Unholy Progeny: Psychic TV and Witch House at the Crossroads of Occultism in the Information Age
Journal of Musicological Research January 2, 2018 DOI: 10.1080/01411896.2018.1413870 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Historical analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Witch Psychic Aesthetics Literature Visual arts Art history |
| Citations | 4 |
| Key points | Argues that witch house exploits the aesthetic and operational commitments of Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth and Psychic TV while undermining the ritual-driven 'cultural engineering' that predicated that earlier movement. |
Abstract
This article bridges two underground music networks that relied on inventive communications tactics to both obscure their movement and reach new followers: Genesis P-Orridge’s chaos magick sect Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth, with its artistic mouthpiece Psychic TV (c. 1981–1991), and the Internet-based electronic music micro-genre witch house (c. 2008–2013). Though outwardly synergetic in their aesthetic and operational commitments, a focus on the underlying occult agenda of each reveals an exploitative situation—witch house assumes the mantle of the Psychic TV/TOPY project, while concurrently undermining the ritual-driven “cultural engineering” that predicated its existence.