The Witzard Premiere: Alex Ludovico Debuts Non-album Single "Calendar" & Announces New Album Title (Bigmouth Strikes Records)

Alex Ludovico is a bartender/mixologist by night and emcee by day. Currently hailing from Los Angeles, Ludovico was born and raised in The Midwest—Gary, IN & Chicago, IL, specifically—and has spent time in Atlanta, but now, calls LA home. He's been rapping for 12 years, has been going by "Alex Ludovico" for about nine, and took a 6-year long hiatus in-between. Alex Ludovico explains his unique brand of Hip-Hop as "Rap for a new generation: diverse, irreverent, and real without pretention, yet honest and humorous." Ludovico makes music intended to be utilized as "the soundtrack of life, sometimes serious, sometimes fun, always memorable." He's previously worked alongside and collaborated with the likes of Blurry Drones, Gzu-Tek, The Dutchmaster, Young Live, and Zilla Rocca, as well as a multitude of Hip-Hop/Electro producers. Alex & Zilla have worked together on a number of occasions, since first meeting around 2007-08 and even released a collaborative EP together entitled WEAK STOMACH (2013) with The Shadowboxers and Curly Castro. For the last year or so, Alex Ludovico has released one instantly-written-and-recorded track a week, as part of his ongoing #MedicineMondays series. It currently consists of 18+ tracks, including a 2-track EP fittingly titled GI/CHI EP.

Alex Ludovico and I were first introduced to each other by Zilla Rocca last year, but a proposed collaboration, unfortunately, never came to fruition. Last week, Alex and I miraculously got back in touch with each other and he told me he was planning to record a track he wanted me to premiere at The Witzard and just 40 minutes later, said track, "Calendar," suddenly appeared in my Inbox. "Calendar" was produced by Jay 808 and Alex says, it "reflects on a really rough period I had in 2017 and it's larger effect on my life as a whole. It fits in with the general Nihilist theme I've been working [into] my album." Alex Ludovico told The Witzard his upcoming album, which should be released sometime in June, will be called pretendtobe, "as in the famous Kurt Vonnegut quote from Mother Night: "we are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.'" Just recorded this past Monday night, "Calendar" was created during the same sessions as pretendtobe and serves as a prelude or teaser to the album; "Calendar" echoes themes to, eventually, be heard throughout pretendtobe, such as highs and lows from Alex's first year living in LA, morals and ideology, sense of self, depression, growing up, and realizing it's increasingly less important to always be "the life of the party," amongst other themes. "It was a realization of, hmmm, maybe, I do too many drugs and hook up with too many random women to ever be happy? So, basically, the album is a reflection of that," Alex Ludovico said, explaining pretendtobe's underlying themes and lyrical arcs.

[W]reckless, Topless American Youth: Lana del Rey - "Born 2 Die" (Britney Spears Birthday 30)

Lana del Rey [Lizzy Grant] effectively became 2011's "It Girl" with the release of her phenomenal debut single, "Video Games" (Stranger) . Like many struggling singer-songwriters, Grant has been signed, dropped, and significantly changed her public image since bursting onto the scene (2009). With that said, it can be assumed that Lana del Rey has collected just as many "haters" as she has avid supporters. To be perfectly honest, the only other artist I can think of that made this much commotion... garnered so much wide-spread buzz/hate and critical acclaim -- right out of the gates -- with just one track is Britney Spears . And maybe in this post- Mike musical era, that's the true synthesis of Pop Culture: Britney Lynn Spears . After months of repeated teasing and speculation, Lana del Rey 's major label debut, Born 2 Die will [finally] be released this coming Jan. 30-31, 2012. Pitchfork reports that it will feature "Off to The Ra

"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

All-around Breakdown: Sean Martin Discusses Debut Instrumental EP Introducing The Magician As No More Magic (Residual Effects)

Sean Martin is a multi-versed musician, producer, and tattooer hailing from Connecticut. As a guitarist, song-writer, and/or producer he has worked with a variety of well-known artists including Hatebreed, Cold Cave, Wear Your Wounds, Umbra Vitae, Twitching Tongues, Cage, Kid Cudi, House of Blow, Head Automatica, XO Skeletons, Jet Fueled Horses, Handsome Boy Modeling School, and more. His versatility and flexibility within music allows him to blur the lines in-between the confines of Hardcore, Electronic, Metal, and Hip-Hop. Martin is, also, a skilled tattooer at Brass City Tattoo located in Oakville, Connecticut promoting the traditional approach to the craft. Founded by Martin himself between 2020-22, No More Magic combines ominous melodies with downtempo beats to create a dizzying dream-like atmosphere. Paying homage to the golden era of Hip-Hop while forging ahead down its own dark road. For fans of Portishead, Massive Attack, and DJ Shadow. No More Magic's Introducing The

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