From: Brooklyn, New York

Active: Made Out of Babies, 2005–2008; Julie Christmas, 2009–present

I first heard them: when Pandora fed me “Sugar” (but not too much!)

Sound: “Uh, is she going to be able to keep singing like that?”  Good question, guy quoted in the press kit!  Made Out of Babies were a lot more… unnerving… than what I usually listen to.  The first couple of albums do contain longish stretches of undistinguished sludge, but at their best, Julie Christmas’s caterwauling and the band’s general sonic assault created a powerful experience that few other bands could even approach.  Julie’s solo work occasionally turns off the rock but never the compelling desperation.

Further listening: Let’s work backwards.  We’ll start with a couple of tracks from Julie’s new solo album (her first in fourteen years! huzzah!), then move on to another collaboration with Cult of Luna, then back to her earlier solo material.  Then we’ll wrap up with a couple of Made Out of Babies songs that Poppy pushed off the end of the chart, and finally, a song for which Julie described her performance as “a more womanly sound than my normal freakout seven-year-old crackhead impression”.

		“Blast” (2024)
		“Seven Days” (2024)
		“The Wreck of S.S. Needle” (2016)
		“Scalps” (2012)
		“Spread for Hiding” (2011)
		“He” (2011)
		“July 31st” (2010)
		“If You Go Away” (2009)
		“Cooker” (2008)
		“Invisible Ink” (2008)
		“Death in April” (2006)