#nvrmndstyle

Since 2012, Wicca Phase Springs Eternal began pumping head space with his 2-track demo releases of #NIGHTMOVES (#50STACKSINMYCOFFIN) & #HEXED. Where the young artist then established an ever expanding cult following for the self-warshiping Scranton #GOTHBOI, he "tranced" us into a very own sulky, industrial-like emo[-tional] trapstyle fantasy. 

Initially awoken, hindsight 20/20, the voice we hear is a familiar one. This choice of vocal sampling, is as perfectly distorted, as it ever should be. Producing an understanding, the speaker has the ability to have already read our mind(s), perceived our past memories, and be explaining explaining them back to us. If any of you are familiar with Plato's Theory of Knowledge, you may understand what set-up the story is following.

Our imagination cocooned in distortion, as this voice continues to enlighten the listener. Progressively, we level up within the darkened & cold vocals, over the hardcore-electronic sound(s) - that shit really keep heads bobbing! The feathery trapstyle (clap & snare), is so infrequent I found myself carried through certain tracks solely on this "1-Up" variant sampling

[The fact is I find it quite easy to produce mental imagery, freely and powerfully when listening to Wicca Phase. I find myself seeing an angel with no known name. A solider of death. That the breath of (said angel), being exhaled like a final one, as the angel hovers over a gravestone, with plant-life growing/dying in a endless cycle around it]

Another year later, as I am starring eagerly into my feed, streaming uninteresting and worthless pop remixes, from everyone's favorite local NYC DJ's spinning Jersey or Baltimore Club music (and to my delight), I spied a gem in the stream #FEB13. The first full-length release from the art goon Wicca. This time we got a more Iced out dance oriented rhythmic experience. The way the sound carries like a Gothic lullaby, like an echo panning ear to ear. As these dark romantic hymns are sung to the internal memory of lost lover, we can all put a face too. 

To my surprise some of the synthesizers in #BLOODxBABY are a lot warmer, than what I could have anticipated. This track lead me through the abyss of hyper ambience, breathy synthesizers, and depressingly cold-vocals. As the standards of this post [ insert microgenre ], Hip Hop, Electronic, Emo[tional] music are carved into (tomb)stone, Wicca Phases' dark narration seems to be a stand alone component in "Wicca Phase Springs Eternal style". Offering listeners a certain nostalgic sensibility. An English (UK) Goth Popstar clearly possesses Wicca's mind, body and soul. This is simply the first of 5 tapes, that Wicca released in 2013; #FILTHY// MY FAVORITE PHASE, #BITE MY EAR, #MAGENTAGRAM, & last but of course not least #HELLVERSION. 

#FILTHY // MY FAVORITE PHRASE, a 4-track EP, recorded with Steel Tipped Dove still features the depressing VOX, but does away with the heavy distortion, but instead incorporates more of a dirged ("Chopped & Screwed" or "slowed") aesthetic in its final tracks, offering a genuinely fluid listening experience. The vocals & the instrumental are mixed together very well. #BITE MY EAR, 2 track EP. Although, only one of the tracks is by Wicca, Per-say, tiled after the release. The other is a remix of the first track by Fantasy Camp, “A Very Maybach Version”. An ultimately more ambient version, beautiful key stokes, warm over the cold vocals in the background of the song. A women hymns over the remixed instrumental structure, alternating with Wicca’s lyrical content. This piece sticks to the roots very well, having an excellent timing, between all of the major influences that Wicca incorporates into his soundscape; emotional, trap style, and electronic. Even though a collaboration, its clearly one of his best works from 2013. #MAGENTAGRAM, The 3-track EP, featuring Fantasy Camp, just as before. With two original tracks by Wicca, and the final by Fantasy Camp. All three tracks are named after the title of this tape, which is a bit more ethereal, and has a west coast hip hop vibe to it, simple drum technique and seeing synth carried by the cold vocals that Wicca has equip to him. Fantasy Camps version is such dance tune, you could imagine if WOW KIDZ released a “Pop Goes Goth” album this track would be featured. Its very soothing, like wind chimes on your front porch, but merged with a stuttering of snares. 

Just last year, Wicca dropped three tapes, the first of which is titled MISSING CHILD, produced by the mysterious artist Greaf, whom you may be familiar with for his “Southern” instrumental sounds x Science Fiction aesthetics. We get a lot of the great sounds we find consistently in the best of Wicca Phase’s releases.

NN: Wicca, you have a ton of really visceral and emotionally raw music, not strictly based on your instrumentals but your lyrical content. Where/How did you develop your sound ?

W$PE: Developing my sound came from writing songs for years, and figuring out what I am good at and what I should stay away from. I cannot say that I am consciously trying to achieve any sound that I have heard before, even if my music might sound like someone else's.

NN: Comparing your original sounds in 2012, and looking over the past year, what do you think separates those styles, if anything ?

W$PE: My first songs were just drum loops and keyboards because that was all I knew how to do, and I had no idea what I wanted my songs to sound like at all. I think it took until last year, early 2014, for me to figure out how I wanted to write songs and what I wanted my next few projects to sound like.

NN: How do you define the world in which your sound/music exists (specifically tracks like “Not Even The Fire”, produced by JAYYEAH & HNRK) ?

W$PE: I can't say anything specific about that song, but everything I do with WICCA PHASE SPRINGS ETERNAL is about me, and it's controlled by me, so it's really my world in that I only put out releases I want people to hear, at a pace that I determine, and presented the way I want. I don't mean that there's no outside influence, because things like other music, television shows, world events, personal relationships...find their way in, but they are filtered through me and presented in the way that I see those things or have reacted to them.

NN: Where are you from, and what does that have to do with anything ( or mean to you ) ?

W$PE: I am from Pennsylvania, and I don't think it has anything to do with anything.

NN: Yes, what was your favorite track you produced or rap on, this year or even last year ?

W$PE:  "LIL BBY" by Cold Hart was my favorite song that I produced last year. I think it's the only song I produced that I gave to someone else. My favorite songs that I sang on last year were Cold Hart's "BLACK LIPSTICK ON MY BLUNTS", "Saddest Day on Saturn" with Mackned, or Spooky Black's "Echoes In My Mind."

NN: Will you ever merge the sounds from WP$E into Tigers Jaw ?

W$PE: I am not in tigers jaw anymore.

NN: Anything (huge) you would like to announce?

W$PE: My next album is called Abercrombie & Me.

NN: Would you care to give some details surrounding your next release, "Abercrombie & Me" ?

W$PE: I've wanted to do a synth-heavy, club-sounding album for a while, so that's what  Abercrombie & Me is. I don't know what an LA album sounds like, but I think this is it. 

NN: THE//MOON just recent released a tracked featuring you called “LOVING YOU MADLY F// WICCA PHASE SPRINGS ETERNAL. Can you tell us what went into making that track, and how you are connected to the the artist ?

W$PE: He was one of the first producers I've worked with and we've stayed in touch since 2012. It takes me a long time to write lyrics to his songs so we don't have many released yet.

NN: You are featured on the Cold Hart album Missed Calls, what was it like to work with him, how do you know each other?

W$PE: I work with Cold Hart so much. I think I first heard his music on Tumblr, probably around 2011-2012, and then we started sending each other songs regularly after I released HELLVERSION. When I start doing tours it will be with him and Horse Head.

NN: What is your affiliation to GOTHBOICLIQUE & THRAXXHOUSE, I have gone through a slew of throwed jaunts with features you’ve done with COLD HART, BB Sun, & a few others?

W$PE: GOTHBOICLIQUE is a group I started with Cold Hart. I think there's around 15 people in it now, but I was throwing it around lightly in the beginning and I need to figure out who the official members are so we can start releasing entire gothboiclique albums. I think I was asked to be in THRAXXHOUSE after I Mackned and I released a song. There's a THRAXXHOUSE group chat that has helped me become close with everyone in the group. Almost everyone I'm working with now, as far as production and features go, is either GOTHBOICLIQUE or THRAXXHOUSE.

NN: THRAXXHOUSE OR GOTHBOICLIQUE have any tour dates planned for this year ?

W$PE:  We're working on it...I know some people in THRAXXHOUSE are planning a tour around SXSW, and I think Key Nyata and Mackned play a lot of shows on the west coast, but I don't know for sure. I hope to do my first tour this year, and that would be a GOTHBOICLIQUE tour.