The Halloween switch is officially turned ON! As you fill up your candy bowl with Snickers and Hershey bars for trick or treaters…or yourself…you can get into the holiday mood by spinning these tracks in between your scary movie marathons. From bodyimage and Love Ghost (perfect seasonal band name) to Common People and more, these new alternative, rock, indie, and metal songs are perfect for your October playlist.
bodyimage — “Leeches”
bodyimage is turning up the heat on alternative-electronic music with the arrival of “Leeches.” Bewitching and deliciously dark, this song serves up a big plate of existentialism as it forces listeners to shake it. The act notes, “Surprise surprise, it’s about to get a little dark. I started writing it with a simple idea: What would my art say if I was truly and completely honest? What if every song scared me? … I succeeded, every song scares the shit out of me, but life is too short to deliver anything less than brutal honesty.” Catch bodyimage live on tour in 2027 with DeathbyRomy. Plus, the artist will release their album, 30 Self Inflicted Gunshot Wounds to the Head, on November 13.
Love Ghost — “Into The Woods”
Love Ghost isn’t just back with new singles “Into The Woods” and “Something In The Water,” they’ve also arrived with an announcement! The Los Angeles-based alt-emo act is gearing up for the release of their new album Thirteen, due out on November 13. Frontman Finnegan Bell says, “’Thirteen’ is probably the most vulnerable record I’ve ever made. 13 is the age I was expelled from school, and was the age where I started to feel like I didn’t belong. I think a lot of this record comes from that feeling of always being on the outside looking in. It’s an acoustic midwest grunge album about isolation, identity, and trying to find something beautiful in the uglier parts of life. It feels like a collection of memories that I probably should’ve buried. Thirteen songs coming out on Friday the thirteenth.”
Common People — “Shapeshift”
Ahead of their Austin City Limits performance, Los Angeles indie-rockers Common People dropped their new track “Shapeshift” produced by Cage The Elephant‘s Brad Shultz. With bouncy guitar licks and raw choruses, you’ll instantly fall in love with this offering. Lead vocalist Nicky Winegardner says, “We came back from a night out in LA and the song kinda appeared. We started singing the chorus together with some friends and dancing around. Change can be good and bad at the same time; that middle ground is a cool place to explore.”
Orbit Culture — “The Path I Walk ft. Tina Guo”
Orbit Culture softened their edges with an exciting new collab. The metal act tapped cellist Tina Guo to create something truly special with “The Path I Walk.” The band notes, “We’ve always been a bit uneasy about bringing someone else into our music, but Tina Guo was the exception. Ever since we saw her perform in Stockholm in 2017, we’d joked about working with her one day. When the label suggested a guest for ‘The Path I Walk,’ we threw her name out, fully expecting nothing to come of it. Then our A&R, Mike Gitter, simply said, ‘I know her.’ We initially worked out her parts in MIDI using her own sample library, but hearing her actual performance was something else entirely. The emotion she brought completely changed the song and took it further than we’d imagined. What stayed with us just as much was how kind and down-to-earth she was throughout the whole process. For someone with her talent and experience, there was no ego at all. We’re incredibly proud to have her on this song, and grateful that an idea we’d joked about for years actually happened.” This marks a stunning and emotional performance from all involved.
Northvale — “Not Myself”
Rising pop-punk trio Northvale has just revealed their thrilling new single “Not Myself,” and it’s a must-add to your fall playlist. The band explains, “We spend years running toward our goals, pushing ourselves to the absolute limit, until one day you stop and realize you don’t even recognize the person you’ve become. ‘Not Myself” is about the breaking point. It’s the moment you look in the mirror and ask if the dream you’ve been chasing is worth the pieces of yourself that you’ve lost along the way.” Fans can catch the band at the beloved venue Bowery Palace on November 15.
SKORTS —”Bad Habit”
Following the release of “Headrush” and “Amy,” SKORTS have shared a new single, “Bad Habit”—and all of these stunning tracks can be found on their newly announced EP, Muse and the Marquee, arriving on November 13. The band says of their latest offering, “It’s definitely a tone shift from the other singles, but ‘Bad Habit’ felt like the most natural 3rd release off the EP. ‘Headrush’ and ‘Amy’ are such ‘rock songs,’ and while they are strong representations of our sound, we want to get people used to the fact that we are going to play anything. We play loud, but we also play and write these softer, dreamier songs.” And they’re right—it is a dreamy, euphoric indie tune that shows that these rockers have incredible range and deserve a spot on your rotation.
The quartet adds, “The new EP feels more like an extension of the first record than a stride towards the next. You can expect 6 very different types of songs on the new EP. A rainbow of flavors, if you will! From heavy doom to perhaps dreamy adult contemporary??? There is probably something for everyone to like and dislike on this EP, and we couldn’t be happier about it.”
Bad Wolves — “Jolene” (With Dolly Parton)
Believe it or not, Bad Wolves got to collaborate with THE Dolly Parton. Prior to her passing, Bad Wolves shared their cover of “Jolene” with Parton and her team, who ultimately recruited the country star’s longtime producer Kent Wells to mix in her vocals on the hard rock rendition. For this new collab, out via Better Noise Music, the band teamed up with students from Nashville’s School of Rock to film the music video. Additionally, all proceeds from the cover will be donated to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
Owner of Nashville School of Rock Angie McCreight says, “Our students were thrilled to be part of creating this video, and their energy, enthusiasm, and genuine desire to support the cause made the experience especially rewarding. Dolly Parton will always be a ROCKSTAR at the Nashville School of Rock, and we are proud to honor her legacy through the power of music and the next generation of performers.”
Arankai — “The Shape Of Blue”
This month, Arankai dropped his highly anticipated album The Shape Of Blue, via Hopeless Records. The title track serves as the record’s conclusion and is unapologetically raw. Arankai shares of his body of work, “The Shape of Blue, like its predecessor A Portrait of Red, covers a range of human experiences: rebellion, pride, sacrifice, to name a few that stick out. I tend to draw from personal experiences, but with this particular record I found myself writing songs that reflected specific situations involving other people; sometimes I wasn’t even a part of those situations, it was just a powerful moment I found inspiring.”
He adds, “I really wanted this record to be something special. I did a lot of things I haven’t done before, wrote songs in styles that were new to me; I really wanted to give people a new, exciting experience. I believe The Shape of Blue, as an album, is a strong, emotive piece. And I hope people enjoy it as much as I loved making it.” Grab your physical copy here and check him out on tour with Catch Your Breath.
