The Witzard Premier: BLKrKRT Serves Up a Batch of Freshly-cooked Precious Metals, Heavy Gems II; Hand-crafted Post-Dilla "Microwave Beats" Recorded, Tracked & Mixed 1/11-18 (self-released)

I've been corresponding with frequent Darko The Super collaborator and Fort Worth, Texas-based Instrumental Hip-Hop producer Phil "BLKrKRT" Ford through Twitter Direct Message, Facebook Messenger, and Gmail for a few months now. I was lucky enough to premier BLKrKRT's 40th U DONT DESERVE THIS BEAUTIFUL ART-released project, Okinato Black right here at The Witzard. Okinato Black is amongst BLKrKRT's final 3-4 projects scheduled to be released before he plans to retire from beat-making all together and pursue a potential career in fashion design later this year. Today, I'm happy to be premiering Phil Ford's whopping 41st project, Precious Metals, Heavy Gems II (PMHG II), which is meant to serve as a warm-up collection of "line drawings/illustrations" or quick improvised sketches showing his progression between Okinato Black and his forthcoming BLKrKRT LP II. PMHG II is a quasi-sequel to Ford's similarly-minded 2013 Precious Metals, Heavy Gems; believe it or not, PMHG I-II were both single-handedly recorded, tracked, and mixed in full over January 11-18th 2013 & 2017. BLKrKRT's cites his sources of inspiration and influence behind Precious Metals, Heavy Gems II's sonic direction as The Incredible Bongo Band-centric documentary Sample This, The Cardigans' Gran Turismo, Shuggie Otis, Oxnard emcee Kan Kick, Tonto's Exploding Head Band, Grand Puba's 1995 album 2000, Brian Eno, and Camille Saint-Säens' world-renown The Carnival of The Animals movements, "The Swan" and "Aquarium" (1885-86).

"All sketches/songs produced by BLKrKRT. Microwave beats made by sketching in FL Studio, editing pad-to-pad in the Roland SP-404, and EQ'd through Behringer Tweakalizer to Audacity... simple set-up and the Oblique Strategies app for iPhone. Sketches could not exceed an hour to create, start to finish. The full project was done in a week from January the 11th to 18th, the last day reserved for tracking. Mostly funky or synthy sample material and vintage [Virtual Studio Technology] with clean drums. The aim was to make a few selections that feel like the audience is along for the ride, as sonic landscapes are being explored and objects are being produced. [...] Lots of layering. Lots of playing with artificial environment beds for the beats to sit on; giving a different breath to each moment. A lot of playing with how the sound travels speaker-to-speaker, attack, delay, and limiter high compression on widely spread sounds. I was highly informed by The Cardigans' Gran Turismo record (1998) in constructing the drums sounds: tight and slightly metallic."

- Phil "BLKrKRT" Ford

"Let Me Shine for You:" Lindsay Lohan for Playboy (Winter 2011-12 Leak)

Lindsay Lohan essentially embodies exactly "What NOT to Do In Hollywood :" Fame, fortune, success... sex, drugs & Rock "N" Roll . Within a fairly short period of time, Lohan somehow managed to obtain a plentiful helping of POWER @ a very young age. This gradual rise-downfall was captured on film; Between 1998-2010, she portrayed a wide array of roles across the silver screen in movies including: Mean Girls, Bobby , Herbie Fully Loaded , Georgia Rule, Machete , and Freaky Friday . Between rapid-paced film shoots, Lindsay Lohan also found time to record 2 Pop Rock albums for Casablanca , Speak (2004) and A Litter More Personal-Raw (2005). Needless to say, Lindsay Lohan has gotten roped up in a lot of troubles and woes with the law over the last 3-5 years... a vicious cycle of drugs, arrest, court, rehab, "daddy issues," jail time [Repeat]. That's the pure basics of it - But Google that shit for additional info, if necessary. Towards the end of...

Jet Planes, Islands, Tigers On a Gold Leash: Lorde - "Royals" (The Weeknd Remixo)

I think it's pretty safe to say that The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye) comfortably teeters the fine line between glitched-out smooth New Age R&B and hard-hitting Hip-Hop ; while the same could arguably be said for 16-year-old New Zealand new-comer, Lorde . Her break-out single "Royals" 1/2 jokingly shouts out semi-common bravado-worthy shit like: diamonds, "gold teeth, Grey Goose ... Cadillacs, Cristal, Maybach ... jet planes, islands, [and] tigers on a gold leash." But now, the Lorde/Weeknd connection has been further solidified, as Tesfaye recently managed to conjure up and release his own "Royals" remix. My beautiful girlfriend said earlier, and I paraphrase, that it "makes her wanna dance lol and she could [likely] hear this remix in a future movie!" Following the wide-spread release of her first 2 EP's (Love Club & Tennis Court) , Universal Republic plans to unleash Lorde 's proper debut album, Pure Heroine between ...

Pop Artist & Surfer Chronicle Intriguing Ex-Pornstar In "SASHA GREY."

Seemingly made to co-exist as thought-provoking companion pieces... "LINDSAY LOHAN" directors Richard Phillips & Taylor Steele are back with their most recent Art Presentation, "SASHA GREY." The 90-second short film was shot in early May @ John Lautner Chemosphere House in Los Angeles, CA. Both striking flicks will be shown on a giant floating video screen [ "Commercial Break" ] @ Garage Center for Contemporary Culture in Venice, Italy (June 1-5). "Adult acting chops" aside, Sasha (23) seems very intelligent, captivating, free-spirited, business savvy, well-mannered, charming... and dare I say, "average." And I really think that's exactly what Phillips/Steele were trying to convey throughout the course of the piece; Grey's beauty, public draw, sheer likeability, and honesty will surely take her very far in future endeavors... Solidifying her [updated] image as a true "Pop Culture Figure." * Featured soundtra...

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