WITCH-HOUSE.com presents THE TIMELINE

15 August 2005Antonio Urdiales starts posting on his livejournal blog runawaytoday. Described by Urdiales as poetry and image archive, runawaytoday became a place where he'd post his own music (under the names Ponyboy and GODBLESS) as well as sets of images that later on became synonymous with witch house aesthetic.
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2007Artists Daniel Keller and Nik Kosmas, under the name AIDS-3D release an album called "11 Songs I Like More When I Slow Them Down", which consits of popular dance tracks slowed down in the vein of future drag & zombie rave mixes. The album was released at some point between January and March 2007. They also coin the term dirge.
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28 January 2008
Now for some black magick.
Blog 20jazzfunkgreats posts about SALEM for the first time.
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4 February 2008Blog Gorilla vs Bear posts about SALEM for the first time.
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5 February 2008NME magazine blogs about SALEM for the first time.
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29 March 2008Mario Zoots starts posting collages on his blog. His designs will become synonymous with witch house aesthetic.
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5 May 2008Fader magazine blogs about SALEM for the first time.
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June 2008SALEM's debut EP Yes I Smoke Crack is released on 7" vinyl by Acéphale. Stream on Youtube
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12 July 2008NME magazine features SALEM as 'Hot New Band Of The Week'.
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26 August 2008Antonio Urdiales under the alias GODBLESS posts on his blog a series of 5 eerie images and songs hidden under them, the untitled EP is one of the few releases he published.
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9 September 2008SALEM releases their first ever video for Dirt via Acéphale's Vimeo channel.
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12 September 2008Modern Witch play their first show at Rhinoceropolis in Denver.
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19 September 2008Modern Witch released their first CDr Headaches Are For Harlots, as part of the bundle with Sonic Bonk zine. The zine featured collages and drawings from all three Modern Witch members.
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21 September 2008Modern Witch released their self-titled album on cassette tape. Stream on Bandcamp
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27 Sep 2008Ectoplasm-Girls Forever Nothing is released by Living Tapes on cassette tape (LT003).
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15 November 2008 Ponyboy releases debut album PONYBOY (Pt.I) via his runawaytoday blog.
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15 November 2008 Modern Witch release cassette and digital version of the album Comfort Noise.
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1 Dec 2008 Butt magazine publishes John Holland, an extensive interview with John Holland of SALEM, discussion formation of the band and their influences.
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8 Dec 2008 SALEM Water is released on 7" vinyl by Merok Records (ME018). Stream on Youtube
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2008AIDS-3D New Dirge is released via their website. \\ Discogs //
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3 Jan 2009SALEM post on their Youtube channel video to "Legend"
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24 February 2009Dummy magazine posts their first article and short interview with SALEM.
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6 April 2009XLR8R publishes Salem: Ghost Town an interview with SALEM, covering their influences and how the video to "Dirt" was made.
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21 April 2009Mario Zoots released 10 untitled Modern Witch tapes on C20 cassettes.
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5 May 2009AIDS-3D album "World Dreams" is released on their website.
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May 2009Drop Dead Magazine publishes feature on Modern Witch, calling them lo-fi death disco.
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11 June 2009Blog 20jazzfunkgreats publishes SALEM's XXJFG mix.
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15 July 2009Dazed Digital publishes <1>Salem's picks,
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4 August 2009Pictureplane Dark Rift is released on CD and vinyl via Lovepump United ‎(LPU029). Stream on Bandcamp
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5 August 2009NME publishes The Future 50: The bands, the artists, the innovators - a list of fifty most forward-thinking people in music, and includes SALEM at 25.
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5 August 2009///▲▲▲\\\ posts on his vimeo channel video-mixtape Twist Wall & Fever Mixtape Pt.1. He will later on rename the video to BETA TAPE WARP ~ H.M.
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1 September 2009Pictureplane releases official video for Goth Star.
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22 September 2009Australian label Dream Damage premieres on their blog debut release from Tim Dwyer aka ///▲▲▲\\\ entitled Sample EP.
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September 2009Diamond Black Hearted Boy releases 2-track single Skinhead Lover's Rock.
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16 October 2009OMG blog posts about SALEM for the first time.
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29 October 2009OMG blog publishes OMG, a Q&A with John Holland of Salem, an interview with John Holland from SALEM.
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3 November 2009OMG blog publishes photos of SALEM live at Vazoween in Toronto, Canada.
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11 December 2009
Pictureplane popularizes the term witch house in his Best of 2009 list for Pitchfork
2009 was the beginning of the "witch house" style. Also known as "black house" or "occult house." Coined and popularized by SHAMS and myself, two practitioners and advocators of the witch house movement. Mark our words, 2010 will be straight up witchy. Check the fabulously dark "In Your Eyes" by Denver/Amsterdam band Modern Witch, "Pillow Talk" by SHAMS, or the music video for "Goth Star" for examples of the witch house aesthetic..
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15 December 2009
Blog Better Than Sex put together and released a compilation entitled WITCH HΔVS, inspired by Pictureplane's mention in Pitchfork a few days earlier.
In his guest post for Pitchfork's Best Of 2009 list, Pictureplane's Travis Egedy mentioned the term 'Witch House' in regards to the dark music that's been so popular this year. I love the term, and while this reactionary compilation of ghost music may not be exactly what Travis had in mind, I feel it's in the same 'spirit' AHAHAHA fuck my life, folks.
Featuring 40 tracks from artists like The Skaters, Modern Witch, Tearist, SALEM, Haunted Fucking, Terror Bird, Gary War, Zola Jesus, and Metallic Falcons, this is the perfect sound for trve okkvlt ritvals.
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23 December 2009BlackBook magazine publishes The New Mood: Salem, an interview with the group.
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28 December 2009Pendu Magazine publishes S4lem Cast a Shadow ov BL3AK MAJIK on I / V / X, a short article advertising upcoming event with SALEM and Gatekeeper. They also coin the term skrewgaze when describing SALEM's sound.
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29 December 2009Mater Suspiria Vision is founded by Cosmotropia de Xam.
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2009Supersuper! magazine (#16 2009) publishes Salem: the sound of the end of how it was, an interview with SALEM.
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6 January 2010The New York Times publishes Moods Conducive to Dying and Dancing, an article reviewing SALEM and Gatekeeper's live gig at Glasslands Gallery in Brooklyn, NY.
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27 January 2010Blog Swamp Bats publishes interview with //TENSE//.
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28 January 2010User KingTreehouse (also known as Gucci Goth and Blackblackgold) starts tagging bands on Last.fm with witch house label. Among the first bands tagged are Salem, Tearist, White Ring, Winter Drones, Modern Witch, oOoOO, Pictureplane, Clapsclap, Zola Jesus, Mater Suspiria Vision, whatfunnybirdsdiveintowater, GR†LLGR†LL, and Sleep ∞ Over.
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28 January 2010Blog Swamp Bats publishes interview with Owleyes.
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2 February 2010Blog Swamp Bats publishes interview with Robert Disaro.
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5 February 2010Blog 20jazzfunkgreats publishes Dreams of the Witch House, a post introducing Mater Suspiria Vision and Pink Priest.
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9 February 2010Blog Disco Naïveté posts about oOoOOO for the first time.
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22 February 2010Mater Suspiria Vision's debut album Second Coming is released by Disaro. The insert artwork of the release has "File under: witch house / ghost drone / haunted trance disco" printed on it. Stream on Bandcamp
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28 February 2010 Diamond Black Hearted Boy "Untitled" CDr is released via Disaro.
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28 February 2010Blog Swamp Bats publishes interview with How I Quit Crack.
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February 2010 oOoOO "Untitled" CDr is released via Disaro.
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February 2010 Tcentralen blog interviews Robert Disaro about his label and its history.
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7 March 2010Online magazine Sweet And Sound publishes interview with Balam Acab.
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8 March 2010The Guardian publishes Scene and heard: Drag, an article on drag in their "Scene and heard" series; mentions SALEM, White Ring, Fostercare, Balam Acab, oOoOO and AIDS-3D.
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18 March 2010WITCH HOUSE group is set up on Last.fm website by user juancarlitos (later known as Ritualz).
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25 March 2010Hipster Runoff publishes Live Performance Analysis: Is Salem the worst modern buzzband?, first in a series of articles covering SALEM.
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March 2010GR†LLGR†LL "Untitled" CDr is released via Disaro.
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11 April 2010///▲▲▲\\\ aka Void "Untitled" CDr is released via Disaro.
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18 April 2010Blog Keyboards Is Drunk posts a list of Dark Wave, Witch-house, Gothic Chillwave//whatever artists, listing links to YOUNG CREAM, Modern Witch, Mater Suspiria Vision and ▲.
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21 April 2010Online magazine Sweet And Sound publishes interview with Disaro Records.
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23 April 2010Blog Not For Resale mentions witch house for the first time.
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24 April 2010Hartzine publishes interview with oOoOO (in French).
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27 April 2010Website The Decibel Tolls publishes On Modern Witch and The Possible “Witch House” Genre, an article hypothesising the origins of witch house scene/genre, as well as an introdcution to Modern Witch music.
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2 May 2010Mater Suspiria Vision present ℑ⊇≥◊≤⊆ℜ "Zombie Rave The Mixtape" is released on Soundcloud, launching a successful series of mixes and coining the term 'zombie rave'. The mix was limited to 100 downloads.
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3 May 2010Blog Dirtybeets publishes And now for something completely unrelated: Witch house, an introduction to the witch house genre and introduces White Ring, TEARIST, ///▲▲▲\\\, ▲, oOoOO, Mater Suspiria Vision and GR†LLGR†LL.
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13 May 2010Launch of witch-house.com website and forum.
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13 May 2010Launch of Witch Trial netlabel.
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13 May 2010User GoatmeatMF starts a WITCH HOUSE thread on DrownedInSound forum.
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20 May 2010Blog Fokkawolfe mentions witch house for the first time and starts a series of posts covering the genre.
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24 May 2010Pitchfork publishes Ghosts in the Machine, an article covering the emerging genre (they call it drag throughout the article, however witch house and haunted house are also mentioned).
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24 May 2010Expatriarch publishes Trying to define “witch house” can be a real drag, an article trying to explain the new scene. It also includes interview with Robert Disaro.
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8 June 201078s website publishes What’s this thing called Drag? (in German). The article mentions Salem, oOoOO, Balam Acabm, Silent Diane, and Cosmetics among others.
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8 June 2010True Genius Requires Insanity publishes Tales From the Darkside Vol.11: Why is DC Afraid of the Dark?, an article about the Blessure Grave / White Ring event in Washington, DC. It also touches on the drag/witch house scene.
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12 June 2010Cinema Suicide blog publishes Witch House, Ghost Drone or Drag? Whatever you want to call it, it’s terrifying, and article on witch house, including interview quotes from Cosmotropia de Xam.
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17 June 2010Serotonin Sounds blog publishes interview with †‡†.
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29 June 2010True Genius Requires Insanity publishes THE DROP: Dragged and Screwed (or, witch house cover songs), an article about witch house genre. It mentions SALEM, oOoOO, Mater Suspiria Vision and ✝ NO VIRGIN ✝.
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June 2010Supersuper! magazine (#21 2010) publishes The Rise Of Generation Cult, 10-page long special dedicated to the phenomenon of Generation Cult. In the article Robert Disaro, Owleyes, Salem, Aids-3D, Mater Suspiria Vision, White Ring, GR†LLGR†LL, oOoOO, Passions, ÐOSE and Fostercare are mentioned and some of them share their ideas behind the movement.
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7 July 2010Russian magazine Hooligan #94 publishes Finding god in a .gif, an interview with Disaro Records.
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7 July 2010New York Press publishes Totally Blissed Off, an article and interview with Blissed Out.
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20 July 2010Tri Angle Records releases "Let Me Shine For You" compilation, featuring slowed down remixes and covers of Lindsay Lohan's songs.
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26 July 2010Pendu Magazine publishes The Official New Genre Terminology for the 20TEENS, an article that lists a number of names for the emerging dark music scene.
RAW CHOP/DARK SPINNERS/HOOD TROLL/TRASH BEAT/DEEP THUGG/CREEP CLUB/FRESH MEAT/R&BEAST/GHOST (RAP)E/WITCH BLOG/WITCH HOUSE/HYPER HOOD/NEU CLASSIK AMERICORE/DEATH DOTH/HTML HOUSE/ECTO DRONE/GAZE WAVE/MINIIMVL SLOPPED N’ SCREWED/GOTH ETC. AND SO ON
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9 August 2010RVA Magazine publishes Witch House: Listen With The Lights On, an article that covers witch house. GR†LLGR†LL, oOoOO, B▲L▲M▲C▲B, †‡†, SLEEP ∞ OVER, White Ring, Mater Suspiria Vision and Salem are mentioned.
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11 August 2010The Guardian publishes Meet the bands whose /\/ /\ /\/\ € $ are made out of $¥ /\/\ ß 0 \ $, an article that covers witch house. †‡†, Gr†ll Gr†ll, ℑ⊇◊⊆ℜ, GL▲SS †33†H, Mater Suspiria Vision and Λ are mentioned.
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13 August 2010The Guardian publishes Sleeve Notes: The symbol bands nobody can type, an article that covers witch house.
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25 August 2010Nashville Scene publishes ‘New’ ‘Genre’ Alert: Which House? Witch House, an article on witch house.
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25 August 2010New York Press publishes Brooklyn's Vanishing Witch House, an article on witch house and interviews with CREEP and White Ring.
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9 September 2010XLR8R publishes Midnight Mass: The bewitching Midwest trio Salem ponders Juggalos, cultural authenticity, and not giving a fuck., an article about SALEM and an interview with the band.
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10 September 2010 †‡† "Untitled" CDr is released via Disaro.
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10 September 2010Dazed Digital publishes Salem exclusive video and interview. Full interview was published in Dazed & Confused magazine, October issue.
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20 September 2010Supersuper! magazine (#22 2010) publishes interviews with SALEM and oOoOO.
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20 September 2010Dummy publishes Salem interview: "You’re not scared…it’s music.".
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23 September 2010WITCH HOUSE // CHILL WAVE // NAME GENERATOR website (chillwitchnamemagic.com) is posted on Twitter by @brandonstosuy and takes the internet by storm.
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26 September 2010The Guardian publishes Witch house and the musicians taking us back to the future, an article that mentions Salem, Balam Acab, Stalker, How to Dress Well and oOoOO.
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1 October 2010Dazed Digital premieres Holy Other's "Yr Love" video and publishes short interview with the artist.
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8 October 2010Pitchfork publishes review of SALEM's King Night giving it a 7.5 score. In the article, the writer Larry Fitzmaurice, compares calls SALEM "The witch house poster band", and lists different names for the genre: "witch house, drag, haunted house, rape gaze, and so on". Soon after the publication the rape gaze name was edited out from the review.
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8 October 2010The Village Voice publishes The Horrifyingly Named Micro-Genre “Rape Gaze” Explained, an interview with CREEP aiming to explain the origin of the rape gaze phrase. After the publication, the band disowned the phrase and issued an update to the article.
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12 October 2010SALEM "King Night" is released by IAmSounds (PSR-0041) on CD and vinyl (IAM 042).
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15 October 2010Dazed Digital publishes oOoOO: Darkness Falls, an interview with oOoOO.
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7 November 2010Frieze magazine issue #135 publishes The slowed-down tempos of screw and its influence on contemporary bands, an article on DJ Screw's legacy & witch house (incl. oOoOO, gr†llgr†ll and Salem).
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7 November 2010The New York Times publishes Seeping Out of Houston, Slowly, an article that mentions DJ Screw, White Ring, Balam Acab, oOoOO, Oneohtrix Point Never, How to Dress Well, Robert Disaro and Salem.
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8 November 2010Pendu Magazine publishes The Genesis of Naming a Genre: Witch House, an article trying to explain the origin of the term witch house.
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9 November 2010Bad at Sports website publishes Witchin’ w/ Mario Zoots, a video interview with Mario Zoots from Modern Witch about his art and music, and relation to witch house.
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12 November 2010Westword publishes Witch House: A explanation of the genre from the warped mouth of Mario Zoots, an interview with Mario Zoots from Modern Witch about the "cultural phenomenon" of witch house and his works. They also link to the video interview Witchin’ w/ Mario Zoots
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24 November 2010Mishka Bloglin publishes МИШКА Presents The Guide to Grave Wave, a 3-disc digital-only compilation of "witch house, post punk, neofolk, EBM, death rock, goth, electro, 80s revivalists, batcave purists, et al". They also coin the term grave wave.
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4 December 2010Mishka Bloglin publishes Reasons [Not] to be Cheerful Pt. 1 (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Triangle), an article about witch house genre.
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7 December 2010DJ Sammantha Lee-Sonja broadcasts the first radio show Witch House Music Special on Melbourne-based station Radio 96.5 Inner FM. It will later on rename to Theway Peoplestare show.
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17 December 2010PlayGround Mag publishes Trend Topics 2010 list with number 6 being #witch house
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22 December 2010AMDISCS starts pre-orders of BL§§D ØU†'s 3MPIR3 §†Å†3 on vinyl. In late March 2011 this release was withdrawn from the label's website on artist's request after finding out that the label never pressed it in physical form as vinyl but was still selling it as such through their shop.
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28 December 2010Mater Suspiria Vision "Exorcism Of The Hippies" is released by Pendu Sound Recordings (PSR-0041) on 7" vinyl.
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30 December 2010A.V. Club online magazine publishes This is witch house, an interview with Pictureplane discussing the witch house movement.
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December 2010Dazed & Confused magazine (Vol. II December 2010) publishes All Screwed Up article on DJ Screw and his legacy, covering extensively the witch house scene. AIDS-3D, Mater Suspiria Vision, Salem, Owleyes, Robert Disaro, Todd Pendu, ///▲▲▲\\\ and GR†LLGR†LL are mentioned, including interviews with some of them.
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17 January 2011Twitter users start reporting on seeing new L'Oreal TV commercial with Beyonce featuring Balam Acab's track See Birds (watch on Youtube). On the same day Tri Angle Records confirmed the rumors.
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24 January 2011Newcity Music publishes Exorcising the Ghost: oOoOO breaks down the buzz about “drag”, an interview with oOoOO.
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January 2011Supersuper! magazine (#23, 2011) publishes interview with GR†LLGR†LL. The same issue also features an interview with Taylor Momsen conducted by oOoOO.
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8 February 2011▲WI╪CHBØØK▲ facebook group has been set up by Logan Cale aka Stillbirth. Soon after its inception it became the most popular social media spot for witch house scene. Group was closed on February 8th, 2012.
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7 March 2011Newcity Music magazine publishes Love to Hate: Why Salem is flattered by your antagonism, an article on SALEM.
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11 March 2011Anthem magazine publishes an interview with Disaro, Pendu Recordings and Killing Spree about their club nights, music and witch house.
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24 March 2011i-D magazine #312 (The Exhibitionist Issue) publishes a short interview with Robert Disaro about the label and recently released ISVOLT compilation.
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28 March 2011Impose Magazine publishes BL§§D ØU† gets screwed, and not in the ironic way, an article highlighting the AMDISCS vs Blissed Out scandal (see: 22 December 2010 entry).
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28 July 2011Purple magazine publishes Salem, an interview with SALEM.
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29 July 2011Dangerous Minds magazine publishes Guest Editorial: Enter The Witch House, an article about the witch house scene.
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October 2011MTV Iggy publishes Is Witch House Really Scary? 10 Terrifying Acts, a list of "ten lo-fi downtempo artists, counting down from just rated R to the musicians that are truly terrifying".
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21 November 2011Wheelscene publishes White Ring Interview, an interview with Bryan Kurkimillis discussing the origins of the band.
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19 December 2011Supersuper! magazine (Vol 2 #003) publishes interview with CRIM3S.
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2012MTV Iggy publishes Is Witch House Really Scary? 10 Terrifying Acts, a list of "ten lo-fi downtempo artists, counting down from just rated R to the musicians that are truly terrifying".
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The History of Witch House