The NYC-incepted group White Ring has played an important role in the past 15 years of internet-native music. Along with a small crew of like-minded acts—Salem, oOoOO—White Ring helped to incubate the sounds and aesthetics that would come to define the micro-genre known as witch house. You are reading Nina Protocol dot com, so I sort of assume you might have some idea of what the term “witch house” means, but here is a refresher: wiccan aesthetics; shoegaze sonics; chopped-and-screwed tempo. Some witch house sounds like a demonic mash-up of My Bloody Valentine and DJ Screw. It would go on to influence a wide variety of music and culture, in ways both subtle and overt.
Since that initial burst of inspiration, and following the tragic 2019 passing of co-founder Kendra Malia, White Ring has continued to make music and perform. Ahead of their set at the Los Angeles festival And Always Forever, which takes place November 8th and 9th at The Echo and The Echoplex, we talked to co-founder Bryan Kurkimilis, who makes up one-half of the duo along with Adina Viarengo. Read our chat below.
