Earlier this year, iconoclastic post-rock enigma Julie Christmas released her critically acclaimed new album Ridiculous And Full Of Blood, given a sparkling 8/10 review in Metal Hammer. Given her pigeonhole-dodging approach to music, we couldn't resist the temptation to ask Julie to create us a special playlist - one that best represents the sonic journey her life has taken so far. Unsurprisingly, it's all over the place, in the best possible ways. Here are the songs she picked out - and listen to the playlist for yourself at the bottom of the page.
"When I was growing up, me, my sister, my brother, my mother and my father were the only white people in the neighbourhood. I didn’t hear, like, The Beatles until much later; I grew up on B.B. King, Miles Davis and ARETHA FRANKLIN. The moment I heard Aretha, I was like, ‘That is the voice!’ There’s a part at the end of Baby, I Love You where she is just going off. It’s a titan of a song!
“When I entered school, even though my sister was a metalhead, I didn’t go in that direction. I had to find my own voice and, when I heard the UNSANE song Committed, I felt like I had come home. [Singer/guitarist] Chris Spencer, I’m still in love with his voice.
"When people listen to noise bands like THE JESUS LIZARD, they can be put off by the jarring nature of it. There might not be much for the ear to grab onto and it’s very harsh. But that’s what drew me to them! I think the way vocalist David Yow put lyrics together in songs like Thumbscrews is brilliant. He marries insanity, personality and intelligence in the same line all the time.
“PEGGY LEE had a rough life, but made music before the idea of being ‘unleashed’ like The Jesus Lizard was a thing. When I heard Is That All There Is? for the first time, my heart stopped. This glorious woman with this voice was talking about nihilism. I never do karaoke but one night I had, like, 18 whiskies and said, ‘I’ll do Peggy Lee.’ Next thing I know, I woke up in my bed next to a canned ham that I’d won.
“I also had a period where I liked psychobilly. The title of THE CRAMPS’ album Bad Music For Bad People embraced messy, fucked-up, delicious mayhem. That, to me, was awesome! Human Fly is still in my regular rotation. The way it comes in with slow guitar and then the crash hits – no matter how many times you hear it, you’re like, ‘Oh, fuck!’
“When I heard Germfree Adolescence by X-RAY SPEX, there was something about the way that singer Poly Styrene hit the high notes that I really liked. Everything she did, I was into it, as well as a lot of female punk singers who got dismissed because they were girls. As a young woman who hadn’t started making music yet, to me it was like, ‘You belong here.’
"The first time I heard BOBBY “BLUE” BLAND’s version of St James Infirmary, I was walking down the street and I heard it from blocks away. I love deep voices like his, they resonate. I followed the sound to a flea market where somebody was playing it on a record player. I had to pay extra for him to take it off the player so I could take it with me!
“I’m a big hip hop listener, but GRAVEDIGGAZ were something I hadn’t heard before. They married horror and hip hop. There was a real cartoony aspect, but RZA made all the music. I used to run around Prospect Park with this Rasta man while listening to Diary Of A Madman, and he was fucking smoking weed the entire time around!
“I hated TOM WAITS at first, but I had a girlfriend called Andrea who loved him. We went on a road trip with my sister from Brooklyn to New Orleans. While I was sleeping [in the car], Andrea, because she’s a fucking traitor, put on Tom Waits. I woke up in New Orleans, looked up and saw these ornate buildings with beautiful colours. There was something about the romance of that moment, with his voice as the soundtrack, that made Singapore one of my top listens for the next few years.
“My sister is six years older than me and a real metalhead: do not fuck with her. [While preparing for this interview] I knew I had to give the real metalheads something to chew on. She sent me a list and her number one, SEPULTURA’s Inner Self, is my number 10. The speed and the feeling are all there, but it never feels contrived or fake."
Ridiculous And Full Of Blood is out now via Red CRK
