JJ Brine - President of Mozambique (2012)

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ambiolakish
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JJ Brine - President of Mozambique (2012)

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This Icelandic or Icelandic-American guy claims to have invented a new genre of music, "Electronic Spirit Music" or "ESM" and it reminds me of witch house, but then again maybe there is a twist here:

JJ Brine, "President of Mozambique"
(DrugLord Records, 2012)

Image

1. Illuminati
2. Candy and Love
3. Ghost of Your Mother's Womb
4. It's Our Little Secret
5. Dispossession
6. Face Least Favored by Nature
7. We Get Along
8. Lucas
9. Innovation
10. Family First
11. Enemy

http://jjbrine.com
http://soundcloud.com/jjbrine/sets/pres ... mozambique
https://jjbrine.bandcamp.com/

His music vids are pretty interesting for sure. Apparently he's obsessed with Charles Manson and the Manson Family which explains a lot.

I feel the same way about New Ceremony. It's like witch house but maybe not quite? No other genre/label springs to mind. They're based out of Manchester and little is known about them... Good stuff.

http://noceremony.com

:?:
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twinvessel
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Re: Almost witch house? New witch house? Is this witch house or whaaat ; P

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Oh new York area act JJ Brine is really intense pop stuff. I don't even use the word witch house, more just 'dark indie' or 'dark alternative' when I describe the newer emerging sound borrowing from all over. I can't really pidgeon his sound...unnerving pop music?

His videos are something else.


JJ Brine "Ghost of Your Mother's Womb" -- Live at Glasslands (April 17, 2012)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tyPHekETTc&feature=plcp

JJ Brine - Ghost of Your Mother's Womb (official music video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q63Hza5u ... ure=relmfu

ILLUMINATI -- JJ Brine. Official Music Video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZ3FDJGW ... ure=relmfu

JJ Brine - ENEMY (official music video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VO62akMl_c&feature=plcp

JJ Brine - We Get Along (Official Music Video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... KoLcVmkGNU#!

In all my years of discovering new bands, JJ Brine takes the cake of
uncomfortably weird subversive pop music, or 'occult pop'. A bit remenescent of some of the stranger sectors of 80's underground I used to be into
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ambiolakish
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Re: Almost witch house? New witch house? Is this witch house or whaaat ; P

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I'm still trying to put my finger on it though, as to what makes it so unsettling. It really is mysterious to me.

This is beyond words:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Bj_Silaz8w
DWNS†▲†Ξ
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Re: Almost witch house? New witch house? Is this witch house or whaaat ; P

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sounds like a more poppy marilyn manson quite alot. i didnt like it at all tbh.
"Nothing shocks me, I am a scientist"
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SlvtPig
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Re: Almost witch house? New witch house? Is this witch house or whaaat ; P

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69696
Last edited by SlvtPig on May 22nd, 2012, 5:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
▓696▲696△696▲696▓
http://y0ureaslutpig.tumblr.com
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SlvtPig
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Re: Almost witch house? New witch house? Is this witch house or whaaat ; P

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the only good song they/her/him/it has is illuminati the rest make my head hurt xoxo
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camelvianeedle
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Re: Almost witch house? New witch house? Is this witch house or whaaat ; P

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I really like the album President of Mozambique and I would definitely call it witch house. Funnily enough the guy is now part of a "Charles Manson concept band" whatever that means:

http://www.thelabiancasband.tumblr.com
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mmmmmmmm
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Re: Almost witch house? New witch house? Is this witch house or whaaat ; P

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i am not feeling this. he is trying too hard. and it's pretty contrived and pretentious. The big budget videos with such terrible music stinks of a rich kid art school student that decided to trade in his v-neck for black robe. I'm not buying it. this isn't real.
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ghettoa55witch
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Re: Almost witch house? New witch house? Is this witch house or whaaat ; P

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No.
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Mcll
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Re: Almost witch house? New witch house? Is this witch house or whaaat ; P

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mmmmmmmm wrote:i am not feeling this. he is trying too hard. and it's pretty contrived and pretentious. The big budget videos with such terrible music stinks of a rich kid art school student that decided to trade in his v-neck for black robe. I'm not buying it. this isn't real.
Ditto. I gave it a good listen for a couple weeks and determined the same. A few tracks really stand out. But mostly it seems he is being abstract just for the sake of it. There really is no drive or passion to it. It feels "forced".
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ambiolakish
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Re: Almost witch house? New witch house? Is this witch house or whaaat ; P

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mmmmmmmm wrote:i am not feeling this. he is trying too hard. and it's pretty contrived and pretentious. The big budget videos with such terrible music stinks of a rich kid art school student that decided to trade in his v-neck for black robe. I'm not buying it. this isn't real.

It may be pretentious but I think the music is pretty good. "Illuminati", "Ghost of Your Mother's Womb" and "Family First" are excellent IMO. And I haven't seen any big budget videos from him, they all look pretty DIY.
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ambiolakish
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Re: Almost witch house? New witch house? Is this witch house or whaaat ; P

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This thread inspired me to check his Soundcloud and see what he's been up to lately, really intense/bizarre stuff that is even more "difficult":

http://soundcloud.com/jjbrine/duck-duck-goose-demo
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houseofwitch
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Re: Almost witch house? New witch house? Is this witch house or whaaat ; P

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Personally I love this and haven't heard anything quite like President of Mozambique before. And I think it definitely counts as witch house if stuff like Gazelle Twin, Pictureplane, Purity Ring etc. do. I tend to see the most definitive aspect of witch house as a certain aesthetic/iconography. A lot of bands that could be categorized as such that forego the ††† are left out.

The LaBiancas are definitely not witch house, though, even if they've got the "look" down. A "Charles Manson concept band" is really something else. Though I do think their cover of Helter Skelter is quite clever:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyhLBzOYwC0
drugs!
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houseofwitch
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Re: Almost witch house? New witch house? Is this witch house or whaaat ; P

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mmmmmmmm wrote:i am not feeling this. he is trying too hard. and it's pretty contrived and pretentious. The big budget videos with such terrible music stinks of a rich kid art school student that decided to trade in his v-neck for black robe. I'm not buying it. this isn't real.
I don't know anything about the artist other than what I've seen on his Tumblr, which isn't exactly rich in autobiographical content. But regarding the issue of authenticity, how many bands in this sub-sub-genre of music do you consider to be "real" then? As you know, Salem itself was an experimental, tongue-in-cheek endeavor by a group of producer types. Is it real when oOoOO and so many other artists on the scene stream their mp3s from their laptops onstage? At least the dude actually gets up there and sings:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tyPHekETTc
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camelvianeedle
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Re: Almost witch house? New witch house? Is this witch house or whaaat ; P

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Well first of all I like this picture of JJ Brine and John Waters, they make a fine pair indeed hosting a panel on "LGBT in the Arts" -

http://jjbrine.tumblr.com/post/20962605 ... ohn-waters

Yeah I don't really see how the guy's socioeconomic background would be relevant here but I guess we are all free to speculate on his personal affairs if it pleases us. Either way the music is solid to my ears and memorable enough that I go back to the Pres of Moz pretty regularly for a good fix. Funny thing is that he never claimed his music to be witch house, though I personally think that it fits the bill to a point of reasonable association. But yeah, I can see that it does not line up with some of the ever evolving genre specific criteria. Kudos to JJ Brine for coining "ESM" and all that, it was an inspired move on his part for sure. It certainly does stand way out on its own in the vocal department. The male-female pitch-shifting on his vocals is probably the most convincing I've heard to date, it still trips me up sometimes. :twisted:
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