The Witzard

"If you are one of the few who have known about MF DOOM ’s debut album since the year it first dropped (1999), you’ll know there’s been a few versions of the album to come out. There’s been bonus tracks, bootlegs, CD's, tapes, and even a lunch box edition. But here’s the thing about OPERATION: DOOMSDAY — it’s a Hip-Hop classic! Those who don’t have it, need it. The record keeps selling out, and they keep making more. Just like The Beatles , if The Beatles came to destroy Rap ," Egon 's Now-Again -affiliated online record store Rappcats wrote within a rather "villainous" press release. Egon 's co-conspirator and revered Beatsmith-In-Chief , Madlib has had a particularly mysterious, light years ahead of its time, and oddly progressive relationship with the self-proclaimed METAL-FACE[D] VILLAIN since unveiling their lone collaborative project, MADVILLAINY , amongst the terribly unsuspecting world nearly 12 years ago. Now, upon Rappcats latest OP

"Daptone [Records’] newest imprint, WICK, has been established to create the kind of records that fans want from a truly Rock "N" Roll record label. Using the same recording techniques that have made the likes of Daptone Soul legends Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings and Charles Bradley, Daptone’s House of Soul has been developing a sound as exciting and authentic as anything you’ll hear on the airwaves today. WICK Records will be a go-to destination for fans of Rock "N" Roll and the release schedule will include quality archival releases, along with the latest swingin’ combos," Daptone's newly-formed sister imprint, WICK Records wrote within a powerful mission statement affixed to their Soundcloud page; "Follow Me Down," the lead single from New York-based greenhorns THE MYSTERY LIGHTS, was amongst their first batch of inaugural releases, along with well-received 7-inch "Too Many Girls/Too Tough to Bear." I first, rather unknowing

"The Audience's Following is a 10-year anniversary fan club edition version of The Audience's Listening. I like to call this the bizzaro version follow-up to [The Audience's Listening], as it features songs that never made the cut and demo versions of songs that did. There are also B-sides from vinyl singles, plus a special mix of the original song sampled for "What's The Altitude" by Curtis Knight[-Zeus] . Have fun listening to the album that was almost released 10 years ago. It's the follow-up and the audience is still following and listening and... whatever else," world-renowned DJ Lucas "Cut Chemist" Macfadden wrote within a short 7/11 Bandcamp description attached to The Audience's Following. Now, I don't mean to get all fanboy here, but I've been actively wishing and working on scoring an interview with Cut Chemist for about 3-5 years now; I can remember purchasing Jurassic 5, Cut's on-again off-again and recently

" Sound Me fully embodies the ambiance and a sense of dualism captured between a dark past giving way to a brighter future. Inspired by the struggle of living day-to-day in working class Poland , Aani spins her lyricism into an art that paints a picture of love lost searching for a genuine connection, in a world that seems to have long forgotten the almost reminiscent old school values embedded in the unique style delivered by Sound Me ," WeGrowWax wrote within a self-contained press release shared on Polish Trip-Hoppers Sound Me 's mysteriously sparse Bandcamp page. Upon a first listen to Sound Me 's snippet-laced "Growing" (Album Promo Mix) , my well-trained ear immediately sensed notes of Amy Winehouse backed by Jurassic 5 in-house DJ's Cut Chemist and DJ Nu-Mark , as well as skilled songstresses Joss Stone , Macy Grey, and jj frontwoman Elin Kastlander —all of course, backed by Mayer Hawthorne -esque trumpet work. "[ Sound Me is] a

"What's goin' on? My friend Alex Belth referred me to you. I'm releasing an album on Tuesday, [July 19th] on Hip-Hop Indie label Worldwyde Recordings . I'm lookin' to submit to magazines and blogs who write about or review Hip-Hop . Let me know, if that fits what you do," read a rather interesting cold-submitted email I received Friday afternoon; low and behold, Ras Beats is a Queens by way of Denmark Hip-Hop producer and DJ who used to work alongside Esquire Classic Editor Alex Belth at DJ Premier , Q-Tip, Pete Rock , The Beatnuts producer JuJu, Lord Finesse , and Large Professor's favorite late 90's East Village record store, The Sound Library . Rasmus “Ras Beats” Jensen has been "a Hip-Hop head since discovering turntables and records, raised on the greats of the golden era, Ras' production stays true to the original sound of Hip-Hop . Dusty records, drum breaks, chopped up, and re-arranged samples" reads a fragmented c

Pure Disgust by Pure Disgust "The NWODCHC [New Wave of DC Hardcore] is so powerful and on the rise. It’s great to see young kids being in the center of it all as well. It’s even cooler to see that all my friends are [getting] on bigger labels, putting the name of DC back on the map. You've got Protester putting a record out on Triple-B Records , Stand Off putting one out on Youngblood , Red Death putting something out on Lockin' Out ... I love it all. My friends are what keep me here, and I love every single one of them and what they're doing," Pure Disgust frontman Rob Watson recently revealed to DC -based publication Bandwidth ; it's fitting that Washington, DC is currently experiencing a period of musical rebirth— nearly some 40 years after 1980's Hardcore founding fathers Bad Brains , Fugazi, Minor Threat , Dag Nasty, Black Flag frontman Henry Rollins , Scream, Rites of Spring , Embrace, etc. initially burst onto the scene. Watson formed

Denver-bred genre-defying Echo Beds are the inagural signees to politically-charged emcee and former Anticon founder Tim "sole" Holland's latest label venture, Black Box Tapes. I would likely describe Echo Beds' rather long-winded "overdriventapehissnoisewalllandscapemetaldrumpummelpain- facevolumetherapy" sound of something strangely evocative of what an imagined missing link between late 80's-1990's Industrial Rock forefathers Nine Inch Nails and their critically-acclaimed modern day counterparts, Noise/Aggro-Rap group Death Grips; an obtuse indefinable sound, better yet, self-described by vocalist/bass player Keith Curts and beat-maker Tom Nelson as "a caterwaul of contact-mic'd oil drums, broken cymbals, battered basses, unrecognizable tape loops, and dilapidated voices with the expressed intention of volume as therapy and put it through the grinder of self-practiced D.I.Y. ethos;" with all that said, I'm proud to finally be a

"GOING INTO THE SPACE... I GIVE SO MUCH OF MY HEART... OPENING MYSELF UP TO THE WORLD... AS MY SOUL BECOMES PUBLIC DOMAIN, [WHICH IS] A BEAUTIFUL THING... BUT WITH THAT ALSO COMES [YOU KNOW] HATRED [AND SH*T]... I'VE HAD TO GROW THIS CALLUS [AROUND MYSELF] TO PROTECT MY HEART," vocalist, producer, DJ, and yoga teacher Sumach "Gonjasufi" Valentine warbled within a crackly, baren Warp Records message dubbed Callus (Introduction) , which additionally included a fragment of his as-yet-unreleased song, "Surfinfinity." For those who may be largely unfamiliar, Sumach 's biggest claim to fame would likely be working alongside Jay Z and producer Kyambo "Hip Hop" Joshu on his genre-eschewing Magna Carta... Holy Grail (which samples "Nikels and Dimes" ) and was once described by Pitchfork Senior Editor Ryan Dombal as "a scraggly, scary, smoked-out croak that creeps like the spiritual offspring of George Clinton and Leadbe

"What I love about [STEAL] THIS MIXTAPE is that it's a bridge from the mash-ups that we all loved 10 years ago to the modern style of production. Josh [Young] basically grabbed ANY genre of music an threw it all into his blender and what came out is all consistent," Fool's Gold Records founder @atrak ecstatically wrote about self-described "beast known as @yehme2 " during a lengthy Monday afternoon Instagram post. One half of Chicago -based Hip-Hop and EDM -influenced DJ duo FLOSSTRADAMUS supposedly challenged himself to staggering "beat-a-day challenge that would quickly morph into Me2 ," which eventually morphed into the 33-track of a genre-less mega-album that is his System of a Down -referencing STEAL THIS MIXTAPE ; Young's 50-minute debut mixtape somehow manages to effortlessly harvest and re-purpose samples "stolen" from the likes of FLOSSTRADAMUS , newly-freed Gucci Mane, Nicki Minaj & Beyoncé , Paul Wall, Missy E

" about the album... Proof that [there] is still sample-based Boom-Bap from Baltimore. When you get a chance, please check out the new album from Jumbled, called [I wish it was longer] . When Jumbled sent early demos to friends, many responded that they were disappointed with the brevity of the project. All songs are produced by Jumbled, in his home in Northeast Baltimore. As with most albums, this project took almost 2 years to complete, between working, making beats, and organizing collaborations with emcees. This album is meant to be a showcase of production, which is enhanced by guest vocals," read the introductory paragraph of a cold email submission sent by self-described "teacher, husband, beat-maker, [and] dish washer" John Bachman. Mr. Bachman, a high school engineering teacher, records sample and Bmore Club-based Hip-Hop as Jumbled during his nights and weekends off. I fostered quite a relationship with John online over the course of the past month, du

" Fudge came together during several sessions in the summer and fall of 2015 at Nick Hook 's Green Point studio. Prefuse 73 [Guillermo Scott Herren] brought along a hard drive full of beats. [Michael] Christmas wrote to the instrumentals in the studio, and recorded the vocals the same day, as friends swung by to check it out; some of the drop-ins at the studio ended up joining in the recording, not least D.R.A.M. who brings lifted soul vocals on the album track "All Points South,'" Lex Records wrote within a comprehensive on-site Fudge press release earlier this past week. Although this is Herren's first full-length recorded alongside an emcee, he's previously worked with a number of revered Hip-Hop legends including, but not limited to Ghostface Killah , Jewel-runner El-P, Mos Def , Aesop Rock, fellow Lex label mate DOOM , GZA, Death Grips drummer Zach Hill , and RJD2; while Michael Christmas is "a 22-year-old Boston emcee, who has

Whole Food by Gensu Dean & Denmark Vessey "This full-length collaboration between Gensu Dean and Denmark Vessey comes packed with all the vitamins and nutrients you could possibly need without any of the frivolous packaging. The pair's debut as a duo on Mello Music Group imagines mugshot spreads in Newsweek and blood dripping down starched white aprons, and there are no $6 cappuccinos in sight," reads an incredibly well-written fragmented chunk of Dean and Vessey's forthcoming Whole Food Bandcamp press release. It appears as though While Food (which will be unleashed upon the unsuspecting world July 29th) will be a class rapper-producer Jaylib -style affair; "on Whole Food , [Denmark Vessey] expands his purview to encompass the whole human body, from the biscuits and gravy weighing down your stomach to bullet wounds in your abdomen. And he does it all with empathy, wit, and supreme technical skill," Mello Music Group ferociously continued. On