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JHM Apparition in the Woods from Niemandswasser Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: Hounds of love are hunting
Apparition in the Woods
#1: Feb 20th 2011 at 4:47:24 AM

All right, being the musical Nightmare Fetishist that I am, I have decided to start a discussion amongst the denizens of this board about pieces of music that have genuinely disturbed them. I'm not necessarily talking about in-your-face brutality or willful spookiness; it could be anything, from relentlessly noisy goregrind to Appalachian folk to ambient isolationism to bubblegum pop. The only requirement is that, on some level, it has to have unsettled you in some way.

Takers?

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.
Alucard Lazy? from Vancouver, BC Since: Jan, 2011 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
Lazy?
#2: Feb 20th 2011 at 5:45:03 AM

How long before someone brings up Fitter Happier?

Drama tracks/skits can be powerful for this.

For songs, I'd go with:

SunshineWerewolf Since: Jan, 2011
#3: Feb 20th 2011 at 5:57:56 AM

Stalaggh. Just Stalaggh.
Enemite. Click that link and you're instantly in a creepy Japanese horror flick.
Xanopticon. Not an obvious one, but it feels like his music is punching me in the face.

edited 20th Feb '11 5:58:09 AM by SunshineWerewolf

MikeK Since: Jan, 2001
#4: Feb 20th 2011 at 8:08:13 AM

The Conet Project, full stop. The Backwards Music Station is often considered one of the creepiest tracks from this.

Suicide - Frankie Teardrop

Skeleton Key - Say Goodnight. Kind of more quietly eerie than outright terrifying.

JHM Apparition in the Woods from Niemandswasser Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: Hounds of love are hunting
Apparition in the Woods
#5: Feb 20th 2011 at 9:22:34 AM

† The most uncomfortable tracks by these artists ("You Think Your Fortune's Lovely", "Keep It", and "Private" respectively) are not on Youtube. In any case, these tracks aren't much of a slouch in their respective departments anyway, so...

º What always unsettled me about this one is the tone: Casual, blithe, somewhat bored. Which, frankly, cleaves much closer to the essence of "evil" than any throat-shredding metal singer could ever hope to.

ª Most of her oeuvre probably qualifies, actually. Especially Schrei X. But this qualifies as a nice taster.

edited 20th Feb '11 9:29:49 AM by JHM

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.
MetaFour AXTE INCAL AXTUCE MUN from A Place (Old Master)
AXTE INCAL AXTUCE MUN
#6: Feb 20th 2011 at 11:15:12 AM

I'm usually averse to deliberately scary music, but I've managed to acquire some anyway.

Dead by Dawn EP by Calibretto rather surprised me with its creepiness. Mostly because they pulled a big Bait-and-Switch. The album starts off with horror-punk Black Humor to put me off-guard, so that I don't notice the songs are getting more serious until the penultimate track ends on a spoken monologue over an organ drone, and then all the dark doors at the back of my mind are wide open for the final track.

I hear that people consider Sixteen Horsepower and Woven Hand dark and scary (Morgan Steinmeyer Håkansson from Marduk said that they're "a lot darker than many so-called black metal bands"), and I can hear where that's coming from, but... I guess I'm operating from the same worldview as the music, so I tend to see it as uplifting.

MikeK Since: Jan, 2001
#8: Feb 20th 2011 at 2:06:42 PM

Oh yeah, I forgot to add this:

Litis from Israel Since: Jul, 2009
#9: Feb 20th 2011 at 2:11:38 PM

  • "Become the Ocean" from the same album. My top picks for this kind of thing.
  • Godflesh proved they can be terrifying when they're not churning out sludge: "Pure II" in two parts.
  • It's obvious an obscure dark/industrial ambient collective such as :zoviet*france: would have plenty of sinister tracks. Too bad there's no "A Democratic Smirk" off the same album on YT; it's a sequence of incredibly well-placed Scare Chords.
  • I prefer music-making Trent Reznor to solely concerned about revolutionizing the way his fans acquire his music Trent Reznor. Don't you?

I thought of linking to some moments off Today Is the Day's Sadness Will Prevail, then remembered that there's almost no TItD on YouTube.

Charlatan Since: Mar, 2011
#10: Feb 20th 2011 at 2:21:01 PM

Speaking of Trent Reznor...

SpainSun Laugh it off, everybody from Somewhere Beyond Here Since: Jan, 2010
Laugh it off, everybody
#11: Feb 20th 2011 at 4:16:31 PM

Bomis Prendin, "New York Nightmare" off the TEST album, Free Music Archive. YOU HAVE NO EXCUSE. GO GET IT.

I spread my wings and I learn how to fly....
JHM Apparition in the Woods from Niemandswasser Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: Hounds of love are hunting
Apparition in the Woods
#12: Feb 21st 2011 at 5:49:38 AM

Almost forgot...

This song still makes me physically uncomfortable when I listen to it.

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.
CottonWolf from Scotland Since: Dec, 2010
#13: Feb 21st 2011 at 6:16:58 PM

I've always felt this is the sound of being lost and alone in a forest in deepest darkest winter.

adrasl300 Dude steals from gods! from Ostrogothia Sweden Since: Nov, 2010
Dude steals from gods!
#14: Mar 8th 2011 at 3:15:41 PM

What happened to my headphones just know was pretty disturbing...It just went white noise on me. Is Slendy around? Ahh nevermind.

edited 8th Mar '11 3:15:54 PM by adrasl300

In the process of creating Old Shame.
Jackerel SURPRISE from ur sentry Since: Feb, 2011
chocoboxxx Since: Dec, 1969
#17: Mar 9th 2011 at 11:25:37 AM

haaaaamburger laaaadyyyyhaaambugerlaaaaadyyyy

shes dyingshedysingshesdyshesdying

mmysqueeant I'm A Dirty Cowboy from Essairrrrcks Since: Oct, 2010
I'm A Dirty Cowboy
#18: Mar 9th 2011 at 11:41:59 AM

Huh, interesting thread.

Which, frankly, cleaves much closer to the essence of "evil" than any throat-shredding metal singer could ever hope to.

Oh. Never mind .

Weirdly, I wasn't even going to post anything metal here in the first place.

Tzetze DUMB from a converted church in Venice, Italy Since: Jan, 2001
JHM Apparition in the Woods from Niemandswasser Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: Hounds of love are hunting
Apparition in the Woods
#20: Mar 10th 2011 at 7:38:32 PM

[up][up] Not that I have anything against throat-shredding; I love abrasive, trachea-contorting vocals. I am simply inclined to think that accompanying sinister imagery with a mildly bored, playful half-monotone is much more unsettling in most circumstances than the same imagery delivered in an appropriately "scared" or "crazed" manner.

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.
dontcallmewave Brony? Moi? surely you jest! from My home Since: Nov, 2013
Brony? Moi? surely you jest!
#21: Mar 10th 2011 at 7:46:26 PM

I cant find it anywhere on youtube, but most of the soundtrack for Freddy Vs Jason is quite scary.

He who fights bronies should see to itthat he himself does not become a brony. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, Pinkie Pie gazes Also
Alucard Lazy? from Vancouver, BC Since: Jan, 2011 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
Lazy?
#22: Apr 23rd 2011 at 8:18:58 AM

Anyone want to try Cromagnon? They were quite good at this.

I need to get this album. Somehow...

edited 23rd Apr '11 8:19:08 AM by Alucard

Freekippers Pop Music Nerd Since: Jun, 2010
Pop Music Nerd
#23: Apr 23rd 2011 at 11:09:32 AM

Kinda surprised that this hasn't been mentioned yet. I actually jumped up at that moment.

SPK is THE go to band for this music, anyone have a favorite track by them? And please tell me that I'm not the only one that thinks that "Hamburger Lady" has a nice ambient quality to it, you know, if you ignore what Genesis is saying. /o Dang it, I forgot the Residents. Go listen to the Resident's Eskimo!

edited 23rd Apr '11 11:19:16 AM by Freekippers

Goomba4001 Cat avatar person from Phoenix, AZ Since: Feb, 2010
Cat avatar person
#24: Apr 23rd 2011 at 11:21:14 AM

Krzysztof Penderecki - Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima

You should get a pretty good idea of what this is from the first split-second of it. grin

In the meantime.

I unfortunately can't find it streamable anywhere, but the song "Into The Tranquility" by Ryoji Ikeda sounds like a wannabe Revolution 9 with a extremely distorted scream in the background of most of the song, and (at least for me) it's pretty damn disturbing, especially on my first listen.

If you're looking for whole BANDS that do this sort of music, look no further than Nurse With Wound.

The Residents can be a little freakish from time to time, but more often than not it's in more of an intentional humorous way though. I found Eskimo to be more funny than genuinely creepy, but YMMV.

Not particularly crying-in-a-corner-in-fetal-position scary or anything, but whenever I listen to Natural Snow Buildings, I always pick up an unsettling and bleak mood... their album Ghost Folks is a good example of this.

EDIT: Oops, ABNDT already posted Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima. My bad.

edited 23rd Apr '11 3:08:13 PM by Goomba4001

Freekippers Pop Music Nerd Since: Jun, 2010
Pop Music Nerd
#25: Apr 23rd 2011 at 11:53:13 AM

YMMV indeed. The first few times I listened to Eskimo, I had to pull off my headphones at times and when someone first played "Hamburger Lady" to me, I was half asleep and said "Oh, this is lovely. Who is it?" and was surprised to see his open-mouthed horror. Then again, I pointed out to him that he liked Xiu Xiu and was in no room to throw stones. I would suggest Xiu Xiu but I have never been able to listen to a full track by Jamie without the aforementioned throwing off of the headphones.

For bubble-gum horror, try this gem from my recent Beach Boys binge. Not only is it catchy as hell, but it's a seat squirmingly voyeuristic look into someone's mental breakdown. Not as blatant as "Till I Die", but I think the banality and the catchiness just makes the song more disturbing to me. Poor Brian. sad


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