WITCH HOUSE
Witch House is a genre of electronic and experimental music. There is a version that Travis Egedy (known as Pictureplane) gave the genre its name for the first time in 2009 to describe the music that he was creating with his friends. Witch House shouldn't be confused with "Dark House" – a sub-genre of progressive house music that existed in 2000-2001. At its beginning, Witch House was described as an occult-oriented genre of electronic music that often used visuals and audio samples related to horror culture. It's worth noting that Witch House, despite frequent misconceptions, isn't directly related to any religion, unlike some styles of the Black Metal music which are associated with satanism. In Witch House occult elements were used for aesthetic reasons to attract attention and emphasize the dark atmosphere of the genre.
Pitch changes, minimal percussion from TR-808 drum machines, and hooverish bass synths were commonly used by most Witch House producers, which made the sound slow and creepy. Because of this, Witch House is sometimes confused with different music genres, such as "Vaporwave" and "Drone Ambient," which use the same music production techniques. Also, Witch House can be considered as an industrial version of the "Electro Goth" music genre as well. Contemporary pop songs or music hits from the 80s and 90s were often remixed by Witch House producers by heavily distorting, warping, and editing the original samples and acapellas. Other elements of the 80s and 90s aesthetics, such as glitches, VHS visual effects, or analog-style photography, are widely used in the genre.
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ABOUT
Untitled Burial is an international music project and an independent music label that has been promoting electronic music since 2013. In its activities Untitled Burial uses social networks, streaming platforms, YouTube and other tools to promote music worldwide. The mission of Untitled Burial is to promote aspiring and independent artists as well as to provide a platform where artists and fans can explore music together and connect with each other.
UNTITLED BURIAL
Initially, Witch House band names and track titles contained a lot of triangles, crosses, and other unicode characters in order to make music harder to find and to isolate Witch House from other music genres to make it underground only, and to help emphasize the individuality of the genre and its artists. However, this choice had the opposite and even negative consequences for the development of the genre, which is why the use of unicode characters has significantly decreased. The major influence on the formation of Witch House came from other music genres, such as Ambient, Darkwave, Industrial, Hip Hop, and, to some extent, even Black Metal and gothic rock bands of the 80s, such as "The Cure" and "Christian Death" or some experimental bands like "Coil" and "Psychic TV."
HISTORY
The term "Witch House" was originally coined as a joke and was first used to describe the music of Travis Egedy and his friends back in 2009. Soon after, the term "Witch House" was mentioned in Pitchfork Media and music blogs, and other music-related media began to use this term more often. Another version states that this term was invented by a friend of the band "Salem" who participated in the organization their live shows. In comparison to other music genres in the music industry, Witch House is a relatively young genre but it's worth noting that there are already several important stages in its history and formation.
2008 - 2010
The release of the album "Dark Rift" by Pictureplane and the album "King Night" by Salem is considered as the birth of the Witch House genre. Around the same time, White Ring and Rituals appeared and later they became iconic in this genre.
SALEM - KING NIGHT (2010)
2010 - 2012
During this time, Witch House was considered the opposite of the new wave of pop music. Gloomy and unusual soundscapes, the use of unprocessed and harsh sounds, unicode characters and widespread use of dark album artworks has become an integral part of the genre. Blvck Ceiling and Sidewalks and Skeletons can be attributed to major artists who made great contribution to the development of the genre in this period of time. In addition, it's worth noting the appearance of the ODDOT music label in 2011 that featured relevant artists, such as (((O))), Summer of Haze, Mugl and Crossparty. This is considered the beginning of the genre's development in Russia. Meanwhile, the genre began to develop in the United States too, helped by the myspace.com website, facebook groups and a forum on witch-house.com website. Later, this forum became a music label aimed at releasing music more focused on the sound of early Witch House artists.
BLVCK CELING - TEENWVFF (2012)
2012 - 2013
Around this time, the first transformation of the genre began. The popularity of Witch House in the United States has decreased and the number of new releases and live shows has dropped dramatically. However, at the same time in Russia, Witch House blossomed and began to grow at a rapid pace. The artists who released music at that time later became iconic artists of the genre and determined its further development for the years ahead. During this period, the Witch House community officially emerged in Russia but it didn’t overlap with the rest of the international community and this greatly influenced the evolution of the genre. Also, around this time, the first mentions of the Witch House appeared in the online media, and the first major promoters of Witch House music, Untitled Burial and Nightmares and 808s, appeared for the first time and they have made a great contribution to the formation of the community, as well as to the preservation and development of the genre worldwide.
2013 - 2016
This period of time is considered the golden age of the genre. Witch House artists in Russia, the United States and Europe released a lot of music which subsequently became the standard for the genre in the following years. Also, many live shows and big Witch House-themed events were held in Russia, such as "VV17CHØU7" and "VEDMIN DOM." In the United States Witch House has undergone significant changes in its sound, while in Europe certain metamorphoses have led to the active development of a new electronic music genre – Wave (not to be confused with the genre that appeared in the 80s).
VEDMIN DOM
At this time, despite the fact that Witch House was at the peak of its popularity, major artists of the genre stopped releasing music. This mostly happened in Russia, but interest in the genre decreased worldwide. The next turning point in the development of the genre and its popularization was the "Dissolution" tour in the United States accompanied by the appearance of new music producers and the return of old ones.
PRESENT TIME
Since Witch House was forged under the influence of many other music genres, its evolution continues, allowing the creation of a variety of hybrid styles in the genre, making Witch House considered one of the most experimental genres of electronic music. Now Witch House includes a lot of hybrid influences from other niches and genres, from classic Dark Ambient to EDM, as well as even more narrowly focused styles associated with the work of Howard Lovecraft or Slavic folklore. In 2018, the genre began to develop again more actively in Russia than in the United States and Europe where the development and interest in the genre are growing slowly but steadily, and its overall sound seems to be approaching the root sound of earlier Witch House soundscapes. At the present time, Witch House is usually perceived as a community that uniting people with similar views and ideas but not as a fully formed music genre with a specific set of rules.
IN MOVIES AND GAMES
The "King Night" track by Salem was used in the soundtrack of the movie "Love" (2015).
The "Trapdoor" track by Salem was used in the soundtrack of the movie "The Place Beyond the Pines" (2012).
Tracks by Sidewalks and Skeletons were used in OST of the "RUINER" game.
INTERESTING FACTS
The origin of the genre coincides with the period of popularization of such phenomena as the darknet and the emergence of the first cryptocurrencies. Some aspects of darknet culture have influenced the formation of the visual style of Witch House, which is especially noticeable in the early music of Blvck Ceiling.
The misconception that suicide is an integral part of Witch House dates back to August 19, 2011 when Greg Sattan, also known as LOVEDIED, committed suicide. After that, his work became iconic for the genre. As a tribute to Greg, witch-house.com released the album "Love Never Dies" featuring various Witch House artists.
In September 2014, the music project (((O))) participated in the Vilnius Music Week festival and received positive feedback from Peter Jenner, the fisrt manager of Pink Floyd, and from music critics.