Witch house (genre)
 | The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's general notability guideline. (December 2010) |
| Witch House | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | Chopped and screwed, hip hop, industrial music, drone, shoegaze, dream pop, noise music, darkwave, ethereal, crunk, gothic rock, dubstep, horrorcore, illbient |
| Cultural origins | Late 2000s, primarily North America |
| Typical instruments | synthesizer, drum machine, pitched down vocals, samples, rapping |
| Other topics | |
| Death industrial – Doomcore - Horrorcore - Illbient – Industrial hip hop | |
Witch House (also referred to as drag, screw gaze or crunk shoegaze) is a debated term used to describe a fusion genre of industrial music, which features a prominent hip-hop influence, specifically the 1990s Houston chopped and screwed sound pioneered by DJ Screw.[1][2] Witch House consist of applying techniques rooted in Swishahouse hip-hop – drastically slowed tempos with skipping, stop-timed beats – with signifiers of noise, drone, or shoegaze, the genre recontextualizes its forebears into a sinister, unprecedented, yet aesthetically referential atmosphere[3]. Witch House is also influenced by hazy 1980's goth bands, including Cocteau Twins, The Cure and Dead Can Dance,[4] as well as being heavily influenced by certain early industrial bands.[5][6] The use of hip-hop drum machines, noise atmospherics, synthpop-influenced lead melodies, and heavily altered or distorted vocals is also common. Many artists in the genre have released slowed-down remixes of pop and rap songs.[7] Common typographical elements in artist and track names include triangles, crosses, and other geometric shapes.[8][9]
Travis Egedy, commonly known by the stage name Pictureplane, is credited with having coined the term Witch House. [10][11]
Criticism
The variety of terms such Witch House, Drag, and Screwgaze have been criticized as not representing a cohesive genre or scene and being a result of a compulsion to label everything. The genre has also been said to be a micro-genre constructed by certain publications in the music press (among them The Guardian, Pitchfork and various music blogs) in favor of unknown Witch House related labels and musicians, which seem to some to have established themselves in the recent media hype. These claims, among others, have been made by some members of musical acts identified in the supposed genre's current movement, as well as by musical analysts. [12][13][14][15][16]
References
- ^ Colly, Joe (24 May 2010). "Ghosts in the Machine". Pitchfork. Retrieved 10 June 2010.
- ^ Wright, Scott (25 August 2010). "'New' 'Genre' Alert: Which House? Witch House". Nashville Scene. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
- ^ Watson, William Cody (12 September 2010). "Slow Motion Music". Impose Magazine.
- ^ Wright, Scott (9 March 2010). "Scene and heard: Drag". Guardian. Retrieved 10 June 2010.
- ^ http://flavorwire.com/118771/haunted-a-witch-house-primer#more-118771
- ^ http://www.nypress.com/article-21562-brooklyns-vanishing-witch-house.html
- ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/07/arts/music/07witch.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
- ^ http://rvamag.com/articles/full/8762/witch-house-listen-with-the-lights-on
- ^ http://synconation.com/misc/witch-house-%E2%96%B2esthetics/
- ^ http://www.sfbg.com/2011/01/04/weird-emergence
- ^ http://www.avclub.com/denver/articles/this-is-witch-house,49199/
- ^ http://www.nypress.com/article-21562-brooklyns-vanishing-witch-house.html
- ^ http://www.thedailyswarm.com/headlines/pitchfork-backtracks-rape-gaze-because-creep-said-so/
- ^ http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2010/05/pitchfork_showc.html
- ^ http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2010/10/the_horrifyingl.php
- ^ http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashvillecream/archives/2010/08/25/new-genre-alert-which-house-witch-house