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.
