(Robot Elephant)

If hypnagogic pop is like some half-remembered 80s fantasy, then witch-house is more of a half-repressed nightmare – familiar, compelling and faintly horrific – doused with drowsy disco beats.

Fusing and abusing elements of industrial, electronica, shoegaze and hip hop – and burying vocals six-feet under – the DIY witch-house (or ‘drag’) scene has thus far largely been confined to micro-runs on cassette, VHS and CDR, but this release serves to uncover its lo-tech charms.

The acid-goth scythe-pop of Tense’s ‘Versus Man’, Horse MacGyver’s psychedelic reed-mantra ‘Nod’ and sub-genre superstars White Ring’s fathomless bass hmyn’IxC999’ are haunting introductions to this engrossing – and often amusing – coven.

05 Horse MacGyver - Nod by TwoThousand