Say what you will about witch house. Yes, the genre's artists have adopted a sort of spooky-scary leetspeak by filling their names with triangles and crosses. Yes, the prototypical witch-house band is named after a town that built a kitsch empire on a legacy of cold-blooded lady-killing. But in the dark winters of New England, haunted by the ghosts of Sam Adams, John Hancock, and weird nights at ManRay, witch house has a witch home. And Bathaus is our very own witch homegirl.
Ashley Capachione's dark electronic-music project was born out of the Bathaus, a Jamaica Plain collective and basement space dedicated to performance art and electronic music, started by Capachione and fellow artists Dead Art Star and MagZilla. Capachione began making sound art while studying painting and printmaking at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire, collecting sounds from churches and conversations. Inspired by trip-hop and the Bristol sound, Bathaus the music project anchors such ambient samples with choppy beats and deep, ominous bass.
"After I started making music, I stopped painting and making prints," says Capachione. "The way that I use my hands is now on these instruments." While she has transitioned out of visual art, her live shows are usually accompanied by performance and videos (see stills at right) that create an immersive experience. At this month's closing reception for an exhibit at the Anthony Greaney Gallery, the full JP art-space aesthetic was represented — Dead Art Star's photos were on display, MagZilla rapped, and Capachione controlled the vibe, twisting beats to move bodies and turning the gallery into a different sort of ritual space. "The performative element comes out of timing," she says. "It's like stirring up a little potion."
CHECK IT OUT GET BATHAUS'S NEW CASSETTE ARCANE|||CUT AT SOUNDCLOUD.COM/BATHAUS, AND LOOK FOR THE RE RELEASE OF HER ALBUM BASTIEN ON HAUTE MAGIE IN DECEMBER.
