Witch house (sometimes referred to as
drag) is a music genre. The term witch house started out as a joke that was originally used to describe
occult-based
house music by Travis Egedy (commonly known by the stage name
Pictureplane) and his friends in 2009.
[1][2][3] As the
internet meme grew in popularity, shortly after being
pitched to
Pitchfork Media,
[4] blogs and other mainstream music press began to actively continue the use of the term for
marketing purposes, and thus now the label is loosely used to describe a subgenre of
industrial music.
It generally features a fusion of techniques rooted in
Swishahouse hip hop – sluggish tempo with skipping,
stop-timed beats
[5] – coupled with elements from genres such as
noise,
drone, and
shoegaze.
[6] Witch house is also influenced by hazy 1980s
goth bands, including
Cocteau Twins,
The Cure,
Christian Death and
Dead Can Dance,
[7] as well as being heavily influenced by certain early industrial bands.
[8][9] Many artists in the genre have released slowed-down remixes of pop and rap songs,
[10] or long mixes of different songs that have been slowed down significantly. Common typographic elements in artist and track names include triangles, crosses, and other geometric shapes,
[11][12] which is seen by some as being part of a larger unified aesthetic within the scene as well as a method of keeping it underground and harder to search for on the internet.
[13][14]
As of August 2, 2011, Pitchfork Media are continuing the use of the term, but are now using witch house to market and describe
†††, a solo project of
Chino Moreno, of the American
alternative metal band
Deftones,
[15] whose EP
Crosses features a collection of minimal and soothing, electronic-based,
ambient rock tracks,
[16] further contributing to the controversy over the vagueness of the term.
