[This weekly feature is a snapshot of what the Stranger Dance staff can't get out of our collective head each week. On any given week, we might be digging a new local act, an old jazz chestnut, the newest Japanese electro-folk or whatever else we've got on the turntable/iPod that week.]

Here’s a special playlist for that favorite holiday of white people, Halloween. Half of our picks this week are holiday appropriate, with two all-time spooky classics. Rounding out this week’s list are a pair of indie collaborations, featuring Devendra and one quarter of Grizzly Bear, respectively. Enjoy.

Uncle Corey: Michael Jackson – “Thriller”

Is there any other song you can pick on Halloween besides “Thriller”? Well, no, he answers rhetorically. Who doesn’t love this song? I remember – as does anyone between the age of 27 and 39 – listening to this tape over, and over, and over.

I really haven’t been listening to it lately, so technically I’m cheating the playlist rules, but fuck it. We all need a little zombie walk on Halloween.

Scooter: Misfits – “The Monster Mash”
Just as campy and ridiculous as “Thriller,” this Misfits cover of the 1962 novelty song by Boris Pickett is a ton of fun. Speaking of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” Vincent Price recorded a version of this song, as did the Beach Boys in 1964. Even Elvis is linked to this song, once calling it “the dumbest thing he’d ever heard.”

Regardless of what Elvis has to say, I think it’s great… but as far as horror punk bands go, I’ll take the Cramps over the Misfits any day. Happy Halloween.

Stranger Jay: Department of Eagles – “In Ear Park”

I cannot understate how much I like all things Grizzly Bear. Department of Eagles is the side project of GB’s Daniel Rossen and his old NYU roommate, Fred Nicolaus.

“In Ear Park” sounds a good deal like GB, with ethereal textures, Rossen’s gentle vibrato, sweeping dynamic changes and ohh-and-ahh harmonies. All in all, it tides me over until they finally release their much-anticipated new album.

Vague Panther: Megapuss – “Adam and Steve”

I’ve posted about Banhart and Rogove’s project in the past and I bring them up again in our staff picks because each song is more intriguing than the next. Surfing, their full-length album due out November 4th, promises to be a psychedelic, electric-fi mess that could make my top ten of the year. And that’s coming from someone who doesn’t really like Banhart solo that much… Anyways, don’t think too hard about these songs, just listen.