Witchhouse as a trend...

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Wallflower
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Re: Witchhouse as a trend...

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I too am a journalist, so forgive me if my romance with words insists that I blather on to the point of monotony...

As disgustingly cliche (don't know how to do the 'thing' on the e) as it sounds, for me, this music served as a sort of reflection of my soul...

Without subscribing too much to the gimicky, adolescent elements that sometimes tend to constitute the genre, allow me to repaint a picture of it for you. And forgive me, those who may tend to disagree with my interpretation...

I was introduced to witch house as a result of feeling 'dead' to the world. The others were playing out in the day and at night, and I was lurking about in the shadows by myself, avoiding too much attention, watching them from afar. I'm not some 'goth' kid, I look pretty normal, but there's always been something 'off' inside with me, something dark inside my heart. The music comprised of melodies and voices that were sort of ruined, distorted, deteriorated, and for me there was something almost as frightening as there was something heartbreaking about it. It was as though these people were making music for I alone, and in the music I heard myself.

Think of once-beautiful melodies, the simple, happy synths and the pure-of-heart passion as what might have reflected an ordinary boy's soul, such as those playing and living without a care, and then, consider the soul of that music after it has been stabbed, beaten, broken and abandoned - murdered, and yet something remains, and returns to haunt you once that simplicity has been stripped away, something arresting. Like a ghost, or a zombie, lost and without hope, yet there's some meaningful semblence that remains of something that once was.

Submitting myself to the dark drones of the distorted samples and the screwed and chopped beats of a rebellious, disturbed youth culture saves me from succumbing to something darker inside of me. It's a vicarious outlet of darkness for me, keeping whatever's wrong with my soul in check, and whatever dark wish I carry within my messed up heart safely locked away as long as I keep my headphones on...
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dirtypharms
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Re: Witchhouse as a trend...

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it's what the other hipsters at school like
☿☿☿☿☿☿☿☿☿☿DRRTY SWVG☿☿☿☿☿☿☿☿☿☿☿☿☿☿☿
Anton Maiof
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Re: Witchhouse as a trend...

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Melaniemac wrote: I was just wondering, if you could all tell me what it is that draws you to Witch-House? The style of music? The fashions? The atmosphere at the nights? What is your favourite aspect of Witch-house? What do you feel sums it up?
Disco.
Seriously though it was disco.
Pe† Ceme†ery
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Re: Witchhouse as a trend...

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I've read so much about the previous poster. Seriously, it was fucking disco.
puxel
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Re: Witchhouse as a trend...

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bassy music is popular with kids who do drugs.

get a pop song; drag the hell out of it, add some triangles, and put a sheet over your head and you're an established artist in the scene.

it's something anyone can do, but it's difficult to do well.
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FURTHER
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Re: Witchhouse as a trend...

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What draws me to Witch House?

Triangles.

Seriously though, I liked the idea of artists releasing music with names that will make it difficult to find, gives it a purity of artistic vision in my eyes.
halcyon_silence
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Re: Witchhouse as a trend...

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what draws me to witch-house is that, apart from keeping a certain "aesthetic", you can do just about anything in the genre musically...compare some of the most "famous" WH artists...Salem, Balam Acab, oOoOO, Holy Other, etc...they're all "witch house" but have little in common musically apart from a certain undefinable "aesthetic". you can make witch house with a pop vibe, ambient vibe, hip hop vibe, etc. as long as it's dark or melancholic electronic music, witch house ppl will give it a chance..
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timothybarnes
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Re: Witchhouse as a trend...

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I used to be in a band that gained a little prominence in the noisecore scene, doing splits and such with bands like THC Eradicus, Bucket of Piss, Gorgonized Dorks, Finger Head Milk Tea, I Will Guillotine Your Chihuahua, Blockhead's Guts, RIBBTAPOMN, etc etc, and what I noticed as a contributor to that scene is the proliferation of artists who really don't have much talent but are hopping into the genre because it doesn't require all that much talent to begin with. Furthermore, only a few acts in noisecore have ever risen to some degree of notoriety (Anal Cunt, Sore Throat, 7 Minutes of Nausea, Deche-Charge), but those bands were very early in the scene and receive a lot of credit in that regard, too. I feel that witch-house has some similar aspects; it's very democratic (doing splits to increase the fanbase of multiple artists, the DIY ethic, the notion that anyone can do it, etc) and also plays off the fact that witch-house (and chillwave, glo-fi, dubstep) are rather popular right now. There is a great number of artists jumping on the bandwagon for witch-house which I think is nice because it isn't hard to make and the way it's judged is fairly objective. I'm attracted to the style of music because it contains elements of other styles of music I like. I could care less for the persona that goes along with it though.
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Mcll
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Re: Witchhouse as a trend...

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>cliché
EVIGT
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Re: Witchhouse as a trend...

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It's just that it's different. It's more interpretable than every other music genre. Without strict rules, it's only the ambiance that connects these artists together. While at first sight this genre might look like a joke (like it started), underneath it all it shows signs of an unspoken truth, as if it's an open door to the universe for me. It's a honest and bare music genre. Rough, shrill and atmospheric noises that make you shiver and either empty or fill your head with thoughts.
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ƧƆỴ†ɧЄ
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Re: Witchhouse as a trend...

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I'll stick to my view that there are essentially two "pillars" in the genre. Those of us a bit older and with a true affiliation in the occult, and those a bit younger who like it more superficially. The latter is not meant to be derogatory, but I've caught instances of, for example, runes being used incorrectly; or simple ignorance of [significant] music that inspires some of us on here. You will probably notice that in the musical output as well; some side more with hip-hop style beats while others bathe in more experimental, industrial sounds. Different backgrounds, but cool how we meld together in what's my opinion a rather diverse genre.

Personally I don't care too much for the name "witch house", nor the supposed originators of the moniker; but a rose by any other name would smell as sweet...

What interests me most is where we all go from this point. You can already see the threads; some staying in the same 808 clap beats with sawtooth synths, while others pushing the boundary into more experimentation, and others going more dancey/house/techno. Some say witch house is dead, but I say maybe it's not even been born?

Many of us on here also play in separate genres. My other project is a minimal wave one; very much independent from SCYTHE, yet still shares the same current.
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∆AIMON
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Re: Witchhouse as a trend...

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perfect and beautiful response from ƧƆỴ†ɧЄ. absolutely agree entirely with everything said here.
Neurotic
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Re: Witchhouse as a trend...

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ƧƆỴ†ɧЄ wrote: What interests me most is where we all go from this point. You can already see the threads; some staying in the same 808 clap beats with sawtooth synths, while others pushing the boundary into more experimentation, and others going more dancey/house/techno. Some say witch house is dead, but I say maybe it's not even been born?

Many of us on here also play in separate genres. My other project is a minimal wave one; very much independent from SCYTHE, yet still shares the same current.
Well, exactly, it'd be terrible to go the dubstep "Well it's not around 140 bpm so it's not real dubstep!" route. Which, while there are good reasons for staying in that tempo range, makes it awfully restricting. If everything went to just sawtooths, swathes of reverb and 808 and 909 beats, it'd get really boring really fast. The reason I like witch house is it encompasses elements of synth pop, hip hop, shoegaze, black metal, early house and techno, coldwave, industrial (in the Coil sense as well as the Godflesh and DAF senses) and experimental music and packages it up in occult symbols. Its a moral panic and trend for the conservatively minded waiting to happen, so sonic conservatism is the worst way we can go now.
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Mood music for moodswings.
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mmmmmmmm
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Re: Witchhouse as a trend...

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I††, ∆AIMON and ƧƆỴ†ɧЄ saying amazing things. couldn't agree more.
#missinglink
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