If you were a kid growing up in the late 90’s or early 2000’s, you will probably remember shitting yourself to a few Goosebumps episodes. The Goosebumps series, the books and the show, was everywhere and has stuck with this generation for literal decades.
I personally have fond memories of challenging my elementary school friends to see who was “man enough” to venture into the decrepit spook fests contained within those pages. Though childish, the completion of one of these books made you a fearless warrior of literacy. The original series, published from 1992 to 1997, contained sixty-two unique novels while the series as a whole has sold well over 350 million copies worldwide, with several spin offs, a TV Show, and a shitty Jack Black film. These books were meant to be enjoyable, light reading for children looking for something a little edgier than Junie B. Jones or The Magic Tree House and for what it’s worth, some of them still hold up pretty well to this day.
So the show, and the books it was based on, may not be as scary as when we were kids, with most of them ending in a convenient manner with little to no consequences, and being rather cheesy in general, but the cultural relevance of these stories cannot be understated.
One Phoenix artist is determined to bring back the scares, though. Troy Dierke, a Dark Synth artist who goes by DreamReaper, hits us with a kick-ass re-imagining of the classic Goosebumps theme in an open love letter to nostalgia and the supernatural.
Photo courtesy of DreamReaper
The remix contains all the staples of the original, with the stabbing chromatic walk down in the main melody, the spooky aeolian arpeggiations that flower the quieter moments, hell, even the possessed dog is represented, barking in tune with the chords like in the original.
This goes a long way to preserving the unnerving spirit of the original score, but DreamReaper goes absolutely nuts with it, creating something fresh but familiar. With crazy interwoven melody lines that spiral around each other like a shoegaze song, a snapping synth bass to keep pace, and great sampling of quirks from the original song like the aforementioned dog bark, this piece is great to listen to in general, but will also certainly liven up even the most boring of Halloween Party.
Be sure to check out DreamReaper’s Soundcloud. All the songs are pretty fantastic, and mark someone who is truly passionate about their work.
Garrett Farah is a student at Phoenix College studying physics and writing in his spare time
For more Phoenix coverage that doesn’t suck, follow PHX SUX on Suckbook and that tweety website for Twits.
Read more from PHX SUX:
