About ten years ago, I created an entry in this Web log about “witch house” music. Since then, I’ve discovered a lot more things that fall in that category. I guess it’s become one of my favorite genres, though I’m still not sure exactly how to define it.

The following are a few things I’d recommend to someone curious about this type of music.

Some witch house music combines modified versions of existing songs from various genres with additional layers. Lovedied is a good example of this. Unfrotauntely, this Australian artist took his life not long before I stumbled upon his music.

Here’s another example of that approach by another musician, using a Ladytron song. (The original song is good, too. As is most everything by Ladytron.)

(Dark Sea)

My favorite tracks by this artist are the comparatively long ones.

I could go on listing musicians, but I’ll just end with a few selections from a series of compilations on the МYТАНТФАНK (Mutantfunk) record label. Some of these compilations are free and each of them includes a generous number of tracks.

The image at the top of this entry is an image that I generated using Midjourney. (I also got some nice haunted houses from that prompt.)

After mentioning 4mat, one of my favorite chiptune musicians, I thought I’d note a few others that I’ve come across in recent years.

 

For some time, this album was available only on CD-R, directly from the artist. (I have a copy, its title hand-written in permanent marker.) But you can now download the album here for free.

Tugboat announced in 2008 that he wasn’t creating this type of music anymore, and I haven’t come across anything else by him, but I think this album is excellent.

 

Belgian composer Pierre Slinckx released a chiptune album under the name Peer. It’s unique and very good. You can find it here.

And you can find more of his music here.

 

This one isn’t by a single composer–it’s a compilation of 50 songs by many different artists. I think it’s available only on CD and not as a download.

I have the CD set and I highly recommend it, but if you’re just looking for free music you can download the 20-track “bonus disc” here. These are songs that didn’t make the 2 CD set, but I found them to be just as good as the ones that were included.

I could list many more, but I suppose this is enough for one post.

In the early 1990s, I liked to collect and listen to MOD music files. Some the best ones I came across were by 4-mat of Anarchy.

About twenty years later, I discovered that 4mat (now without the hyphen) was once again releasing new music. His 2010 album Decades was excellent, and has since been followed by several more. His latest, Sans Titre, was released just yesterday. Simmonds is prolific, but manages to maintain a high level of quality.

Although his music falls within the chiptune genre, there is more variety to his work than that label might suggest. There is a consistent “warm” sound to many of his songs that, in addition to their catchiness, distinguishes them from a lot of other chiptunes out there.

To sample his work, I’d recommend starting with Decades and just moving forward through the releases. As for individual standout tracks, these are a few of my favorites from the first two albums:

• “Affectation“
• “Chipmusic Is Dead“
• “Paper Dolls“
• “Surrender“

Simmonds also does sound design for video games. I was interested to learn that he worked on Silent Hill: Origins and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (both of which I enjoyed, especially Shattered Memories).

You can find an interview with him here, in which he talks about his music and his work on games (including a game that he created himself).