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The Crook’s Crypt: Enthralled by Thee Witch
Posted by My Pal the Crook in The Crook's Crypt
Welcome to my weekly column here at Seen. For those of you wondering “Who the fuck is this schmuck!?” here’s the brief: in 2003, I founded the beloved by some, hated by others streetwear brand Мишка. In our seven years of existence, I’ve done everything from pack boxes to design jackets and am currently the creative director and co-owner for the brand. Oh! I also basically act as the editor for the Мишка Bloglin, which is why I’m here to give you thoughts from the Crypt.
Every week I’ll be posting an article on all the weird and lovely things that keep me and a brand like Мишка going. So let’s begin, shall we?
I’ve been pretty obsessed with the whole Witch House/Drag music scene since it first blipped on my radar late last year. If you have no clue what I’m talking about, well step up your game playboy! Witch House/Drag is one part Goth, one part DJ Screw, one part Horror movies, and one part 90s house comp… and let’s not even get started on the obscene use of “digital runes” (shit like: ▲‡†) in naming stuff. I like to imagine that most of Witch House is made by a bunch of kids doing A LOT of drugs, but some of these bands have their shit so together that it can’t be that simple. Pitchfork recently got wind of it all and did an article about it. It’s rather dry, but it may be informative, so check it out.
To me, Witch House/Drag is 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.
In my opinion, of all the names making waves on the blogosphere, the collective known as Mater Suspiria Vision have risen as the best of the best. These guys not only make their own songs, but have a seemingly endless stream of remixes, videos, and mixtapes that they churn out at an almost ridiculous pace. Not a day goes by without something new from this camp of electronic occultists. Just yesterday they debuted another new video, for their “Ghost Drone” remix of the European disco classic “Rasputin” by Boney M. Watch it… pretty terrifying stuff! I haven’t seen a band capture sheer terror quite this well since Skinny Puppy of the 80s and 90s.
All the videos are handled by Cosmotropia de Xam and help complete what is quite possibly the most complete vision of a band (sound & visuals) since Kiss. No other group that’s sprung up in the past decade uses video to such perfect augmentation of their sound as MSV. It’s breathtaking and bone-chilling to experience it, because it manages to cross over more into art than simply just being a band. We all know bands are image conscious, that they’re trying to sell a story through sound, but none come close to what MSV have created in such a short time. This is one complete package for all the fucked up children of the world.
To add to their image is the complete mystery surrounding the group. No picture of them has surfaced on the web, no one knows where they’re from… They list Kabul as their current location on their Myspace page, and for all we know that could very well be where they’re located (though me thinks because of their predilection towards Italian Horror, and the fact that you have to pay for their releases in Euros, that they’re probably camped out in a run-down shack somewhere in Europe with an army of computers, pentagrams, and virgins to sacrifice).
Right now, as far as official releases go, MSV has the Crack Witch cassette tape out on Living Tapes and the Second Coming CD-R put out by Disaro (we recently reviewed Second Coming over on the Bloglin). In addition to these, they’ve also collected their videos onto the On TV II DVD. Most of this stuff is sold out, unfortunately (though a few copies of Crack Witch are still for sale via the Living Tapes Myspace page), because they only ever release between 25-100 copies of everything they do! Frustrating, sure, but it’s also really endearing, and reminds me of the hunt and chase tactics one used to have to employ in tracking down Death in June releases.
But whether or not you can get your hands on physical copies of anything doesn’t really matter, because MSV are the sort of band that’s so embraced existing on the web that their work is always available—if you know where to look! From the constant updates to their Vimeo and Youtube pages, to leaking songs, remixes, and mixtapes on their Soundcloud account, they are quickly becoming the ghost in the machine. (But you still need to act quick on downloads because, like their physical releases, MSV keep strict download allotments for everything they do, rarely allowing more than 100 downloads of any one thing… you can usually still listen, but you just can’t own—even in digital form—if you wait too long).
This summer, ℑ⊇≥◊≤⊆ℜ (yes that’s his name) of MSV started up the rather ambitious Zombie Rave Mixtape series, which forms the third unholy side in MSV’s triumvirate (the other pieces of which are their videos and their own music). These Zombie Raves are two hours of pop and dance music remixed and slowed down to a codeine pace and littered with horror movie samples. Now I know upon reading that description, this may sound unbearable, but it’s actually completely transfixing, especially if you’re the sort of person who is into darker dance music.
Like everything they do, they limit the downloads for these mixtapes. Just last week they dropped the Zombie Rave 3 Mixtape, which had only 300 download slots broken up into three waves of 100. These slots were all used within the span of 24 hours, but you can still at least listen to it via Soundcloud, and dance, trance, and romance your way into a digital apocalypse!
ℑ⊇≥◊≤⊆ℜ (of Mater Suspiria Vision) – Zombie Rave 3 Mixtape
—–
Cassette Culture: Why Tapes Matter
To wrap up this rather long first post I’m just going to do a quick hit on something else I’m really into of late, cassettes. You may have noticed up above I mentioned that mater Suspiria Vision had a tape called Crack Witches out. If you thought I typoed, I didn’t. the ease of recording and distributing music via the internet has given way to some to take a step back and make those who truly love the hunt for something new and different really work for it by only releasing it via cassette tape.
About two weeks ago we did our first feature article on the Bloglin about the resurgence of cassette tapes and cassette music labels. Now I’m completely partial here but it was an incredibly written, fun and informative piece that any self-respecting music fan going “WTF!?? Who still releases tapes?” should immediately click and read it.
—–
If you’re like Billy Idol and just want more, more, more, then be sure to check out the Мишка Bloglin regularly for more and more and more. Or just keep it here for my weekly tales from the crypt.
My Pal the Crook Co-owner, founder and creative director for Мишка. One half of Baryshnikov
Posted by My Pal the Crook in The Crook's Crypt
Welcome to my weekly column here at Seen. For those of you wondering “Who the fuck is this schmuck!?” here’s the brief: in 2003, I founded the beloved by some, hated by others streetwear brand Мишка. In our seven years of existence, I’ve done everything from pack boxes to design jackets and am currently the creative director and co-owner for the brand. Oh! I also basically act as the editor for the Мишка Bloglin, which is why I’m here to give you thoughts from the Crypt.
Every week I’ll be posting an article on all the weird and lovely things that keep me and a brand like Мишка going. So let’s begin, shall we?
I’ve been pretty obsessed with the whole Witch House/Drag music scene since it first blipped on my radar late last year. If you have no clue what I’m talking about, well step up your game playboy! Witch House/Drag is one part Goth, one part DJ Screw, one part Horror movies, and one part 90s house comp… and let’s not even get started on the obscene use of “digital runes” (shit like: ▲‡†) in naming stuff. I like to imagine that most of Witch House is made by a bunch of kids doing A LOT of drugs, but some of these bands have their shit so together that it can’t be that simple. Pitchfork recently got wind of it all and did an article about it. It’s rather dry, but it may be informative, so check it out.
To me, Witch House/Drag is 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.
In my opinion, of all the names making waves on the blogosphere, the collective known as Mater Suspiria Vision have risen as the best of the best. These guys not only make their own songs, but have a seemingly endless stream of remixes, videos, and mixtapes that they churn out at an almost ridiculous pace. Not a day goes by without something new from this camp of electronic occultists. Just yesterday they debuted another new video, for their “Ghost Drone” remix of the European disco classic “Rasputin” by Boney M. Watch it… pretty terrifying stuff! I haven’t seen a band capture sheer terror quite this well since Skinny Puppy of the 80s and 90s.
All the videos are handled by Cosmotropia de Xam and help complete what is quite possibly the most complete vision of a band (sound & visuals) since Kiss. No other group that’s sprung up in the past decade uses video to such perfect augmentation of their sound as MSV. It’s breathtaking and bone-chilling to experience it, because it manages to cross over more into art than simply just being a band. We all know bands are image conscious, that they’re trying to sell a story through sound, but none come close to what MSV have created in such a short time. This is one complete package for all the fucked up children of the world.
To add to their image is the complete mystery surrounding the group. No picture of them has surfaced on the web, no one knows where they’re from… They list Kabul as their current location on their Myspace page, and for all we know that could very well be where they’re located (though me thinks because of their predilection towards Italian Horror, and the fact that you have to pay for their releases in Euros, that they’re probably camped out in a run-down shack somewhere in Europe with an army of computers, pentagrams, and virgins to sacrifice).
Right now, as far as official releases go, MSV has the Crack Witch cassette tape out on Living Tapes and the Second Coming CD-R put out by Disaro (we recently reviewed Second Coming over on the Bloglin). In addition to these, they’ve also collected their videos onto the On TV II DVD. Most of this stuff is sold out, unfortunately (though a few copies of Crack Witch are still for sale via the Living Tapes Myspace page), because they only ever release between 25-100 copies of everything they do! Frustrating, sure, but it’s also really endearing, and reminds me of the hunt and chase tactics one used to have to employ in tracking down Death in June releases.
But whether or not you can get your hands on physical copies of anything doesn’t really matter, because MSV are the sort of band that’s so embraced existing on the web that their work is always available—if you know where to look! From the constant updates to their Vimeo and Youtube pages, to leaking songs, remixes, and mixtapes on their Soundcloud account, they are quickly becoming the ghost in the machine. (But you still need to act quick on downloads because, like their physical releases, MSV keep strict download allotments for everything they do, rarely allowing more than 100 downloads of any one thing… you can usually still listen, but you just can’t own—even in digital form—if you wait too long).
This summer, ℑ⊇≥◊≤⊆ℜ (yes that’s his name) of MSV started up the rather ambitious Zombie Rave Mixtape series, which forms the third unholy side in MSV’s triumvirate (the other pieces of which are their videos and their own music). These Zombie Raves are two hours of pop and dance music remixed and slowed down to a codeine pace and littered with horror movie samples. Now I know upon reading that description, this may sound unbearable, but it’s actually completely transfixing, especially if you’re the sort of person who is into darker dance music.
Like everything they do, they limit the downloads for these mixtapes. Just last week they dropped the Zombie Rave 3 Mixtape, which had only 300 download slots broken up into three waves of 100. These slots were all used within the span of 24 hours, but you can still at least listen to it via Soundcloud, and dance, trance, and romance your way into a digital apocalypse!
ℑ⊇≥◊≤⊆ℜ (of Mater Suspiria Vision) – Zombie Rave 3 Mixtape
—–
Cassette Culture: Why Tapes Matter
To wrap up this rather long first post I’m just going to do a quick hit on something else I’m really into of late, cassettes. You may have noticed up above I mentioned that mater Suspiria Vision had a tape called Crack Witches out. If you thought I typoed, I didn’t. the ease of recording and distributing music via the internet has given way to some to take a step back and make those who truly love the hunt for something new and different really work for it by only releasing it via cassette tape.
About two weeks ago we did our first feature article on the Bloglin about the resurgence of cassette tapes and cassette music labels. Now I’m completely partial here but it was an incredibly written, fun and informative piece that any self-respecting music fan going “WTF!?? Who still releases tapes?” should immediately click and read it.
—–
If you’re like Billy Idol and just want more, more, more, then be sure to check out the Мишка Bloglin regularly for more and more and more. Or just keep it here for my weekly tales from the crypt.
My Pal the Crook Co-owner, founder and creative director for Мишка. One half of Baryshnikov