Monday 30 January 2023

MΞ - Music For A Movie That Was Never Made

Mysterious MΞ is a new project from a UK-based producer who prefers to remain anonymous. Their "Music For A Movie That Was Never Made" is a great four track release that balances the witch-house concept between drone, metal and dark ambient influences. The record sounds like teleported from 2011 with its daring choice of samples and arrangements (I love the contemporary classical elements of "Ï" that give this quite harsh trach a cinematic charm and grandeur). Get it.

"Music For A Movie That Was Never Made" can be downloaded here, and streamed below.

Sunday 29 January 2023

Pharmacist - Ice Castle Sweat Lodge Mix

Pharmacist just dropped "Ice Castle Sweat Lodge Mix" on his Soundcloud - a thirteen track mixtape for lost souls and downergazing loners. Featuring tracks from outsidenightair, Miguel A. Ruiz, Pregnancy Pact, Vershi and North X, alongside a handful of amazing edits and his originals, it's a great tape for your week ahead. Enojy here.

Saturday 28 January 2023

Fever Ray - Kandy // video

New video single from Fever Ray, taken from her upcoming album "Radical Romantics", which will be out March 10 on Rabid Records.

Friday 27 January 2023

E_DEATH - Forgotten Realms

After two sold out tapes in the span of a month, E_DEATH unleashes "Forgotten Realms", a leftfield cloud-rap instrumental follow up to "Cloud Spires". Someone call Main Attrakionz boys to jump on those, this is 808s & Dark Grapes 4 material. Mellow, chill and laidback.

The album is available here, and you can stream it below.

Thursday 26 January 2023

Sofia Reta - Grinning Blade

Sofia Reta is back with a new loose single on his SC. "Grinning Blade" is a avant-club friendly track that ventures into slightly different territory we're used to with Xaveir's music - and I love it. So far, it's available only on Soundcloud as stream-only, but I hope it will show up on Bandcamp soon.

Wednesday 25 January 2023

Home Front - Faded State // video

La Vida Es Un Mus Discos has just announced the debut full length from the Canadian rockers Home Front. Their 2021 mini-album "Think Of The Lie" was one of my fav releases from that year, so I'm really looking forward how much they grew since then. The record "Games Of Power" will come out on March 3, and can be pre-ordered here. Check out the first single from the album above.

Teaching In Trips - Valediction

New surprise album from Teaching in Trips just dropped on Bandcamp. "Valediction" collects a handful of previously released singles and pairs them with new tracks and collabs with Crossparty, Suicidewave and Sorry About My Face. Solid contemporarty witch house, nuff said. "Solypsism" in particular is vibing with me.

Buy the album here, stream down below.

Tuesday 24 January 2023

Maelstrom & Louisahhh x William Guillon & Maison Mouton Noir - Anatomy Of Chaos // video

It's safe to say that whatever Louisahhh touches lately turns into quality gold, and this latest visual collaboration with producer Maelstrom, art director William Guillon and filmmaker Benjamin Juhel is a perfect proof of that. Featuring "If I Could Hold", which serves as the lead single for M&Ls long-awaited debut album "Sustained Resistance", the video is hauntingly eerie, brutally raw but also simply beautiful, featuring hypnotising dancer Nicole Muratov. "Sustained Resistance" will be out on RAAR February 10.

Monday 23 January 2023

Sable Noir - Sable Noir EP

A few months ago I blogged about the Paris-based band Sable Noir and their brilliant first single "Jane Doe". On January 15th they released their debut EP, that includes said single plus five new tracks - all soaked in their melodic blend of post-punk and new wave. While none of the tracks are able to match the hit-potential of the lead single, it's still a solid release that will appeal to fans of darker genres.

Buy their EP here, stream below.

Sunday 22 January 2023

Reeve Schumacher - Foreseer

Noir Age returns in 2023 with a lathe-cut from Arles, France based musician and composer Reeve Schumacher. "Foreseer" is a hypnotising and eerie drone piece that has a cinematic quality one could expect from Bobby Krlic for example. Totally capturing and beautiful. The lathe can be pre-ordered here, it'll be out on January 27th.

Saturday 21 January 2023

209 Sins - Seance At Funeral Home

On the back of the EP released just a week ago, the grim reaper 209 Sins returns with "SE▲NCE ▲T ▲FUNER▲L HOME ▼" consisting of 5 hellish tracks. The titular one is a minimal trap joint that could work as a eerie dark ambient soundscape when stripped of the fast-paced drums. Love it. "Funerary X Perscriptions" is another one I really dig - doom-hop collab with Mortuary Grimm that sounds like something between SALEM and early 36Mafia. Out of the two dragwave edits, "The Next Witch's Curse" wins the top spot, there's something about it that takes me back to 2011/12 era of WH. Really solid stuff.

Support and buy here, stream below.

Friday 20 January 2023

Smote - Hlaf // video

First video single from the upcoming album "Genog" from Smote. It will be out March 10th via Rocket Recordings. Psych-folk goodness.

Thursday 19 January 2023

ỤTINAM x VeXe † - Black Crows

This is so ill, ỤTINAM (rap) and VeXe † (beat) channel the Swishahouse vibe on this possessed rap collaboration. Have no idea who the former artist is, but you may remember VeXe from those rad All Blurred Out compilations. Stream "Black Crows" here.

Wednesday 18 January 2023

Ritualz - Ugly // video

Ritualz has just released a video to his cover of Smashing Pumpkins' "Ugly", which was initially included in the "Disintegration" maxi-single and then made its way to the "Radical Macabro" deluxe box set. I love the choice of make-up tutorial as the visual backdrop for this particular song. Love it.

VASHA - Angel Of Peace

New hyperpop single from VASCHA, channeling some of that Sophie club glam. I'm not a fan of the genre, but this track is well executed. Cop it here.

Tuesday 17 January 2023

Datapoint - Contact

Datapoint may or may not be a certain witch-house producer that's been a household name within that scene since 2010... Who knows. Conceived in 2013, Datapoint released only one album at that time, but they've been picked up by Illuminated Paths label last year, and a string of relases followed. "Contact" is their latest mixtape, released on tape it's a mixture of vaporwave nostalgia and drag techniques - 23 tracks that are sweet, short and do what the packaging says. Really mellow muzak that I enjoyed more than I was expecting.

Buy the cassette here, stream down below.

Ron Hardly - A Comeback

Ron Hardly is a house monkier of Dafydd McKaharay, better known as Nattymari. "A Comeback" is indeed his comback album, after having released a string of projects for the netlabel Aural Sects a decade ago. Deep house, acid house, breaks and some glitchy electronica all smoothly mix and coverse on this record, making it an album that's great for a dancefloor as well as your headphone friend for a late night session. Like all music from Natty, this one's free too!

Peep it here, stream below.

Sunday 15 January 2023

Mutant Zones // best albums of 2022

Late again, but here are my fav albums from the past year. Just like a year before, I'm publishing my list as part of a website designed in collaboration with Witch-House.com, where I invited a lot of incredible artists from the darker corners of the underground to share their personal 'best of's. Check it out here. My picks are below.

Saturday 14 January 2023

209 Sins - Black Miracles

"B​L​A​C​K ≠ M​I​R​A​C​L​E​S イ​ス​ト" is a new funeral trap EP from 209 Sins. Drive-by beats mixed with classic hip-hop sound of early 2000s, all soaked in multiple layers of bass. The titular track slaps, and is my fav here, but tbh the whole thing make me want to bop my head.

Buy the release here, and stream after the jump.

Thursday 12 January 2023

MORGVE - Bestiary

I still haven't got bored of the amazing "Rise Rise Rise" LP that dropped in July, and in the final weeks of December MORGVE unleashed their follow-up album "Bestiary". And what a record it is! Only five tracks long, but packs a punch like there's no tomorrow. Futuristic witch-rap record, from the gutters of Buenos Aires 2099. Nadia is killing it with the vocals, and Gonzo is on the next level with his productions.

Purchase the album here, stream in full below.

Wednesday 11 January 2023

Kutmah - Stationery

Kutmah continues his beat-tape run with a new 22-track compilation entitled "Stationery". Classic, smokey kxxtz with a hip-hop groove that will make your head bop like it's 2006 and Poo-Bah and Rush Hour are just getting started. Ace.

Support the man and cop it here. Stream down below.

Tuesday 10 January 2023

nevada_jerky_gurl23 - PIT Podcast N°5

Fifth radio show from Paso Inferior Tapes (check out #4 here), this time Jon is spinning wicked shit under his nevada_jerky_gurl23 alias. Freshly scythed and reassembled collage of breakcore, speedcore, industrial and noise. Not for the faint hearted.

Monday 9 January 2023

Elusin - Synfuels

Incredible debut album from a Norwegian-American singer, musician and producer Elusin. Released in September last year, "Synfuels" is a cross-genre tour de force, where shoegaze and witch-house worlds collide, heralded by Elusin's celestial and emotive vocals. Her deeply textured beats are drawing from grunge, trance, trap and classical music, while being comfortably and unaplogetically anchored in the witchy foundations laid in 2009/2010 by some of the genre's key figures. Echos of SALEM's Heather, Julee Cruise and Oklou are glimmering at the back of my head while listening to this LP, I can totally imagine her performing some those songs on stage of The Bang Bang Bar in Twin Peaks. That being said, "The Hymn Of The Mountain Priestess" is probably one of my fav tracks of the year. Do not sleep on this.

Purchase the album on Bandcamp here. Stream below.

Sunday 8 January 2023

Doom Data - Number Nine

Doom Data is a new collaborative project between Australian producer Ourobonic Plague and LA-based songwriter / vocalist James Quentin Devine. Citing The Bug & Roger Robinson, Michael Hutchence & Ollie Olsen, and Sunn 0))) & Scott Walker as inspirations, "Number Nine" is their first official single from the duo. However, this slow, brooding track with heavy bass and somewhat drowsy vocals (and I mean it in a good way) makes me think of a crossover between Kode 9 and the Spaceape's "Memories of the Future" album and Water Borders' work, a shadowy dub-step and triphop crossover. It's advertised as "just a beginning", definitely waiting for more. Download here.

Saturday 7 January 2023

Textbeak - DJ Set Skull Fest (Detroit 19 Nov 2022)

Amazing new DJ set from Mike Textbeak, originally performed during the Skull Fest in Detroit, that took place on November 19, 2022. Includes tracks from Pixel Grip, Minuit Machine, Fever Ray and Kontravoid among many others. Essential. Stream on Soundcloud or Mixcloud.

Friday 6 January 2023

dead/robin - Light

Dead/Robin is Adam from Voodoo Crystals and his friend Tim. "Light" is their first proper single, and by proper I mean there are 3 other tracks on their Soundcloud which are tagged as live demos. Lo-fi witchy tune that hits similar notes to what Pharmacist has been creating lately. It's both heavy in terms of emotional baggage it carries, but also sounds light and mellow. Stream here and give them a follow.

Thursday 5 January 2023

STRFLL - 2022 Mix 1 & 2

STRFLL, who some of you may recall from the All Blurred Out compilations, has released two retrospective mixtapes today that span a decade of underground dark electronic music. From GL▲SS †33†H, SALEM and Eyeshadows to Burial, Shlohmo and Xiu Xiu (plus some of his own tracks tucked here and there), it's almost hour and a half of sonic joy to my ears. Download both of them for free from his bandcamp here.

Wednesday 4 January 2023

Finally Boys - Ashes In The Sea

Finally Boys is a Oakland-based duo consisting of Preetom Choudhury and Shane LeBlanc. I was obsessed with their unique take on trance on the "Feelings" EP from 2012 - and I wasn't the only one. They were all over the internet back then, and I always thought they will blow up and end up producing for a number of mainstream acts. But that didn't happen, and for some reason they vanished from the blog music scene that I used to follow. Fast forward to 2022, and Mutual Skies, a label that focuses mostly on post rock and shoegaze, decides to reissue their EP and a heap of other unreleased tracks on vinyl. The record, "Ashes in the Sea", marks the ten-year anniversary of their debut EP. Freaking exciting news, I just wish there was a UK-based distro for the album.

You can order it here or here, and stream below.

Tuesday 3 January 2023

monker178 - Eye Of The Storm / Genesis

Harpemonia is back at it again, new single from monker178 that sounds like a revival of post-trance and deco-club sounds from the yesteryear. Imagine if Cracksmurf, Sun Angels and Merely had a bastard child, sonic bliss. Download here, and check out the video for "Eye Of The Storm" here.

Monday 2 January 2023

Pharmacist - 11111111111111111111

Surprise compilation from Pharmacist, released on the eve of the last day of 2022. "11111111111111111111" collects 16 tracks released over the course of last year, plus some unreleased cuts that are currently available only here. I've been raving about his music ever since I started this blog, so all I can say is get. it. now. Eight tracks out of the lot were also released on a limited cassette tape by Custom Made Music - at the moment they're sold out, but Collin assured me there's more on the way. Buy here, and stream below. Three tracks are hidden on Bandcamp.

Sunday 1 January 2023

Ritualz - Radical Macabro

I was teasing Ritualz' latest record over the course of last year, premiering all the maxi singles (here, here, here, here, and here), but I realised I had never properly blogged about the album itself. "Radical Macabro" came out in June, and it's been on rotation in my stereo since it dropped (especially the "Die Here Now" single). With industrial rock serving as its exoskeleton, it's hard not to notice Ritualz embracing his witchy 2010 roots, while also evoking and injecting metal and darkwave influences in the tracks throughout the record. The result is fantastic, and should satisfy both fans of his early work as well as people who appreciate his progression present on the previous album "Doom".

You can buy "Radical Macabro" in digital format on Bandcamp, or on CD (and as a limited edition boxset) on Bigcartel. Stream below.