Witch House

[Takadanobabaalien 3607]

Hey!

 

I recently started digging deeper in this genre and I really like it, here's a short description:

Quote

 

Witch house (also known as drag or haunted house) is an occult-themed dark electronic music genre and visual aesthetic that emerged in the early 2010s. The music is heavily influenced by chopped and screwed hip-hopsoundscapes, industrial and noise experimentation, and features use of synthesizers, drum machines, obscure samples, droning repetition and heavily altered, ethereal, indiscernible vocals.

 

Witch house applies techniques rooted in chopped and screwed hip-hop—drastically slowed tempos with skipping, stop-timed beats[7]—from artists such as DJ Screw,[8] coupled with elements from other genres such as noise, drone, and shoegaze.[9] Witch house is also influenced by hazy 1980s goth bands, including Cocteau Twins, The Cure, Christian Death and Dead Can Dance,[10] as well as being heavily influenced by certain industrial and experimental bands such as Psychic TV and Coil.[11][12]

 

 

I had listened to Crystal Castles for a long time before I wanted to try other bands in the same genre. As I said, I just started digging deeper and I don't know much about it but I guess this could be a general topic if someone else likes this genre.

 

Some popular bands are: 

∆AIMON

Balam Acab

Bruxa

Clams Casino

Crystal Castles

Crim3s

Glass Teeth (stylized as GL▲SS †33†H)

Holy Other

Horse MacGyver (formerly ///▲▲▲\\\)

Mascara (stylized as M△S▴C△RA)

oOoOO

Purity Ring

Ritualz (stylized as †‡†)

Salem

Zola Jesus

 

I made a playlist today with some of these bands, if anyone wanna check it out

 

 

If someone has recommendations then please post that as well! Would love to explore more of this genre.

Edited November 16, 2016 by Takadanobabaalien

[YuyoDrift 1540]

I was hoping someone besides myself would make this thread lol coooooool!

 

Soundcloud is going to be the best place to find anything recent.

Bandcamp has some great prices for their work as well.

 

Independent work is some of the most interesting imo.

The scene has gotten bigger, yet I'm glad that it has remained underground at the same time.

 

Some of the artists you can try out (i'm a fan of russian WH):

 

∆XIUS LIИK

ｈｅｒｅ†ｈｅｙｃｏｍｅ

ℭΔƉΛVẸɌ

BL▲CK † CEILING

cccxxiii

CΔT

NΣΘN SUICIDΣ

Sidewalks and Skeletons

Øfdream

SYИVPSE FVILUЯE

TR_ST

YOUMYLIGHT

Вдохни Меня

RUIΠ

BITWVLF

CHVRN

 

(I couldn't see your playlist since I'm at work, so I'm not sure if these artists are in there)

 

Crystal Castles may have been a small bit responsible for the movement, but I wouldn't necessarily classify them as Witch House.

They are a whole different level haha.

 

GL▲SS †33†H are pretty cool.

 

Uhhh ........ here's a nice YT channel I recommend for the latest and greatest.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpp_j_6zM_4iJqkW8b0MZ5w

 

This YouTuber does a great job linking the artist's SoundCloud page, as well as their Bandcamp profile so you can buy their work too.

 

 

 

[Ikna 1225]

As much as I am a goffick rawk, Darkwave and industrial fan, I simply cannot get into witchhouse. I think it's because of the Hip-Hop and R'n'b influence, which to me isn't very goth (yes, I am one of those "gothier than thou" biased peeps) and not a music  genre I particularly like (at all). And that's not because I have some prejudiced opinion about it, it's just not my cup of tea.

 

Also am I the only one thinking the aesthetic is a bit too over the top, pretentious and try hard? Maybe I'd dig it in 20 years time, once its Hipsterism and trendiness wears off. I know one should never judge a music scene by the way its fans act and look like, but I just cannot erase it from my mind that this music is mainly aimed at 20 year somethings on tumblr, who want to feel edgy and therefore put okkvlt symbols on their pastel colored sweaters bought at urban outfitters. 

 

However, Zola Jesus is a musician I enjoy. I wouldn't really call her music withchouse though. Her early releases were straight up  classic Noise/industrial.

 

The closest my taste comes in this direction is with In death it ends:

 

 

Some would say that's just simple Darkwave, but thge project (founded by Porl King, ex vocalist of Goth rock band Rosetta Stone) uses at least the same aesthetics (occult symbols, references to magick, alchemy and paganism/satanism, triangles and other shizzle).

 

Tbh, I would appreciate it if people could suggest witchhouse music in this direction. I know I should check out DALLE, because they seem to be a Visual kei blend with this thing. Sidewalks and Skeletons i tried a few times. It hasn't made click yet, but its synthiness makes it more enjoyable to me.

[The Reverend 3566]

17 minutes ago, Ikna said:

I simply cannot get into witchhouse. I think it's because of the Hip-Hop and R'n'b influence, which to me isn't very goth

 

I think I'm the exact opposite here, I like witchouse because it incorporates hip hop (a genre I enjoy).

 

I've said elsewhere on the forum... Salem's King Night is probably one of my top 25 favorite albums (and that's only slightly embarrassing to admit).

 

The witchhouse projects I've liked have generally been a little more chill... the ones that are too noisy or aggressive turn me off.

 

51 minutes ago, Takadanobabaalien said:

Clams Casino

 

 

Never really thought of Clams Casino as being witchhouse related... but I can kind of see it. Has that atmospheric hip hop with stark drum machine sound.

 

 

18 minutes ago, YuyoDrift said:

∆XIUS LIИK

ｈｅｒｅ†ｈｅｙｃｏｍｅ

ℭΔƉΛVẸɌ

BL▲CK † CEILING

cccxxiii

CΔT

NΣΘN SUICIDΣ

Sidewalks and Skeletons

Øfdream

SYИVPSE FVILUЯE

TR_ST

YOUMYLIGHT

Вдохни Меня

RUIΠ

BITWVLF

CHVRN

 

 

 

 

I've never checked out any band that uses a bunch of weird symbols in their name on principle. Haha. (except for the singer from Deftones side-project thing, but I didn't like that much)

Edited November 16, 2016 by The Reverend

[YuyoDrift 1540]

2 minutes ago, The Reverend said:

I've never checked out any band that uses a bunch of weird symbols in their name on principle. Haha.

 

It makes it easier to find them at least lol

[crossparallel 180]

Thank you for the list. I've been low-key interested in the genre for years and always thinking I should check out more, but I never got to it. Got sold on the aesthetics of it before the actual music ^^ It was this album that first caught my interest:

 

 

Edited November 16, 2016 by crossparallel

[Jigsaw9 6783]

A gig/party series called KVLTNIGHT has started up here in Hungary this year, so my attention towards witch house has been recently reignited after like 5 years.  I'm not an avid listener of the genre but when the mood strikes me it's real good.

 

Here's some stuff from the best of the super-small (and super-young) Hungarian scene:

 

 

(also check this insane Korn remix/reworking by German dude Peaki!!)

Edited November 16, 2016 by Jigsaw9

[YuyoDrift 1540]

Also,

 

For those who are actually gonna look into this lol, you will find a ton of different names for this genre.

 

Witch House

Drag

Rape Gaze

Haunted House

Dark Trap

Occult House

Dark Ambient

Witch Wave

 

Have fun is all I'm gonna say.

It started out as some spoopy experimental shit when I first started listening, but now it's crazy how much people like it.

 

Be warned though.

The scene is polluted with hipsters lol

A lot of Purists too.

 

You will get mad shit if you confuse Witch House with Vaporwave or SeaPunk (this shit is hilarious) or Health Goth.

Honestly......it's the same shit lol.

All Dark Music

 

The Russian WH scene is crazy right now.

[crossparallel 180]

I'd heard the others but health goth? The things in heaven and earth...

[YuyoDrift 1540]

Yeah, it's REALLLLLY hard to tell who listens to what anymore, based on the way they dress lol.

[Takadanobabaalien 3607]

Thanks for all suggestions definitely digging deeper in this asap!

[Bear 1817]

1 hour ago, YuyoDrift said:

Also,

 

For those who are actually gonna look into this lol, you will find a ton of different names for this genre.

 

Dark Ambient

 

Why would anyone call witch house dark ambient? Two very different genres.

 

 

Not familiar with the genre myself, but Churn is great. Fantastic in fact.

[YuyoDrift 1540]

1 minute ago, Bear said:

 

Why would anyone call witch house dark ambient? Two very different genres.

 

 

Not familiar with the genre myself, but Churn is great. Fantastic in fact.

 

I said the same thing about Dark Trap.......

Some people like to experiment, and so while it may sound like Dark Ambient/Dark Trap, they wrote it off as Witch House.

Idfk anymore lol

 

 

[Takadanobabaalien 3607]

I am really digging Kap Bambino. I think I found them in related artists to some witch house group on lastfm, but I think they maybe aren't witch house? At least not in the same sense as for example White Ring and Crim3s (which I also like though lmao, but there's a clear difference in their sound).

[Jigsaw9 6783]

JUS†  G⏀NNᐃ  L∃ᐃV∃  †HIS  H∃R∃ . . .

 

 

[efuru 255]

Yas give me more, I love it.

[Mihenno 4195]

I'm just dropping by to say that while I was at a Crystal Castles concert, I was jokingly talking to my friend about starting a band with me and her (like Ethan and Alice) and this random guy turns to me and is like "yeah maaaaan totally! I could totally see you guys doing witch house." (we were dressed like trash goths at the time). So when he said "witch house" that was legit the first time I heard that term and had no idea that Crystal Castles was labeled as such. I always just labeled them as "noise" LOL

 

Also, Thank you for the recommendation list of bands, I'm gonna check out some of those.

[YuyoDrift 1540]

5 hours ago, Mihi said:

Also, Thank you for the recommendation list of bands, I'm gonna check out some of those.

 

No prob.

 

Let me go ahead and add in some more for you guys.

Most can be found on that YouTuber's channel, and others have been growing in popularity on SoundCloud.

 

(((O))) aka Holy Grin

LUXXGRΔVE

Mana Void

WRCKTNGL

Baka Brigade

ΔᏕĦΞɴ ₣○ƦΞᏕᛏᏕ

SVDNVSS

SATVRNXX

VΛLS☰ †RISГ☰

†NIHIL†

FLESH

ᑡlepsydra

Ex✝xƎ

BΛNMΛSKIM

NOIRE ANTIDOTE †

ŦHE LEFŦ HΔNĐ ƟF CⱤEΔŦĬƟN

SEMICOLOŊ

AL†RS

Damn Whøre

27th

RATS -R∇†Σ

FØRSWØR†H

SICXK

†HR33ΔM

ca†hedra.

D E P R E S S E D 0 4 0 is an interesting one to look out for. They have tagged most of their releases as "Suicidal"

 

I kind of stopped listening for a bit, due to the increased exposure of Witch House to mainstream media.

It's imo, causing a rift, with newer artists blending in more uplifting sounds like retrowave, thrashwave, hyperwave, and progressive house, which is not favoring so well with the purists, myself included. So while the WH genre died for a bit, and made a slight revival recently, it's pretty sure to say that it's gonna be slowly murdered for good this time.

 

[efuru 255]

Not gonna lie, the typing of the band names is a lot. Reminds me of tumblr blogs that always use 

 

✝️ｓｏｆｔ ｇｒｕｎｇｅ ｂｌｏｇ ✝️

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Brand-new track from † BLΔCK WRIST †  who will be unfortunately retiring soon from the witch house scene (after a last album that will be out soon apparently).

 

 

I'll miss his dancey EBM-influenced vibe. He played some cool shows too.

Edited April 24, 2017 by Jigsaw9

[evenor 1655]

I miss oOoOO

 

 

[jaymee 405]

Loving this thread! So much to check out!

 

You don't know how stoked I was that Purity Ring played Tokyo this year. Megan was so nice to come out and hang with fans afterward, too.

[Bear 1817]

Been listening a lot to witch house lately, but I can't really find many good albums. There's a track here, a few tracks there and so on, but I much prefer mix-tapes and shit like that, than whole albums by artists. Just like with italo-disco. It's a single song-based genre in my eyes, as opposed to dungeon synth, black metal or progressive rock which I feel is a lot more album-based.

 

 

Anyone got any recommendations for artists/albums/songs that sounds very witches sabbath-esque/ritualistic/pagan/shamantic or something? 

Edited February 20, 2018 by Bear

[YuyoDrift 1540]

Can't believe it's been 2 years since I last posted here.

My bad lol.

Gonna add in a few more artists (old and new) that I came across but forgot to post here for you guys.

 

CLFRD

†LOΛΣΓS†

SATANBEAT (sometimes spelled SVTVNBEAT)

XLR:840

V▲LH▲LL

Harukasuka

FUN∃RᐃL ‡ FLØW∃RS

MNTVN

pexØt

c o l d k i s s

GRYPT

FLESH

L U C I F E A R

bl333k

DATERAPE (used to be a shoegaze artist)

rv1nbxvv

DVЯK SE▲

†RIɅLS

ǝțâ ΛЮƂǪɃЬ (I found this one by complete accident haha)

 

I don't listen to Witch House as much anymore but the fact it is STILL alive is awesome/surprising to me.

Witch House has now been given new names that I was not aware of: Goth Trap, Sadwave, and Gucci Goth.

I wanna say that the hipsters have devoured the genre but idfk anymore lol.

 

Oh and here are a few more channels for you guys to check out if you haven't already found them.

 

the_accidental_poet

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVBkfxb4xfrBT2uyo0xmuKA

Untitled Burial

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy1a3geSadf4tIeWwWSnd6A

FOMH (this channel's content proves my previous statement from a bit back where vaporwave/retrowave/and house are being introduced into WH)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtwa2s4DB_D8fXniEv0rExw

 

 

On 2/20/2018 at 2:13 PM, Bear said:

It's a single song-based genre in my eyes

Pretty much sums up why WH has never, or will ever, take off as its own mainstream genre.

Just like many other electronic music types out there lol