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Indie Rock Cafe

Best new indie rock songs, indie bands, alt rock news, album reviews

halloween great indie rock songs

Happy Halloscream

Over the years, IRC has put together over 20 different indie rock Halloween songs playlists, featuring hundreds of Halloween, or Halloweenish, songs.

Some songs were picked merely because the title is in some way, Halloweenish; you know, blood, ghosts, monsters, death, vampires, skeletons, darkness, and so on.

This is the ONLY Halloween Playlist Worth Streaming

NOTE: Enable/allow flash to stream with the little player below or listen on IRC Spotify channel.

Also, if you are accessing the amp/ (or mobile) version of the page, you may wish to switch to the non-amp page to stream the entire playlist of 50 songs with the same Flash player built into the page.

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You’ll also hear some tracks that don’t really sound like Halloween songs, usually because they’re upbeat or cheery – but have a “Halloweenish” title, like “I Died So I Could Haunt You” from Stars, or “Bones” from Electric Tickle Machine; other songs may not have the “matching” title, but the song itself sounds creepy, dark, spooky or scary, like “Been A Wrong Road” from Cameron Steele. Also, don’t miss The Kinks’ triple-header of Halloweenish songs below.

“Tokyo Witch“Beach House

“A Wolf at the Door“Radiohead

Double The Trouble from Radiohead!
“Bodysnatchers“ – Radiohead

“Superstition“ The Kills

“Howlin For You“ The Black Keys

“Scarecrow“ Beck

“The Hexx“ Pavement

“Cemetery Gates“The Smiths

“Ghost In Daylight“Atlantic Line

“Halloween“Sonic Youth

“Caskets“Damien Jurado

“Beautiful My Monster“Husky Rescue

“Devils A GoGo“Blitzen Trapper

“Little Ghost“The White Stripes

“Black Eyes“ Shearwater

“Witchcraft“ Light Pollution

“Bones“ Electric Tickle Machine

“Graveyards Full“ The Growlers

“I Died So I Could Haunt You“ Stars

“The Witch“ The Rattles

“The Witching Hour“Wild Nothing

“Standing on Ghosts“Two Door Cinema Club

“Been a Wrong Road“ Cameron Steele

“Friendly Ghost“Harlem

“Coffin Trick“Atlas Sound

“Mr Vampire“ The Torches

“Graveyard“Chad VanGaalen

“Zombies“King Kahn & The BBQ Show

“Ghost of Syllables“Admiral Radley

“Black Venom“ The Budos Band

“The Ghost Of Rockschool“Belle & Sebastian

“Devil Town“ (Daniel Johnson) – Bright Eyes

“They Are Night Zombies“ Sufjan Stevens

“Youre Afraid“ Brothertiger

“Hollow Hollow Eyes“Crocodiles

“Pumpkin“The Starlight Mints

“The Curse“ Cults

“So Haunted“Cut Copy

“Halloween“Dead Kennedys

“Im Mad“The Dead Weather

“The Halloween Song“ Evangelicals

“Halloween On The Barbary Coast“The Flaming Lips

“Grey Is Old“ Furcast

“Dance On Our Graves“ Paper Route

“Beast in Peace“ Bear in Heaven

“Scare You“Harlem

“The Moonlight Is Wicked“Hands and Knees

“Spiders“Wilco

“Snake Eyes“Ganglians

Some of The Kinks’ Early Halloweenish Songs

This mix also includes a trio of Halloweenish songs from The Kinks, dating back to their classic era (1966-1971) during which the band built a discography of amazing music that remains legendary to this day. In fact, as was the case with so many genres of music over the decades – including rock, punk, metal, new wave and pop – many of today’s indie bands are influenced by The Kinks, either directly or indirectly.

The three Halloweenish Kinks’ songs below demonstrate the band’s abilities to write about all kinds of topics, and record all types of different sounds and styles. The first track, “Wicked Annabella” is a creepy, sinister-sounding song with wicked vocals by Ray Davies and his younger brother and guitarist, Dave Davies. The song was first released way back in 1968 on The Kinks’ widely acclaimed masterpiece LP, The Village Green Preservation Society.

“Wicked Annabella“The Kinks

The follow-up track, “Big Black Smoke,” is essentially a song about a young woman who grew tired of the country life, but her parents thought she couldn’t do any wrong, until she “walked the streets of the big, black smoke.”
In addition to the title – not so much the lyrics – the song has a kind of spooky, steady stomp, thick bass line and catchy chorus.

“Big Black Smoke“The Kinks

The final song, “King Kong” is again menacing in the way “Wicked Annabella” is. There’s also something about the rawness of the recording itself. In fact, “Big Black Smoke” and “King Kong” were originally recorded on mono and only released on the klassic Kinks’ double-LP, The Kinks Kronikles.

“King Kong“The Kinks