Sunta Says: What’s the Perfect Soundtrack for Zombies?

I DJ’d at a Zombie party last week. Sadly I don’t get to say that too often. Technically it was actually the premiere of a new short Zombie film directed by a friend of mine and full of drunk zombies who gave the Camden clientele a bit of a fright whilst having a cig outside the venue. I had of course planned a suitably themed set list of spooky classics; The Specials’ Ghost Town, Talking Heads’ Psycho Killer, and of course, Zombie Nation. Standard.

Thing is I missed a trick picked up by a couple of other DJs on the night –  it turns out that Witch House is the perfect soundtrack to a zombie party. Also known as ‘drag’ and Haunted House there seems to have been some debate over whether the genre is an actual musical movement or just a joke. Born out of bedroom DJs sharing their remixes over the internet, the scene cuts up old tracks, distorting and twisting them and putting them back together with new samples in a suitably haunting and atmospheric way. Check out the oOoOO cut up remix of Lindsay Lohan’s ‘I Live For The Day’ to see how a disturbing pop song can become a disturbing witch house song.

I’ve heard whispering about the Witch House scene for a few months now and in particular the poster band for the scene Salem, who’ve gained column inches for their murky pasts and disturbing self made videos on the internet. Hype or not, the tracks I’ve heard from their debut album King Night range from the beautifully murky to darkly horrific and make for good late night listening, or indeed for sound tracking a zombie party. How that will be translated live will be interesting when Salem play their first UK gig this week. It’s sold out of course but should be the perfect setting for the US band’s murky sound.

- Sunta Templeton

Read Interviews with Witch House luminaries oOoOO, Slava, Creep and Salem in Notion 049 here.

Salem play St Leonard’s Church in Shoreditch on Wednesday 24^th November.

Find out more about the Houseparty of the Dead films here.