As groovy as a graveyard on Halloween, as pitch-black as a personal attack ad in a presidential primary, Funky Dracula, the new album from Austin-based singer/songwriter and alternative rock crooner, Ben Brown, descends on mankind this fall (10.9.24)—just in time for spooky season.

The product of Brown's experimentation with vintage synthesizers and an 808 drum machine, Funky Dracula combines the seemingly disparate textures of 80's-era Prince with classic horror movie pastiche.

"On its surface," says Brown, “Funky Dracula is the filtered amalgamation of the Minneapolis synth/funk sound combined with a tongue-in-cheek reverence for vintage horror films. On a thematic level, the album is comic relief for a cynical culture seemingly in decline.”

Over eleven tracks, the album explores numerous themes, including cultural escapism ("Funky Dracula"); corporate vigilante justice ("When the Sun Goes Down"); looking for meaning in a barren culture ("Looking 4 U"), the consequences of incessant political division ("Until the Dead Rise"); and feelings of alienation and dissociation necessary to survive the modern news cycle ("Make Believe").

Ultimately, while Funky Dracula aims to entertain, the album functions as a stylized Trojan Horse—delivering a scathing critique of modern culture.

"Oscar Wilde said, "Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask and he will tell you the truth." Funky Dracula provides a character and a narrative with which I can poke fun at the culture, and hopefully not get burned at the stake.”