Julie Christmas, "If You Go Away"

Where did Julie Christmas go? After the chilling The Bad Wife in 2010, she's had barely any new songs or performances. Her unforgettable band Made out of Babies split up. John LaMacchia, her Bad Wife producer and collaborator, is now at work on a new Candiria album. When will we hear more from Julie?



Until then, I will treasure The Bad Wife. Even though the melody is the same, it took me two listens to realize that "If You Go Away" is "Ne Me Quitte Pas," a Jacques Brel standard that I'd previously only known through Nina Simone's version. The lyrics beg, but in Christmas' hands it becomes a threat, like the kind of thing that she'd sing to a guy she'd already locked in her basement. Whoever she's singing about should think about moving.

Halloween '13

No one has influenced my mix-making more than Ellen, who gave me first ever mix CD. For years, she made one mix every Halloween season, each of which soundtracked much of my high school and college years. Ellen's mixes were the first place that I heard Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Nina Simone, Joanna Newsom and others.

It's been a few years since she's made a Halloween mix, but I'm hoping to get her back into the habit this year.



Halloween '13

1. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, "Papa Won't Leave You, Henry"
2. Daikaiju, "Attack of the Crab Women"
3. Fantômas, "Night of the Hunter"
4. Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs, "Lil' Red Riding Hood"
5. Johnny Cash, "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky"
6. My Bloody Valentine, "Feed Me With Your Kiss"
7. Link Wray, "Jack the Ripper"
8. Danzig, "Mother"
9. Guns N' Roses, "You're Crazy"
10. Screamin' Jay Hawkins, "Frenzy"
11. Black Sabbath, "Supernaut"
12. Jarvis Cocker & Beth Ditto, "Temptation"
13. The Specials, "Ghost Town"
14. Public Image Ltd., "Flowers of Romance"
15. The Edgar Winter Group, "Frankenstein"
16. The Five Blobs, "The Blob"
17. Thom Yorke, "Black Swan"
18. Fiona Apple, "Dull Tool"
19. Bauhaus, "Bela Lugosi's Dead"
20. Pixies, "In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)"

Rather than compete with Ellen's mixes, which came with the aura of pumpkin-carving and costume-donning, mine are meant to sound a little more sinister. Black Sabbath's most underrated song gets a spot, as do the reliably creepy Hawkins and Sam the Sham. I'm also to playing Ellen's love for movies with Bauhaus' "Bela Lugosi's Dead," Fantômas' tribute to Night of the Hunter, the Pixies' take on Eraserhead's "In Heaven" and the original Blob theme, which, amazingly, was written by Burt Bacharach.

Ellen is also a big Fiona Apple and Jarvis Cocker fan, so I've included non-album tracks from both of them. I'm hoping she'll appreciate the cabin fever horror of "You're Crazy" and the beautifully bleak "Black Swan," and I'm pretty sure she'll find Danzig hilarious. But if she doesn't, she can always rock out to "Frankenstein."

Life on the Mississippi

Margaret is writing a book that has taken her on a few research visits to the South. We've talked a few times about the best songs about life below the Dixon, and she's directed me to some noteworthy songs about Mississippi, from an old blues anthology to Afroman. You can probably tell where this is headed.



Life on the Mississippi

1. Mississippi Fred McDowell, "Baby Please Don't Go"
2. Bob Dylan, "Mississippi"
3. Lynyrd Skynyrd, "Mississippi Kid"
4. King's X, "Mississippi Moon"
5. The Grateful Dead, "Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodleoo"
6. Charley Patton, "Mississippi Boweavil Blues"
7. Kid Rock, "Jackson, Mississippi"
8. Robert Johnson, "Travelling Riverside Blues"
9. Mountain, "Mississippi Queen"
10. Nina Simone, "Mississippi Goddam"
11. Jerry Lee Lewis, "Miss the Mississippi and You"
12. Johnny Cash & June Carter, "Jackson"
13. R. L. Burnside, "Goin' Down South"
14. ZZ Top, "My Head's in Mississippi"

Mississippi is rooted so deeply in the blues that it can't help but come out in rock n' roll. "Baby Please Don't Go" has been covered by everyone, and I'll admit that I thought Led Zeppelin wrote "Travelling Riverside Blues" until high school. But Mississippi's influence crosses over to all sorts of genres and sentiments--the Cashes' charmingly bitter "Jackson," Nina Simone's heated "Mississippi Goddam" and Mountain's lascivious cowbell classic should all be a part of everyone's songbook. Though in an ideal world, that book would also include R. L. Burnside's haunting early recordings and King's X's lonesome "Mississippi Moon."

Other than Bob Dylan and ZZ Top, not many American rockers have been able to translate the blues into their music in a way that's both respectful and distinct. I couldn't bring myself to include "Black Water" or North Mississippi Allstars, which felt like the equivalent of picking the Black Crowes' "Hard to Handle" over Otis Redding's. But hey, some people might say that about choosing Mississippi Fred McDowell over Big Joe Williams.