Clint Catalyst

Deep bass
and
digital runes

:: A Spell Has Been Cast ::

and

It’s one of chaos: there’s prattle over terminology in the insular world of ‘outsider music,’ and I can’t help but be amused.  Y’see, the English language has these things called “labels,” and the reaction people have to them reinforces the power of nomenclature.  Give it a try sometime: arrange a few consonants and vowels, toss ‘em around, see what kind of response you get.
Fetch, baby…It’s Fetch.

But what if the words aren’t words but rather occult symbols/symbology?  I’ve often wanted to speak in hieroglyphics — with cartoon captions, for added effect — but I just can’t seem to get band names like †‡† &  \\\^◊^/// to dance their way off my tongue.

They’re part of a scene that — as with any ‘scene’ — seems to have as many detractors as devotees, which I think is a good thing.  On one manicured claw, there’s the trappings of being pigeon-holed; on the other, opportunities that might present themselves through being Guilty By Association. Rather than tl;dr the obvious, how about I introduce the genres?  Sub-genres? [ Again: an argument I opt to file under None Of My Business ]

of

Witch House † Ghost Drone † Zombie Rave † Drag

With origins as questionable as to what extent they’ll have an effect, they’re like strands of the same virus — or a dark and murky exploration into a game of Choose Your Own Adventure.

Whatever the case, I’m backin’ the brilliant post “Enthralled By Thee Witch” by My Pal The Crook [ creative director,co-owner and founder of the streetwear line Мишка NYC ], who describes this mysterious burgeoning mileu as “Goth music for a new generation and a new millennium, fully embracing all the things that drew kids into the genre through the 70s and 80s — the secrecy, the occultism, the suspense, the danger, and the moodiness — but minus all the things that turned people off from it in the 90s: the neon dreads, the vinyl pants, the fangs, and the platform industrial boots.”

Fucking dead-on, that! Brings to mind a relevant aside from Hex Files: Resurrection to which I’m hereby formally applying an asterisk… I’ve got a choke-hold on A.D.H.D. at the moment, and want to turn you on to the prolific nightmare collective that MPTC’s blogature high—or, rather: LOW—lights, and whose death drones and surreal liquid dreamscapes have been dominating my laptop as of late.

:: MATER SUSPIRIA VISION ::

The Trip Garden of El Diablo from Mater Suspiria Vision
:: complete with cornea-melting accompaniment by Cosmotropia de Xam ::

†

A toxic gumbo of the terrifying and terribly terrific, MATER SUSPIRIA VISION is a brilliant composite: The music they craft induces ripples of gooseflesh; the visual accompaniment renders a viewer spellbound.

Insofar as ‘Zombie Rave,’

Consider this a formal initiation:

Zombie Rave Mix-Tape: Special Edition

ℑ⊇≥◊≤⊆ℜ — another challenge in the dept of pronunciation — of MSV creates maddeningly ultra-limited-edition sets [ the first of which was capped at a hundred downloads; the next, at 200; the third, bumped to 300...a supply nowhere near ample, nonetheless ].

The Special Edition that’s linked above, however, has an

✶ OPEN-ENDED DOWNLOAD POLICY ✶
[ Translation: You want it? Then G E T . S O M E ! ]

from the coverage on Mishka’s bloglin:

“among all the runes and mysticism, these mixes are starting to present a clearer definition and a broader scope to Witch House. Zombie Raves reanimate the dead and bloated corpses of decades of pop, rock and dance hits until they’re wholly their own catchy and evil creations that get your body moving while freaking you the fuck out.”

+ Over an hour of slow gnawing at your soul and corpus callosum + AWAITS + THEE +

experience.it

†

Although now and next: Here’s a particularly fine find I feel it imperative to share — as it’s an excellent intro to the By Whatever/Witchever-Name-Of-It-All, as well as a killer set :

Thee † † Haunted House MIX † † by a young gent creating under the moniker  Story of Isaac
*[ update: Story of Isaac has evolved into a project entitled CRIM3S ;
however, I've kept this most legendary mix available for download . ]

— or —
Want just a taste without having to commit to the entire trip?

A few I consider among T H E . E S S E N T I A L S , S H O R T . L I S T :

Salem

The track “IcX99″ by White Ring is astronomical —

ditto, same
the weather conducted by

†

a creator-of-inky-hued-masterpieces known as

º BLΛCK RΛ!NB0VV °