In response to the public’s brutal slaying of the Monster Mash, I’ve compiled my own selection of retro and campy Halloween tracks for this year’s litany of costume parties.
The Playlist
“Dracula’s Daughter” – Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages
“Evil” – 45 Grave
“Drac the Knife” – Gene Moss & Fred Ross
From the album “Dracula’s Greatest Hits,” this track is Dracula’s cover of Bobby Darin’s 1958 “Mack the Knife,” but specifically if Dracula was like the dad from Hotel Transylvania.
“Absinthe” – The Damned (specifically, this version)
“Jekyll and Hyde” – Jim Burgett
“Buried Alive” – Radio Werewolf
A musical collective active from 1984 to 1993, Radio Werewolf amassed a cult following (called the “Radio Werewolf Youth Party”) during its highly controversial ritualistic theatrical performances.
“Bela Lugosi’s Dead” is a classic. Originally performed by (my beloved) Bauhaus, this cover by The 69 Cats has a jazzy psychobilly slant, making it highly danceable and perfect for a Halloween hootenanny.
Image courtesy Dickson Phua (guineapig33 on Flickr). Via https://www.flickr.com/photos/gunman47/53203673426
It is now officially October, which as we all know, means that it is now officially Halloween. Goblins and ghouls stalk the night, among all other sorts of horrific beasts, terrifying monsters, and that will scare the average WKNC blog reader to the point that I will not discuss them.
All this, however, is missing the most important of the season: spooky music recommendations.
“Bandit!” by Turkey
Turkey consists of William Sipos and Fletcher Shears, better known as one half of the Garden. If you know that band, you know their love of the Halloween spirit, and it is exactly as prevalent here.
This song opens and closes with a sample about a gargoyle in the infamous Denver National Airport, setting the tone for many haunted delights. The rest of it carries through, of course – the lo-fi production and old-school breakbeats makes a song that feels like you should’ve found it as an obscure YouTube upload of something from the 90’s. Perhaps a ghost of electronic past…?
“Don’t Look in the Closet” by VHS Head
Continuing on the retro theme, “Don’t Look in the Closet” goes all-in.
VHS Head makes his music out of old VHS tapes, and while not exactly leaning in to the more hauntological parts of that premise, the titular sample does more than enough to conjure your childhood fears of what could be lurking after a long night of trick or treating and subsequently eating way too much candy. He also also doesn’t hide the fact that this was made out of VHS tapes, adding a viewing of your choice of campy 80’s horror movie into that childhood memory.
To keep it simple, this song is on the more fun side of the Halloween spectrum, and exceeds at doing that.
“Break Yourself (You Can’t Defeat Me) by DJ Rozwell
Combining the Satanic Panic, those shows about the supernatural that were on Discovery Channel for some reason, and swords & sorcery fantasy with instrumental hip hop is something that I think only DJ Rozwell can do.
This track feels like it could easily be a soundtrack to some old roguelike, which is perhaps the highest acclaim I could possibly give it – the album it’s from, “None of This is Real,” is intended to be played on shuffle as a roguelike album. “Break Yourself (You Can’t Defeat Me)” invites you to venture into terrifying crypts to face its lurking creatures… if you dare.
“Blood Magic” by Machine Girl
For me, it’s not a Halloween playlist without Machine Girl. To be completely honest, my own personal bias may be seeping into this specific pick in terms of my favorite albums, but it’s okay because I am statistically the biggest Machine Girl fan at WKNC.
That aside, the influence of horror movies on Machine Girl’s music is always extremely blatant, and that’s just as true here. The lyrics are about as gory as you’d expect from a song from them titled “Blood Magic,” and if any song in this article is the one that’s a straight-up horror movie, it’s this one.
“Epidermis” by Venetian Snares
Time for a throwback to 2003. Breakcore is a term that gets thrown around a lot these days, but this is arguably it in its purest – and most sinister – form. It starts with a simple yet menacing bass synth and sample before the breaks kick in and from then on out, there’s no stopping.
As for the horror, the way Venetian Snares makes sure to emphasize the word “skin” in the most repeated sample along with the iconic “throw your corpse into a pit of vipers” sample makes the song feel like being on the run from a particularly messed up serial killer.
Concluding Thoughts
I hope I have given you at least one new song to add to your Halloween party or perhaps trick or treating porch playlist this October.
There’s plenty out there that summons the forces of evil in audio form, and to me, these are some of the best and spookiest. If you wish to save these dark forces, below is a Spotify playlist of these five songs. Thanks for reading!
Ethereal wave is best understood as “dark fairy music.”
A subgenre of darkwave, ethereal wave is characterized by an atmospheric arrangement of guitar, synths and typically female vocals.
“Atmosphere” means something very specific here; the vibe of ethereal wave is dreamy and psychic like the ash-tinged smoke rippling from the burning end of an incense stick.
The Playlist
“In the Presence of the Frost” – Virgine Dramatica
“In Dreaming” – Diva Destruction
“Green Velvet” – The Shroud
The Shroud projects a paganistic interpretation of the ethereal wave genre.
Calling to mind images of Ophelia, The Shroud embodies the concept of the darkly beautiful feminine.
“For A Day” – This Ascension
“Drown” – Strange Boutique
“Invisible” – Switchblade Symphony
Switchblade Symphony is an iconic band that blends gothic rock with classical music.
Tinged with a cigarette-smoke grunginess, Switchblade Symphony exist as pioneers of female voices in a largely male-centric space.
“how it came to be this way” – Autumn
“Witches” – Faith & Disease
“Alle In Asche” – Mephisto Walz
“The First Release” by Mephisto Walz
“The Unshakable Demon” – Autumn’s Grey Solace
“City Moon” – Love Spirals Downwards
“Hitherto” – Cocteau Twins
Cocteau Twins is a classic ethereal wave band, probably among the first names to come up in association with the genre.
I feel like, for this reason, it’s integral that they be included in this playlist. However, in the name of exploring perhaps lesser-known artists, I’ve relegated them to the latter half of this playlist.
“Naturally Cruel” – Mors Syphilitica
“Slide” – Cranes
“Bare” – Lycia
Lycia demonstrates a multiplicity of styles within the realm of darkwave, electronic rock and ethereal wave.
I first encountered the band through their cold, echoing track “Failure,” which, while not ethereal in the genre-related sense, is unequivocally impactful.
“Bare” illustrates another side of Lycia’s sound, taking their abilities to another level.
Final Thoughts
Ethereal wave is a beautiful genre.
The kind of music best enjoyed on gloomy autumnal evenings, the genre’s lack of mainstream acclaim only serves to hide the massive breadth of artistry within.
For individuals who may not enjoy traditional darkwave, ethereal wave is a great way to break into the genre.
Every single day, an artist somewhere releases a new song. A lot of these songs happen to be good.
What happens if a good song releases and you don’t hear it? What if in some alternate universe it becomes one of your favorite songs, but in this universe you’re stuck listening to all of the bad ones currently on your playlist?
I don’t want that to happen, so here are 12 tracks released in the past month that I think you need to hear.
Armand Hammer is gearing up for their first album since 2021, with “We Buy Diabetic Test Strips” out on Sep. 29. The duo of billy woods and E L U C I D seem to be taking their sound in a new direction, teaming up with JPEGMAFIA on production for this track. I’m excited to see where the album goes, especially with the quality of music that billy woods has been putting out this year.
Mick Jenkins’ new album “The Patience” is an excellent return to form, and is worth a listen in its entirety. But if you don’t have time for all that, I think “Show & Tell” is a great place to start.
Earl Sweatshirt and The Alchemist finally dropped their long-awaited collaborative album on a proprietary website that gives off the eerie feeling that it’s connected to the blockchain. This single is available on all platforms however, and does not disappoint.
At the risk of making some readers of this article feel old: Gen Z has nostalgia for the early 2000s now. People are posting images of clunky technology and tagging it #aesthetic. Artists are selling CDs and cassettes as physical merchandise again. And, yes, this includes music genres too: Trance is back.
Many of these new releases are mostly confined to small corners of the internet, so to start on this journey into geometric fonts and really wishing they still made transparent video game consoles, I’ve selected a few landmarks in the development of the scene.
I like school, I really do; and I’m glad to be back at it.
But there’s something about the loss that’s involved — the loss of free time, the loss of beachside hang-outs, the loss of schematic summer-ness — that’s always painful to swallow.
Not only is it always an adjustment starting a new semester, but this fall sees a particularly vexatious surge of extra freshmen. The resulting collapse of the sanctity of college common areas weighs heavily on the psyche.
As a self-identified Person Who Listens to Too Much Music, music was a vital tool for me this week.
Below is a compilation of tracks I, as well as others, have used to soften the proverbial blow of our returning academic responsibilities.
Good luck out there!
The Playlist
If you’re anything like me (combination hyperactive-inattentive), then you tend not to stick with one particular flavor of auditory stimulus whilst weathering the tribulations of back-to-school season.
While I primarily market myself as a goth, I’ve got a real soft spot for Carhartt-Marlboro-septum ring-type garage/art/post-punk rock.
Weird songs that sound like the way cigarette smoke smells and mansplaining feels touch me in the most deepest recesses of my calcified English major heart.
It really takes the edge off.
Here are some highlights:
“Troglodyte” – Viagra Boys
The third track on their 2022 album “Cave World,” “Troglodyte” tickles my brain with its silly, borderline-industrial beats. The melody reminds me of “Frogstrap,” another beloved track from their 2018 album “Street Worms.”
What I like about Viagra Boys is how vocalist Sebastian Murphy always seems to be just on the cusp of madness. I think you can extrapolate the overarching relevance of that concept.
Not a new song by any means, but a similarly brain-tickly one that I find I can easily get lost in. The beats are rhythmic but unobstrusive, fading into the background or punctuating the present at the listener’s behest. It’s pleasant, easy listening for someone who so desperately needs to distance themselves from the half-dozen new syllabi they just acquired.
IDLES is like Viagra Boys but from an alternate universe. This cover of a Gang of Four classic also sounds like it’s from an alternate universe, which is great when you yourself wish you were from an alternate universe where you were already finished with college.
These are Black Midi’s two top songs for a reason. Pulled from their 2022 album “Hellfire,” these tracks occupy a strange dimension between the 1940s and the 2020s. I can still remember seeing this band live and witnessing throngs of hipsters emphatically mosh to a quirky jilting guitar.
I was Jockstrappilled by the former GM of WKNC, DJ Cow Ball. She caught me at a particularly weak moment in which my ADHD was unmedicated and I was in an introductory film class. As one can expect, I quickly amassed over 100 streams.
I never know how to describe Jockstrap to people. Deeply experimental, enigmatic and hauntingly sweet, every Jockstrap song is a multilayered amalgam of sounds and sensations that will surely take your mind off the terror of The Future.
Closing Thoughts
When writing blog post playlists, I tend to keep them short. This is because I prefer to offer little morsels of stimuli rather than formidable hours-long chunks of obscure tracks.
By Rodrigo Curi on Unsplash
It’s also because I tend to listen to songs like people chew gum, mashing them obsessively between my teeth and squeezing out every last modicum of flavor. I’ll listen to a single song for hours until I’ve fully exhausted its capacity to generate dopamine.
I’m sure, in some broad and abstract way, this theme applies to the college experience.
Living in a coastal town was certainly interesting, especially at the end of tourist season. Watching well-off middle class families fill the beaches with garbage and watching long-time residents struggle under the brunt of property damage incurred by hurricane season definitely helped radicalize me.
It was a strange period. I spent most of it alone, and thus listened to an exorbitant volume of music. The following playlist is a compilation of some of my favorite tracks from my time by the beach.
Not all of these bands are actually surf punk, but they share a similar energy and style that embodies the experience of summers by the coast.
The Playlist
“Stay Close to Me” – Bad Brains
“I Luv I Jah” – Bad Brains
“I And I Survive” – Bad Brains
These three tracks certainly play on Bad Brains’ reggae influences, with softer vocals from lead singer H.R. and a slower, twanging melody. I personally recommend the “Omega Sessions” version of “I Luv I Jah” for its cleaner vocals and smoother audio quality.
“A.M.” – Beach Goons
“Choker” – Beach Goons
“Anirak” – Beach Goons
Based in San Diego, Beach Goons delivers surf punk music with strong Latin influences. Their music captures the often melancholic liminality of living by the coast, with a sound that reminds me of summer humidity and fogged-up windows.
“Pheromones” – Meth Wax
“Invocation” – Meth Wax
“Arachnophobia” – Meth Wax
With a distorted lo-fi style, Meth Wax’s songs are consistently dazed, lustful and unusual. Though based in Athens, Georgia, Meth Wax maintains an ebullient sound that leads many fans to consider them surf punk (at least in spirit).
“Smoko” – The Chats
“Pub Feed” – The Chats
“The Clap” – The Chats
The Chats are a pub-punk band from Queensland, Australia. Their chaotic, disaffected attitude and rocking melodies make them a fun and youthful band with a sound that pairs excellently with summer drives through congested tourist districts.
“Spanish” – Jurassic Shark
“Pacing Tigers” – Jurassic Shark
“Order” – Jurassic Shark
With soft, indie-adjacent punk music, Jurassic Shark captures sensations of yearning, ephemerality and youthful excitement. Smoky lo-fi vocals contrast with clear, artsy strains of guitar.
Branching off from the punk subculture, riot grrrl built its culture through the dissemination of fanzines, original art and music.
This playlist aims to capture some of the sounds that built the riot grrrl movement and continue to change the lives of girls and women in the scene.
The Playlist
“New Radio” – Bikini Kill
“Alien She” – Bikini Kill
“Suck My Left One” – Bikini Kill
Bikini Kill changed me.
I don’t even mean that as an exaggeration. Vocalist Kathleen Hanna’s particular brand of unrestrained rage truly speaks to me, and what it says is that I need to get a new facial piercing.
“Eating Toothpaste” – Bratmobile
“Bitch Theme” – Bratmobile
“Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” – Bratmobile
Bratmobile is a classic riot grrrl band. With their hit song “Cool Schmool,” they give off a disaffected “cool girl” style that I really love.
“Jenny” – Sleater-Kinney
“Words and Guitar” – Sleater-Kinney
“Don’t Think You Wanna” – Sleater-Kinney
Sleater-Kinney presents a rolling, twangy rock sound that evokes orange-tinged skies and flannel shirts.
“Bluebell” – Babes in Toyland
“Hello” – Babes in Toyland
“Pain in My Heart” – Babes in Toyland
Babes in Toyland presents a similarly unrestrained sound as Bikini Kill, with moaning vocals giving way to full-on screams. Though it also has a grungy slant, as though the music were being diffused through smoke.
The goth subculture is, for many, inherently queer. In fact, a running joke between me and several of my goth friends is that gayness in the goth community is considered “boring” due to the sheer volume of bi and pansexuals populating the subculture.
There are many different reasons as to why goths are so queer, and I doubt I’m wholly qualified to speculate. I will do so anyways.
Perhaps the marriage of the anti-establishment ethos from which goth was born and its darkly Victorian aesthetics gave way to the dissolution of contemporary markers of gender and sexuality.
Below is a short compilation of some of my favorite tracks by queer goth artists. Some of these songs focus on themes related to queerness while others simply intersect with the artist’s identity.
The Playlist
“Deathwish” – Christian Death
“Spiritual Cramp” – Christian Death
Christian Death is one of my all-time favorite goth bands. To me, they represent what I would consider to be the archetypal goth sound: doomy guitar, moody vocals and flippantly dark lyrics. Original frontman Rozz Williams was known for dressing in drag in opposition to the hypermasculinity of the punk scene, an act which solified him as something of a queer icon.
Cover for “The Iron Mask” by Christian Death
“Burial Ground” – Sopor Aeternus and the Ensemble of Shadows
“Deathhouse” – Sopor Aeternus and the Ensemble of Shadows
Sopor Aeternus and the Ensemble of Shadows is a largely underrated pioneer of the goth scene. I adore her work so much that I’ll probably dedicate an entire blog article to her in the future. The mastermind behind Sopor Aeternus (meaning Eternal Sleep or Sleep of Death) is Anna Varney, a trans woman whose experiences largely fuel her music. Varney’s 2020 album, “Island of the Dead” captures the despair of being in a relationship with someone who cannot accept their partner’s transness and is based on real-life experiences.
Cover for “Island of the Dead” by Sopor Aeternus and the Ensemble of Shadows
“Inked in Red” – Vision Video
“Death in a Hallway” – Vision Video
Vision Video is a band based in Athens, Georgia that is quickly mobilizing to change the goth subculture for the better. In my article about the band, I touched on the rich political commentary the band touches on in their songs as well as the work of frontman Dusty Gannon in cultivating a safer, more accessible goth scene.
Cover for “Death in a Hallway” by Vision Video
“Dark” – Secret Shame
“Who Died in Our Backyard” – Secret Shame
Based in Asheville, Secret Shame brings an interesting contemporary sound to the traditional goth style. With a slant bordering on alternative rock and a vocalist who sounds like a centuries-old ghost, Secret Shame produces songs right on the cusp of the goth scene.
Last week, we learned about the proliferation of queercore within the hardcore punk scene.
To briefly recap, queercore emerged as a subculture in the mid-1980s. It started from punk’s DIY scene, with purveyors of handmade magazines and other forms of media serving as the movement’s basis.
Queercore, also known as homocore, reflected the experiences of LGBT individuals in a society that was often hostile towards open displays of queerness.
“homocore block in 1994 chicago pride parade.” Image published to Wikimedia Commons by QZAP.org, licensed CC BY-SA 2.0
While I primarily focused on Limp Wrist’s influence on the scene, there are numerous other bands that defined the genre.
As we move farther into pride month, I encourage both members of the LGBT community and allies to reflect on the convictions outlined by the queercore scene.
To help with this, I’ve composed a short “field guide” of various tracks and artists — some punk, some not — classified under the “queercore” umbrella.
Pansy Division
This band has a classic summertime driving-down-the-road-with-the-windows-down style.
Closer to the sound of blink-182 than Limp Wrist, Pansy Division is edgy but light enough for casual listening. With upbeat guitar riffs and a sardonic lead vocalist, the band produces tracks to be enjoyed both ironically and in earnest.
Album cover for “More Lovin’ From Our Oven” by Pansy Divison
Based out of San Francisco, the band formed in 1991 and solidified itself as one of the only openly gay rock bands in the contemporary scene.
Touring with Green Day in 1994, Pansy Divison was one of the most commercially successful queercore bands to exist. The band’s pop-punk style and often-comical songs about queerness garnered significant acclaim.
A flagrantly ironic cover of a Nirvana classic, this track cleverly queers one of the most well-known songs by one of the most gatekept bands. Play this track for your favorite straight white man and watch his blood pressure surge.
Against all odds, we appear Grew up brainwashed, But turned out queer Bunsplitters, rugmunchers too We screw just how we want to screw Hello, hello, hello, homo
Pansy Division, “Smells Like Queer Spirit” (Nirvana cover)
He looks as good in a skirt as he does in jeans He is a most notorious queen His personality, I’m not impressed But I can’t wait to get him undressed
Pansy Division, “Fem in a Black Leather Jacket”
G.L.O.S.S. (Girls Living Outside Society’s S–)
Based in Olympia, Washington, G.L.O.S.S was an openly trans-feminist hardcore punk band.
Formed in 2014 and dissolved in 2016, the band’s existence was tragically brief. While G.L.O.S.S. had the opportunity to “make it big” with a $50,000 deal by Epitaph Records, the band ultimately decided to remain unaligned with a large corporation.
Shortly after turning down Epitaph’s deal, G.L.O.S.S. announced its breakup in an issue of the punk zine Maximum Rocknroll.
Cover for G.L.O.S.S. album “Trans Day of Revenge”
The band members explained that the growing “cult of personality” surrounding the group, as well as the obligations of touring and performing, were taking a toll on their mental and emotional health.
The band’s sound blended classic hardcore with trans-affirming themes to create raucous, angsty riffs striking back against heterosexual hegemony and anti-transness. Their songs are undeniably iconic.
They told us we were girls How we talk, dress, look, and cry They told us we were girls So we claimed our female lives Now they tell us we aren’t girls Our femininity doesn’t fit We’re f– future girls living outside Society’s s–!
They told us to die, we chose to live They told us to die, we chose to live Straight America, you won’t ruin me Sick American dream
G.L.O.S.S., “Lined Lips and Spiked Bats”
Los Crudos
As I mentioned in last week’s post, Limp Wrist’s predecessor was a Chicago-based band called Los Crudos.
Active from 1991 to 1998 and comprised of all Latin American members, Los Crudos helped to make a place for Latine punks in a predominately white subculture.
Album cover for “Doble LP Discografia” by Los Crudos
The band tackled themes related to imperialism, xenophobia and immigration. All songs were sung completely in Spanish.
In addition, they openly called out homophobia — the band’s lead vocalist, Martin Sorrondeguy, was openly gay — and thus Los Crudos solidified themselves as adjacent to the queercore movement.
With a career spanning between 1998 and 2005, The Butchies started in Durham, North Carolina as an all-female punk band.
Though their style was far from hardcore, they were a distinct force within the queercore movement.
Their songs were imbued with staunch political messages, focusing on themes relating to lesbianism, gay romance and misogyny.
Album cover for “Are We Not Femme?” by The Butchies
In a 1999 issue of The Advocate, singer-guitarist Kaia Wilson said of the band’s reputation for its leftist politics:
“I say, maybe it’s because we’re so openly hated every day, maybe because one in three teens who commits suicide is gay. I say that the people who come to our shows are glad that we are [political].”
Well it’s not supposed to bring you madness And it’s not too far too cold forgiveness When we hold to truths so false like bibles Won’t you come and meet me here
Who are you anyway and how did you get inside II heard you’re from the gay galaxy and now you’ve got to hide Sure wish you would have gone here Wish just the same you’d stay next year
