Sucking on your brain

Play it: Stubbs The Zombie (Soundtrack)

I'm still in a bit of a haze after getting back from vacation and sorting through all that's happened and come into the Rhapsody library... but this one goes first as it's my obligatory Halloween post.

It's becoming more common to see soundracks to video games, but Stubbs the Zombie is interesting in that it's all songs recorded specifically for the game, and done by some of the biggest names in indie rock. Artists like The Walkmen, The Flaming Lips, Death Cab For Cutie, The Raveonettes, and new darlings, Rogue Wave. The game itself is a take on 1950s B-movie zombie flicks, and transports you back to 1959 where Stubbs, a depression-era traveling salesman, comes back as a zombie to wreak havoc on a millionaire playboy's newly developed 'ultra-modern' (ie, bachelor pad) city. You get to be Stubbs and get to 'eat the rich' - sounds like fun!

Like the game, the soundtrack takes 2005 tools (indie artists) to play with pop-culture from the late 50s, with artists reinterpreting tracks from the era (Phantom Planet composes the one original for the soundtrack "Living Dead.") The highlight is Rogue Wave's lush take on Buddy Holly's "Everyday," where they manage to keep the wistful spirit of the song and yet make it entirely different. Likewise, The Walkmen weave a gem here, taking the Drifters' "There Goes My Baby" and making it sound like one of their own great keyboard-centric ballads. Other highlights include The Raveonettes doing "My Boyfriend is Back," and Clem Snide's endearingly sloppy take on "Tears on My Pillow." Unfortunately, there are some duds here as well. Rose Hill Drive's "Shakin' All Over," sounds embarrassing w/ all the great interpretations here, and The Dandy Warhols version of "All I Have to do Is Dream" just doesn't cut it. Other then those two, though, it's a fun and enjoyable listen... too bad the game is only on X-Box (from Microsoft, the ultimate brain sucker.)

tags: playlist, music, stubbs the zombie, video game, soundtrack, rogue wave, the walkmen