The Witzard

Curse ov Dialect emcee and producer Raceless FKA Raceless The Prophet AKA Il-Belligha AKA The Filfla Lizard has added yet another nom de plume to his ever-growing cast of characters: The Maltese Well Monster . Legend has it, said Maltese Well Monster/Il-Belliegha —a pivotal part of centuries-old Maltese folklore —was supposedly, "a monster that lives in well and could pull in children who looked into them." Raceless himself, however, tells the story a bit something like this: " The Maltese Well Monster was born after a trip to Malta from Curse ov Dialect member Raceless , [whose] father is from this background... the myths of Malta run very deep into a well... some instrumental tracks that conjure these images and some vocal tracks with a Gollum -like rapping voice from the monster... heavy sampology from obscure sources." Just overnight, Raceless made a couple minor edits to The Maltese Well Monster 's Il Beliegha EP , swiftly removing one of its...

"DJ Bacon is one of Brisbane's best known and best loved DJ's. He began performing in the mid-1990's at some of the city's formative venues. Across 20 years in Melbourne and Brisbane, he has played at most of Australia's iconic club venues and events. He is a former QLD DMC DJ Champion and Qmusic Award winner. He is rightly famous in the Australian music underground for his effortless blend of Hip-Hop, Soul, and Funk from every era. DJ residencies across the country have included world-class venues, such as Laruche, Cloudland, Revolver (Melbourne,) First Floor, The Evelyn, E55, Kerbside, Lychee Lounge, X&Y Bar, Press Club, Bavarian Bier Cafe, Sake Restaurant, Rumpus Room, Brooklyn Standard, and more. DJ supports of note have included all-time Hip-Hop pioneers, such as Grandmaster Flash, DJ Shadow, DJ Dexter, Cut Chemist, Jurassic 5, The Roots, and many more. With his band, Briztronix, he has won QLD Music Awards, released 3 full-length LP's, and appe...

"A heartfelt tribute to and reflection of his upbringing in music, Jackson Whalan unleashes the Souled Out EP , out now on Adapted Records . Drawing on contributions from Jackson 's own childhood friends and numerous talented contemporaries from The Berkshires , Souled Out explores a lush array of Hip-Hop sounds, not only through Jackson 's multiple-flow lyricism, but with toasty-warm live instrumentation and arrangement. The result is a listening experience that bears full start-to-finish attention on a fine sound system—a fine departure into a side of Hip-Hop unique to Jackson Whalan ," read a recent press release sent from Australian -based Adapted Records . Jackson Whalan is a lyricist and producer intent on "bringing a soulful blend of Hip-Hop & Electronic music with intentional rap, freestyle, and live instrumentation." Whalan lists his greatest sources of influence as Golden Era Hip-Hop emcees like De La Soul , The Fugees, Nas , and Emine...

It all started about two months ago now, when I received a rather intriguing cold sent email from James Barker at London-based PR company Mystic Sons, which read, "First Listen – New Album from Australia's [Answer to] Bon Iver – Hayden Calnin, Cut Love Pt. 1;" described as a "fantastic artist" whose debut single, "Cut Love," at the time, already garnered 40,000 digi-spins at Hype Machine and had received stylistic comparisons to the likes of Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), M83, Dawn Golden, Beach House, and whom, I, myself, immediately likened to Electro-Soul crooner James Blake. "'Cut Love Pt. 1" the album is a testament to Hayden's creative abilities, demonstrating that each track can resemble a new chapter. It is experimental to say the least, but an experiment that certainly works. It's exhilarating, truthful, and vicariously touching," Mystic Sons befittingly wrote within their initial emailed press release. Leading up to Cu...

" Cut Love Pt. 1 is a conceptual bunch of songs, which should be taken on as a journey. This is not a pop record, so don't expect bangerzzz or much adhering to standard song structure. It's weird, but I like weird. I wanted to make something that was 100% me and the result is something I am really proud of. I recorded [Cut Love] Pt. 1 all at home in my studio and it's taken me a lot of time to get it finished, and I'm so excited to share it with you all. I have so many people to thank, but above all, this record wouldn't have been possible without all of your support and believing in what I create. So, thank you! I'll be posting some more on it tonight to give you a little more insight, but I really just wanted to let everyone know that I've put everything I have into this record, and to not go into listening to it with any expectations, and just let it translate to you as it does naturally. Some of you may love it, others may hate it, but all in all...

"It's Katalyst [Ashley Anderson] and Geoff Barrow that produced my album. I met Katalyst in Australia and we had dope studio chemistry. Me & Phat Kat did features for the Quakers album & later, I found out they were on Stones Throw. When I met with Stones Throw, their name came up & it made sense because I really liked their production. Now, here we are," Guilty Simpson exclusively revealed to The Witzard on the inception of his hot-off-the-press new album, Detroit's Son. Anderson runs the Australian-based headquarters of Invada Records along with long-time friend, Portishead founder, and fellow Quakers bandmate Geoff Barrow; he's been releasing music under a number of aliases since launching his music career back in 1998... Moonrock, Katalyst, 35-member Hip-Hop collective Quakers, and Space Invadas with Steve Spacek. Having previously worked with everyone from Gift of Gab to Jack Johnson, Detroit's Son is Katalyst's first full-length proj...

"It's one of our favourite songs ever, I think," Tame Impala frontman Kevin Parker lamented before launching into a pretty spot-on cover of OutKast 's "Prototype" from André 3000 's 1/2 of Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (2003). Guitar/keyboardist Nick "Paisley Adams" Allbrook effectively handles André 3000 's echoing double-tracked vocals, crooning: "Today must be my lucky day... Do something outta the ordinary, like catch a matinee, baby." Tame Impala's 5-piece touring band -- which also includes Jay "Gumby" Watson, Dominic Simper , and Julien Barbagallo -- really do one Hell of a job @ channeling OutKast 's psuedo-70's Soul-Funk vibe that's smoothly spread across the original. The band's spirited cover was essentially recorded, tracked, and broadcast on-the-fly during a recent stop by hometown [Australian] radio station, Triple J for their infamous Like a Version segment. Tame Impala EP ...

The more I think about it, it's really just a coming-of-age type thing that almost all of us go through @ some point during our mid 20-early 30's: admitting that an old friend/fling is now just "somebody that [you] used to know." And that sheer, simplistic candor is exactly what makes Gotye 's similarly-titled 2011-12 break-out hit single so gosh darn relate-able! The quintessential track @ the heart of all this, "Somebody That I Used to Know" was only semi-recently knocked off Modern Rock radio charts by "Call Me Maybe;" Not surprisingly, there has to be close to 28,000+ fan covers and parodies uploaded to YouTube . A number of well-known Hip-Hop producers have taken a shot @ remixing "Somebody That I Used to Know" ... Chuck Inglish , Dice Raw, Sugar Tongue Slim , and DJ Tiesto . Making Mirrors , which is actually Gotye 's third album, is now available for purchase/enjoyment on both sides of "the pond." "Rel...

Homeboy Sandman is probably still hard @ work recording First of a Living Breed , his debut Stones Throw full-length, because labelhead Peanut Butter Wolf keeps "releasing" all the good tracks for FREE! The latest mp3 give-away, "Brown" was produced by fellow Stones Throw signee, Jonti and was uploaded to Soundcloud Thurs. afternoon; It showcases a Hip-Hop beat that was fine crafted on a native South African instrument called a "coconut kalimba" (thumb piano) . Homeboy Sandman & Jonti originally linked up @ Radiolab , "Brown" was seemingly written/recorded for their Colors -based episode. Leading up to First of a Living Breed , Homeboy Sandman has released a string of 2 EP's since signing with Stones Throw in Dec. 2011... Subject: Matter and Chimera EP . Jonti has also managed to issue 2 projects with the Indie Hip-Hop imprint, Twirlgig/Sine & Moon (mixtape). Old Australian "chaps," Jonti and Gotye are h...

Sine & Moon 's deep "roots" date way back before any seasoned listener would ever even believe: The mid-1990's. "Saturday Night Songs," the album's inaugural track, was recorded by Jonti Danilewitz in his homeland of South Africa Australia @ the ripe, young age of 13. Essentially a collection of old, new, re-mixed/mastered, and appended tracks, which starts out with that first song Jonti ever recorded. Jonti initially configured the album in the form of a mix CD commissioned by Stones Throw and released back in August 2011. Essentially, a wide array of 13 [15] genre-jumping 4-track records; Plus an MF DOOM -esque rapped co-starring appearance from partner in crime, Jonwayne (2007) to top it all off. Since it's original release, Jonti has been hit up with such an abundance of fan requests for individual tracks... that Stones Throw decided to re-release an updated, albeit FREE version of Sine & Moon . In preparation of the Jan. 10th ...

Here's the new "Game of Thrones" (Freestyle) that I did over Gotye 's "Somebody That I Used to Know." Just a year after my car accident, I've put out more music than I have in my whole career! I will continue to release plenty more in the up-coming year, including the next installments of The Greatest Rapper Never trilogy: "Transformation" and "The Realization." I'll also continue to grow the Raw Life label... So, take a second to check out Young Gliss, Rone , Les Professionnels , and other artists we'll be working with in the future. - Karl "Dice Raw" Jenkins

Word choice [use-age] can generate such a raw, introspective look into one's mind. Most of the time, people don't even realize how much emotion they're subliminally revealing. If "love" were substituted into the phrase, "Somebody that I used to know," it mean an entirely different thing. based solely on word choice, I wouldn't be stretched to assume that the relationship in question ended quite bitterly... and by most social standards, it would be safe to assume so. Drawing from a number of failed relationships, singer-songwriter Gotye penned "Somebody That I Used to Know" in his parents' Mornington Peninsula (Australia) barn. During the early stages of producing the instrumental, Gotye pulled a sample from Luiz Bonfá 's 1967 composition, "Seville." "Somebody That I Used to Know" was originally released in promotion of Making Mirrors , which was issued worldwide @ the close of Summer 2011 . It's compan...