The Witch House thread

which seems to have happened lately to The National, Wilco, Conor Oberst, Spoon, Broken Social Scene, etc., etc.

yeah I think that effect is generally overstated by indie ppl who're just mad that they don't get to feel as exclusive as they did before

not citing you necessarily, I don't listen to much of that stuff and am mainly thinking of people who hated on Wowee Zowee because it wasn't Slanted: there were plenty of 'em, but nowadays they all pretend they loved WZ from the jump

sure, it totally is overstated a lot of the time, but as someone who genuinely loved and still loves super hyped records by all of those bands, it also just seems true

I got five bucks says in three years you'll revisit High Violet and say "this is loads better than than I thought it was when I wanted it to be the same record as its predecessor"

obligatory disclosure, I haven't heard & probably won't ever hear High Violet though I like its name.

why won't you hear it? do you avoid a lot of the big name indie bands?

"this is loads better than than I thought it was when I wanted it to be the same record as its predecessor"

i don't usually have this with issue with any band, really -- i mean, I like Master of Puppets and parts of St. Anger, so. not that those two records were consecutively released, but

I don't listen to much indie rock at all unless I think the lyrics are awesome or the musicianship is of ridiculously high caliber

guess how often that's the case

starting a suggest ban campaign because you said you like parts of st. anger

anyway that's enough of this, nobody cares about indie rock any more than anybody cares about witch house

why though? i'm genuinely curious why you don't really dig the genre much!

I kind of am uninterested in making the witch house thread the "how I feel about indie rock" thread yo

alright dude, fair enough

anyway, I just listened to "Frost" on Pitchfork, and I really, really like it! so I'm willing to give them a second chance; it seems credible enough that at least some of the reason for the abject awfulness of the Fader Fort performance is directly due to sound problems at the venue

Salem's tracks on their 7"s *ARE* really great! And some of their homemade videos are incredibly haunting and hypnotic (there are several linked in the other thread). I think Whiney's whole This is barely music. Most bands that make formless noise put more energy and care into their art than this is bullshit, actually - Salem have managed to create a genuinely interesting sound and aesthetic (that *of course* is going to be cheapened by sound-a-like bands and inclusion in a blog-christened "scene" with a ridiculous name).

Those live videos are just really unfortunate, in every way.

yeah, they really are -- even given sound problems, the disparity between that they're doing in those videos and the quality of "Frost" is kinda insane

actually those videos make 'frost' sound terrible to me. same shitty musicians and presets, it's just on the grid and mixed better.

(i only just heard it for the first time now btw)

"this misstep exposes them" vs. "this poor showing does not indicate their true qualities" is kind of an intractable ideological battleground imo

whatever the deal is, that track is solid and those videos certainly are not. in a different venue, at a different time, with a different atmosphere and sound, and with more practice, i could see their live show being far more compelling

"that track is solid" vs "that track is not solid, but boring and canned"

yes, we disagree regarding "Frost"

The Levis Fader Fort thread

i called this shit Screw Wave. such a better name

it seems credible enough that at least some of the reason for the abject awfulness of the Fader Fort performance is directly due to sound problems at the venue

i don't think sound problems are to blame for out of tune singing, incredibly bad electronic percussion playing and random synth noodling. very keen to hear what their studio side is like now.

They have a good eye for graphic design as their album covers all look great.

There's a part of me that is disappointed that when you take away the fog machine and reverb and slowed down vocals the entire affair is less than stellar but then really I don't give a fuck, because the studio version of Redlights has an awesome melody, a great cool sound and is honestly a lot more interesting to listen to than most Wierd records bands -- who are mining similar goth territory and can be just as embarrassing live.

im fucking with GR†LLGR†LL right now

Some famous Neptunes productions use (nearly?) all presets - that's not much of a criticism to lay on witch house.

I think a lot of music in the pop idiom is unimaginative and most pop is a hair's width away from feelings of oh god why do I like this, so I have place in my heart for half-baked ideas in pop music if I have a place in my heart for pop at all.

NB: I haven't heard any witch house.

a good use of presets feels definitive imo, like "oh shit, they own that one now." or at least uses it in a context that makes it feel fresh, and not lazy.

(of course, putting presets through an awesome audio chain and great mastering, like the neptunes have access to, sure doesn't hurt)

Balam Acab EP announced....

http://pitchfork.com/news/39193-new-release-balam-acab-isee-birdsi-ep/

wow hadn't seen those fader fort salem things.

dude kinda has a jay from jay and silent bob vibe

What do we think about Mater Suspiria Vision? Some kind of Detroit Techno leanings and some really cool vimeos.

wow hadn't seen those fader fort salem things

not sure how you avoided em since the same videos have been spammed across about four threads now

i figured "fader fort salem" was some meme that i didn't get. good to know! the vids are laughable for a second, but more "i fear for the future of my nation" tbh.

Got me thinking
I wish I was leavin’
If not...then I’d rather be somewhere else
I’m not tryin’ to be here, by myself
If you were here too, I’d still be near myself

the one white ring song was pretty cool but overall this music seems kind of pathetic

If you were here too, I’d still be near myself

^^i might ponder this lyric the rest of my days

re: fader fort salem, i am torn between feeling bad for them because of the high probability that they're sad fucked up ppl who are getting taken advantage of and being disgusted by them because they don't have the pride/dignity to put together a halfway decent live performance.

the high probability that they're sad fucked up ppl

What

well, in addition to the interview where the one dude from salem talks about being a prostitute and taking tons of drugs (hey i have no reason to disbelieve him) no way in hell is that a sober performance.

Hung out with them in a festival green room; dudes didn't eat any pizza just drank gin gin gin gin. They're totally sweet guys, but probably junkies.

http://witchhaus.blogspot.com/

yeah fwiw I don't know if dude was a prostitute or not, but he's not really said anything that I don't believe; from what I've heard, Traverse City is one of the most closeted cities in the country...

witch house seems to exist in some alternate universe where bands name themselves after ilx display names

haha no doubt, you in particular should try to sell yours to one, it totally fits

these guys are basically trolling right

have we mentioned SLEEP ∞ OVER

their name says witch house, but i', not sure if they are and i need someone to tell me so I know which emerging subculture i am aligning myself with when i enjoy their streaming audio and video files

idk; the songs on Salem's myspace are awesome...fuck a fader fort tbf...

xp

ehhh frost is a pretty good tune, sounds sort of like something left off the back side of Saturdays = Youth but with southern rap influenced drum programming. the stuff that basically bites Screw is pretty -__-

oh boy..outtamydepthsagain..."bites Screw"?

(i don't know why i try)

Also some of it sounds like Cocteau Twins Garlands - the guiltiest of goth pleasures.

I'd like to know what sounds like Garlands because that is the opposite of a guilty pleasure, delicious as it gets. I really wish they had more albums like that (as well as the early EPs).
I've meant to investigate this stuff for years but the only stuff I heard sounded quite boring. I was hoping for something like Aghast or Divine Punishment era Diamanda Galas.

Sleep Over sounded cool but that's pretty much gothic dreampop, doesn't sound like a new genre.

Will check samples of Creep soon hopefully.

Is any of the newer stuff on Phantasma worth checking out?

http://phantasmadisques.bigcartel.com/products

The Canadian duo DKMD do a nice line in giallo-influenced disco that overlaps with a lot of witch house stuff:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udcujCjOebk

The VV17CHØU7 club events in Moscow look really fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6vL0r_VGB0

Cult and Crossparty are probably the pick of the artists.

she say im down wih huh, i say bitch you alone
you lyin wit the flesh, lyin with the bone
she say i'm lyin wih huh, my mind in the SKREET
i say i'm not with me, i'm with she, i'm with she
now plane lights blinkin, off in da evenin
got me thinkin, wish i was leavin
it's not that i'm tryna be somewhere else
i'm not tryna be here... by myself
if you were here too i'd still be with myself
i talk real loud, i don't wanna hear myself
i'm faraway lost and i don't want help
if you could bring me back, i kill myself... haaa
not myself, that's just myself
i don't know if you could tell, but i'm in hell
i don't know if you noticed, but i haven't spoken
my arm might be broken, i'm so sick of jokin

― underrated SCAREosmith albums I have loved (Whiney G. Weingarten), Saturday, October 9, 2010 2:15 AM (4 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I love listening to Witch House playlists on Spotify at work because A. I like the way it sounds and B. the people who want to come into my office and give me more work to do cannot take even 15 seconds of it and flee

"Come back there's some Brokencyde you need to hear too."

it's like the perfect combination of boy band techno and creepy industrial noises, EVERYBODY hates it

except me!

was listening to the Creep album on the way to work which was more witch house-adjacent, but it made me remember "witch house"

kept mumbling "wiiiiitch hoooouse" to myself in the car

my neighbor witch house would be an excellent kid's animated film

I haven't caught up with it recently, but I used to listen to this Spotify playlist all the time.

https://open.spotify.com/user/12145454449/playlist/0ZYCdcbhJ3Uy1zcB9JHVeW?si=E0b7MIHgR3atP219YudxfQ

add your favorite witch house playlists here (I guess).

the one I really loved on Youtube seems to have disappeared, sadly

also we looked up the translated lyrics to ic3peak's "Грустная Сука" and they're pretty great:

I’m ruining your day with my dead pale face
I don’t care about you being triggered
Wild dogs are afraid both of me and of fire
That’s not a coincidence

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf99kdFw9b8

if you were here too I'd still be by myself

Talking of Russian Witch House, I was just thinking about Vagina Vangi. They did a few EPs and things about five years ago, I liked this one -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvcQ4P2CcDo

(warning that it doesn't really get going until the second half)

And they did quite a few remixes of note, like this version of Ghetto Ass Witch by †‡†

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNEksbngz9E

They were definitely a bit cheesy but still exactly what I wanted from witch house.

https://www.nts.live/shows/physical-therapy/episodes/physical-therapy-22nd-march-2024

Witch House special!