Songs For Halloween, but Not Necessarily About Halloween

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Rather than trotting out the same old choices that turn up on every "Halloween Music" comp out there ("Monster Mash," "Spooky," "Thriller," etc.), let's talk about tracks that are perfect for Halloween in their mood, atmosphere, soundscape, whatever but not necessarily for their lyrics. And please don't post otherwise standard rock songs just cuz they have "Zombie" or "Dracula" in the title. I'm talking about the feel of the song. Stuff you could have playing at a Halloween party and it would jive.

Some examples...

"Planet Caravan" by Black Sabbath
A haunting, atypical song for the boys, and one of my favorite choices for the season. Feels like walking through a pitch black forest.

"In Dark Trees" by Brian Eno
A similar vibe as above, but even moreso.

"March Eighteenth" by the Grassy Knoll
The title is out of season, but the mood is quite eerie.

"The Pink Room" by Angelo Badalementi
from the Twin Peaks - Fire Walk With Me soundtrack.
Classic Halloween party music. Plodding drums, menacing surf guitar, and that lumbering cello riff.

monocle (Sean Miguel), Thursday, 12 October 2006 08:49 (nineteen years ago)

jandek - harmonica

electric sound of jim [and why not] (electricsound), Thursday, 12 October 2006 08:57 (nineteen years ago)

screw you, your rules suck.

GOD PUNCH TO HAWKWIND (yournullfame), Thursday, 12 October 2006 08:58 (nineteen years ago)

just stick on fantomas's delirium cordia and let it run.

mister the guanoman (mister the guanoman), Thursday, 12 October 2006 09:03 (nineteen years ago)

Eerie and unnerving songs

cosmo vitelli (cosmo vitelli), Thursday, 12 October 2006 09:15 (nineteen years ago)

nico - janitor of lunacy

sublime frequency (sublime frequency), Thursday, 12 October 2006 15:23 (nineteen years ago)

Interesting idea... I did a similar style mix last Halloween...
all spooky atmospherics... lots of instrumentals...

Tom Waits - Black Wings
DeVotchKa - In The Tower
Neil Young - Dead Man soundtrack
Daniel Lanois - Asylum (Sling Blade soundtrack)
Brian Eno - Matta
Bill Frisell - Variation On A Theme (Tales from the Farside)
Medeski, Martin & Wood - Off The Table
Friends of Dean Martinez - Ethchlorvynol
Mitchell Froom - Fruta Prohibida

ratcat (Sean Miguel), Thursday, 12 October 2006 20:14 (nineteen years ago)

simean groove - folk implosion
what is fight club - dust brothers
tired hippo - yo la tengo
something's got to give - beastie boys

Hot Chicken #9 (Sean Miguel), Thursday, 12 October 2006 20:22 (nineteen years ago)

MC A.D.E. - How Much Can You Take

(to my knowledge, the first rap/bass track built on the Halloween theme song, complete with deep vocoded vocals)

PappaWheelie: Giving out breaks to the needy since September 25th, 2006 (PappaWh, Thursday, 12 October 2006 20:43 (nineteen years ago)

Matit Larsen - "No Party"

(About Halloween, but not for Halloween; sorry)

daavid (daavid), Thursday, 12 October 2006 20:48 (nineteen years ago)

Lycia - "Baltica," "A Presence in the Woods"

Curt1s St3ph3ns, Thursday, 12 October 2006 20:52 (nineteen years ago)

Grand Funk - Good And Evil

jim wentworth (wench), Thursday, 12 October 2006 23:02 (nineteen years ago)

Heatmiser by Massive Attack

jazzamatazz (Sean Miguel), Friday, 13 October 2006 07:19 (nineteen years ago)

RJD2's "The Horror," as well as a few others off his DeadRinger disc like "Ghostwriter" and "The Proxy."

Carl Buddig (Sean Miguel), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 03:12 (nineteen years ago)

Mind Playin' Tricks On Me! (Yeah, I suppose it does explicitly mention Halloween, but I'd never think of it as a Halloween song and it wasn't even close to Halloween anyways. So there.)

Rodney is a group! (R. J. Greene), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 04:06 (nineteen years ago)

Ryan Adams - Halloween

MRZBW (MRZBW), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 12:13 (nineteen years ago)

Season of the Witch, yo.

For a nice twist on Donovan, try Luna's version.

The Mad Puffin (The Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 13:51 (nineteen years ago)

aumgn - can

latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 16:03 (nineteen years ago)

peking o also

latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 16:05 (nineteen years ago)

eight years pass...

no mention?

http://noisey.vice.com/en_uk/read/dizzee-rascal-dirtee-halloween-couple-of-stacks-666

Blandford Forum, Sunday, 2 November 2014 19:35 (eleven years ago)

five years pass...

I don't know if this is the most recent thread, but I'm putting together my yearly mix, looking to avoid Halloween staples, and there are some great suggestions here. Anything newer anybody can think of?

I'm listening to selections from Mandy OST, Hereditary OST, John Carpenter, Gnaw Their Tongues, Haxan Cloak, clipping., various death metal interludes, about to hit the Dungeon Synth thread. Am also enjoying Eerie and unnerving songs.

beard papa, Friday, 23 October 2020 18:38 (five years ago)

always thought goodie mob's classic "cell therapy" fits this bill, with its eerie louie armstrong vocal samples, keyboards that sound like a creature scratching at your door, and general air of paranoia about someone peeking through the window.

glengarry gary beers (voodoo chili), Friday, 23 October 2020 18:41 (five years ago)

I like that. Yeah, I don't necessarily go for strict holiday music, but just for dark & unsettling in general. I also like surprising/jarring contrasts that come from mixing something like this song - with very clean/sparse production and prominent vocals with dark ambient/drone. I like how it brings the focus in and out. These are some that have made the cut in the past.

Delerium - Twilight Rituals (the one on Spotify is not the right song from the album I have in my collection or this Youtube)
Sarpantitum - Immortalized As Golden Spires
Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement - Upside Down Left Eye
The Devil Awakens - John Carpenter
Journeyman - Spy
Mick Gordon - Argent Energy
Christopher Young - The Cenobites
James Plotkin - Red Plateau
Techno Animal - Needle Park
Henry Mancini - Experiment in Terror (Fantomas version is great, too)

beard papa, Friday, 23 October 2020 20:19 (five years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1qdnOMLWS8

Judi Dench's Human Hand (methanietanner), Friday, 23 October 2020 20:25 (five years ago)

Libra - Shock OST, the drum mikes were waaay too close, it's awesome

Cabo Weibo (卡波微博) (Deflatormouse), Friday, 23 October 2020 22:47 (five years ago)

Bump, who's got the hipster Halloween spotify playlist

change display name (Jordan), Saturday, 31 October 2020 21:28 (five years ago)

I usually just rock the misfits

brimstead, Saturday, 31 October 2020 22:05 (five years ago)

Been working on this one for a number of years:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1PUPqPUbNpRAzZXo6GD6t2?si=FtTUszh_Q2uEs5aKEqpBSw

Spottie, Saturday, 31 October 2020 23:36 (five years ago)

two years pass...

This might be a good place to note I posted a Halloween playlist favorites poll that's currently languishing on ILE because I posted it there by accident like an idiot:
Halloween/spooky season playlist favorites

Chris L, Tuesday, 3 October 2023 06:59 (two years ago)

It's usually regarded as a "weird" or psychedelic rather than a "scary" album, but I had a very eerie nocturnal experience walking through a foggy autumnal High Park listening to Alice Cooper's Pretties For You. A lot of musical decisions that seem arbitrary or silly listening at home in daylight have an irrational power in an alien situation.

Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 5 October 2023 02:14 (two years ago)


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