
I don’t think that would be super feasible…
Mia
I think that would have been funny-
Ria
I think it might have attracted flies to the set.
Mia
Yeah but, Augustus!
Ria
Augustus Gloop!
Mia
Oh, man. What a great, what a great. Let’s talk about music more. I want to talk about one of my favorite albums of all time, Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) by David Bowie from 1980. Awesome, awesome album. This is the first one I actually got on vinyl. So exciting. I’m so glad all of you know that now. But it’s just, it’s got a very similar zolo sound to [Oingo] Boingo, but I just said so many non-words in that sentence.
Ria
You know…
Mia
Zolo-sound-Boingo.
Ria
That’s ok.
Mia
Oingo Boing! The guitar work is, it’s super harsh, super, like, harsh in the sense that, like, it just, it sounds, like, rough, but it’s good. It’s fantastic. It’s really, it’s really cohesive. I really love it. It’s David Bowie’s voice at its peak. Like, acquired taste. I feel, like, he employs that, the, like the vibrato quite a bit. It’s a music, music term for you.
Ria
For all you, all you music heads out there.
Mia
For all you music heads out there, we got vibrato. Some could describe his voice as waver-y, in this album, he just, it sounds like he saw a scary monster and a super creep, and he’s so scared of it. But this album, even though it’s not, it’s not specifically Halloween themed, like the Oingo Boingo album likely is, but it’s got a lot of tracks that feel very, very, like, spooky, very, very Halloween, very “Scary Monsters [and Super Creeps)]”, “It’s No Game”, “Ashes to Ashes”, which very popular track you’ve probably heard before. But, I think that it really, really, really does that like Halloween, like, you could put that on the Halloween playlist and people are gonna be like, yep, they’re not gonna bat an eye. And then he also has “Scream Like A Baby” on that album. Which…
Ria
Is that a command or a description?
Mia
“Scream like a baby.” It’s so fire, he just, there’s so much variation within this album, and every single track, they don’t make music like they used to.
Ria
The good old days.
Mia
Well, let me tell you, those were the good old days. There were, I, just it, it’s just so, there’s so much variation. There’s so many different phases that it goes through. I had, it’s not a Halloween song, but on this album, “Teenage Wildlife”, maybe one of my favorite songs of all time. Just a beautiful track, beautiful, this, like, soaring guitar. Bowie’s voice has so much variability, so much range. I could, I could, blab and blab for hours about how much I appreciate, appreciate this album.
Ria
And we would listen.
Mia
And we would listen, but we don’t have time for that. We were talking about our Halloween picks…
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
And this album’s not all, I just, I just figured it was a good, it was a good one to shout out.
Ria
That’s fair.
Mia
I really enjoy it.
Mia
Ok.
Mia
Yeah.
Ria
I’ve got two more.
Mia
Okay, I want to hear those.
Ria
One of them, I don’t have a lot to say about “Monster Mash” by Bobby “Boris” Pickett.
Mia
Bobby “Boris”.
Ria
I, last summer, when I was home at my old dance studio, I choreographed a little kid tap dance to this song, and it was very fun.
Mia
Aww.
Ria
But, it just, and then, other than that, there’s a sitcom called Superstore. And there was a bit where corporate was controlling the Halloween playlist, and there was this song called “Halloween Surfboard” and they couldn’t turn it off and it was driving them all crazy. And I think it was supposed to be a parody of “Monster Mash”.
Mia
You know what that reminds me of?
Ria
What?
Mia
That episode of Community where-
Ria
ABBA?
Mia
Yeah. They were, they’re all, they’re all having, like, a Halloween party, and then they end up all becoming zombies because of some, like, expired-
Ria
Because of food poisoning?
Mia
Yeah, it was food poisoning, and they’re all, like, locked inside because they’re trying to, like, contain the spread, and you just end up-
Ria
Just ABBA playing the whole time.
Mia
Yeah, because the Dean had plugged in his iPod and shuffled it, and he only had ABBA songs, and so it was just, it’s just ABBA the whole episode.
Ria
Been there.
Mia
Which honestly kind of smart on their part, because they just had to, do you have to pay royalties per song?
Ria
Per song.
Mia
Per song?
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
So you can just be like, you couldn’t get the ABBA bundle and just do that.
Ria
The ABBA pack.
Mia
The ABBA pack, if you will, yeah.
Ria
Yeah. Smoking on my ABBA pack.
Mia
I don’t know, but it’s just, it’s just so funny to see, because it’s, like, it’s also, like, interpolated, interspersed, if you will…
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
With his, like, personal memos. That show is so good.
Ria
That’s a great show.
Mia
I really, I really enjoy Community. It’s so fire, we’ve been talking about it a lot. We’ve had a lot of Childish Gambino being played at the station because his new record came out pretty recently…
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
And so we’ve just been, we’ve had a lot of Troy and Abed on the mind, to be honest.
Ria
Heavy on the mind at all times.
Mia
When have you not? When have we not?
Ria
That’s a good question.
Mia
When has that not been something that I’ve considered? I wake up every morning and I think, How can I, how can I better myself in terms of Troy and Abed, and in the sense of Troy and Abed?
Ria
In the sense.
Mia
In the sense that, anyways. So “Monster Mash”.
Ria
And then I have another one. It’s “The Devil Went Down To Georgia” by The Charlie Daniels Band, and this one’s so fun because, you know, you think devil, spooky, scary…
Mia
Woah. Ahh. Ahh.
Ria
Get a load of that guy.
Mia
Ahh.
Ria
But this song is so, so fun to me because it’s literally about this guy who gets in an argument with the devil, wins, and banishes the devil back to hell.
Mia
Wow.
Ria
Like, it’s just, American hero, Charlie Daniels.
Mia
And that’s a true story, right?
Ria
Based on true events because basically the, like, story behind the song, and it’s, like, done in spoken word, so it’s really fun. I like this song a lot, but he’s kind of just, like, the devil was running behind, and he just had to get home, and he tried to make a deal with the fiddle player. But the fiddle player was like, you’re not gonna beat me. I’m too good for you, and that he beat the devil while in a fiddle playing contest.
Mia
Do you know all the lyrics to the song?
Ria
No.
Mia
Okay, because I, every time I am in a car with somebody who knows this song, they’ll play it and perfectly recite every single lyric, and it honestly is kind of, it’s kind of frightening…
Ria
I know a good amount of them, but I don’t think I could do it perfectly.
Mia
…to be honest. But, like, it brings out the worst, not the worst, but it brings out a side of people that I, you don’t really get to see often. Like, they, they just, their eyes get really wide and they and they’re just, like, they’re working really hard to, like, focus on this, on this, on the lyrics. So it’s, like, I don’t know, you’re kind of scared that the car is going to crash or something, because they’re trying to get the Charlie Daniels lyrics right, and they’re just, I don’t know it’s, it’s probably a very good feeling to have learned the lyrics…
Ria
Yeah, powerful.
Mia
I remember, I was, I learned the lyrics to “We Didn’t Start the Fire” [by Billy Joel].
Ria
Ew.
Mia
Yeah, I know. Well, I was a kid-
Ria
No excuses.
Mia
I was just a kid. I was just a kid, and I thought that was really cool, and so whenever “We Didn’t Start The Fire” would come on, I would [sing], “Harry Trumen, Doris Day…” It was just very fun. It was very fun to learn, okay, you’re giving me a look…
Ria
Yeah, I am.
Mia
And it’s making me feel bad.
Ria
Shame.
Mia
Okay, everybody that’s listening, Ria giving me a look right now…
Ria
Shame.
Mia
And I don’t like it. I, we literally should be free to, this is a free country, I should be able to…
Ria
I mean you can, but I am free to judge you.
Mia
Okay, well, I’m just not gonna look at you. “Harry Trumen, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray…”
Ria
No.
Mia
And I can keep going, if you want.
Ria
Talk about your last album.
Mia
Well, maybe tomorrow, maybe not tomorrow. Maybe next month, when we do our next podcast…
Ria
No.
Mia
I can just, we can dedicate two to three minutes.
Ria
No.
Mia
For me to go through so I can get that I can get that rush, because it is a rush. Do you have any songs that you, I’ll get to my last album. But do you have any songs that you know all the lyrics to that like are very strange-
Ria
Yes, absolutely.
Mia
Like, that, like, very, like, in the same, in the same like vein-
Ria
“Roman’s Revenge” by Nicki Minaj, but the Lil Wayne version, not the Eminem version.
Mia
Mm, and the difference is?
Ria
One has Lil Wayne and one has Eminem.
Mia
Ah, yeah, I feel, like, that’s pretty easy to, pretty easy to choose.
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
Yeah.
Mia
Well, that’s beautiful. My last, I have one more album that I picked, and I, it’s a real, it’s a real good one. Let me tell you this. I wanted to go with an instrumental pick, for all of those instrumental heads out there. This one’s the Silence Of The Lambs, original score/original soundtrack from Howard Shore. This, this album has really gotten me through the worst of the worst. It has seen me at my darkest day, It has seen me on my lap, my, my final hour, maybe not my final hour. It’s, it’s, you know, I get stressed out and I listen to this song, and it calms me down. Silence of the Lambs is one of my favorite Halloween type movies, maybe my favorite, one of my favorite movies of all time.
Ria
It’s a good one.
Mia
It’s got a very autumnal atmosphere. It’s very dark, very broody. But I used to listen to a lot of, like, classical music, way back, way back when.
Ria
Way back in the good ol’ days-
Mia
I don’t listen to classical much anymore. I don’t know why, I think it’s just like, I don’t know. I think it would force me to, like, look within, that scares me.
Ria
I only listened to classical when I was doing ballet, and I had to.
Mia
Ah, yeah. I used to see a lot of, like, like, [Gustav] Mahler, like, a lot of strings. I love strings. I’ll always talk about strings. The strings on this album are absolutely transcendent. Howard Shore has scored, he’s, he’s done a few movies that just have absolutely gorgeous instrumentation. This soundtrack, in general, though, is really, really beautiful, very Halloween-y. It’s got “Goodbye Horses” from Q Lazarus, which, Q Lazarus, she doesn’t have that many tracks out. The story behind this one you’ve probably heard before. So the guy that directed Silence Of The Lambs, how, Jonathan Demme, same guy who did Stop Making Sense, for all those Byrne-heads, for all those Byrniacs out there.
Ria
All the Byrniacs.
Mia
All the Byrniacs out there. He was in a taxi, and Q Lazarus was his taxi driver, and she was playing all of her tapes that she recorded, and she was like, hey y’all, not hey y’all, she wasn’t saying hey all. She was just like, playing her those tracks, doing her thing, and he heard “Goodbye Horses”, and he was like, whoa. This is really good. She’s really good. He was like, I need to, I need to feature this song on my movie, and she and it’s, you know, the movie itself is a bit, it’s, it’s frightening, it’s dark, but it’s, it’s Halloween, it’s Halloween-y. It’s autumnal. It’s exactly what we need…
Ria
Autumnal equinox.
Mia
Another song on the album or on the soundtrack for the movie, “Alone” by Colin Newman. That one is not one that I’ve seen get a lot of love, but, oh man, it’s that very, like, dark wave gothic, kind of, like, new wave-y, I think it came out in early 1980s. Just, just a great song, Also “American Girl” by Tom Petty, hey, oh, that’s kind of, I feel like, that’s a sun that’s a sunny day, that’s a sunny day…
Ria
Sunny day.
Mia
Fall song…
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
That would fit on my, that would fit on my folksy, folksy kind of vibe.
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
But just the movies, the soundtrack has a very good, like, or the songs that they picked have a very good post punk kind of vibe too.
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
But yeah. The Silence of the Lambs original soundtrack. I will listen to, the two tracks that I really like are “Quid Pro Quo” and “Return To The Asylum.” Those are the two bits that I really, really enjoy. It just, it swells so much at these parts. It’s, it’s really awesome.
Ria
Sounds swell.
Mia
It’s, it’s really awesome. I need to learn, I need to get just the words.
Ria
Yep, I will get you a thesaurus.
Mia
There’s a lot going on. There’s a lot going on out here. Do we have any other, did you have any other tracks you wanted too-
Ria
I have two more to shout out.
Mia
What!
Ria
Before we hit the hay.
Mia
Before we hit the hay. We actually woke up just to record this, and then we’re going back to sleep.
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
After this, like, it’s just we got shaken out of…
Ria
Slumber.
Mia
Hibernation.
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
Just record a podcast episode, and it’s back to the, it’s back to the cellar. Anyways.
Ria
One of mine is “The Killing Moon” by Echo & the Bunnymen. I, I think, I don’t remember fully, but I think I heard it on, in the movie Lisa Frankenstein…
Mia
Lisa Frankenstein.
Ria
Which I really, really enjoyed. I didn’t have the highest hopes going into it. I had heard mixed reviews, but I thought it was really good and really fun.
Mia
I saw, I saw the trailer in theaters when I went to go see something over the summer, like, way before it came out, and I was like, that looks really good. I need to be seated in the theater to watch it and something that happens to me a lot is that I really, really want to see a movie, and then I just don’t see it.
Ria
That’s fair.
Mia
Like, I don’t set aside time to go see it. I don’t schedule anything. I’m not like, I need to, I’ll just like, I’ll be like, I’ll get to it when I get to it, and then it’s not theaters anymore.
Ria
I’ll go with you. I have a movie pass.
Mia
What!
Ria
I got a movie pass.
Mia
You, you have the movie pass?
Ria
I got the movie pass.
Mia
What is that, what does that grant you?
Mia
A movie.
Mia
Oh, cool. Yeah. Lisa Frankenstein is not in theaters anymore.
Ria
I know, but I just watched it one day in my apartment while I was cooking.
Mia
That’s a good idea.
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
I’m like, I’ll watch it when, I’ll watch it when it comes out.
Ria
Yeah. But it was really good.
Mia
There’s something about seeing a movie in theaters that just, it hits.
Ria
My, my apartment’s leasing office has a theater, we could always go there.
Mia
What!
Ria
Yeah!
Mia
That would be really epic. That would be really epic and cool.
Ria Yeah.
Ria
I want to watch Cars 2 there.
Mia
Cars 2. Cars 2 is a really, that’s a really engaging Cars movie. I think that’s the only one that I, like, can actually remember.
Ria
That’s fair.
Mia
Cars 1 was a little boring to me. It just-
Ria
I don’t personally agree, but, to each their own.
Mia
Well, I wasn’t. Were you a car kid? Were you, like, really into Cars as a kid?
Ria
Not really. But I like the movies, and I liked that Larry the Cable Guy was Tow Mater.
Mia
He’s from Nebraska.
Ria
That checks out.
Mia
Rural Nebraska, though.
Ria
That also checks out.
Mia
So. I don’t know. I don’t know how I feel about Larry the Cable Guy. Anyways.
Ria
Anyways.
Mia
I want to see, I want to see Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice.
Ria
I don’t really want to see it.
Mia
I just, I always loved the movie Beetlejuice.
Ria
I like Beetlejuice, yeah.
Mia
I liked it when I was a kid. I was just obsessed with it. It was so fun.
Ria
I just watched that recently, and I just was very happy to see all the practical effects.
Mia
Oh yeah.
Ria
I don’t really have a desire to see the new one, to be honest.
Mia
I don’t know. I feel like I remember for a long, the longest time they were like, it’s, it’s there, the second Beetlejuice is going to be when he goes to Hawaii. Did you ever hear about that? There was, like, a bunch of, like, weird rumors that were coming up. They were like, Johnny Depp’s gonna be in it…
Ria
Ew.
Mia
And Winona Ryder is gonna be in it, and they’re gonna, Beetlejuice is gonna go to Hawaii. And that was, like, a whole thing, and then it’s just Beetlejuice 2 like, it’s just, it’s just in the same place, and the same people. It’s, I know.
Ria
Plus Jenna Ortega.
Mia
Jenna Ortega.
Mia
Yeah. “[The] Killing Moon” that’s a great track.
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
“[The] Killing Moon” is a real, “The Killing Moon”’s really good. That’s on my, I have that on one of my Halloween play, my, like, Halloween playlist, fall playlist.
Ria
Halloween circle.
Mia
I was listening to that, actually, yesterday, driving around the town, driving around the [Fort] Collins.
Ria
The Collins, Fort.
Mia
The Collins, Fort, AKA where KCSU is based.
Ria
Yep.
Mia
That’s, that’s what it’s best known as. That’s, like, the biggest thing that Fort Collins has to offer.
Ria
Home of KCSU.
Mia
Yeah, Fort Collins, home of KCSU. You know those signs that say “Now Entering Ram Country” when you, like, drive, when you’re like, I-25. We should just say like, now entering…
Ria
KCSU’s broadcast space.
Mia
Airspace.
Mia
Yeah, that would be good.
Mia
Be like, you’re you’ve made it.
Ria
Yep.
Mia
Yeah, you’re finally here. Missed you. Okay, what’s your last, what’s your last track?
Ria
My last track, also from a movie, or it’s not, like, from a movie, but I first heard it in a movie, one of my favorites that’s come out this year. This one’s called “Psychic Wound” by King Woman, and it’s off the soundtrack of I Saw The TV Glow, and I really, really, really liked that movie, and it was at this part where there was just a whole lot of, like, tension and like creepy stuff happening, and the song just complimented it so well, and it made me feel so on edge. It was great. So I wanted to shout that one out, because it’s a little spooky.
Mia
That’s so epic. That’s so epic. Did you have any Siouxsie and the Banshees that you wanted to mention?
Ria
Oh yeah, it was just “Dear Prudence”.
Mia
“Dear Prudence” is a great one.
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
Another one from [Siouxsie] that I feel like I’ve not seen on a lot of playlists for [Siouxsie], is from the Batman Returns, another Tim Burton movie.
Ria
Love.
Mia
Of course. It’s from the Batman Returns soundtrack. It’s called “Face To Face”, and I really enjoy it. I like that one. I think it doesn’t get much, doesn’t get much love, doesn’t get much airplay. In general. I also really want to, I wanted to talk about, should I talk about The Smiths? Should I talk about The Smiths?
Ria
No.
Mia
I want to talk about The Smiths. Okay, well, The Queen is Dead is a, is a Halloween-y-ish album…
Ria
Really?
Mia
Because they have multiple songs.
Mia
Yes.
Ria
“Frankly, Mr. Shankly.”
Mia
“Cemetery Gates” and “The Queen is Dead” because she’s, she died, and then maybe, “Never Had No One Ever”. I feel like that one’s…
Ria
Okay, then I’m gonna shout out, “Love Cats” by The Cure, because people dress up like cats for Halloween.
Mia
I’m gonna, you know what I’m gonna dress up as for Halloween. Wait.
Ria
Morph suit.
Mia
Oh, man, I should come up with something good. I could just be green man.
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
I could be green man.
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
I can show up and be green man, that would be so exciting.
Ria
That would be good.
Mia
I’m gonna be Robert Smith from The Cure.
Ria
Oh.
Mia
Anybody who’s listening to this, do not steal my costume idea, I need to be the only-
Mia
Do not do it!
Ria
Do not steal it! I came up with it, and I bought the wig from Spirit Halloween-
Mia
They have a Robert Smith-
Ria
No, no the wig is called “Midnight Fiend”.
Mia
Fiend, fiend, fiend!
Ria
Fiend!
Mia
It’s, it’s just, like, it’s, like, black hair duh. It’s just kind of crazy…
Ria
And you’re gonna do some crazy eyeliner?
Mia
And I’m gonna wear, I’m gonna do crazy eyeliner. I’m gonna have the red lipstick, I might get, like white-ish foundation, because he is so pale.
Ria
Last year, when I was the Babadook and I had to make my face white-
Mia
You were the Babadook?
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
Wait, you were the Babadook?
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
We probably had the same wig. Probably…
Ria
I didn’t wear a wig.
Mia
But what did you do?
Ria
I had a hat, but-
Mia
Of course.
Ria
I was the Babadook. I had to make myself pale, so I just used my pale roommate’s foundation.
Mia
That’s really good. I don’t know, I feel like I want to, but I still kind of want to look good.
Ria
That’s fair.
Mia
So I don’t know if I want to implement that, necessarily.
Ria
Yeah, well, that’s a good costume. I’m thinking of being either the Bride of Frankenstein or Storm from X-Men.
Mia
Storm from X-Men, all right, those are good. I guess it’s Hallow-weekend. So you have to, have to have multiple costumes.
Ria
True.
Mia
Do you have any other prospects on the horizon?
Ria
Maybe something with my roommates. Since freshman year, me and my roommate have been considering doing Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy [from SpongeBob Squarepants], but we just haven’t.
Mia
Ooh, you have to pretend that you had an invisible car.
Ria
Easy.
Mia
Really?
Ria
Easy.
Mia
I don’t think, I feel like, without the magic of animation, you can’t make yourself, like, float very easily.
Ria
Maybe you can’t.
Mia
Okay, I didn’t realize it was like that. I didn’t, oh, wow.
Ria
Get your float game up.
Mia
Get my float, get on my float game.
Mia
Yeah, I’m so excited for Halloween. I think I’ve got a, I’ve got a special, I’ve got a special hope for this. I don’t know where I was going with that. I’ve got a good feeling about this one.
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
I’ve got a good feeling about this one. But because we have all of this lovely music to listen to, and now we have so many great picks.
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
And it’ll be so awesome and so epic.
Ria
I hope you all enjoy this Halloween.
Mia
Yeah, live it up, and if you don’t celebrate Halloween, just enjoy the beautiful autumnal vibes.
Ria
Yeah.
Mia
Enjoy, enjoy the coming and going of the fall leaves.
Ria
Yeah, it’s gonna be so cool. Things are starting to change. The weather has cooled down and it’s so lovely. Just a tiny bit, though.
Mia
Just a touch. It’s actually going to be so hot tomorrow.
Ria
Yeah, but on Saturday [10/12/25] it’s supposed to take a turn, like, starting Sunday [10/13/25], it’s gonna get cooler, I think.
Mia
Wow, so exciting.
Ria
Talking about the weather podcast.
Mia
Yeah, that’s actually what we’re gonna do next. That’s gonna be our next podcast, so I’m joking. I’m joking.
Ria
Please come back.
Mia
Please okay, well, hey, thanks for listening. This has been KCSU’s Music Department, October Halloween-edition podcast with Mia…
Ria
And Ria.
Mia
Thank you so much for listening.
Ria
Bye
Mia Templien
Bye!
Ria Janapati (outro)
That was the KCSU music podcast. I’m Ria Janapati, KCSU’s assistant music director. If you like what you just heard, you can listen to more on our website at kcsufm.com, our Spotify at KCSU-FM, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.