I see a darkness
December 8, 2016 5:17 PM   Subscribe

Give me some dark, driving, haunting tracks to round out a playlist.

I've been craving music like the tracks below, that have some combination of lots of minor keys, darkness without being overly slow/sedated, prominent basslines, reverb-heavy guitar, and haunting vocals. Lera Lynn is probably the archetype of what I'm looking for but I like the diversity in sound on this playlist. Newer artists are particularly welcomed.

Ring of Fire- Lera Lynn
Far From Any Road- The Handsome Family
Waiting Around to Die- Townes Van Zandt
Pretty Mary K (Other Version)- Elliott Smith
Shape Shifter- Lera Lynn
Metal Heart- Cat Power
Spinning Plates- Radiohead
Mysterons- Portishead
Rocket Man- My Morning Jacket
Where Did I Leave That Fire?- Neko Case
Needy Generator- Brown Bird
Pleasure Is All Mine- Bjork
How's It Gonna End- Tom Waits
Bang Bang- Nancy Sinatra
Roads- Portishead
Where Did You Sleep Last Night- Nirvana
Exit Music (For a Film)- Radiohead
I See a Darkness- Johnny Cash
Furnace Room Lullaby- Neko Case
Kathleen- Townes Van Zandt
Thunder and Lightning- Brown Bird
posted by quiet coyote to Media & Arts (49 answers total) 78 users marked this as a favorite
 
This is an older duo, but Lee Hazelwood with Nancy Sinatra might fit. "Some Velvet Morning" and "Sundown, Sundown" are two of my favorites.
posted by shortyJBot at 5:34 PM on December 8, 2016 [5 favorites]


I think Chris Isaak's Wicked Game would fit pretty perfectly, as would London Grammar's cover of it.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 5:43 PM on December 8, 2016 [4 favorites]




Jism by Tindersticks (or many other tracks by them - they do a magnificent cover of Kathleen, also El Diablo En El Ojo, also Traveling Light).
Los Angeles by Phosphorescent (or many of his other tracks - I'd say Song for Zula, but it's upbeat despite the darkness).
200 More Miles by the Cowboy Junkies.
Most of Low's middle repertoire like Sunflower
For something a little different, Sand as performed by Einsturzende Neubauten
You Will Miss Me When I Burn, also well performed by Soulsavers, originally by Palace Brothers
A bunch of stuff on the Brothers of Anarchy soundtracks.
posted by Candleman at 5:48 PM on December 8, 2016 [1 favorite]


Seeing as you've already got Cash's Will Oldham cover, why not add in another one and go for
The Trembling Bells and Bonnie Prince Billy - Riding. If it's too heavy, the original is a lot more mellow.
posted by Pink Frost at 5:50 PM on December 8, 2016




Low does a cover of I Started a Joke, it's kinda haunting ... but maybe not driving.
posted by compartment at 6:00 PM on December 8, 2016




Leonard Cohen - Who By Fire
posted by The otter lady at 6:05 PM on December 8, 2016


Hey, this is one of my favorite kinds of music! :) Here are a couple of suggestions - hopefully some of them fit what you’re looking for:

Fierce Creatures – The Great White
Bat for Lashes – Daniel
Madi Diaz – Burn

I LOVE Little Dragon and I’d say some of their would be good, but Blinking Pigs is one of my favorites.
posted by yeahyeahrealcute at 6:09 PM on December 8, 2016 [1 favorite]


Oh, and one more Little Dragon song that might fit what you're looking for: Feather
posted by yeahyeahrealcute at 6:12 PM on December 8, 2016


I have a moody writing playlist (heavily cribbed from these types of songs from the Underworld soundtracks) that skews in this direction. Best matches for you:

Sarah Bettens All of This Past
The Naked and Famous Young Blood (Renholder remix) (note: I think this remix has a significantly better vocal mix than the original)
Milla - Rocket Collecting
David Bowie - Bring Me the Disco King (Loner mix)
How to Destroy Angels - The Space In Between
posted by Lyn Never at 6:12 PM on December 8, 2016


Mirah - Cold Cold Water
posted by telegraph at 6:46 PM on December 8, 2016 [5 favorites]


When I think dark, driving and haunting I think...

- Archie Bronson Outfit - Cherry Lips
- 16 Horsepower - Black Soul Choir (or others)
- Joel RL Phelps - Counsel (and others)
- Wolf Parade - Modern World
- PJ Harvey - Send His Love to Me
- Beiruit - Mount Wroclai
- Silkworm - Little Sister
posted by jessamyn at 7:02 PM on December 8, 2016




Violent Femmes - Country Death Song or I Hear the Rain
posted by jessamyn at 7:07 PM on December 8, 2016 [1 favorite]




Lately when I've been in the mood to listen to that kind of music I've put on the A Place To Bury Strangers channel on Pandora and been very gratified.
posted by ejs at 7:19 PM on December 8, 2016




Death Tunnel. No vocals, but very dark and driving.
posted by ignignokt at 7:31 PM on December 8, 2016


Chelsea Wolfe - Tracks
posted by Orca at 8:04 PM on December 8, 2016


Siouxsie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVTtFjU0T-Y
Polyrock
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr8nk1f9HNM
Urban Verbs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkVXIWNNLrw
posted by Mr. Yuck at 8:13 PM on December 8, 2016




A few more:

Tracy Chapman - Fast Car
St Vincent - Paris is Burning
Placebo - Running up that hill (Cover of a Kate Bush song)
I know you already have one Neko Case song, but I'm partial to Hold on, Hold on
Snow Patrol featuring Martha Wainwright - Set the Fire to the Third Bar
posted by litera scripta manet at 8:47 PM on December 8, 2016 [2 favorites]


Shirley Bassey - History Repeating
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 8:57 PM on December 8, 2016


Florence and the Machine--Blinding
posted by bookworm4125 at 9:06 PM on December 8, 2016


Since you like Johnny Cash's Will Oldham cover, I feel compelled to ask: Have you listened to the full Bonnie Prince Billy (Will Oldham) album "I See A Darkness"?
posted by cnidaria at 9:10 PM on December 8, 2016 [2 favorites]


Popping back in with a couple more recommendations:
Savages - Adore
Daughter - Doing the Right Thing
The Gutter Twins - Idle Hands
EMA - Satellites
Emma Ruth Rundle - Run Forever
posted by cnc at 9:11 PM on December 8, 2016




Response by poster: OH MAN SAVAGES. How could I forget about them? I added Husbands to the list too. And yeah, I'm all about BPB, but the Cash cover was working better for me for this particular mix.
posted by quiet coyote at 9:24 PM on December 8, 2016




I'm surprised you don't have any Cocteau Twins - Pepper Tree, Five Ten Fiftyfold, When Mama Was Moth, Amelia, Cicely, Beatrix, Whales Tails, How To Bring a Blush To the Snow, Aikea Guinea, Blue Bell Knoll and (seasonally) Winter Wonderland - which I've always thought of as dark, especially the earlier stuff (that list is in roughly chronological order).

(No, everyone else sounds like them.)

And so, at a pinch, maybe Host of Seraphim or Persephone or similar by Dead Can Dance, which is probably best suited to somewhat glamourised footage of the third world, but is very lovely.

The darkest is probably recent Scott Walker, isn't it? From the first four tracks on Nite Flights (don't bother with the rest), through Climate of Hunter, Tilt, The Drift, Bisch Bosch, you could go all the way to Soused, though I confess only Cossacks Are immediately strikes me as coming close to your other criteria. Can be very beautiful, though - vis Sleepwalkers Woman, The Electrician - though not so much dark as impenetrable.
posted by Grangousier at 1:06 AM on December 9, 2016 [1 favorite]


Try the Paradise Motel's Derwent River Star. Black Angel Drifter make great music as well. Lyla Foy has a beautiful cover of Tori Amos's Cornflake Girl. And Haraket's Levelhead is a quiet, moody masterpiece.
posted by srednivashtar at 2:10 AM on December 9, 2016 [1 favorite]






Hank Dogs 18 Dogs
posted by chaoticgood at 5:46 AM on December 9, 2016


I think Godspeed You! Black Emperor belongs in this thread.
posted by entropone at 6:41 AM on December 9, 2016


Shivaree - Goodnight Moon
posted by a moisturizing whip at 7:41 AM on December 9, 2016


Pretty much the entire soundtrack of The Crow, but particularly Nine Inch Nails' cover of Dead Souls and The Cure's Burn.

Also, Orbital's The Box, the full version and particularly Part II.
posted by DrAstroZoom at 7:48 AM on December 9, 2016


The National - About today
Fink - Perfect darkness
The cinematic orchestra - To build a home
Elliott Smith - Needle in the hay
Ben Howard - Oats in the water or Burgh Island
Daughter - Youth
Douglas Dare - Swim (i'm not super familiar with his work, he was extraordinary live though, reminded me a lot of Radioheads in Rainbows)
Antony and the Johnsons - Another world
Snow Patrol - Golden floor
PJ Harvey - Is this desire?
Damien Rice - Prague
Julie Doiron - No more

uuf.. got too carried away, hopefully you find one in there that might fit the bill!
posted by speakeasy at 9:06 AM on December 9, 2016 [1 favorite]


hmm... I was reminded of this from music.metafilter.com
Same Dark Road
posted by gryftir at 10:19 AM on December 9, 2016




Jason Molina was masterful at this. I would start by listening to Blue Chicago Moon and Blue Factory Flame, from Didn't it Rain, and then listen to the whole album, and then maybe Ghost Tropic..

Also, all The Black Heart Procession stuff is pretty great and dark.
posted by indeterminacy at 1:03 PM on December 9, 2016


Richard Dawson - The Vile Stuff is a dark, surreal epic of startling and poetic imagery, unsettling and blackly comic. It also contains perhaps my favourite lyric ever : "My neighbour Andrew lost two fingers to a Staffie cross whilst jogging over Cow Hill with a Pepperami in his bumbag"
posted by steganographia at 1:07 PM on December 9, 2016 [1 favorite]


It;s a bit dated but Eve of Destruction by Barry McGuire.
posted by SemiSalt at 1:15 PM on December 9, 2016


Check out Barbara Manning, both solo and as part of 28th Day. Also early Madder Rose and maybe Mazzy Star.

Or go back to the 80s and find David+David'a "Boomtown."
posted by sesquipedalia at 9:39 PM on December 9, 2016




Tarbox Ramblers' cover of Down South Blues has been a fave of mine for years.
posted by Sheydem-tants at 3:39 PM on December 10, 2016


Bedhead, Powder.
Emma Ruth Rundle, Marked for Death.
Daughter, To Belong.
Tess Parks, Life Is But a Dream.
posted by Sonny Jim at 4:03 AM on December 12, 2016


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