Can I get geeky for a minute? I’ve been on a serious geek trip lately (call it mental preparation for the upcoming 8th Annual Emerald City Comicon), and I feel compelled to lobby on behalf of something nominally cred-threatening: The Track Team’s score for the DC Showcase: The Spectre animated short. Said 10-minute ‘toon recently debuted as an extra on the 2-disc DVD release of Warner Bros. Animation’s new DTV feature Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. Still with me? I swear it’s not that bad—James Woods plays Owlman, a nihilistic alternate-reality Batman analog!

Seriously though, the Spectre short is pretty inspired. It aims for a deliberately retro vibe—straight up ’70s-style grindhouse noircore, with world-class ham Gary Cole (Office Space, Harvey Birdman, Pineapple Express) voicing the titular undead avenger. What really makes it sing, though (aside from its abundance of inventive, gruesome kills) is the aforementioned soundtrack by LA’s The Track Team. It’s ostensibly an homage to vintage theme music and cokey Carpenter synth-wank of yore, and man, does it ever hit the mark. That it’s dosed with a generous hit of gnashing graveyard atmospherics only bolsters its appeal. It’s a pretty ballsy score for a cartoon flick, even one crafted with the maturity and savvy typical of WB’s animated superhero undertakings. This is maybe unsurprising when you consider that ½ of The Track Team is Benjamin Wynn, aka Deru, the IDM artist known for proffering dope jams on Ghostly Intl. and Mush Records. I’ve long been a sucker for Deru’s “Only the Circle,” a minimal ambient cut that came my way via the Aurora 2 compilation by the now-defunct Merck records. Dude’s a pro.

Unfortunately, The Track Team’s Spectre score is nowhere to be found online (though the much less interesting or adventurous Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths OST is available through Amazon and the other requisite channels). I’d up some clips from the DVD to give a taste of the Spectre’s nocturnal, scorched-blacktop disco, but I hear tell WB’s lawyers are a gnarly bunch. But on the DL, folks: some light googling should turn up streams and downloads of the short. No biggie, right? Internet piracy doesn’t strike me as the kind of transgression the Spirit of Eternal Vengeance would make a high priority.