Welcome to the most genuinely unnerving Halloween week in memory.
All the costumes, trick-or-treating and spooky-season fun is essentialy off the table due to COVID-19. But the real terrors of a rampaging virus and a tense election (to say the least) are very present. Michael Myers himself would probably take one look around and head back into Laurie Strode鈥檚 closet to hide this one out.
If you鈥檙e stuck doing witchy incantations at home (or just pounding mulled cider until the morning of Nov. 4), The Los Angeles Times鈥 music team pulled together a playlist to keep the demons at bay, from nu-metal nightmares to grisly horrorcore hip-hop to Belarusian goth TikTok hits.
Backxwash, 鈥淪pells (feat. Devi McCallion)鈥
Zambian Canadian artist and 2020 Polaris Prize-winner Ashanti Mutinta, better known as Backxwash, beckons us to wade in the bog of her brain in the murky witch-hop of 鈥淪pells,鈥 featuring sinister howls and spitfire verses by MC Devi McCallion. 鈥淚 told my mama that the devil got a place for me,鈥 McCallion rhymes, 鈥淚鈥檓 going to hell and I bet you I鈥檒l be safe for weeks.鈥 (Suzy Exposito)
Clipping, 鈥淏lood of the Fang鈥
Couched in horror-film language, the new left-field hip-hop track 鈥淏lood of the Fang鈥 concerns America鈥檚 most curdling story 鈥 that of slavery, centuries-long oppression and the country鈥檚 鈥渁ddiction to blood.鈥 Name-checking Black activists and outlining the gnarled consequences of racism, Clipping鈥檚 Daveed Diggs promises to 鈥渄igest the flesh of every wicked human / 鈥楾il the best and blackest blood is back to ruling.鈥 (Randall Roberts)
The Cramps, 鈥淚 Was a Teenage Werewolf鈥
All good Halloween music should be a bit camp, and no one did spooky-cartoon-skeleton-dancing music better than the Cramps. 鈥淚 Was a Teenage Werewolf鈥 borrowed its title from a schlocky monster flick, but truth be told, we all feel like hairy hormonal monsters locked inside these days. (August Brown)
Miley Cyrus, 鈥淶ombie鈥 (2020)
The Cranberries鈥 early-鈥90s pop-grunge classic is revived with scary precision by the onetime kiddie star whose career keeps refusing to die. (Mikael Wood)
Eagles, 鈥淲itchy Woman鈥 (1972)
Inspired in part by various women he鈥檇 met at the Troubadour and the Whisky a Go Go, Don Henley鈥檚 first writing credit with the Eagles deploys a slinky-spooky soft-rock groove to summon the image of a lady with 鈥渞aven hair and ruby lips鈥 who can 鈥渞ock you in the nighttime till your skin turns red.鈥 (MW)
Gravediggaz, 鈥淒efective Trip (Trippin鈥)鈥
RZA鈥檚 horrorcore supergroup with Prince Paul, Frukwan and Poetic had one of the best album covers of 鈥90s rap for 鈥6 feet Deep,鈥 and this bleak descent into glue-sniffing insanity is one of its masterstrokes. Seething rats, crackheads, all-consuming flames: Horror movie or real-life for the poor in Giuliani-era NYC? (AB)
Halsey, 鈥淣ightmare鈥
鈥淚 won鈥檛 smile, but I鈥檒l show you my teeth,鈥 spits Halsey in her 2019 one-off track, 鈥淣ightmare.鈥 A Top 40 chameleon-gone-torrid alt-rock bombshell, Halsey fires off scorching barbs about a particular kind of horror show: the patriarchy. 鈥淚鈥檝e been polite, but I won鈥檛 be caught dead / Letting a man tell me what I should do in my bed.鈥 (SE)
Handsome Family, 鈥淧oor, Poor Lenore鈥
Crooner Brett Sparks presents the opening couplet of this mournful 2000 country song as if he were a minister delivering a graveside eulogy: 鈥淧oor, poor Lenore carried off by crows / As she wandered alone where the red oaks grow.鈥 With lyrics written by wife Rennie Sparks, 鈥淧oor, Poor Lenore鈥 travels with the birds and our hero, 鈥渢heir beaks twisted in her hair,鈥 as they fly Lenore 鈥渢o the top of a dead tree where the heartbroken go.鈥 Who stomped her heart? A gravedigger, of course, who 鈥渒issed so hard her mouth filled with blood / Then he left her to cry where the red oaks die.鈥 (RR)
Ella Henderson, 鈥淕host (Oliver Nelson Remix)鈥
Haunted by the memory of her ex, this big-voiced 鈥淴 Factor鈥 flameout goes to the river to pray, only to come home and find the dude鈥檚 evil eyes still 鈥渟itting on the wall 鈥 watch(ing) every move I make.鈥 (MW)
Lingua Ignota, 鈥淲icked Game鈥
The SoCal-reared singer, composer and noise artist has an unlikely gift for a great cover. Her gutting of Chris Isaak鈥檚 misty pop hit has plenty of love for the original. But now it鈥檚 a barely recognizable goth-opera nightmare that samples 鈥淭hrenody for the Victims of Hiroshima鈥 by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki. Beautiful, gruesome 鈥 and both funny and unnerving once the chorus hits. (AB)
Post Malone feat. Ozzy Osbourne and Travis Scott, 鈥淭ake What You Want鈥 (2019)
Gloomy, power-ballad perfection from hip-hop鈥檚 streaming king and metal鈥檚 prince of darkness 鈥 oh, and Travis Scott, who turns up to bemoan the fact he can鈥檛 fit all his women in his tiny sports car. (MW)
Ministry, 鈥(Every Day Is) Halloween鈥
Long before Al Jourgensen became the dreadlocked soldier of conservatives鈥 nightmares, he was a new-wave pretty boy who made a jailbreak from his contract with Arista Records in pursuit of gloomier pastures. In his 1984 single 鈥(Every Day) Is Halloween,鈥 Jourgensen rallies for those who remain spooky year-round: 鈥淚 let their teeny minds think / That they鈥檙e dealing with someone who is over the brink / And I dress this way just to keep them at bay / Cause Halloween is everyday.鈥 (SE)
Misfits, 鈥淢ommy, Can I Go Out & Kill Tonight?鈥
If you have to ask, you know the answer. Of course you can鈥檛, Glenn, but that鈥檚 never stopped you before. A 1982 song about getting bullied and muscling up both brains and body to seek vengeance, the Misfits鈥 classic Jersey punk song features this bit of creepy poeticism: 鈥淜illed a girl on Lovers鈥 Lane / I kept her toes and teeth / Every night I stalk around until I find my keep / I鈥檒l bring back a souvenir / For it鈥檚 my mommy鈥檚 dream.鈥 (RR)
Molchat Doma, 鈥淪udno (Boris Ryzhy)鈥
Belarus post-punks Molchat Doma were virtually unheard of beyond Europe until their doom-laden 2017 track 鈥淪udno (Boris Ryzhy)鈥 took on a second life on TikTok. Hallmarked by eerie synths and late Soviet-era malaise, the song has soundtracked viral videos capturing Russian club kids and American hypebeasts alike 鈥 as well as a colony of hanging bats. The band鈥檚 upcoming album, 鈥淢onument,鈥 is due out Nov. 13. (SE)
Rihanna, 鈥淒isturbia鈥 (2008)
The wordless vocal hook is as anodyne as Eiffel 65鈥檚 鈥淏lue (Da Ba Dee).鈥 But listen closely to the pre-chorus in this thumping, electro-pop song, in which Rihanna describes an experience with fear 鈥 itself 鈥渁 thief in the night to come and grab you鈥 鈥 in language that鈥檚 downright chilling. (MW)
Salem, 鈥淪tarfall鈥
Salem never got enough credit for how its depressed, drugged-up trap 鈥 which craved death and sub-bass alike 鈥 became a template for SoundCloud rap a decade later. Ten years after its LP 鈥淜ing Night,鈥 the duo is back with 鈥淔ires in Heaven鈥 and driving right into a tornado in the video for the single 鈥淪tarfall.鈥 (AB)
Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow, 鈥淭he Alien鈥
Go ahead, turn off all the lights in your apartment. Put on this soundtrack鈥檚 suite of slippery synth noises and unbearably tense drones from Alex Garland鈥檚 2018 sci-fi horror flick about aliens, deformation and nature鈥檚 unknowable cruelty (here鈥檚 an excerpt of 鈥淭he Alien,鈥 its creepiest part). Wait for that four-note theme to hit. Then open the closet door and just imagine what鈥檚 waiting on the other side. (AB)
Scratch Acid, 鈥淐annibal鈥
鈥淗ey! You鈥檙e eating my heart!鈥 barks Texas post-punk band Scratch Acid鈥檚 David Yow to open this song about being devoured alive. Yow, who went on to form the Jesus Lizard, possesses a yowl to die for and uses it to full effect as sharpened guitar tones stab in time. 鈥淪top eating my brain!鈥 (RR)
Siouxsie and the Banshees, 鈥淪pellbound鈥
Siouxsie Sioux, the English godmother of Goth, let her inner sorceress run wild on the Banshees鈥 1981 LP 鈥淛uju.鈥 In opening track 鈥淪pellbound,鈥 the prowling bass line gives way to a dizzying pursuit between the guitar and drums, and to a greater degree, the witch and her bewitched. 鈥淵ou hear laughter / Cracking through the walls,鈥 hisses Siouxsie, 鈥淚t sends you spinning / You have no choice.鈥 (SE)
Slipknot, 鈥淢y Plague鈥
A typically vivid threat of violence from Iowa鈥檚 masked metalheads 鈥 鈥淚鈥檒l reach in and take a bite out of that s 鈥 you call a heart鈥 鈥 that unexpectedly gets a jolt of pained post-emo melody. Figures that the plague is 鈥測ou.鈥 (MW)
The Specials, 鈥淕host Town鈥
Released during a devastating economic downturn that shuttered shops and clubs and saw the rise of white nationalism, the British ska band鈥檚 1981 single is driven by a pit-in-the-stomach sense of dread. Organ chords straight out of a Lon Cheney-era monster flick creep along. A stuttering beat suggests a zombie limping down a desolate highway. 鈥淐an鈥檛 go on no more,鈥 cries Terry Hall, as if fading to dust. (RR)
Three 6 Mafia, 鈥淟ive by Yo Rep鈥
There are diss tracks meant to end careers, and then there鈥檚 Three 6鈥檚 鈥淟ive by Yo Rep,鈥 a 鈥淢alleus Maleficarum鈥 for Memphis rap. Here鈥檚 a sampling of the fates awaiting their nemeses in Bone Thugs N鈥 Harmony: 鈥淚 want to slowly peel off all your skin / Get grease and boil it hot, pour it on you and your dead friends,鈥 鈥淏odies sit in box chopped up in pieces / His soul done rose, I placed them tubes up under my mattress,鈥 鈥淏roke out the blender and I made some Krayzie gravy.鈥 Later, Three 6 Mafia would go on to win a well deserved Academy Award for original song. (AB)
Tino Corp, 鈥淚t鈥檚 Halloween Dub鈥
One of 16 spooky dub tracks on an album by San Francisco producer Ben Stokes under his early 鈥00s Tino moniker, this deep, breakbeat-driven instrumental features lots of wretched old samples. It鈥檚 taken from 鈥淭ino鈥檚 Breaks Vol. 6: Hallowe鈥檈n Dub,鈥 a collection dense with howling, wailing, grunting noises that, combined with the mid-tempo rhythms, make it a seasonal dance-floor go-to. (RR)
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