Songs of October 2026

Preface

Here is yet another entry about music. Hope you find something that you like! Just remember a few things:

1. Whenever I write about music, it is inevitable that I will describe the feelings that are evoked by it.

2. Songs on here are unrestricted by genre, language, and any other type of categorical identifier. My spirit animal is Yousuke Yukimatsu.

3. I am not a professional “music reviewer,” whatever that might be. Here, I just talk about the songs that I liked, how they make me feel, and what they make me think. Hopefully, you enjoy some of them, too!

4. I use YouTube to find music. All of my playlists are available on my YouTube channel.

October 2026 Songs on Rotation

1. ATB - 9Pm (Till I Come)

There is so much magic in this trance, and ATB is one of the best to ever do it. Why is this genre of music called “trance?” It’s entrancing. It renders you into a trance, a daze. It gets you stepping, and you aren’t even aware that you started to sway! Remember that scene from We Are Your Friends (2015) , when Zac Efron explains that 127bpm is the “most synergistic” tempo of music? Well, maybe add some plus-or-minus to that. Trance then basically occurs within that magical temporal zone.

But it’s not just its tempo. It’s that signature swirling of airy synths and psychedelic, deep, supportive bass that make us melt. And that guitar hook. That hook! Now that’s how you know it’s ATB. That’s how you know what era you’re in. Some of us with the fantastic memories of raving to trance music, walking around from point A to point B, like a material with memory—a hysteretic magnet, or a meta-material—will undoubtedly undergo a sleeper response the moment we hear those angelic chords. So, that’s why it’s called trance.

This ingrained response is probably why so many of us disintegrated when we heard Yosuke Yukimatsu drop Romy & Fred again… - Strong in his Boiler Room set, a trance song released by Fred again… (this is how you stylize the name) featuring Romy in 2022. This song reminded the lot of us still contending with the upsetting experience that has been growing older in a less forgiving and sane world that, indeed, at least the warmth of trance is still within us.

I do want to mention that my absolute favorite ATB song is probably ATB - IntenCity. It is a saving song. It is a song that pulls you back from the edge of a building. It’s a song that gets you out of the fluorescent flood of a back alley in the dark of night. It’s the song that you speed off into the night with tears in your eyes, swearing you’ll never come back. It’s the song that you picture those final moments to. It’s the song that gets you out of the basement office at 11pm after having stayed way too late and walking back home on that cold sidewalk all alone, looking at the waning crescent moon hanging low in the Halloween sky. It’s the song to move on to. It’s the song that keeps us going and going and going, even when we don’t want to. The birds, the whirling breeze, the lush of the green: ATB - IntenCity found us.

Trance is forever. It is healing. We will never forget trance even if the world does. It lives on through us.

2. InContext - Just Believe

Back in the day of YouTube, before having to watch minute-long ads on a 15-second video, before belligerent hurling of copyright claims, before the rise of the bots, before the “practical jokesters” flashing Nerf guns at mall cops, there were a few channels dedicated to the dissemination (to their human audiences) of music by independent artists. These musicians typically released their music—sometimes for free—on platforms like SoundCloud, not competing with major, radio-famous billboarding songs.

I was one of the lucky ones who stumbled upon one such channel taking upon this endeavour: MrSuicideSheep. Almost daily, MrSuicideSheep would upload incredible songs accompanied by a gorgeous static image. It was in these artscapes and melodies that I sunk below the surface for hours. One of the major genres that MrSuicideSheep represented was Drum & Bass. I am glad it did!

“Just Believe” is recognizable in its first seconds of playing. Fast and airy, it’s like you’re riding along in a jet steam. Perhaps it’s because of the album art that I feel as if I’m viewing the world rotate from space when I listen to it. It quickens my pace—I once again am animated. I’m vital, thriving. I’m here and now. Yes, let’s go get it done!

Since this review will contain a lot of talk about Dubstep, I should ask you if you recognize at least one of the elements in this song. Do you hear it? Yup! It’s the same sample as that in Skrillex - Right In. The name of the sample pack appears to be “Zero-G Vocal Foundry.” Originally, when I was listening to these songs, I got excited because I thought Skrillex sampled InContext, a much less-known artist compared to Skrillex. But I guess they just used the same sample. On the other hand, InContext’s song is called “Just Believe,” and Skrillex’s is called “Right In.”

I also love the VIP: InContext - Just Believe (VIP). Check out both!

3. Seven Lions, Kill The Noise, MUST DIE! - Grant Us Eyes

Look, I know there’s been a lot of EDM here, but we have to feature this new release from Seven Lions.

If you’ve been following Seven Lions for as long as it would take for you to know that Skrillex and InContext used the same sample pack, then you are used to Seven Lions producing melodic Dubstep. That is a sub-genre of Dubstep. It differs from other Dubstep songs in that its primary emphasis is on, well, melodies. That stands in contrast to the thrashing, banging, wobbling mechanics of, for example, Excision & Downlink - Crowd Control.

Artists like Excision, Datsik, Figure, Space Laces, Borgore, Modestep, XKore, and so on were actually foundational in bringing the Dubstep tidal wave to popular audiences. Simultaneously, pioneers of melodic Dubstep, like Seven Lions, Illenium, Said The Sky, Rameses B, Arkasia, Dabin, and many more were indispensable in painting the sunsets with their saturated power synth leads. (Now that I think about it, it sort of parallels the clean-versus-harsh vocals business in metal music: There are songs with all harsh vocals, all clean vocals, and, of course, a mix of them. But all angles come together to produce the genre we all know and love!)

These days, melodic Dubstep finds itself popular enough to combine with artists in very different genres. I am thinking mostly about Illenium’s infinity stone-like collaborative quest with metalcore bands like I Prevail and Motionless In White, famous singers like Ellie Goulding and Chelsea Cutler, and notice that this is actually uploaded on Said The Sky’s channel, and other artists, like The Chainsmokers, all the music of course accompanied by fancy Dark Souls -looking artwork.

So it’s really exciting whenever one of these primarily-melodic Dubstep artists release music in a noticably different genre. Here, in “Grant Us Eyes,” it’s… hardstyle? As a YouTube commenter says:

Suddenly, hardstyle.

— pepupapi (8 days ago)

Yes, pepupapi: Suddenly, indeed.

If you do not know what hardstyle is… well, it’s time for you to find out. That is hardstyle’s signature pound at 1:05.

I should also say that both Kill The Noise and MUST DIE! are also long-time Dubstep (or EDM, broadly) producers. I don’t think they were super popular for melodic Dubstep, but they most definitely have classics. To be honest, I discovered both through the sort of post-Dubstep Moombahton obsession among EDM artists, from Dillon Francis & Kill the Noise - Dill The Noise and MUST DIE! & Sazon Booya - Dropper.

With lots of these melodic Dubstep artists finding mainstream success, branching out, and collaborating with majorly popular artists, I actually do not keep up to date with them as much! Why? 'Cuz I’m a cool guy, obviously! Booo mainstream! No, just kidding. In fact, I was always enthralled when artists featured on MrSuicideSheep find themselves in the mainstream spotlight. (Seven Lions was featured first in Oceanlab - Satellite (Seven Lions Remix), which is a classic, among many, many other songs on MrSuicideSheep’s channel.) I suppose that my spotlight isn’t typically oriented towards billboards, and so I just lose track of them! I am glad that the algorithm sent Seven Lions my way this month!

4. Chicane - What Am I Doing Here? Pt. 1

This song is one of them. Another one splitting me at the seams.

Nothing can melt my skin from my bones the way that this song does. Something about that damn vocoder… (Remember What was playing in August’s 2026 Rotation?, namely underscores - The Peace? And remember the timeless classic Imogen Heap - Hide And Seek? Something about this sound is so damaging, so healing…)

And I just ask this question of myself almost every day: “what the hell am I doing here?” Over and over. “Hey, Mason,” I finally muster the courage to say. “I got a car.” He looks back at me with the mutual familiarity. Yup. That’s right. I’m driving out tonight.

There was also an ethereal progressive house remix of this song that I once found long ago—I believe it was from MrSuicideSheep (the YouTube channel). It was called Chicane - What Am I Doing Here (Aart De Graaf Remix).

This remix used to have a music video. I can’t find that video anymore. It must have been taken down from YouTube. And nobody ripped it before it got taken down. In the music video, someone walks alone on endless sand dunes. Then, through some hazy transition I can’t remember (and can’t forget), we find ourselves following a lone, lost woman in a crowded club, trying to enjoy herself. Somehow or another, she becomes fixated on a guy who is underwater in a glass tank. Eventually, she becomes disinterested in the man, and he shouts underwater for her to return. But she doesn’t.

My description of this music video is so poor; I am missing much of the connective grease that tells a (somewhat) coherent story. But I remember watching the video and listening to the song over and over and over when I was younger. Just thinking. Just wishing. Wishing not to be so lost.

The old Internet just used to be… I risk retroactively relishing those experiences. But, like Chicane, I can’t tear myself away… Will I ever be able to relinquish these tethers? These strings, keeping me shackled to the past? These songs and these memories. They persist. They weigh. My latent chords, once plucked in the right way, will shake me so. Are these feelings and memories so deeply encoded into me that when I hear this melody again in 60 years my gray bones will once again reverberate against my necrotizing, cynical flesh?

5. Xilent - Fallen

You remember Xilent, right? Huh? You don’t… The Swedish Dubstep DJ who dominated EDM for some time with Xilent - Boss Wave during the Golden Age of Dubstep (2009-2017, maybe?).

Well, let me fill you in.

On the damp streets of Seattle, Washington walked a 15-year-old boy listening to Xilent through his wired, white earbuds, gazing over the misty sound, wondering to himself what his future would look like, and whether the Earth would be in shambles in the future. Through his earbuds rang the call to arms sung by YouTube commenter “zadoestricks” in capital letters 14 years ago:

PREPARE YOURSELF HEAR THE DESTINY CALLING WE’RE ALL THE SAME HEIGHT ONCE WE’VE FALLEN

— zadoestricks (14 years ago)

So, he told himself that he would prepare himself for this possibility: that the Earth would not be in a good spot in the future. That meant studying hard, maintaining top physical fitness, and becoming the best form of himself that he could be.

Xilent got famous for producing Dubstep. Remember “Boss Wave?” However, before that, he spent a lot of time producing Drum & Bass and (what I think is) a sub-genre of it: Neurofunk. Neurofunk is still kind of difficult for me to classify. You know it when you hear it. Sort of. This 15-year-old boy was audacious enough to entertain the clicking on obscure songs on YouTube, and unsuspectingly unleashed the world of Neurofunk (and “crossbreed”) on himself. Soon, he was listening to The Outside Agency & Forbidden Society - This Never Happened and Freqax - Stories of the Dead. He obsessed in the demoniac throb of neurofunk and crossbreed, and he vowed never to forget the feeling of this subterranean possession.

Of course, that 15-year-old boy was pretty naïve, but at least he had good aspirations and a taste for adventure.

“Fallen” is one of those songs that sits still on YouTube, unchanged by time and untouched by the sword. It’s got an interesting piece of artwork as a static background. It fits the song perfectly. It is not as crazy as the other two crossbreed songs I mentioned; “Fallen” is about a hundred times more melodic than those two. The futuristic “music tank” that features in the still artwork still lives in my mind.

6. Invader!- Alive

In the brick hallways of my high school walked around Jason listening to Gemini - Graduation. “Dude,” he approached me.

“Listening to more Dubstep?” I asked. We only had geometry together, so it was always fun to see him during passing hour.

“Dude, dude, dude!” He unhooked one of his wired earbuds and held it out and up to my ear. I completed the wiring. “It’s coming,” he said. I listened. Gemini was ascending the piano. It kept going up.

Time goes on and on, I told you the moment all day long

Time goes on and on, you’re so strong, so wrong

Time goes on and on, I told you the moment all day long

Time goes on and on, you’re so strong, so wrong.

Then it went down, down, down—and DROP!

It was the best drop I had heard! Same for Conor. “Ooh—” I said. “Yeeeeah,” he smiled widely.

Dubstep had the throne during that time. It wasn’t its own genre; it leaked into other genres. For example, I think it is pretty evident that Taylor Swift - Trouble borrows heavily from Dubstep. (Also, the scene from the movie we referenced earlier We Are Your Friends (2015) talks about Dubstep claiming its signature 140 BPM tempo.)

About a week later, I found another Dubstep artist: “Invader!”—yes, with the exclamation point! I immediately sent it to Jason. “Dude, this is the best!” he said when I saw him again at school the next day.

Invader! then graced us all with “Alive.” There is something enchanting about that single piano melody that explodes into the synth lead. The vocal samples seep into your marrow, charging it with glowing ambition. The lead is inspiring. It’s a song to stand on the rooftop of a building and gaze out at the world that’s all yours. You exist. Yes, you! We are Alive now! This is our melody. This is our theme. We stand as titans against the world!

Walking through those brick hallways of my high school—especially knowing that Jason was pumping the same liquid leads through his headphones as me—never felt less confining. Just wait, I thought, having both Xilent, Seven Lions, and Invader! reminding me: I’m coming.

7. Porter Robinson - Get Your Wish

Porter Robinson was originally a “just EDM” kind of producer. I think he started off with Dubstep. It wasn’t until he really honed in on his signature sound (and signature feelings!) that his universe came alive. (Remember: he and Madeon actually contacted an anime studio in Japan—I guess it was A-1 Pictures & Crunchyroll—to put together an anime music video for Porter Robinson & Madeon - Shelter! That’s how big his universe is.)

“Get Your Wish” is wonderful. This song hits me in so many ways from so many different angles: from the music video to Porter’s signature pitched-up vocals to the lyrics. The lyrics have always been confusing to me, though I am pretty sure I know what they mean: An artist toils for fame and success, but once they arrive at the destination, they still feel roughly the same. Porter asks us, after having already produced major hit pieces like Porter Robinson - Language (among many others):

But if glory makes you happy why are you so broken up?

That’s just it: We infrequently find achieving success as the end of our energies. It’s always more and more. But there’s something in the middle of achieving that success. Success is just a happy byproduct of what actually appears to be more centrally attached to your efforts:

Don’t say you lose just yet,

Get up and move ahead,

and not only for yourself.

'cause that’s your role:

the work that stirred your soul,

you can make for someone else.

I can do this for someone else. We can do this for someone else. To sustain them through the days. We can reap the rewards of whatever our product returns. But isn’t it nice that someone else found what we made useful, in their own unique way?

In the age of AI-assisted creation, we must continually ask ourselves (and others): Did you get your wish? I wonder often if it is just the entire process of creation for the sake of others that is the point here. AI can generate something, yes. But knowing that it was you behind that movie, that song, that writing, that painting, and knowing that it was that output that caused those people to feel the way they did, to use it in their own way… isn’t that simply fascinating? No matter the reception: people reacted! To you! You exist, here and now. And we need you. You and your effect.

That toil itself is our purpose. One must imagine Porter happy.

8. Ben Böhmer — Strangers

I am happy to have found this song through a recommendation from a friend. Another progressive house song to add to my collection!

One of the things MrSuicideSheep used to do frequently was release long mixes of music featured on the channel. A major genre of music that received several installments was progressive house. (Another major genre was Drum & Bass.) The one that started it all—uploaded 14 years ago now—was ‘Taking You Higher’ (Progressive House Mix). (Porter Robinson - Language is progressive house, for example.) It was those mixes that brought much attention to the otherwise completely hidden artists that would have never, ever, ever, in ten billion years found their music on radio outlets or other mainstream platforms.

I mean, I spent cumulative days listening to Blend & MH20 - Diamond Beach and wondering what the girl in the picture is staring off to, feeling the warmth of the sun and the sand, smelling that ocean salt, thinking about what’s happening on those distant lands.

I will never, ever, ever forget the effect that listening to progressive house has had on me. It has calmed me, soothed me, healed me, inspired me, driven me. It is one of my vital essences. I admittedly do not listen to it in the medicinally-advised amount these days.

So, thank you to my friend for reminding me of this wonderful genre.

9. Fat Dog - Shit Love

I am happy to inform the Reader that I found a song that makes me very happy! The song is basically a major insult to some ex-lover. But it’s just a “certified bop,” if I do say so myself! With the signature clap-along introduction (like Linkin Park - Given Up, although this is not a rock song), I find myself tapping my feet immediately wherever I am. I am certain I scared my elevator-riding companions last week when I went from passive rider to rhythmic toe-tapper.

All in all, I am happy to report that I’ve found a happy song. Yay!

10. Design The Skyline - Endless Nights, Design The Skyline - Autumn’s End, and Design The Skyline - Beckoning

Welcome to the song(s) of the month! I must’ve played these about 100 times in the past week alone. Damn! My neck is broken.

Bring Me The Horizon recently released their 20th-year remastering of their album “Count Your Blessings.” That was a major gift to all of their nostalgic listeners. Around the same time, they released Bring Me The Horizon - Dehumanized. Oli’s no doubt still got the deathcore!

But very recently, there is a band that has apparently risen from the ashes to contend for the void that is MySpace-era deathcore: Design The Skyline. Apparently, many years ago, this band released a song to massive notoriety—it was Design The Skyline - Surrounded by Silence, which could, well, have used some work. But they just released three mind-shearing deathcore songs that no doubt have been the most solid and maniacal deathcore I have heard in the entire year. These guys need an award. I think I must have fractured something in between C1 and C7 in that first verse of Design The Skyline - Autumn’s End two days ago. I’m completely rejuvenated! I am awake and crazy-eyed. WOW!

Design The Skyline might as well have come straight out of 2006! And what happened in 2006? That’s right: “Count Your Blessings,” by Bring Me The Horizon, which at the time was a deathcore band. As commenters have observed about Design The Skyline’s new songs:

As Blood Runs Black w Oli Sykes on Vocals

— Pkfirepkfire (6 days ago)

and

consider my blessings counted

— CompressedDuck (5 days ago)

Do you hear that melodic up-and-down riding of the guitar? You hear that a lot in “Count Your Blessings.” So, what we long-time fans of deathcore are observing is that the riffs are back! Just listen to these songs! There are distinctive melodies that permeate its every pound. (I know I mentioned double-kicks in last month’s music review in regards to Elitist - Caves. But that might have actually been wrong. Here, though, there’s no denying we get our double-kick. It’s the first thing you hear in Design The Skyline - Endless Nights.)

I wish I were half, a quarter, an eighth as cool as these guys. I was thinking about getting a haircut before November, but I think I need to get some black dye…

Notes/References:

1. “Remember that scene from We Are Your Friends (2015) …” The scene is We Are Your Friends - 128 BPM (How to rock a party) Scene.

2. “…when we heard Yosuke Yukimatsu drop Romy & Fred again… - Strong in his Boiler Room set…” His hour-long set is available here: YOUSUKE YUKIMATSU | Boiler Room: Tokyo. If you don’t know who Yosuke Yukimatsu is, you can initiate yourself with the following meme: “I listen to all genres”. Oh, and I just re-discovered that it was through that meme that I found Chlär - Dopamine Rush and Little Big - Skibidi.

3. “For example, I think it is pretty evident that Taylor Swift - I Knew You Were Trouble borrows heavily from Dubstep.” Alright, I looked it up on Wikipedia (I Knew You Were Trouble), and the page flatly categorizes it as primarily Dubstep.

4. “There was also an ethereal remix of this song that I once found long ago—I believe it was from MrSuicideSheep.” Yes, it was. I found it. It appears that the original video was removed from MrSuicideSheep’s channel. However, it appears an EDM archiver basically ripped the MrSuicideSheep upload and reuploaded it: Chicane - What Am I Doing Here (Aart De Graaf Remix) |FREE|. And yes, that’s exactly how MrSuicideSheep would indicate whether music he uploaded contained a free download link or not: “|FREE|.” You can also barely resolve what used to be the accompanying artwork: a group of people walking into the hazy heat-mirage in the distance.

5. “I am thinking mostly about Illenium’s infinity stone-like collaborative quest with metalcore bands like I Prevail and Motionless In White…” The songs I am talking about are: ILLENIUM, Excision, I Prevail - Feel Something, (ILLENIUM - Nothing Ever After (with Motionless In White)),ILLENIUM, Ellie Goulding - Don’t Want Your Love, Said The Sky, ILLENIUM & Chelsea Cutler - Walk Me Home, The Chainsmokers, ILLENIUM ft. Lennon Stella - Takeaway.

6. “…unchanged by time and untouched by the sword.” This is actually a quotation from the opening lines of Fable: The Lost Chapters .

Updates:

None yet.