The Witzard

Frequent Gorillaz collaborator and 1970's Soulman , Bobby Womack is fixing to make a triumphant comeback with the release of his first album in nearly 20 years, The Bravest Man In The Universe (June 11-12th). Womack's music career was kick-started back in the early 60's with family band, The Valentinos and later as Sam Cooke 's backing guitarist. Recorded over the past few years along with friends Damon Albarn and XL Recordings head honcho Richard Russell , "Please Forgive My Heart" is our initial taste of the album; Man, it's a bubbling, piano-driven synth -heavy affair that's slightly reminiscent of Albarn & Russell's Electro -leaning collective outputs... But have no fear, Bobby Womack 's passionate, heart-felt vocal delivery first heard on revealing original hits [and covers] like "Fly Me to The Moon," "California Dreaming," "Across 110th Street," "Sweet Caroline," and "It's All...

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...