Is witch house dead? that question started aprox. since end 2012. But nobody have really a concrete answer, or maybe most prefer ignore this thing.
With almost all early labels inactive, and most early artists inactive too. And even some truly defunct like "Antonio Urdiales (ponyboy)", "Lovedied" and the legendary "White Ring" first vocalist "Kendra Malia", the question stills in analysis.....
Another important fact, is almost any early artists continue making witch house music. Some examples: "zxz" now is making industrial, "Salem" is active but without their female vocalist: "Heather Marlatt" and their sound is now like just easy listening chill hop. "Balam Acab" turned into something like idm, deconstructed. The list is very long and i don't want to make this blog entry too long.
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Between 2010 to 2012, there was hundred, a lot of free tracks on soundcloud. Sounds weird, but yes, witch house was free download on the beginning. With mostly artists making something highly experimental, noisy and atmospheric. Mixing chopped and screwed with ritualistic sounds.-
Was the top sensation on those years, same than this 2021 is the dreamcore / weirdcore digital art aesthetic. Was the same thing on that short years.
The artist community involved in the genre, commented in that years on tracks on soundcloud between each other. All made it just for fun, without envy, without the intention to be popular. Soundcloud was invaded by tracks without titles, only with unicode texts, symbols and words similar to spells and invocations.Was a very unique stage in the history of dark electronic music.
Most albums was released via mediafire, 4shared file transfer services. Also on the internet archive, jamendo and also at myspace. A lot of v/a compilations was shared via blogs and links totally for free download. Same thing in soundcloud and bandcamp. The 70% of releases was for free download.-
But sadly......the thing started to change with all the hipsters buying merchandising from TriAngles and Pendu Sound labels...Bandcamp started to became popular and at the end of 2012 all the underground thing was seducted by the smell of money.
Artists like Blvck Ceiling, Axius Link and SW&S becomes the mainstream pillars of the new sound after the forgotten glory of the old original cavernous experimental & chopped and screwed sound that was the true witch house music in the early years.
After the boom on 2012 of the album by "Crystal Castles" called "III" & the popularity of the duo "Crim3s" the sound of their genres: "trash rave" also called "newbreed". Happened a kind of confussion in all the listeners, adopting the idea that witch house turned into something far to be experimental and more near to an alternative electronic style.
The ritual, occult and the noisy drones was replaced for something melodic, danceable and totally commercial...
Hundred of new artists became clones of that previously mentioned popular artists, and with the big influence of Crystal Castles too, after 2013, appeared hundred of copycats of this new "witch house"style...
Between 2014 to 2015. A prolific wave of russian artists took the control with the label: "Untitled Burial". And the initial experimental direction was abandoned totally by almost every artist.-
In 2016, the very important labels for the scene was closed; Aural Sects (US), Equilateral Records (Chile), Pale Noir (US) & ΠYΠ’ΠΠΠ’Π€ΠΠK (Russia). Sending to the witchy music genre almost to the extinction.
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Between 2017 to 2020: Labels like Hexx9 Records (US), Witch Dragons (Russia) & Witch Spectra continue the legacy of dark experimental, first witch house old school type style.-
On this 2021, the netlabels: EK4T3 (Italy), Skull Triangle Skull (Japan/Chile), Necromancia (Brazil), and Witch Spectra (Chile) (now known since this year as Post-Witch Compilations) are maybe the last breath and the nostalgic image of that glorious past.
Now the tagged as WH, are artists that sound totally equal between each other, clones of clones....pillars of the nu-goth scene with satanic symbols and with an appearance of bad boys, more near to black metal than something truly ritual and focused on the occultism...
Maybe will be a resurrection of the genre? maybe always was a zombie and never was alive?? maybe all this was the imminent commercialization of something too much deep and beautiful for be real???.... or maybe this is the same thing than this genre was named by Pictureplane.... just a joke....
