A witch house post may well be out of date by this point, micro-scenes such as this usually dying out pretty quickly. Looking around at the time of writing, it seems to be as healthy as it was when I first heard Salem, first act of this type I'd heard. Hearing Redlights for the first time through 20 Jazz Funk greats was an epiphany, I went around saying "This stuff is going to be big". I wasn't right then and I'm still not, witch house hasn't yet been co-opted by the mainstream in the same way as dubstep has been, and the chillwave/hypnagogic stuff is beginning to be co-opted by lightweight landfill indie guitar acts. The obligatory journo buzzwords attached to witch house say it all - haunted house, ghost step, any number of permutations of electronic dance music genre tags melded to something supernatural. It is, however, creeping into memedom, with witch house band name generators existing spewing out mixes of occult symbols and language with pyramids and stars.
A lot of music potentially falls under the witch house umbrella - the music consists of elements of downtempo chopped and screwed hip hop, juke, industrial music, noise, fragments of half remembered film soundtracks, shoegaze, synth pop and just about anything you can imagine filtered through an aesthetic that has more than a little in common with black metal. Sometimes there are vocals, demonic slo-mo rap or MBV like reverb drenched icy siren songs. The unifying thread seems to be that as long as you're into the aesthetic there are no rules - no set bpm or rigid boundaries of what is acceptable, unlike most electronic dance music.
One way of talking about and "legitimising" witch house would be to mention the influences of various minorities, black and gay cultures intersecting in a way they haven't really since house proper. It is for this reason that some critics distaste for the vocals pitch shifted down to drawl thug-rap epiphets says more about them than it does about the musicians. When they dismiss it as "minstrelsy" as the New York Times did, it says more about their own perception of scary black men than it does about the musicians, kids imitating their favourite (not always black) rappers because they like them.
I could call it the new punk - DIY aesthetic, no rules, largely self released material and content often offensive to some. Combine the occult imagery a lot of people are still uncomfortable with in a society dominated by the Abrahamic religions with content consisting of both hip hops glorification of sex, violence and drug use and you have potential controversy indeed! The cheap sensationalism of some people making strand of the genre and calling it "rapegaze" just pours fuel on the fire - this puerile nastiness isn't to be encouraged but no subculture is exempt from morons. Looking at the etymology of the word punk, you can trace it to a male prostitute - at least one of Salem, according to an interview with underground American gay publication Butt Magazine has been a rentboy. So it's more authentic this time around. Yes, that ugly word authentic, we'll get to that some other time, because it is really missing the point completely.
While both of these are true the fact is that in the context of this scene (that isn't a scene) ethnicity, sexuality and social backgrounds are largely irrelevant as long as you can make good spooky electronic music that touches the heart and moves the feet. A lot of the creators are anonymous, hidden behind computer screens and uploading Youtube videos of their tracks, sharing zip folders of tracks or putting them straight up onto Soundcloud or Bandcamp. The same people who complaining that there is no such thing as original thought anymore are usually the like who didn't like the old punk, nevermind "the new punk". It wasn't in their field of reference. This is why this phenomenon has been dismissed as another bunch of hipster drivel, and largely ignored. The fact it has such a silly name doesn't exactly help matters either of course - Frankie Knuckles spinning Salem's Killer?
Large amounts of witch house recontextualise existing content into new forms with no concept of "good" or "bad" taste : Tri Angle records Lindsay Lohan tribute Let Me Shine For You and Salem's apocalyptic rehaul of Britney Spears Til The End of The World co-exist with work influenced by Coil and Scorn. Lil Wayne or Gucci Mane can be mixed into beats straight out of the darkest industrial acts repetoire, and it doesn't matter. Witch house, arguably more than any other genre, is a mirror of today's magpie music culture.
Salem's King Night is currently the closest its has got to infiltrating the mainstream, and is fairly representative of the myriad strands represented in W.H. It opens with a mangled sample of Barney the Dinosaur spinning off into beats like frozen ice under choral synths. It is an album where menacing, pitch shifted rap vocals rub up against Cocteauesque vocals and distorted synth like guitar and guitar like synths skate on bass heavy beats with the needle in the red - shoegaze meets hip hop for a bout of ultra homoerotic ultraviolence in an abandoned subway tunnel. It culminates in the aforementioned Killer, one of the most emotionally stirring pieces of music I heard in 2010. The lyrics, something to do with "miles to go" and "spiders in your hair", are distorted by the heavily treated but resolutely human vocal delivery, slurring and teetering on the brink of tears. The same could be said of the music.
When you start listening out for it, its surprising where it leads you - alongside the obvious goth, industrial, hip hop and shoegaze strands, some of NIN's quieter moments could fit well between Ritualz and NoVirgin in a witch house mix. The same could indeed be said of quite a lot of various peak era Depeche Mode tracks, the Smashing Pumpkins' Eye or even a lot of stuff from Burial's critically lauded Untrue or Darkstar's North. On that same dubstep tip, quite a lot of Zomby's recent (great!) album Dedication has more than a touch of the witch house about it. Tyler The Creator and Syd Tha Kid's beats and productions on OFWG tracks have that same sparse moodiness and sinister edge, in a case of hip hop being influenced by the very thing it influenced. Even aesthetically - OF fonts and symbols could be White Ring. Still "minstrelsy" now? Words must be eaten by the highbrow when the aesthetic is co-opted by young black artists and people working in what is, from the standpoint of he who sucks the joy out of everything, "black music" - even if Zomby isn't black he's operating in a field with roots in drum'n'bass and dub reggae. However, unlike dubstep, I can't see Britney Spears repaying the interest in her and getting Salem to come up and do Til The End of The World with her. Tyler might, though.
Zola Jesus is obviously influenced by the aesthetic, and shows signs of being a majority concern too - 2010's Stridulum's blend of Rihanna, early Human League and Nico went down a storm, and this year's Conatus is doing pretty well too. Unlike the other acts in this category, she'd be equally at home singing Trust Me to Glastonbury or performing Night in the Black Lodge in Twin Peaks - I wouldn't be surprised if she was huge soon.
Even if the “evil mainstream” co opted Salem or NoVirgin or White Ring it wouldn’t matter because most of these artists really aren’t small minded and elitist in the slightest - they just like what they like. No recriminations or statements of "It's not REAL witch house!". The closest they've come, though, is aforementioned Britney cover, Heather from Salem appearing on These New Puritans Hidden and a few witch house mixes on a HIM (!!!) remix album. This means HIM (bloody HIM) were at the forefront of pushing a new form into the mainstream? I was very surprised.In a climate where even the lo fi is pretty hi fi, this is a refereshing breath of fresh air. Like punk, anyone can do it. But as Genesis P Orridge once pointed out the problem with punk was the tired old learn three chords and start a band ethic - why do you even need one chord if you want to express yourself. If you have an internet connection, you have access to some form of music software - just pop some VSTs in a DAW and you too can be making witch house! Do whatever you want, it's up to you.
Recommended Listening :
Salem - King Night
Zola Jesus - Stridulum II
Tri Angle Records Let Me Shine For You Lohan comp
NoVirg1n - Downer EP
Various Artists - Road to Duat Pale Noir compilation
Scare the bejesus out of yourself with some White Ring, dance to some Mater Suspiria Vision
And, of course, obligatory self plug, Neurotic Wreck - Cling Placid
Sadly, and unhelpfully, the majority of what I've heard I've liked. Dive in yourself if you like dark electronic music.
A lot of music potentially falls under the witch house umbrella - the music consists of elements of downtempo chopped and screwed hip hop, juke, industrial music, noise, fragments of half remembered film soundtracks, shoegaze, synth pop and just about anything you can imagine filtered through an aesthetic that has more than a little in common with black metal. Sometimes there are vocals, demonic slo-mo rap or MBV like reverb drenched icy siren songs. The unifying thread seems to be that as long as you're into the aesthetic there are no rules - no set bpm or rigid boundaries of what is acceptable, unlike most electronic dance music.
One way of talking about and "legitimising" witch house would be to mention the influences of various minorities, black and gay cultures intersecting in a way they haven't really since house proper. It is for this reason that some critics distaste for the vocals pitch shifted down to drawl thug-rap epiphets says more about them than it does about the musicians. When they dismiss it as "minstrelsy" as the New York Times did, it says more about their own perception of scary black men than it does about the musicians, kids imitating their favourite (not always black) rappers because they like them.
I could call it the new punk - DIY aesthetic, no rules, largely self released material and content often offensive to some. Combine the occult imagery a lot of people are still uncomfortable with in a society dominated by the Abrahamic religions with content consisting of both hip hops glorification of sex, violence and drug use and you have potential controversy indeed! The cheap sensationalism of some people making strand of the genre and calling it "rapegaze" just pours fuel on the fire - this puerile nastiness isn't to be encouraged but no subculture is exempt from morons. Looking at the etymology of the word punk, you can trace it to a male prostitute - at least one of Salem, according to an interview with underground American gay publication Butt Magazine has been a rentboy. So it's more authentic this time around. Yes, that ugly word authentic, we'll get to that some other time, because it is really missing the point completely.
While both of these are true the fact is that in the context of this scene (that isn't a scene) ethnicity, sexuality and social backgrounds are largely irrelevant as long as you can make good spooky electronic music that touches the heart and moves the feet. A lot of the creators are anonymous, hidden behind computer screens and uploading Youtube videos of their tracks, sharing zip folders of tracks or putting them straight up onto Soundcloud or Bandcamp. The same people who complaining that there is no such thing as original thought anymore are usually the like who didn't like the old punk, nevermind "the new punk". It wasn't in their field of reference. This is why this phenomenon has been dismissed as another bunch of hipster drivel, and largely ignored. The fact it has such a silly name doesn't exactly help matters either of course - Frankie Knuckles spinning Salem's Killer?
Large amounts of witch house recontextualise existing content into new forms with no concept of "good" or "bad" taste : Tri Angle records Lindsay Lohan tribute Let Me Shine For You and Salem's apocalyptic rehaul of Britney Spears Til The End of The World co-exist with work influenced by Coil and Scorn. Lil Wayne or Gucci Mane can be mixed into beats straight out of the darkest industrial acts repetoire, and it doesn't matter. Witch house, arguably more than any other genre, is a mirror of today's magpie music culture.
Salem's King Night is currently the closest its has got to infiltrating the mainstream, and is fairly representative of the myriad strands represented in W.H. It opens with a mangled sample of Barney the Dinosaur spinning off into beats like frozen ice under choral synths. It is an album where menacing, pitch shifted rap vocals rub up against Cocteauesque vocals and distorted synth like guitar and guitar like synths skate on bass heavy beats with the needle in the red - shoegaze meets hip hop for a bout of ultra homoerotic ultraviolence in an abandoned subway tunnel. It culminates in the aforementioned Killer, one of the most emotionally stirring pieces of music I heard in 2010. The lyrics, something to do with "miles to go" and "spiders in your hair", are distorted by the heavily treated but resolutely human vocal delivery, slurring and teetering on the brink of tears. The same could be said of the music.
When you start listening out for it, its surprising where it leads you - alongside the obvious goth, industrial, hip hop and shoegaze strands, some of NIN's quieter moments could fit well between Ritualz and NoVirgin in a witch house mix. The same could indeed be said of quite a lot of various peak era Depeche Mode tracks, the Smashing Pumpkins' Eye or even a lot of stuff from Burial's critically lauded Untrue or Darkstar's North. On that same dubstep tip, quite a lot of Zomby's recent (great!) album Dedication has more than a touch of the witch house about it. Tyler The Creator and Syd Tha Kid's beats and productions on OFWG tracks have that same sparse moodiness and sinister edge, in a case of hip hop being influenced by the very thing it influenced. Even aesthetically - OF fonts and symbols could be White Ring. Still "minstrelsy" now? Words must be eaten by the highbrow when the aesthetic is co-opted by young black artists and people working in what is, from the standpoint of he who sucks the joy out of everything, "black music" - even if Zomby isn't black he's operating in a field with roots in drum'n'bass and dub reggae. However, unlike dubstep, I can't see Britney Spears repaying the interest in her and getting Salem to come up and do Til The End of The World with her. Tyler might, though.
Zola Jesus is obviously influenced by the aesthetic, and shows signs of being a majority concern too - 2010's Stridulum's blend of Rihanna, early Human League and Nico went down a storm, and this year's Conatus is doing pretty well too. Unlike the other acts in this category, she'd be equally at home singing Trust Me to Glastonbury or performing Night in the Black Lodge in Twin Peaks - I wouldn't be surprised if she was huge soon.
Even if the “evil mainstream” co opted Salem or NoVirgin or White Ring it wouldn’t matter because most of these artists really aren’t small minded and elitist in the slightest - they just like what they like. No recriminations or statements of "It's not REAL witch house!". The closest they've come, though, is aforementioned Britney cover, Heather from Salem appearing on These New Puritans Hidden and a few witch house mixes on a HIM (!!!) remix album. This means HIM (bloody HIM) were at the forefront of pushing a new form into the mainstream? I was very surprised.In a climate where even the lo fi is pretty hi fi, this is a refereshing breath of fresh air. Like punk, anyone can do it. But as Genesis P Orridge once pointed out the problem with punk was the tired old learn three chords and start a band ethic - why do you even need one chord if you want to express yourself. If you have an internet connection, you have access to some form of music software - just pop some VSTs in a DAW and you too can be making witch house! Do whatever you want, it's up to you.
Recommended Listening :
Salem - King Night
Zola Jesus - Stridulum II
Tri Angle Records Let Me Shine For You Lohan comp
NoVirg1n - Downer EP
Various Artists - Road to Duat Pale Noir compilation
Scare the bejesus out of yourself with some White Ring, dance to some Mater Suspiria Vision
And, of course, obligatory self plug, Neurotic Wreck - Cling Placid
Sadly, and unhelpfully, the majority of what I've heard I've liked. Dive in yourself if you like dark electronic music.
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