Welcome to the October edition of Beats Per Minute’s monthly playlist BPM Curates.
Spooky season has been and gone, but the more overbearing feeling of this time of year is the clocks changing, the leaves falling and the oranges all around – it’s autumn (at least here in the northern hemisphere). Is there a more evocative time of the year? Probs not. Here’s the perfect playlist to accompany those strolls through the leaf-strewn streets.
Below is the track list and some notes from our team about why they’ve selected them for this month’s playlist.
An Abstract Illusion – “Like A Geyser Erupting”
The Swedish death metal group An Abstract Illusion have returned with their third LP The Sleeping City that ramps up their cinematic approach to an unprecedented level. The most intense track here has gotta be “Like a Geyser Ever Erupting”, a relentlessly evolving seven minute opus that combines the group’s emotional efficacy with the harshest corners of death metal. – Nathan Skinner
Chaeyoung – “In My Room”
Yes, there will be three TWICE songs on this list. There may be no other month – ever – in which a stan can shout out individual songs from each member from a single release, so just have fun with it.
To celebrate their 10th anniversary, the group decided to officially release the solo turns they’ve been performing on their current tour, and we’re all the winners. (If anything, whittling my picks down to just three was painful, shouts out to Jihyo’s soaring chest-thumping across “ATM”, Momo’s swagger through the delightfully dancey “Move Like That”, and the other honored fallen.)
This was arguably the “big one”, considering that Chaeyoung was gearing up to release her solo debut (last month’s truly sublime LIL FANTASY vol.1), so fans were elated to get a taste of the surprises in store.
Indeed, the woman typically seen as “TWICE’s rapper” was already displaying just how idiosyncratic she was to prove to be when left to her own devices. “In My Room” is a slice of delightful, giddy Bedroom pop, more indebted to PINKPANTHERESS than her full project would prove to be, but just as perfect. Her lyrics are essential. It’s a dedication to your inner-introvert, to that moment when you come home after a long day and dance like an idiot while daydreaming about whatever you damn please. You know you’ve done it. Don’t lie. Chae says it best: “anything can happen in my room”. – Chase McMullen
daena – “Vampire Girl”
Nashville’s power-pop sensation daena is back with a Halloween-themed banger called “Vampire Girl” that sounds like classic Liz Phair. Plenty of hooks here to sink your fangs in. – Larry McClain
Fairhazel – “Ava”
This Nashville alt-folk artist sounds a lot like Graham Nash and Paul Simon on his new single “Ava”. If this Brit native had been born in 1943, he would have been a member of The Hollies. – Larry McClain
Fcukers – “I Like It Like That”
Ironically or otherwise, the big pop stars often played the subservient, sex-kitten role in 2025 and “I Like It Like That” follows suit. The track has an eyes-rolled-back detachment, from repetitive lyrics opposite Pete Rodriguez on the spectrum to dub/reggae ornamentation played up for superficial international flair. The bassline has a direct link to Salt-N-Pepa’s “Push It”, and Kenneth Blume (formerly Kenny Beats) plays the breakdown expertly enough to keep the beat from soaking into the floorboards. – Steve Forstneger
foamboy – “Summering”
Veering onto the dancefloor with a melancholic aura, foamboy’s new standalone single “Summering” takes a moody drumbeat and dresses it up in solemn and dark colours. It’s the sound of summer vanishing, giving way to darker nights and colder weather. The Portland duo sound like they are aching for something long gone here, but this interesting venture into dancier territory feels like a apt vessel to mine that feeling. – Ray Finlayson
Fred again.. – “Facilita (feat. Caribou & Menor Teteu)”
Side One of a double single (the other piece a collaboration with Floating Points), “Facilita” is the latest in an effort to release 10 songs and play 10 shows in 10 cities across 10 weeks. Despite Menor Teteu singing in Brasilian Portuguese (almost Portuñol), Fred again.. and Caribou manage to give the melody an Arabic tone and a soundtrack for modern bellydance. Thematically, the title (take it easy) isn’t far removed from “Despacito”, though the lyrics are loaded with sexual innuendo. – Steve Forstneger
Jeongyeon – “Fix a Drink”
Wait, Jeongyeon went country? And fuckin’ crushed it? Turns out her soulful voice befits wounded country pop like a snug, cowhide glove. This is a “K-pop” song that’d make Golden Hour-era Kacey Musgraves a bit envious. Ultimately, though, it all comes down to that damn chorus: “I’ve got shots for jealousy, and a bottle for your pain… I can’t fix a heart: but I sure know how to fix a drink.” Who’d have thought it’d be Jeongyeon having a thousand wounded, weary, boozed up hearts pouring one out this October. A bit of whiskey to the sounds of TWICE tonight? Strange world. – Chase McMullen
Lily Allen – “Madeline”
Picking just one song off what’s arguably already hitting as Lily Allen’s magnum opus, a pained, often frenzied wallop of searingly personal blips of strife and betrayal is a hell of a challenge. Multiple songs on West End Girl could be seen as a centerpiece, but I’m going to go with “Madeline”. As she enjoyed new career successes (stage turns, accolades) Allen was dealing with a relationship in decay, and her suspicion regarding her partner comes to a fiery head here. Dashing in a train-of-thought type way through often sing-song verses, she dashes between missives sent to “the other woman” and is split between replies from the said woman herself, and her delivery of “why would you trust anything that comes out of his mouth?” will embed itself in your consciousness. “I’m not convinced that he didn’t fuck you in our house.” Oof. – Chase McMullen
Nayeon – “MEEEEEE”
A track something only TWICE’s ultimate champion of self-love (hell, self-adoration) could deliver. For non-fans, to give you an idea, this is a wonderful woman who comments how pretty she is on her own pictures, and then thanks herself in a reply. Once, when asked if she believed in love at first sight, she replied, essentially, “Well, I’ve seen myself.” We love a confident queen.
Nayeon swerves through with tongue-in-cheek, cheeky one-liners to spare: “Don’t cook but I got good taste / Don’t drive but I love the chase… Stay close, but I need my space” and – most importantly – an unfairly simple yet irresistible hook that will burrow itself into your ears and refuse to leave for hours, and you won’t even mind. It was bouncing around my head for days after catching some of the group’s THIS IS FOR tour stops, long before TWICE ever deigned to drop these songs officially.
Of course, there’s also that line: “I might just let you hit it sideways”. You just know Nayeon is off somewhere, smirking, infinitely pleased with herself, content knowing that all it took was a bit of innuendo for her to set netizens into a tizzy. – Chase McMullen
Party Dozen – “Mad Rooter”
A single from an upcoming 7″ (out December 5th on City Slang/ GRUPO), “Mad Rooter” is like the equivalent of a late night kebab: greasy and heavy, but exactly what you want. A swaggering, scuzzy guitar riff scratches itself out as Kirsty Tickle sings incomprehensible syllables into the fray. When the chorus hits and it unleashes a barrage of thumping noise and stonking free jazz honks, it swirls everything together magnificently into a cathartic crescendo. It might leave you feeling bloated, but damn it feels good. – Ray Finlayson
Rosalía – “Berghain” (feat. Björk and Yves Tumor)
Leaning on her classical training with a bombastic full orchestra battering ram, Rosalía makes sure we know she has a new album coming in the very near future. Not satisfied to just have an enormous set of musicians backing her, she also invites in Björk, whose gale-force vocal performance goes head-on with the orchestration; practiacally cancelling each other out to create a pregnant void, before the musicians come stomping back in. Yves Tumor’s contribution is a bit more questionable, but it’s certainly impactful. – Rob Hakimian
Samantha Margret – “Dream Girl”
California dark-pop artist Samantha Margret is one of our most culturally important voices. “Dream Girl” is the title song of her debut album, which contains cathartic snapshots of what it means to be an unfettered woman in a world full of oppressing stereotypes. It’s one of this year’s best releases. –Larry McClain
Scoochie Boochie – “Dinosaurs Are Back”
Holy Smokes podcaster Scoochie Boochie has been prolific of late, finding breaks between comedy-club dates in the Upper Midwest to record his own version of mumblecore Drake-style hip-hop. “Dinosaurs Are Back” depicts evolution come full circle as Jurassic Park inmates develop a passion for two human-made things: driving and driving while intoxicated. They also want royalties for “dino nugget” fried chicken; intend to keep ghosting Steven Spielberg; and seek discounts on petroleum because, after all, it’s them in the gas. “Thanks for keeping land warm for us”, they head-nod. “Damn, where are y’all forests”? There’s even possibly a dig at the comics from the Riyadh comedy festival, though they might be bigger than that. – Steve Forstneger
sunn O))) – “Eternity’s Pillars”
The legendary sunn O))) are back with a three-track EP demonstrating for the first time their unadulterated sound as a duo. “Eternity’s Pillars” is October bliss: deeply despairing, droning guitars wailing in ominous fashion. A perfect soundtrack for gloomy autumn nights. – Nathan Skinner
Tyla – “Chanel”
One way to guarantee yourself a steady flow of designer clothing from a luxury brand is name a song after it and then make it all about how buying that brand is the ultimate mark of adoration. Fortunately, Tyla ensures this is much more than a cash grab and is in fact a bonafide bop. “You say you love me? Put me in Chanel” she asserts repeatedly, between purring raps and the Amapiano-influencing production. It’s guaranteed to get stuck in your head. You can’t buy this kind of publicity. – Rob Hakimian
U.S. Girls – “Running Errands (Yesterday)”
The first half of a new two-track offering from Meg Remy’s U.S. Girls harks back to the tape-looping style of her earlier work – fittingly, as it marks the 10 year anniversary of the act’s breakthrough classic Half Free. Like that record, it opines about the modern woman’s lot, the daily stresses and horrors she has to keep at bay, how “busy keeps the pain away”. This idea is gorgeously drawn out in the soul-sampling chorus where she mindlessly delights in “running errands alone” while quietly admitting “these domestic distractions won’t hold”. – Rob Hakimian
Listen to our BPM Curates: October 2025 playlist here.
