Who needs the same old sappy Christmas tunes when there's a whole world of weird and wonderful festive music to explore? I love digging into the many fascinating, original takes on holiday music that countless artists have recorded over the years. And sometimes, the more bizarre, the better. My first Christmas mix this year is a collection of some of the most enjoyably unconventional seasonal tunes that I've come across. Some are simply delightfully eccentric, while others get genuinely weird... and even a little creepy. If you need an antidote to the cliches and suffocating sentimentality that can be hard to escape at this time of year, hopefully you'll enjoy this mix of freakish festive goodness!

Beware of my Halloween mix this year: it will magically seduce you, take you to heights of beauty and pleasure... before you soon find unsettling and downright terrifying things start to happen. Erotica and horror combine in this blend of vintage soundtracks, dark folk-pop and other sensual, yet deadly, delights.

Please note that this sorcery gets very saucy indeed so you probably won't want to play this at work or around children – unless you're prepared to answer a lot of questions.

Tracklist

1. Jirí Bažant & Jirí Malásek - Erotica 2 (1975. From the Barry 7's Connectors compilation, 2002)
2. Anna Biller - Fairy Lady Harp Music (The Love Witch soundtrack, 2016)
3. Paul Giovanni and Magnet - Willow's Song (The Wicker Man soundtrack, 1973)
4. Manfred Hübler & Siegfried Schwab - Peoples Playground (Version B) (Vampyros Lesbos soundtrack, 1971)
5. Cocteau Twins - Beatrix (Treasure,1984)
6. Goblin - Witch (Suspiria soundtrack, 1977)
7. Midnight Movies - Oh Twilight (Midnight Movies, 2004)
8. Piero Umiliani - Fotomodelle (Svezia, inferno e paradiso soundtrack, 1968)
9. François de Roubaix - Les Dunes d'Ostende (Les Lèvres Rouges soundtrack, 1971)
10. Neal Gardner - The Case of the Bloody Iris (Giallo, 2013)
11. Adrian Younge Presents Venice Dawn - Midnight Blue (Something About April, 2011)
12. Ennio Morricone - Sottintesi (Il gatto a nove code soundtrack, 1971)
13. Bat for Lashes - The Wizard (Fur and Gold, 2007)
14. The Sirens - Femmes (1976. From the Mondo Erotico compilation, 2002)
15. Delired Cameleon Family - Weird Ceremony (Visa de censure n° X soundtrack, 1976)
16. Piero Umiliani - Streghe e convegno (Riunione, sarabanda, purificazione) (Angeli bianchi... angeli neri soundtrack, 1969)
17. Pierre Raph - Crotch Batterie (Requiem pour un vampire soundtrack, 1971)
18. Zdenek Liška - Witches Firewall (Malá morská víla soundtrack, 1976)
19. Isobel Campbell - Lady Of Snakes (O Love Is Teasin' EP, 2006)
20. Cat's Eyes - Door No. 2 (The Duke of Burgundy soundtrack, 2014)
21. White Noise - My Game of Loving (An Electric Storm, 1969)
22. Norbert Glanzberg - The Blonde Witch (The Blonde Witch soundtrack, 1956)
23. Prudence Rees-Lee - After the Moon (After the Moon single, 2017)
24. Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions - Into the Trees (Until The Hunter, 2016)
25. Richard Hayman and The Manhattan Pops Orchestra- Love, Your Magic Spell Is Everywhere (Tender Moments, 1961)

Credits: Mix illustratiion from the cover of the 1967 gothic romance novel, Strangers In The Night, via My Love-Haunted Heart.

The Galaxy Electric are an avant-pop duo from Washington, DC, whose striking debut was one of my absolute favourites of last year. Creating cosmic pop songs using such an interesting palette of sounds, I knew their influences and tastes would be worth mining. So I asked the band members, Jacqueline and Augustus, if they'd make a playlist for me and they kindly agreed. Listen below to their selections, a superb mix of early electronics, way-out pop and other sound adventures. I love how the first track, Ken Nordine's captivating spoken word tour through an imagined 'Sound Museum', sets up the melange of weird and wonderful sounds to come.

Tracklist

1. Ken Nordine featuring The Fred Katz Group – The Sound Museum (1957)
2. Daphne Oram – Wool (1967)
3. Peter Reno – Secrets of the Deep (1969)
4. Joe Meek & The Blue Men – I Hear A New World (1960)
5. Delia Derbyshire – Ziwzih Ziwzih OO-OO-OO (1968)
6. Jean-Jacques Perrey – E.V.A. (1970)
7. Silver Apples – Walkin' (1998; recorded 1969)
8. The Soundcarriers – Step Outside (2010)
9. Broadcast – Microtronics 14 (2005)
10. Amphitryon 38 - Daphne Oram Single (1957)
11. Stereolab – Italian Shoes Continuum (1999)
12. Francis Bebey – Tumu pakara (1984)
13. Roj Stevens – Bongo Workout (2009)
14. Os Mutantes – Bat Macumba (1968)

Playlist curated by The Galaxy Electric. Mixed by me.

If you haven't yet heard their fantastic album Everything is Light and Sound, you can stream and buy it from their Bandcamp page.

Links: NewsWhistle – Interview with The Galaxy Electric
The Galaxy Electric on: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

Spiked Candy kicked off with a France Gall video and a Quebecoise France Gall cover, so for old times' sake, I thought I'd start again the same way:

This is a clip from an episode of a music show called Au risque de vous plaire which originally aired on the 10th of January, 1969. The episode, directed by Jean-Christophe Averty, is creative and colourful, making the most of the relatively new colour format. They've gone a bit nuts with the technique of using graphics to frame the footage, with fun results like those seen here. (The video may take a few moments to load).

Claire Lepage - Le Premier Chagrin d'amour

I love Canadian girl Claire Lepage's take on France Gall's 1964 single, 'Le Premier Chagrin d'amour', which has lyrics by France's father, Robert Gall, and music by Claude Henri-Vic. In her slowed-down, more grown-up-sounding version, the 'first heartbreak' of the title sounds like it's about something that had more at stake than France Gall's lost teen love. Claire's version comes two year later, in 1966, which is a little unusual as international covers tended to appear soon after the original.

I've also made a playlist* of France Gall covers - 30 of them!

This blog has gained many new readers since I first posted my Spiked Candy Canes mixes in 2005, so I thought I'd share them again for anyone who missed out the first time around. Hopefully they'll give you an idea of the abundance of lesser-known but fun, interesting, weird or sometimes beautiful Christmas songs that are out there, and maybe introduce you to some artists you haven't heard before. If you're looking for more info and links to purchase anything that's still in print, have a look through the December 2005 and the December 2006 archives.

Pop-up player | 8tracks tips

Before I bring you Part Deux of Swinging Mademoiselle, I'm going to briefly interrupt with my Halloween special, to ensure these tasty, eerie delights reach your goodie bags in time. We certainly can't miss Halloween! After all, Spiked Candy owes its name to those scary tales of unsuspecting trick-or-treaters receiving a dose of deadly poison in their sweet treats. Apparently these are nothing more than tales: "The number of kids confirmed to have been critically injured by spiked Halloween candy is ... zero" (The Halloween Scare). So while thankfully the grisly act of spiking candy is only a myth, fear not: Spiked Candy, the blog, is very real. Don't believe me? Blast these spook-themed tunes until your ears tingle, just to be sure. Ladies first:

Once again a huge thank you to Carl for sending this one my way! 'Mon joli vampire' is the B-side to 'Herald Tribune', posted here. This seems to be it for all the Jany L. songs ever released, so now you have the complete ultra-rare set! It's in a similar vein to her other tracks, with her rather sensuous voice offset by sweet, tinkly instrumentation. Listen to that catchy toy piano riff that owes more than a little to the Velvet Underground's 'Sunday Morning'.

Also in the waaay-too-cute-to-be-at-all-scary category:

Another Christmas guest post from Tag, this time on no wave/disco cult icon Cristina's contribution to Ze Records' A Christmas Record:

Cristina - Things Fall Apart (1981)

"A Christmas Record" declares the label, disingenuously. But this is no "Frosty the Snowman", instead it's a wretched tale of world-weariness at another festive season spent amongst vacuous urbanites, heartbroken but unsurprised by another failed romance with a commitment-phobic lover ("He said he couldn't stand in my way, it's wrong. "Way of what?", I asked, but he was gone").

Overprivileged, precociously over-educated, permanently cynical, Cristina made her name with such high-camp vignettes from the gilt-lined gutters of Manhattan, delivered in a bloodless near-monotone, riddled with ennui, mordant humour, and unexpected poignancy (all the more so for its tinsel-thin backing). "I caught a cab back to my flat. And wept a bit. And fed the cat". Merry Christmas, one and all.