The Witzard

"$24 spent on what exactly?" I somewhat feverishly quipped, to which Lulu Lewis guitarist and co-founder Pablo Martin readily replied, "two skull masks and a party gun with a flag that says BANG!!!... the rest, Dylan [Hundley] did on an iPhone ... and iMovie , some public domain footage, and the rest, we did [with] the band at Bill Harvey 's place. We put a sheet and lights on the back and did shadows... pretty simple" via text. Let me back up and provide a little added context here: I've recently been in touch with J-Zone 's resident studio engineer and The Du-Rites bandmate Pablo Martin , who graciously agreed to let me premier his band, Lulu Lewis' latest video-single, "All Just Pretending" here at The Witzard . He attests, and I wholeheartedly believe him, but it's still a little hard to believe, that their self-shot black-and-white "All Just Pretending" video only cost a measly $24 to fund and produce! "I t

Let me first just preface this by saying: THIS WILL NOT BE A SUBJECTIVE PIECE... I've been a die-hard Blink-182 fan for as long as I can remember and I believe their Enema of The State (1999) and utterly hilarious live album, The Mark, Tom & Travis Show: The Enema Strikes Back (2000) were amongst my first CD's nestled within my barren Walkman CD wallet, alongside Alanis Morissette 's Red Hot Chili Peppers -assisted Jagged Little Pill and Mariah Carey 's Daydream (which I believe featured her Ol' Dirty B*stard -helmed "Fantasy" Bad Boy Remix ). It always felt as though a Blink-182 or Blink -related side project like Box Car Racer , Transplants, Angels & Airwaves , (+44), short-lived Hip-Hop super-group Expen$ive Taste , etc. released an album almost every summer from 8th grade all the way through my college years; a sentiment that even rings true for the reunited California Pop-Punk band's latest Neighborhoods (2011) and appropriately

"Yeah, we had worked multiple times in the past on some of my projects and other songs that never gotten released. We had just finished working on the original "Cosmophobia" on a project I did with a guy named Arella Rocket (we have a continuation of that song, "Cosmophobia (Revisited)" on this project.) He really dug the vibe and type of instrumental, so we talked about a doing and project and here we are now," Blu collaborator Fa†e recently told The Witzard within an exclusive emailed statement; Fa†e had previously hand-crafted productions for Blu including "The Last Stop," "Summer/Winter," "3 Feet Higher," an unofficial "The Clean Hand" Remix, and the aforementioned "Cosmophobia." Fa†e seemingly alluded to the project, then titled Blu & Fa†e Present: Open Your Optics to Optimism , as early as February 2016 during a published interview with San Diego CityBeat . Blu 's proper follow-u

Piffle! by The Mobbs " The Mobbs are a trio of English gentlemen whose urbane and well-bred appearance lies in stark contrast to the ferocious intensity of the rocket-fueled sonic blasts of their guitar-based rave ups... Being aware that these gentlemen are planning to [kick] your ar*e and leave you for dead in a Northampton gutter is one thing; their brilliance is that they do it in such a way you can't help but pour them a gin and run them a bath first," reads a fragmented chunk of a wonderfully well-written mynewsdesk press release I recently received from London -based Dirty Water Records . Drawing assorted influence from both sides of "the pond" across nearly four decades-worth of Punk Rock , The Mobbs , at times, evoke The Clash , Black Flag , mid-90's Ska revivalists Rancid , and Celtic-Punk forefathers themselves, Flogging Molly ; Joe B. Humbled, The Bishop & Cheadle have somehow still managed to craft a unique sub-genre best described a

"This is a loosie joint that I put together this month (sort of celebrating my birthday) with Weirdo Rock God-head R. Stevie Moore on the hook; to that effect, I produced an Avalanches -inspired instrumental and we're spitting rhymes that lament and celebrate being grown-up Rap dudes," rapper-producer Raj Haldar , better known as Lushlife , recently told me within an email concerning his latest Soundcloud release, "Earl Sweatshirt, Give Me a Hug." "I actually knew R. Stevie Moore when I was a kid—he worked at the record store where I would go every day and spend my lunch money on records. Never really knew he was like a lo-fi God or later, would be huge inspiration to dudes like Ariel Pink . We got to talking a while back and decided to flip this joint together," Lushlife tellingly continued. Haldar then recruited fellow Philly -bred emcee, Anything I Touch, I Bruise master-remixer, recent Rap Booklets curator, and part-time Passion of The W

"I remember writing this song after hearing like five love songs back-to-back on the radio that were all about "staying young forever" or "never wanting to grow up." It was my first time realizing how unnatural that idea felt to me. I wanted to write a song that said, "f*ck that; let's grow old and learn together and become better with age." Nobody wants to just come out and say how sh*tty being 20 and broke is, so [I'll] do it," Los Angeles singer-songwriter Otis English recently told IMPOSE on the heels of his WHAMS -produced debut single, "Young Kids, Old Love." KLUTCH , within an emailed press release, went as far as to compare English to New Hampshire -bred singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne and buzz-worthy English Electro-Pop band The 1975 ; although, I would more so compare "Young Kids, Old Love" to the likes of piano-aided Pop-Rockers Fall Out Boy , Andrew McMahon 's long-abandoned project Jack's

"MCDONALD’S, MAN MCDONALD’S, MAN THE FRENCH FRIES HAD A PLAN THE FRENCH FRIES HAD A PLAN THE SALAD BAR AND THE KETCHUP MADE A BAND 'CUS THE FRENCH FRIES HAD A PLAN THE FRENCH FRIES HAD A PLAN MCDONALD’S, MAN MCDONALD’S I KNOW THEM FRENCH FRIES HAVE A PLAN I KNOW THEM FRENCH FRIES HAVE A PLAN THE CHEESEBURGER AND THE SHAKES FORMED A BAND TO OVERTHROW THE FRENCH FRIES’ PLAN I ALWAYS KNEW THEM FRENCH FRIES WAS EVIL, MAN SMELLING ALL GOOD AND SH*T I DON’T TRUST NO FOOD THAT SMELLS GOOD, MAN I DON’T TRUST IT I JUST CAN’T MCDONALD’S, MAN MCDONALD’S, MAN MCDONALD’S, DAMN THEM FRENCH FRIES LOOK GOOD [THOUGH] I KNEW THE DIET COKE WAS JEALOUS OF THE FRIES I KNEW THE MCNUGGETS WAS JEALOUS OF THE FRIES EVEN THE MCRIB WAS JEALOUS OF THE FRIES I COULD SEE IT THROUGH HIS ARTIFICIAL MEAT EYES AND HE ONLY BE THERE SOME OF THE TIME EVERYBODY WAS JEALOUS OF THEM FRENCH FRIES EXCEPT FOR THAT ONE SPECIAL GUY... THAT SMOOTH APPLE PIE" - TEXT BY KANYE WEST.

"It's very eerily current because of the horrible things that have been going on with gun violence and various shootings... We're still in process even as we speak and I don't want to really talk too much about who's in 'cause that's still kind of fluid. But it's going to happen in 2016 for sure and there's a couple of folks who have approached us, so we're going to see what the final tally's going to be. But the things I've heard so far are really, really powerful, really fiery verses, and some of the writers are responding directly [to] what happened in St. Paul, what's happening in Baton Rouge . There's a bit of that in the mix, as well as other conversations" long-time Living Colour guitarist and bandleader Vernon Reid candidly revealed to Billboard last month, in light of this year's all-too frequent police and civilian shooting epidemic. Living Colour have since recruited producer Andre Betts , Prophets of Rag

" The Alpacas are Nick Harper, Greg Lee, Brett Garner , and Brent Lee : a four-piece Rock "N" Roll band from Barrie, Ontario . The Alpacas aim to write honest, hooky, and heavy tunes that strike a balance between raw and refined. The Alpacas' live show is loud and quiet, fast and slow, tidy and unkempt—but above all, The Alpacas look to create some good time vibes and entertain an audience," reads a fragmented chunk of Canadian Pop-Punks The Alpacas' on-site Willow Music band bio. "Born in the year of the Horse , Greg Lee can sing like a bird and scream like a wildcat from Northern Ontario . Brett was naturally gifted with the calloused fingers of a sea-faring gentleman. His leathery paws give him the ability to produce very low frequencies on the bass guitar. Nick 's timing is impeccable, he’s never been late his entire life. Some drummers practice to metronomes, but metronomes practice to Nick Harper ’s drumming. At the tender age of

Self-described husband, dad, crate-digger, beard cultivator, and Flea Market Funk founder DJ Prestige heroically recounted "Bug Juice" as "pure Funk with no option on Soundcloud for the Funk genre, this may be the record that makes them put Funk in there, seriously. This instrumental is heavy, and J-Zone's drum break towards the end solidifies this as one of our faves of 2016." J-Zone & Pablo Martin are currently holed up in the studio readying their "Bug JUice" 7-inch EP for September with a full-length album to likely follow as soon as October or November. J-Zone's own on-site govillaingo.com biography additionally notes that he's currently "also preparing for the roll out of SuperBlack," yet another super-group formed with the likes of legendary De La Soul-affiliated producer Prince Paul and American TV producer, filmmaker, writer, and The White Mandingos member Sacha Jenkins. "Um, I pretty much think of myself as like

Anything I Touch I Bruise Vol. 2: The Superior Foes of Zilla Rocca by Zilla Rocca "Grab my remixes of every dope-a** rapper I've met in the past eight years at threedollarpistol.com ... I remix songs for the challenge; to outdo the original or make something new out of the established piece of art," @ZillaRocca wrote on his rather lively Twitter page upon the release of his latest, and might I add, wonderfully-titled, Anything I Touch, I Bruise Vol. 2: The Superior Foes of Zilla Rocca . However, oddly enough, I first stumbled upon Rocca about two weeks ago, whilst searching for a little background information concerning one of my all-time favorite Hip-Hop albums, Mos Def & Black Jack Johnson 's genre-rattling The New Danger (2004). I eventually unearthed a March 2015 ZILLA -penned Passion of The Weiss piece titled, Rework The Angles: Mos Def The New Danger ; " The New Danger was dark, scattered, and bizarre. It was also 75 minutes long [and showcases]

Los Angeles by way of Philly Hip-Hop group NAC (formerly The NAC ) have previously written, produced, and recorded music alongside the likes of The Roots , RJD2, John Legend & Ludacis , Ciara, Miguel , TLC, The Money-Makin' Jam Boys , and Ne-Yo; NAC "is musically, somewhere [in] between Hip-Hop , Electronic Soul, and good time Southern Crunk " and consists of Roots -affiliated emcee Sugar Tongue Slim (STS) and producers-musicians Butta , Bizkit , and DJ Schoolie V . NAC 's self-released 7-track debut EP, Let's Make Some Music , was unleashed upon the unsuspecting world this past Friday, August 5th and was preceded by dance floor-ready singles "I Ain't Got It," "On The Floor," and Mass Appeal -premiered "Flashlight." When asked, what's your main mission aimed at newfound fans with your Let's Make Some Music EP ? NAC members Bizkit , STS , and Butta respectively replied: " NAC is here to bring the fun an

" The Du-Rites finally drop a full song to check out. "Bug Juice" now on Soundcloud (who are a bunch of squares a bunch of squares and simps for not having a "Funk" option in their genre drop[-down] menu, but "Trap" is available). To hear: my website link in bio - newest post or soundcloud.com/thedurites . 7-inch single later next month; album late Fall," multi-instrumentalist and Hip-Hop producer Jay "J-Zone" Mumford wrote within a recent aptly-titled @jzonedontig Instagram post. Still hot on the heels of his latest solo album, Fish-n-Grits , which is made up of a gaggle of limited edition vinyl-only 7-inch releases dating as far back as 2014 and new material, J-Zone has readied "probably the closest to what [he] aspired to in my Funk-drenched 80's childhood" in the form of a newly-minted 2-man Funk band, fittingly titled The Du-Rites . J-Zone is currently preparing a 7-inch Funk instrumental EP with his lon

“We went out to LA with [Action Bronson] last month—me, him, Alchemist , and Sean [Mahon] recorded an entire EP of material under the name Jericho . Jericho may be a project that we drop, that’s really under-the-table, no one knows about that yet. Jericho may just be like a multi-genre, no label EP that may cross genres from Hip-Hop to Electro to 80's Pop . We may bridge the gap with that actually, because some of the stuff we recorded for that, one of the songs sounds like a late 80's Smokey Robinson record and sh*t. And then, there’s some Surf Rock on there that sounds like The Beach Boys and Bronson’s rhyming on it," Party Supplies multi-instrumentalist Justin Nealis revealed to HipHopDX way back in January 2014. Nealis, at the time, proclaimed that he aspired to be "like The Black Keys ; they blew up in Rock and had a few Rock records out and then, they went on and used that leverage to call up Raekwon on that BlakRoc sh*t." Party Supplies

"We’ve always had this really jammy, high-energy live show compared to some of our records. We all love to dance. We didn’t want to take away from the emotion or the core feeling of what our band is all about—which I don’t even think we could take out if we wanted, because it is who we are—but we wanted to bump the speed up and have a little bit more fun," Warpaint vocalist and guitarist Emily Kokal explained within a statement concerning their self-titled album follow-up, Heads Up . Since releasing critically-acclaimed Warpaint (2014), Jenny Lee Lindberg quietly released a 2015 solo album right on! , as jennylee ; Theresa Wayman issued material as BOSS on producer Mr. Dan 's Speedy Wunderground imprint; drummer Stella Mozgawa played on Kurt Vile 's 2015 efforts, b'lieve i'm goin down... and Spotify Sessions EP ; Kokal worked alongside NIN affiliate Saul Williams on his politically-charged "Burundi," as well as "Wishing Song"