This year’s buzziest new genre boasts the most ridiculous title the Internet genre-naming gods have ever bestowed (and that includes “purple” and “chillwave”): “witch house.” So named for its ethereal synths and ominous, DJ Screw-influenced beats, this new genre includes bands with names as ridiculous as oOoOO. If you hate it already, you’re not so different from most of the music enthusiasts who haven’t heard Salem’s first full-length album, King Night.
Salem’s debut, EP Yes I Smoke Crack, pretty much invented and epitomized the witch house genre two years before a bunch of amateur DJs found garageband and the ‘insert symbol’ feature in Microsoft Word. It doesn’t hurt that Salem has a name that is both pronounceable and not really freaking lame. King Night is the nascent genre’s best act, and it shows an army of imitators how witch house should sound.
You’ll get it on the very first track of the album—the title song alone sums up the whole aesthetic. All reverb-laden synths and snapping, stuttering snares, “King Night” deftly weaves together Southern hip-hop, dubstep, and dream-pop for a stunning four minutes. From there, the album tends in opposite directions—exploring each facet of the sound more closely, but never sounding disjointed.
The sheer breadth of their sound is most impressive in the back-to-back songs “Trapdoor” and “Redlights.” The former is straight-up chopped-and-screwed Southern hip-hop, albeit put through Salem’s hazy filter. Slowed down to the point of indecipherability, the group’s white-boy rap is haunting instead of awkward—explaining how Salem managed to successfully co-opt elements of hip-hop into a decidedly “alternative” sound without being ironic or embarrassing themselves could be an essay. When the snare stops, though, Salem moves seamlessly into the almost-angelic “Redlights,” where drawled-out raps are replaced by a melodious vocal line and ghastly dissonance from harmonic synths.
Considering the complimentary adjectives thrown about by critics and bloggers, and the group’s diverse influences, there’s no doubt that this is an album to pull out the nerd headphones for. It’s worth it for the bass alone—which hits frequencies you forgot existed—but the group’s sheer enjoyment of sound for sound’s sake is also delightful. Each and every track explores unique synth sounds, ranging from guttural crunch to alien lightness to trancey tinkling.
This may all sound familiar to jaded listeners. Just one year ago, we were buying into a scene with a stronger web presence than a stage presence, where bands like Washed Out and Neon Indian created endearing music that drew upon a wide smattering of influences before buckling under the weight of their own hype. Which is why, this time around, I’ll encourage you to avoid the scene, avoid the buzz, avoid the bound-to-be terrible live shows, and just to focus on a unique band making a remarkably fresh sound. And to those of you lining up for the hypewagon: I promise you, no matter what you think of ℑ⊇◊⊆ℜ right now, you’re gonna regret it in the morning.
Voice’s Choices: “King Night” “Trapdoor,” “Redlights”
