Author: Richie DeMaria
It’s that time of year again. Ghouls come out, candy flows freely and, I assume, you feel a sudden craving for appropriately seasonal music. Of course you don’t, and this is just an ego piece without expertise, but maybe someone, somewhere might want some scary music. Close your eyes and listen in.
First, there are songs that aren’t all that scary but make for good thematic party tunes, a la “Thriller.” You could spook up the dance floor with two ’80s house hits: Kevin Irving’s “Children of the Night” or Cerrone’s “Supernature 88.” Not in an electronic mood? Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ “Red Right Hand” is classic, The Misfits’ “Halloween” is great fun and Sonic Youth’s hysteric “Death Valley 69” would make a nice, noisy addition to any playlist on All Hallows’ eve.
How ’bout some dub reggae? Scientist put out a whole album called “Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampire,” and it’s excellent. And though Ras Michael & The Sons of Negus’ hypnotic, psychadelic “Seventy Two Nations” isn’t explicitly scary, there’s something eerie about it. You could even throw on “It’s Halloween,” an endearingly inept and jangly little number by The Shaggs, though it’s so off-kilter it may induce some early onset dizzy spells.
Want something creepier? There’s loads of eerie ambient music out there, good for setting a mood or scaring yourself at night, if that’s your sort of thing. Last year’s “Persistent Repetition of Phrases” by The Caretaker, is an album’s worth of distant, hissy ambience, doubly scary in its general mood and its inspiration: amnesia. Or, for a totally different vibe, Nina Simone’s jazzy “Strange Fruit” or Porter Wagoner’s country song “Rubber Room” will give you chills.
Then there’s the music that’s downright horrific. Deathprod, a Norwegian producer with appropriately morbid name, made some of the most impenetrably dark, heavy ambient music imaginable – see “Treetop Drive 3” or “Dead People’s Things.” Industrial pioneers Throbbing Gristle gave us “Hamburger Lady” (about a burn victim) and the demonically stark “Persuasion.” Suicide gave us “Frankie Teardrop.” Composer Gloria Coates’s pieces, like “Symphony No. 4” or “Mirage,” are pure scariness.
But the most terrifying single piece I’ve heard would be Kzrysztof Penderecki’s “Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima,” composed entirely of screaming strings playing only quarter tones apart. It’s a piece so overwhelming and so emotional that listening all the way through is a challenge.By no means is this list exhaustive – I’ve left out entire genres, and have only so much space. Hopefully it provides you with some nicely scary stuff for the upcoming Halloween, and for every day thereafter. Enjoy.
This article has been archived, for more requests please contact us via the support system.