Mood music for writing horror

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Inner Prop

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I know this is over a year old, but for my NaNoWriMo this year I'm working on a story that is Lovecraftian so I thought I'd use "crazy" and "insane" as a theme.

So far I have:
"Crazy in Love" Beyonce
"Crazy" Gnarls Barkley
"Destroyer" Kinks
"Crazy" Seal
"Insane Assylum" Koko Taylor and Willie Dixon
"Crazy On You" Heart
"Under My Skin" Michael Buble
"Crazy Train" Ozzy
"Brain Damage" Pink Floyd
"Smoking Gun" Robert Cray
"She's Come Undone" Guess Who
"Down in the Tube Station at Midnight" The Jam
"The World is a Vampire" Smashing Pumpkins
"Kiss Off" Violent Femmes
"Down with the Sickness" both Richard Cheese's lounge version and Disturbed's version
"Liar" Henry Rollins

Not a lot of creepy. There will be a love interest in the story, but I also need some intense stuff like Rollins and Disturbed, but more musical like the Clash and not too much screaming stuff
 

SusiD

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I'm finding a lot of good music on this thread! I will second Nox Arcana.

For my NaNoWriMo novel, which I am describing as "X-Files meets Lovecraft meets Heathers," I am listening to:

Lacuna Coil
Within Temptation
Delain
Apocalyptica
The Birthday Massacre
 

Viridian

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I prefer to use longer, quieter instrumental music (voices and lyrics distract me). Something that blocks out other noise, but isn't distracting.

I love the soundtrack to Thief: Deadly Shadows (really creepy horror/steampunk game). There's this level where you have to break into a burned-down orphanage/asylum full of undead inmates still twitching from their electroshock therapy. The soundtrack for that level is creepy as hell; it's called the Cradle, and it's on Youtube. There's another track for this other level (called the Abysmal Gale) that's pretty creepy too, full of gasping and moaning undead on a creaking ship.
 

Rhoda Nightingale

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Just dropping in to add the following:

Sinister wasn't everyone's favorite movie. I think I'm one of maybe three people who actually preferred it to Insidious. BUT. The soundtrack is . . . breathtaking. It's literally the best part of the movie, and that's saying something.
 

WormHeart

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King God Kong Zilla

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1.)
Scariest music I've ever heard by far.
Artist: Coil
Songs: The First Five Minutes After Death/Blood From the Air
Actually, most everything by Coil - especially The Horse Rotorvator album.
2.) 28 Days Later Soundtrack - In The House (In a Heartbeat)
3.) Nine Inch Nails.
4.) Resident Evil Theme by Marilyn Manson.
5.) I like the Death Note Soundtrack.
6.) I also like the Fountain Soundtrack.
7.) The Contagion Soundtrack.
 

Rotes

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Liam Jackson

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I have this old CD entitled "Dream Storms." It's 90 minutes of light, moderate, and heavy rain and thunderstorms. Heavy thunder to distant, rolling thunder. When I'm in the zone, I'm usually listening to this.
 

Gnashchick

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mercs

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My "scary" music is perhaps not that obvious...

"Ben" by Michael Jackson terrifies me for some reason -like REALLY scares me. I think it's the bass line and that spooky movie about the bloke with the rats that uses it as a theme tune...

In terms of writing, I find classical is the way forward. I can't listen to Le Danse Macabre without thinking up horror stories. I was watching a kid's programme with my son this morning and it had a variation on that for the theme tune (Deadtime stories or some such title!). It made me smile to think that someone else finds that music spooky too!
 

The Scip

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I need quiet to write effectively. However I do use music as a way to prepare to write especially if I know the type of scene I am planning on writing I try to match up the music with what is happening in the scene. I can listen and think about what I want to write, then turn the music off when it gets down to actual writing.
 

Gnashchick

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Does anyone else here make a soundtrack for characters they particularly like? Music that the character would listen to?

Or am I just weir-- wait, don't answer that.
 

elinor

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I actually write my gore/horror/dark scenes best when listening to soothing ambient nature music from a radio station on itunes. Listening to a summer rainstorm in a meadow really helps me get into the groove when writing scenes like someone's flesh melting off their body. I have no idea why.
 

AgentCooper

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I don't always listen to music when I'm writing, but sometimes it's a nice change of pace. For horror, I've been listening to Tuxedomoon's album The Ghost Sonata with my AKG cans, and it's very good dark mood music. Not so much recommended without headphones, though, because you miss a lot of the experience with speakers. Here's a good track, the title track, for reference:

Tuxedomoon - The Ghost Sonata

Some Autechre is also welcome, particularly for something a bit gritty. Here's one from their album, Amber:

Autechre - Nil

Aphex Twin's Drukqs album works quite nicely for me, as well.

Aphex Twin - jynweythek

And, not to be excluded, for something good and unsettling for primarily vocal music, CocoRosie:

CocoRosie - Lemonade
CocoRosie - Good Friday

CocoRosie is actually the main artist on rotation for the story I'm working on right now.
 
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