I’ve been obsessed with making mixed tapes, CDs and playlists since I was eleven and taping songs off the radio. As a rabid music-a-holic, I’m constantly craving music to soundtrack my way as I walk through this world. Like so many kids, Halloween was (and continues to be) my favorite holiday, and now that I’m a witch Samhain too. For me, Halloween and Samhain are a combination of frivolity and spirituality, which I hope I’ve captured here in this mix.
The world lost an incredible artist when Trish Keenan of Broadcast sadly passed away in 2011, however we are left with a broad body of work that investigates the known and unknown world. Their late work in particular were as much incantations as they were albums, and has played a significant role in my own personal growth as a witch.
Bay Area-based Maya Songbird has been releasing music since 2011, developing a loyal following (of which I am included) drawn to her luscious mix of pop, goth, electro, disco and funk. Maya has been busting down barriers, carving out her own path informed by a past spent growing up in the queer, legendary Castro District of San Francisco. ‘Welcome to the Darkside’ is essential Samhain listening.
image: Bert Johnson
Natasha Khan dropped the video for ‘What’s A Girl To Do?’ as Bat For Lashes back in 2009, and her uniquely retro 80s by-way-of astral goddess has left me shook forevermore. Both the song and the video are perfect Halloween backdrops that bring shivers to the spine, hitting right in the nostalgia region of your memories.
image: Victor Frankowski
It’s impossible to celebrate Halloween without hearing Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ classic ‘I Put A Spell On You’. In fact, it was selected as one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. Screamin’ Jay Hawkins was a truly remarkable man who originally wanted to go into opera, and went on to be a singer-songwriter, musician, actor, film producer and boxer. His most well-known song was released in 1956 and he began to perform the song in costume and with spooky props. It’s a staple of Halloween, and everyone should know more about Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, who it’s been argued is the world’s first goth performer. Whether you’re celebrating Samhain or Halloween or a little bit of both (like me), it’s on the soundtrack.
image: Memi Beltrame
In 2019, I never thought I needed a Satanic doo-wop power couple rock band in my life until I came across Twin Temple, and then wondered how I managed to survive so long without them. This proud, Satanic team make wickedly sly music in the style of 1950s and 1960s bands such as Buddy Holly and The Platters blended with the vocal prowess of Amy Winehouse and the punk sensibility of The Cramps based around subjects like individualism, LGBTQIA+ rights, sex, feminism...and of course Satanism! Vocalist Alexandra James has said that much of her inspiration comes from growing up British-Korean in the US. The band’s main message is inclusion. I can’t get enough.
I found out through a friend about Kaelan Mikla a few years back, and the gist was there was this band out there that was made up of essentially Icelandic feminist witches who made stirringly original, dark and beautiful music – then after witnessing their stellar live performances was totally hooked. Robert Smith chose them to open for Placebo at the Meltdown Fest he curated in 2018, thus cementing their status as a truly exciting group to behold. To me, their entire soundscape is the essence of this season.
Ever since I discovered Elisabeth Elektra’s heady brew of queer euphoric art-pop when her debut LP Mercurial dropped, I have been a devotee. She truly summons up ecstatic queer magic that feeds the mind and compels you to dance. Every additional release feeds my witch soul, including her most recent single featuring fellow Scottish artists Mogwai. I can’ wait to see what more we have in store!
image: Alexander Raborn
Moor Mother is Camae Ayewa – American poet, musician and activist – makes music deeply rooted in the connection to ancestors as well as the deep wounds of inherited trauma rooted in slavery, the African diaspora and genocide. Her music touches the heights of spiritual connection and the depths of that which lurks beneath. Her music is essential listening.
image: UV Lucas
Like Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Siouxsie and the Banshees is essential listening this time of year (and hell, anytime of year as far as I’m concerned, but I digress). As far as I’m concerned, Siouxsie created the modern goth aesthetic. Like peers, The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees’ music is as much blissed out as it is dark and brooding.
Here’s to hoping you enjoy this mix as well as this most glorious time of year. I’m sorry that this is on Spotify. I make these mixes as a creative outlet in the same mindset as I have always made mixes – be it on cassette tapes, then burnt CDs. I encourage you to purchase music from the artist or a local record store. We must continue to support independent artists, and if you are financially able to do so, please buy their music.
Happy Halloween and Blessed Samhain
tracks:
1 ‘intro/magnetic tales’ – Broadcast And The Focus Group
2 ‘Suspiria’ – Goblin
3 ‘Flight Of The Raven’ – Emerald Web
4 ‘Fallen Witch 1’ – Bitch
5 ‘Ritual Awakening’ – Jenny Hval
6 ‘The Sound Of Silence’ – Chromatics
7 ‘Welcome to the Darkside’ – Maya Songbird
8 ‘What’s A Girl To Do?’ - Bat For Lashes
9 ‘Let’s Have A Satanic Orgy’ – Twin Temple
10 ‘Iamundernodisguise’ – School Of Seven Bells
11 ‘Nornalagið’ – Kaelan Mikla
12 ‘Horrorscope’ – Ladytron
13 ‘Feeding Demons’ – Elisabeth Elektra
14 ‘Whip Crack’ – Louisiana Purchase, Mr Kitty
15 ‘I Inside the Old I Dying’ – PJ Harvey
16 ‘Valley of Dry Bones’ – Moor Mother
17 ‘Do I Have Power’ – Timber Timbre
18 ‘I Put a Spell On You’ – Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
19 ‘Far From Any Road’ – The Handsome Family
20 ‘Brother, Sister’ – Kevin Morby
21 ‘People Are Strange’ – The Doors
22 ‘Watch the Sky’ – Death Valley Girls
23 ‘You Don’t Own Me’ – Rasputina
24 ‘Tarot’ – Moor Mother, Yatta
25 ‘a seancing song’ – Broadcast And The Focus Group
26 ‘A Spell’ – Baby Fire
27 ‘Halloween’ – Siouxsie and the Banshees
28 ‘Sainted’ – Big Joanie
29 ‘Devil Inside’ – INXS
30 ‘Tomb for Two’ – Lebanon Hanover
31 ‘Samhain Souls’ – Italian Witches Circle
32 ‘Your Desperation’ – Solveig Mattildur, Hante.
33 ‘Liminal Space’ – Carmen Villain
34 ‘Hallows Eve’ – jennylee
35 ‘Eat You Like A Pill’ – Cherry Glazerr
36 ‘Voices of the Ancestors’ – Joy Guidry
37 ‘Anglo Saxon Burial Ground’ – Bas Jan
38 ‘In the Cemetery’ – Let’s Eat Grandma
39 ‘Into the Night’ – Julee Cruise
40 ‘Halloween Theme’ – John Carpenter
41 ‘Ghost’ – September Girls
42 ‘Böðull’- Börn
43 ‘Hypnagogia’ – Death Valley Girls
44 ‘Samhain’ – Jess and the Ancient Ones
45 ‘Carnival Of Souls’ – Combustible Edison
46 ‘Santa Muerte’ – Twin Temple
47 ‘Our Darkest Sabbath
48 ‘Spellwork’ – Austra
49 ‘Behind the Veil’ – Mariee Sioux
50 ‘Rhiannon’ – Fleetwood Mac
51 ‘Voodoonight’ – Boney M.
52 ‘Spooky’ – Dusty Springfield
53 ‘Hechizo de Bruja’ – Las Brujas
54 ‘Los Muertos’ – Ibeyi
55 ‘Spooky Bu$Ine$$’ - Azizaa Mystic
56 ‘Don’t Come to the Woods’ – Backxwash
57 ‘Dusk’ – Chelsea Wolfe
58 ‘Yes, I’m A Witch’ – Yoko Ono, Palumbo Of The Brothers Brothers
59 ‘Brujeria’ – Aja, Mitch Ferrino
60 ‘Time To Die’ – Boulet Brothers
61 ‘Witch’ – Karliene
62 ‘Teenage Witch’ – John Maus
63 ‘The Forest’ – Kim Boekbinder
64 ‘Monster’ – The Glass Beads
65 ‘Haunted House’ – Florence + The Machine
66 ‘Sinfonia and the Shrew’ – Zola Jesus
67 ‘Am I Dead’ – DIE HEXEN
68 ‘Anima’ – Gwenno
69 ‘How to Haunt a House’ – Serafina Steer
70 ‘Olamim’ – Lightman Jarvis Ecstatic Band
71 ‘Magic Act’ – SPELLLING
72 ‘Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)’ – David Bowie
73 ‘Abducted’ – Cults
74 ‘Hex’ – Specimen
75 ‘Haunting’ – L.A. WITCH
76 ‘The Equestrian Vortex’ – Broadcast
77 ‘Ancestors, The Ancients’ – Chelsea Wolfe
78 ‘Transparent’ – Hante.
79 ‘Broken Promises’ – Elisabeth Elektra, Mogwai
80 ‘Faithless Ghost’ – Andrew Bird
81 ‘Samhain’ – Lisa Thiel
82 ‘Spellbreaker’ – Twin Temple
83 ‘You’re Dead’ – Norma Tanega
84 ‘Tripping In The Graveyard’ – Goat
85 ‘Fallen Witch 2’ – Bitch
86 ‘Bad Moon Rising’ – Creedence Clearwater Revival
87 ‘Wicked Woman’ – Coven
88 ‘Me and the Devil’ – Adia Victoria
89 ‘The Ghost Who Walks’ – Karen Elson
90 ‘Plastic In Trees’ – Callum Easter
91 ‘Lady in the Radiator’ – Zola Jesus
92 ‘MEDITATION RAG’ – Moor Mother, Aquiles Navarro
93 ‘Shadows of Whispering Phantoms’ – The Palace of Tears
94 ‘Samhain’ – Sowulo
95 ‘Wandering Boy’ – Cinder Well
96 ‘Wish You Were Here’ – Rasputina
97 ‘Rest’ – Family Band
98 ‘Woman’ – ANOHNI, Neneh Cherry
99 ‘Ancestress’ – Bjork, Sindri Eldon
100 ‘Samhain’ – Joy Shannon & The Beauty Marks