Harvest moons, costume parties, cheap candy, scary movies, pumpkin carving... what's not to love about October? Especially when we're talking about music! For the October 2024 edition of Pandora Picks, we get into some spooky tunes, some new songs, and some old favorites. Here's your bag of audio treats!
Press play to listen to Pandora Picks – October 2024
My pick for October is Florist and the song is called, “This Was a Gift.” I've been a big fan of Florist for a long time now and they keep putting out great music. They just put up this new single and it's the perfect fall listen – it's super autumnal and melancholy and has beautiful instrumentation. They just always do really great work and I hope you enjoy it.
-Dan
My pick for Halloween is “Vampire Love” by Kat Robichaud. She's a Bay Area artist and she's been on The Voice. Kat has this gorgeous, rich, singing voice and she's got this fun track called “Vampire Love” and it's so perfect for October. Hope you enjoy it.
-Jamie
My Pandora Pick for October comes from the Pacific Northwest - Post Post Punk project Sex Park is everything I ever wanted from Interpol, but never got. Musician Paul Burkhart describes this music as part of “the “Goth Vampire Sex Music Scene” and in that regard, it’s perfect for Halloween! But to me, it’s much more than that. Sex Park’s new album Interlude was recorded in 2024, but there’s so much here that reminds me of the early 1980s: The cold and piercing analog synthesizer tones, the minimalist yet dynamic drum machine beats that beg to be accompanied by a fog machine, and singer Daniel Blumenthal’s vocals that fit snug between those of Paul Banks and the late, great Ian Curtis. And while every song here is outstanding, it’s “Obligation” that stays with me like the smell of clove cigarette smoke after attending a Depeche Mode concert.
-Eric S
So, I thought I'd share a really cool discovery that could also work perfectly on your vintage Halloween playlist. This is Lou Johnson, who was a soul maestro known for his expressive voice and emotive delivery. He made a significant impact in the 1960s, most notably by his collaboration with the songwriting team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David. And you're about to hear one of those. This is a brilliant slab of soul music that was a staple on the UK dance halls. Take a sip of this “Magic Potion.”
-Michelle
October 2024 Halloween! Okay... MEMORIALS! “Acceptable Experience” is the first cut off their new album, Memorial Waterslides. Yeah, I've chosen a MEMORIALS song before for my Pandora Pick. You don't remember it. Whatever. It's got everything! It's got neo psychedelic, it's got post punk, progressive tendencies, punk urgency and sweet, sweet, vocal harmonies. Dig it.
-Chris D
I wanted to tell you about The Submissives who are a group from Montreal, Canada. And it sort of looks like a cult or a performance art project. But the music is sort of like… I don't know… the ‘90s band Quixotic mixed with The Shaggs mixed with Peggy Lee. And all of the songs are kind of about being submissive. And yeah, this is a live album – Live at Value Sound Studios. This is one of my favorite songs by them called, “Obsessed.”
-George
My pick for this month's Pandora Picks is Geordie Greep who used to play guitar in the band, black midi, but this is nothing like black midi. The new record is called The New Sound and it kind of really is a new sound. It's all over the map so much so that it's kind of hard to describe… prog, post punk, classic crooning, free jazz. Very wild, very strange, which for me is maybe best exemplified by the record's opener, “Blues,” which is most definitely not that. Instead, it's stuttery, noodly, bass-driven, theatrical, prog rock with very dramatic sung/spoken vocals, kind of like a more frantic, more caffeinated Mark E. Smith (and very, very strange lyrics). The whole thing builds to a super chaotic burst of wild, drum-heavy, freakout with a buried horn section and swirling keyboards. The whole thing is very tense and driving and it's all a slow ramp up to some sort of controlled chaos. Very cool, very weird. Check it out.
-Andee
My pick for this month is from Belgian artist Nala Sinephro and this comes from her new album Endlessness out on Warp Records. I have to thank a fellow coworker and friend Diego for turning me on to this record. It was one of those experiences where you just hear something and the first time you hear it, you know that it makes a huge impact on you. It's a really cool, very different blending of jazz, electronic, ambient, atmospheric elements. She's an up-and-coming artist and so it's very cool to learn about this album and I just can't say enough good things about it. I highly recommend digging into this one, but here is the first track from that record, “Continuum 1.”
-Noel
My pick for October is one from the wayback machine: the 1975 chart-topper “Fire” by Ohio Players. I love that when they publish the lyrics online for this (which you can find on the Pandora page attached to this very playlist) that they actually printed out all of the lyrics including all of the “ows” and “wows” and “heys” and “hos” and “woos,” et cetera. And it's just such a perfect arrangement, complete with this short-ranging guitar solo, the rhythmic breakdown, and the key change dramatically going up a whole step. This is the album version, not the edited single. And they're both hot, but I prefer this one.
-Eric D