Top 5 Songs of the Month ~ October 2023 ~

I’ve spent the last month or so grieving over the latest stage of the Armenian genocide, which was the complete destruction of Artsakh by Azerbaijan. I wrote a separate rant blog about that rather than vent here. 

And what music has been helping me cope with these dark days? Spoiler, a lot of it is dark. Listening to happy music just doesn’t work. Although I guess listening to nostalgic 90s alternative rock music helps a little. I’ve done a bit of that, working on my 90s YouTube playlist, a potent mix of alternative rock, grunge, nu-metal, black metal, a few guilty pleasures, and of course underground goth music, interspersed with Beavis and Butthead segments and a few MTV bumpers (most of which are on my 80s playlist). But I don’t want to do that constantly, and even that music isn’t necessarily “happy”. It works until “Disarm” by Smashing Pumpkins comes on and I start bawling. (Not actually, but it tugs  on the heartstrings. “I used to beee a little boy”. Yeah.)  Also just keeping my nose in books about ancient Egypt, studying their religion and teaching myself hieroglyphs, helps too. It’s a coping mechanism, escapism. 

I’ll be looking at songs of Octobers past as well. There are sure to be a few spooky selections from my top 3 picks in 2003, 2008, 2013 and 2018.

Cashiari ~ Oscura Noche

Not only is this a great Halloween song, it fits my mood perfectly. I first mentioned Cashiari last month, a Peruvian experimental dark-electro band. 

Blurpz ~ Escape

A Dutch coldwave track from 1983.

Day After ~ Ticking Away

Fearing ~ Scars

Das Kelzer ~ Light Grey

Antaios Nocturne ~ Don’t Forget to Smile

Top 3 Songs of October Over the Years

October 2003

1. Dimmu Borgir ~ Hybrid Stigmata

2. Kraftwerk ~ Vitamin

3. Dimmu Borgir ~ Alt Lys er Svonnet Hen

October 2008

1. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy ~ Save my Soul

2. Das Ich - Zuckerbrot und Peitsche

3. Aurelio Voltaire ~ Land of the Dead

October 2013

1. Ministry ~ I Wanted to Tell Her

2. Ayria ~ Big City Lullaby 

3. The Birthday Massacre ~ Blue

October 2018

1. Twin Tribes ~ Still in Still

2. Asylum Party ~ La Nuit

3. Lebanon Hanover ~ Sadness is Rebellion