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(Forward, march !)
WITCH HOUSE
Cryptic names accompanied by gruesome videos have been circulating for some months on video hosting platforms like YouTube, Dailymotion or Vimeo. Undetectable on search engines, the typography of these anonymous bands bring to mind esoteric runes as well as hieroglyphs or html code.
They have names like Salem, Mater Suspiria Vision, Modern Witch, o0o00, White Ring, BLËCK RË!NB0VV, NB0VV, AIDS-3D ... With a knack for black humor, this audiovisual microcosm has given itself various and deeply ironic names (Witch House, Ghost Drone, Zombie Rave Drag ...), one step ahead of critics and the tendency they have to invent ridiculous musical sub-genres. The related videos, which are regularly banned by YouTube, recycle excerpts from 1970’s horror films, which are edited and superimposed in a decadent extravaganza of effects, saturated with bloody murders, hordes of zombies, Satanic rituals and psychedelic orgies. Each element in them calls upon a surreal and transgressive imagination, full of occult symbols and recontextualized pop references not unlike the work of experimental filmmaker Kenneth Anger.
The music, no less grim, is a sort of primitive hip-hop beat with BPMs slower than the heart of a diver in apnea, mixed with chanting incantations that are stretched out, distorted and drowned in a halo of delay. Unrecognizable, these sampled voices melt into the layers of the synthesizers and mix into a disjointed paste of sound, like R&B slowed all the way down to 2 per hour. This explosive formula evokes both the shoegaze of the 1990s, the gothic-industrial synthetic experiments of the 1980’s and the gangsta-rap said to have dabbled in black magic.
It’s the trio named Salem, from Michigan, who lit the scene on fire in 2008 with their debut single "Yes I Smoke Crack," followed by "Dirt," with a video shot in HD that brought back to mind the unwholesome videos of Chris Cunningham for Aphex Twin. Steeped in ghetto culture, the band understands that the mystery surrounding them is essential to the buzz and sparks much more curiosity than aggressive marketing. Yet no cheating just the same: even though their gloomy synth-pop is incredibly trendy, it remains primarily a catharsis for the band (John Holland, Heather Marlatt and Jack Donoghue), whose life has long been a combination of homosexual prostitution, drug addiction and manic-depressive phases. Not exactly the profile of showbiz golden boys.
The person behind this type of Grand Guignol witchcraft is referred to as Cosmotropia Xam, whose Houston, TX label Disaro confidentially distributes compilations and albums burned to CD-R. His/her group Mater Suspiria Vision just finished a tour in Europe, featuring the vocals of Shazzula, former poster-child for the French psychedelic band Aqua Nebula Oscillator. Their live shows are like theatrical ritual pushed to the extremes, where hallucinogenic drugs and decadent sexuality come together in a joyful mix. The curtain opens on a procession of ice glam witches against a backdrop of offensive visual psychedelics, while a synthetic orchestra thunders... It is with delicious perversity that the Witch House Chancery recycles these audiovisual leftovers into darkwave liturgy, creating a very end-of-century decorum that couldn’t be a better match for our time.
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