Halloween, Vol. 3

Happy Halloween, friends! I'm pretty excited that this post is actually falling on its respective holiday this year, mainly because I just love when things line up nicely like that. It's 2022 and I still absolutely adore Halloween, that much has not changed, even if the world is (as usual) scary in different ways than it was in 2021. My house is decorated with pumpkins and skeletons and witches (oh, my!), I have several Halloween movies waiting to be watched today, and of course so much music to listen to!

The full Halloween Playlist can be found on Apple Music @audioaesthetic, but below is a sampling chosen at random to serve as our 2022 Halloween Playlist. Let's jump in the line and rock our bodies on time (iykyk)!

Run by Air (written by J. Dunckel-Barbier, N. Godin)

Featured on Air's 2004 album Talkie Walkie, Run was actually featured in an episode of Veronica Mars which is a little fun fact tidbit. This song isn't quite as scary as it is spooky or even otherworldly in vibe, but when you listen to it it's one of those songs that you go "Oh, yeah, that belongs in Halloween, that makes sense to me."

Holy girl/Don't get up/For running/Stay with me/I feel sad/When you run, run, run, run, run/Run, run, run, run, run/Run, run, run, run, run/Run, run, run, run, run

Nightmare by Artie Shaw & His Orchestra (written by A. Shaw)

Recorded by Shaw in 1938 and included on the 1987 collection Begin the Beguine, this instrumental piece has influenced everything from film composers (Monty Norman, who wrote the James Bond theme) to video games (it's included on the soundtrack for Bioshock 2). This is a really cool piece - it's a perfect length for being purely instrumental, it's very appropriately spooky, and it's never boring. If you're a fan of that '30s and '40s orchestral sound or if you just appreciate good music, I cannot recommend this song enough.

Criminal by Britney Spears (written by K. Schuster, M. Martin, T. Amber)

Featured on Spears' 2011 Femme Fatale, this song is not what most people expect to hear when they see her name attached to a song because it's not heavily electronic or an obvious Dance track, but a little softer and more of a pop ballad like she would've done at the beginning of her music career. It's definitely here because she's running around singing about being in love with a "bad guy," but I also unironically love this song so I listen to it year round.

He is a hustler, he's no good at all/He is a loser, he's a bum, bum, bum, bum/He lies, he bluffs, he's unreliable/He is a sucker with a gun, gun, gun, gun/I know you told me I should stay away/I know you said he's just a dog astray/He is a bad boy with a tainted heart/And even I know this ain't smart/But Mama, I'm in love with a criminal/And this type of love isn't rational, it's physical/Mama, please don't cry, I will be alright/All reason aside, I just can't deny I love the guy

Werewolf Heart by Dead Man's Bones (written by R. Gosling, T. Anderson, Z. Shields)

Featured on Dead Man's Bones 2009 self-titled album, this group is a rock duo formed back in 2007 by Zach Shields and Ryan freaking Gosling, who struck up a friendship based on a mutual love of the Haunted Mansion ride at Disney and decided to write spooky love songs together. The horror-inspired lyrics and the folk/indie rock sound the two of them create could be extremely jarring if done incorrectly, but I think this song as well as the others on the album are actually pretty good and fun to listen to, especially at Halloween.

You'd look nice in a grave/I smile at the moon, death is on my face/And if you wait too long/Then you'll never see the dawn again/My skull is full of sunken ships/My heart's a prisoner to my ribs/We're flesh and bone when we're all alone/But together, forever, we'll live

Bloodletting (Live) by Khemmis (written by B. Hutcherson, Z. Coleman, P. Pendergast, D. Beiers)

Featured on Khemmis's 2020 album Doomed Heavy Metal, these guys were basically destined to have most of their music on a Halloween playlist. Playing a mixture of doom metal, traditional heavy metal, death metal, and black metal, Bloodletting is just one of many songs I've included on my master playlist. For someone who doesn't know metal very well despite being married to a big fan of the genre, I think these guys are pretty alright and definitely fun to listen to this time of year.

Have we gone blind/I used to sing of finding light/In the darkened skies above/No fleeting glimpse/All hope is bleeding from this shell/The wolves are snapping at all sides/Consuming fear/The faith I held is fractured like a mirror/Both sides reflect the darkness of the other/Without the will to look inside/We cut our wrists on the divide/And I am bleeding out with no one there beside me

Weird Science by Oingo Boingo (written by D. Elfman)

Featured on Oingo Boingo's 1985 album Dead Man's Party, Weird Science also served as the theme song to the 1985 John Hughes film of the same name (starring Anthony Michael Hall and Ilan Mitchell Smith) and 1994 spin off sitcom. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I had no idea the iconic Danny Elfman (you know, the film composer who's done an insane amount of movies but maybe most notably The Nightmare Before Christmas) was the frontman of Oingo Boingo, but we're moving past that to have a good time with this bop of a song. It's so incredibly 80s it would be impossible to miscategorize it under any other decade, and it fits right in at any Halloween party.

From my heart and from my hand/Why don't people understand my intentions/Weird/Plastic tubes and pots and pans, bits and pieces and the/Magic from the hand we're makin’/Weird science/Things I've never seen before/Behind bolted doors/Talent and imagination/Weird science/Not what teacher said to do/Makin' dreams come true/Living tissue, warm flesh/Weird science/Plastic tubes and pots and pans/Bits and pieces and/Bits and pieces and/Bits of my creation, is it real/It's my creation, ooh my creation/It's my creation/Weird science

Gomez by Vic Mizzy (written by V. Mizzy)

Featured on the soundtrack to the original 1964 television series of The Addams Family, this instrumental piece served as the theme for the Addams patriarch Gomez. I love the use of the harpsichord sound throughout the original Addams stuff, and this piece encapsulates Gomez's outgoing, bubbly, and slightly unhinged personality pretty well, especially as he was originally portrayed by John Astin.

As we step into the rest of our favorite spooky holiday, I hope you all have a ton of safe fun. Happy listening, and see ya'll next week!