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An Eldritch Halloween: Unsettling Music (Themed Playlist)

Halloween means different things to different people. For me, there's campy, light horror..."life's no fun without a good scare!" There is great value in that. This particular playlist, however, is devoted to less "fun" songs and more to tracks that actually creep into your brain and refuse to leave, a sour and sinking feeling settling itself on your soul. Unsettling feelings are an essential part of human experience, and should be explored, even if shallowly.

Below are a selection of songs that range from mildly unsettling (like a vaguely bad dream half-forgotten after waking up) to straight up disturbing. My thanks to a few of you who contributed suggestions.

Only proceed with the greatest caution, friends.

1. Coil - Something  ||  Post-Industrial  ||  2000  ||  UK

2. Lustmørd - Heresy Part 1  ||  Dark Ambient  ||  1990  ||  UK

3. Radiohead - Climbing Up the Walls  ||  Alternative Rock, Experimental Rock  ||  1997  ||  UK

4.  Chelsea Wolfe - Demons  ||  Gothic Rock  ||  2011  ||  USA

5.  Akira Yamaoka - Innocent Moon  ||  Dark Ambient  ||  2003  ||  Japan

6. Ennio Morricone - Humanity (Pt. 2)  ||  Film Score, Horror Synth  ||  1982  ||  Italy

7. Diamanda Galás - This is the Law of the Plague  ||  Experimental, A Capella  ||  1991  ||  USA

8. Xiu Xiu - Blue Frank / Pink Room  ||  Experimental Rock  ||  2016  ||  USA

9. Lisa Germano - ...a Psychopath  ||  Singer/Songwriter, Slowcore  ||  1994  ||  USA

10. Ulver - Operator  ||  Experimental, Electronic  ||  2005  ||  Norway

11. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - The Dead Flag Blues  ||  Post-Rock  ||  1997  ||  Canada 

12. Mazzy Star - Rose Blood  ||  Dream Pop, Neo-Psychedelia  ||  1996  ||  USA

13. The Residents - Part Three: Ship's A'Going Down  ||  Experimental  ||  1978  ||  USA

14. Jim Williams - Finger Scene  ||  Film Score, Experimental  ||  2017  ||  UK

15. Akira Yamaoka - Sickness Until Foolish Death  ||  Dark Ambient, Post-Industrial, Trip Hop  ||  2003  ||  Japan

16. Lingua Ignota - O Ruthless Great Divine Director  ||  Neoclassical Darkwave, Black Metal  ||  2020  ||  USA

17. Xiu Xiu - One Hundred Years  ||  Experimental  ||  2021  ||  USA

18. The Knife - Full of Fire  ||  Post-Industrial, Industrial Techno  ||  2013  ||  Sweden

19. Portishead - Plastic  ||  Experimental Rock, Electronic  ||  2009  ||  UK

20. Einstürzende Neubauten - Halber Mensch  ||  Industrial  ||  1985  ||  Germany

21. Scott Walker - Cue  ||  Experimental  ||  2006  ||  USA

22. Ashley Serena - Tili Tili Bom  ||  Singer/Songwriter  ||  2020  ||  USA

23. Diamanda Galás - The Litanies of Satan  ||  Experimental, A Cappella  ||  1982  ||  USA

24. Aaron Dilloway & Lucrecia Dalt - Demands of Ordinary Devotion ||  Tape Music, Industrial  ||  2021  ||  USA

25. Akira Yamaoka - White Noiz  ||  Dark Ambient  ||  2003  ||  Japan

26. The Cure - Pornography  ||  Post-Punk, Gothic Rock  ||  1982  ||  UK

27.  Swans - 93 Ave. Blues  ||  Experimental  ||  2012  ||  USA

28. Throbbing Gristle - Persuasion  ||  Industrial  ||  1979  ||  UK

29. clipping. - He Dead  ||  Experimental Hip Hop, Horrorcore  ||  2019  ||  USA

30. Aurora - Running With the Wolves  ||  Art Pop, Alt-Pop  ||  2016  ||  Norway

31. The Cure - A Forest  ||  Post-Punk, Gothic Rock  ||  1980  ||  UK

32. Swans - A Screw  ||  No Wave, Experimental Rock  ||  1986  ||  USA

33. Meira Asher  - Sahid 1  ||  Post-Industrial, Noise  ||  1999  ||  Israel

34. Siouxsie & The Banshees - Helter Skelter  ||  Post-Punk  ||  1978  ||  UK

35. Xiu Xiu - Pumpkin Attack on Mommy and Daddy  ||  Experimental, Post-Industrial  ||  2019  ||  USA

36. Comus - Drip Drip  ||  Avant-Folk, Progressive Folk  ||  1971  ||  UK

37. Lingua Ignota - I Who Bend the Tall Grasses  ||  Neoclassical Darkwave, Avant-Folk  ||  2021  ||  USA

38. Swans - Telepathy  ||  Gothic Rock, Experimental Rock  ||  1995  ||  USA

39. Eels - Fresh Blood  ||  Singer/Songwriter, Alternative Rock  ||  2009  ||  USA

40. Death Grips - Giving Bad People Good Ideas  ||  Experimental Hip Hop, Digital Hardcore, Industrial Hip Hop  ||  2016  ||  USA

41. St. Vincent - Hysterical Strength  ||  Art Rock  ||  2011  ||  USA

42. Scott Walker - The Escape  ||  Experimental  ||  2006  ||  USA

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