The Witzard

2217 Mixtape by Children's City Dump I was just watching Part 1 of PUNK on EPIX , a new 4-part documentary series profiling a slew of early Punk/Hardcore bands, as well as the earliest aughts of the genre. PUNK Part 1 included segments focused on Iggy & The Stooges , MC5, New York Dolls , The Ramones, Blondie , Wayne/Jayne County & The Electric Chairs, PUNK Magazine , CBGB's, Hilly Kristal , and much, much more. One band of particular note were Garage Rock/Proto-Punk pioneers MC5 , who had a particularly gut-wrenching rise and fall before they ever really gained wide-spread success. Oddly enough, MC5 's politically-charged 1970 sophomore album, Back In The USA featured a song on Side B called "The Human Being Lawnmower;" this title, in particular, bears a striking resemblance to blood-curdling emcee Blastmaster Baker 's recent debut on we are the karma kids , Blastmaster Baker vs. The Human Being Lawn Mower . Now, I have yet to ask Blastmaste...

Ghoul / Ill Bill by Ill Bill Tankcrimes is an Oakland, California -based Hardcore/Punk Rock/Heavy Metal label, who, for the past 14 years, has been releasing a constant stream of projects from a bunch of awesomely-named bands, such as: John The Baker & The Malnourished , Instant A$$hole, Population Reduction , Face The Rail, Annihilation Time , F**ktard, Cannabis Corpse , Final Conflict, Victims , and my personal favorite, F**ked Up. Along with Violation Wound & Cliterati 's Cliterati / Violation Wound 12-inch split and Brainoil 's forthcoming Singularity to Extinction , one of Tankcrimes' latest and most critically-acclaimed releases is ILL BILL / Ghoul 's self-titled 7-inch split. Although, it was released this past March/May on 200 Splatter, 250 Half/Half, 550 Blood Red, and 1,000 Silver 45's, only the Silver ILL BILL / Ghoul 7-inches—as well as digital downloads/streams—currently remain available in stock from Tankcrimes and ILL BILL 's own ...

"The band we know as Phony Ppl is a mix of people, time, and sound that's been nurtured over generations in Brooklyn " currently consisting of members: Elbee Thrie on vocals, Elijah Rawk on lead guitar, Matt "Maffyuu" Byas on drums, Aja Grant on keyboards, and Bari Bass on, of course, bass guitar. Since forming in 2009—amidst self-releasing 3 albums and an EP on Phony PPL LLC — Phony Ppl have had the unique opportunity to perform alongside Domo Genesis , Erykah Badu, Fetty Wap , Kali Uchis, Mac Miller , Odd Future, Princess Nokia , The Roots, Snake Hips , and more. Now, following a brief hiatus, Phony Ppl have returned with their first new material since Yesterday's Tomorrow (2015.) Last week, okayplayer premiered "Before You Get a Boyfriend," which effortlessly blends together Soul , Funk, Hip-Hop , and R&B-leaning sounds into a "noGENRE" musical mix the site deems "an ice-cold summer daydream." Phony Ppl '...

Owen Ross is a singer, song-writer, multi-instrumentalist, and producer originally hailing from Brooklyn, New York, who now resides in Berlin, Germany. Ross spent years on the road as a touring guitarist and has played and written many styles of music with an emphasis on Soul, R&B, Gospel, and Hip-Hop. He has worked with Baltimore emcee and producer Drew Scott on a number of projects including Luvaducious with Al Rogers, Jr. ILL VESSEL, Giddeon Gallows' CRITTER, and as Warmest Regards with BLACKSAGE's Josephine Olivia. Prior to releasing music under his own name, Owen Ross recorded and released three EP's as goste between 2013-14. Since retiring the "goste" name last year, Owen Ross has written, performed, produced, and released three EP's: 2017's Fluorescent I , it's 2018 follow-up Fluorescent II, and his latest EP, Greyscale, released on Berlin-based imprint Finest Ego. Owen Ross further explained: "I started seeing myself as a producer ...

Harvey Cliff MC is a rapper, producer, singer, stand-up comedian, graphic artist/designer, and self-described "poetic polymath of vibrations, stimulations, and alternate universes," seemingly hailing from Kentucky. He's been recording and releasing his own unique band of Nerdcore Rap/Psychedelic Hip-Hop since 2015 on V-Neck Records and at some point, made his way to New York. There, he met eccentric Brooklyn-based music producer and recording engineer, Steel Tipped Dove. Harvey Cliff MC & Steel Tipped Dove first met at the now-defunct Bar4 in Brooklyn "back in the late aughts," as Cliff puts it. "He's one of the nicest and humblest dudes I know. I've been wanting to release something with him forever, so glad that it finally happened," he enthusiastically continued. Harvey Cliff is, of course, referring to his April 2018 released 8-track collaborative EP with Steel Tipped Dove, dubbed Strangers On A Train (SOAT.) Not unlike Cliff's pa...

No More Later / Narco by The Deadeyes Ever wonder what a "screaming violin" haphazardly nestled atop a feverish medley of "scorching guitars" and a pummeling drum/rhythm section filtered through a Punk/Hardcore lens might sound like? If so, look no further than Philly -based 3-piece band, The Deadeyes . Consisting of violinist John Coursey , vocalist and guitar player Patrick McHugh , and drummer David McMullin , The Deadeyes play a unique brand of violin-driven, Soul -tinged Punk that's been fittingly described as if " The Black Keys had a love child with [Nick Cave &] The Bad Seeds ." The Deadeyes' members have previously played with long-standing underground group Grubstake , as well as High Hearts , The Mikroknytes, and McHugh & McMullin's hilariously-named 90's college band, Connie Chung . John Coursey, Patrick McHugh & Dave McMullin have collectively played gigs in support of classic Punk bands such as The Dead Mi...

foolHearty by TOYFRiEND TOYFRiEND is the latest Avant-Garde Indie-Pop project from Hip-Hoppers Jason "ECID" Mckenzie and Louis Dorley AKA louis logic . ECID & Louis Dorley readily liken their inaugural release, fullHearty EP to Indie/Dream-Pop staples Blonde Redhead , Blood Orange, Elliot Smith , Little Dragon, Unknown Mortal Orchestra , Beach House, Purity Ring , and Animal Collective/Panda Bear. fullHearty features Louis Dorley on vocals and keys and ECID helming both drums and production duties. Amidst six original Indie-Pop -minded TOYFRiEND compositions, fullHearty additionally features two heavily re-worked cover tunes: Howard Jones' "No One Is to Blame" and "You're The Best (Around)" as performed by Joe Esposito , most recognizably from The Karate Kid (1984.) Prior to TOYFRiEND , ECID self-released his latest critically-acclaimed album, HowToFakeYourOwnDeath and contributed production work to Mega Ran 's Ceschi ...

Damn Jackals frontman and guitarist Beau Croxton explained that Myspace-premiered "Freezing Blues" is about "the type of cold, loneliness that reduces the heart to burning carnage and leaves the subject so crippled with emptiness and anger that he is rendered utterly unrecognizable." Croxton formed Punk/Glam Rock -inspired Damn Jackals along with friend and producer Mike Goehler over the summer of 2014 and before long, the two aspiring musicians converted his upstate New York home into a no-frills DIY recording studio soon dubbed "The Crooked Castle;" by 2015, Beau Croxton & Mike Goehler had already recruited guitarist Willie Mosto , keyboard and guitar player Paul Truitt , bassist Forrest Hackenbrock , and drummer James Esposito —effectively transforming the 2-piece collaboration into a fully-formed 5-piece band, plus an in-house producer, based out of Brooklyn . Damn Jackals additionally includes a 3-piece horn section made up of touring ...

"Part of my goal in writing "Moon Pulls" was to simply just be more honest. I've always been cryptic in my writing; instead of saying what really happened, I would use a metaphor or some type of simile to get the point across. With this track, I wasn't afraid to talk about the intense feelings of lust, love, and confusion I was experiencing. I feel like " Moon Pulls" is a drama condensed into a four-minute, Pop -structured song because it has movements that represent certain moments in time for me and it builds to a climax of myself bluntly asking, "what did I do to deserve you?" When I perform the song live, I always find myself screaming that part—it's such a human experience, being both grateful to have someone, while simultaneously feeling afraid to lose them," Brooklyn -based singer-songwriter and producer Sam Friedman (professionally known as Nerve Leak ) wrote within a recent emailed statement exclusive to The Witzard . W...

"Today, we announce our forthcoming full-length record, Devil Music , on our very own We Are The Men Records . The LP will be available on Friday, November 11, 2016. We found a [farm] and scratched down the songs on this LP after just a couple of days in our practice space. Luckily, our space and our studio are the same exact f**king room!, so the proceedings went quickly. “Gun” was [cut on] Friday after our shifts and some messing around with a Harry Nilsson tune. The rest were recorded on Saturday and Sunday, the holy days. You haven’t heard much from us lately, have you? It’s good to be alive and playing music," read a typewritten statement , addressed to "Everyone," published to The Men 's Blogspot -run band site Monday, September 12th. It's an odd coincidence, since I was just listening to their infectious Creedance , Bob Dylan, and Rolling Stones -influenced 2014 album, Tomorrow's Hits on my Nexus 7 last week at work and wondering when the n...

It seemed lie a pretty blatant, clear-cut call to arms to me when Brooklyn rapper-turned-actor-turned-stand-up comic Yasiin Bey aka Mos Def suddenly challenged any brave three-man posse up for the challenge to a battle rap-style cypher between himself, King Los , and Roots emcee Black Thought this past weekend; "me, Black Thought , and King Los vs. anybody e'erybody... battle anybody. [...] I'm tired of these dudes pretendin' like they dope. You alright, but relax. The dope n***as that think they dope — you ain't as dope as you think. You cool, but you ain't that deal. And we don't have to make no back-and-forth corny records about it." Although, for reasons unknown, Bey has since reneged his previously-incited battle rap challenge, which happened to fit right in, in light of Drake & Meek Mill 's recent well-publicized beef. He's more of less accusing YouTube user and apparent affiliate rrvid718 of uploading said call to arms vi...

"Before I head out across the pond for The #EuroDROOG Tour , I'm dropping this joint produced by my man, DJ Skizz , that showcases my famed yet underutilized ' George Benson from Remulak ' impression — it's basically me scatting and rhyming along with the different sounds in the beat," Brooklyn/Ukrainian and uncannily Nas -sounding emcee Your Old Droog wrote on Soundcloud along with his latest track. "Senseless Killin' II" is the unofficial follow-up to Droog 's latest sonic 1-2 punch of non-album Soundcloud loosies, "Hidden Persuaders" and Statik Selektah -produced "Unlimited Metrocard." The #EuroDROOG Tour will kickoff in Dublin, Ireland this upcoming June 6th and wrap up nearly one month later in Dour, Belgium on July 17th; but not before Your Old Droog is scheduled to make seven stops in-between, hitting England , France, The Netherlands , Switzerland, and Germany presumably for the first time(s) in his...

Although Brooklyn -based "Indie" Rockers X Ambassadors have yet to unleash their proper major label "debut," they've somehow already managed to log studio time with the likes of Jay Z , Eminem, and Rihanna . Ahead of their nostalgically titled VHS full-length, brothers Sam & Casey Harris , guitar player Noah Feldshuh , and drummer Adam Levin have preemptively landed pre-album singles "Renegades" and "Jungle" within nationally-aired commercials for the newly-redesigned 2015 Jeep Renegade , time-traveling blockbuster, Project Almanac , and even a female-led a cappella rendition recorded for Pitch Perfect 2 . X Ambassadors have previously released three Alex da Kid -produced EP's (even one recorded as "Ambassadors" ) under their current Interscope Records/KIDinaKORNER label contract, which was supposedly first facilitated by Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds after hearing the band on Virginia radio and strongly s...

Shamir Bailey is a self-described 19-year-old "musician, comedian, singer, rapper, twerker, chef, writer, film-maker, tumblr, [and] skinny fat ass" hailing from Las Vegas, Nevada . GODMODE founder and Mr. Dream drummer Nick Sylvester discovered and ultimately signed Shamir after hearing his DFA -style modern Disco-House music demo tape; even though Sylvester had previously sworn to never sign artists based outside of New York City . Slightly ahead of his forthcoming Northtown EP , Shamir and acting producer Nick Sylvester have strategically leaked two glitched out R&B/Dance tracks thus far, "If It Wasn't True" and newbie "I Know It's a Good Thing." From what I can tell, Shamir 's first label-backed track, "If It Wasn't True" was released earlier this year on GODMODE 's cassette compilation Common Interests Were Not Enough to Keep Us Together ; it's a bona fide " Disco-House anthem with rare levels ...

"We had been kickin' the horns idea around for a little while, thinking about Fun House by The Stooges , Exile On Main Street by The [Rolling] Stones , and all those old classics Stax and Motown records," The Men singer-guitarist Mark Perro recently told Rolling Stone . It seemingly exemplifies the most Punk Rock , rebellious quality about The Men ; their ability to effortlessly switch genres... whether it be Punk Rock , Country, Classic Rock , Surf-Rock, Folk-Acoustic , and now Bluesy Rock "N" Roll. "Another Night" kinda sounds like some retro Springsteen melded against a righteous-sounding Blues-Jazz high school band. Although The Men are a former Post-Punk Noise band formed in Brooklyn around 2008, who most recently released New Moon and Campfire Songs EP , somehow both issued through out the course of 2013. After a few solid repeated listens, I'd guess that "Another Night" is about a failing relationship on the rocks...

When functioning as Action Bronson 's Soft-Rock -flipping power-producer, "Party Supplies" is the one-man moniker of Brookyln -bred own Justin Nealis . But Nealis recently started working with multi-instrumentalist buddy Sean Mahon and together, they created post- Blue Chips 2 masterpiece, Tough Love (Fool's Gold). After a few minor technical difficulties over the weekend, @xpartysuppliesx Tweeted "as a band, sean and I have always wanted to write a song like this, so we did" mid-Monday afternoon, along with a still video/download link to Security;" a track that he further describes as 2014 Steve Miller Band and #motown , which was created using a sunburst Fender Telecaster seemingly given to him by frequent collaborator Action Bronson & The Alchemist . "Security" isn't exactly Hip-Hop , more along the lines a shimmery Island -tinged Pop-Rock jam... But it's perfect music for a chilly winter day like today, where most ...

Max Eisenberg from Brooklyn, NY moonlights as genre-blending Noise-Rap singer DJ Dog Dick ; a former member of Dog Leather , Nautical Almanac, Dog Synth , etc. Eisenberg is finally gearing up to release his long-rumored HOSS Records debut, THE LIFE STAINS lp (out November 19th). DJ Dog Dick hails from the same original Baltimore -based music-art scene that birthed Dan Deacon , Weekends, Dope Body , Pictureplane, and Surfer Blood . The proper follow-up to last year's Identity EP , LIFE STAINS has been slowly leaked online over the past few months in the form of "Dried Old Leaves," "Rot Is Hot," and Pitchfork -premiered "Grease That I Got." Their track review essentially likens "Grease That I Got" as a "straight-up Pop tune, built around a bass line that could've been stolen from an R.E.M. out-take... or a helium-injected Butthole Surfers ." The Artist Formally Known as DJ DOG DICK (@ALLEYPISS) on Twitter further ...

While no one else seems to have really noticed it, I think Joey Bada$$ sounds a Hell of a lot like Wu-Tang Clan 's long-deceased Mad Hatter of an expert swordsmen, Ol' Dirty Bastard aka Dirt McGirt aka Big Baby Jesus aka Dirt Dog (ODB). Honestly, that's the first thing I thought after I heard Bada$$ enter the stage immediately after Action Bronson at the XXL Freshmen 2013 Tour 's Philly stop about 2 weeks ago. The 18-year-old rapper eventually ended by flanked by his Wu-Tang -sized Pro Era posse, which I'm sure includes it's own 90's Hip-Hop -obsessed, new age versions of RZA , GZA, Method Man , Redman, Ghostface Killah , Raekwon, Inspectah Deck , Cappadonna, and the remaining "Shaolin" by way of Staten Island emcees. Joey Bada$$ is currently prepping the release of his first widely-publicized mixtape since 1999 , Summer Knights EP for a July 1st unveiling; Bada$$ did however release 2 smaller projects since breakthrough 1999 (2...

Since voluntarily self-dissolving his long-functioning Hip-Hop label Def Jux around February 2010, El-P has somehow managed to release 3 full-length records over a 2 year span, straying away from his previous crippling album/5 years pattern. Run The Jewels is actually El-P 's first proper album with close friend and fellow veteran rapper, Killer Mike ; It's Proto-Rap that pays homage to Hip-Hop 's "golden era" and even lifts it's boastful group name from a old school LL Cool J track, "Cheesy Rat Blues" (1990). Preceded by 3 equally glitched-out teaser singles: "Banana Clipper," "Get It," and Adult Swim -backed "36" Chain," Run The Jewels [album] was uploaded to Fool's Gold Records early Wednesday morning (June 26th) for FREE download. But for diehard record collectors like myself, Fool's Gold has also pressed up a limited number of specially-designed 2xLP/T-shirts/herb grinder/standard CD sets...

Action Bronson 's almost effortlessly able to cram a bunch of misplaced syllables into "Shit on my chest, shoot colors like a Care Bear / All year see me tan, hopping out the van... Eat steaks off a cold plate, stoned listening to Coldplay ," a few of the introductory rapid-fire lines of "Strictly 4 My Jeeps" sounding like a high school English teacher on Speed ; It's more or less, the lead single from an upcoming joint mixtape with rising Brooklyn producer, Harry Fraud that's been quite ingeniously dubbed Saab Stories . Noisey , sister site of Bronson's new-found major label home (VICE Records) premiered the Jason Goldwatch -directed music video mid-Monday afternoon, which was preceded by a collection of equally EPIC behind-the-scenes footage. Fraud has previously produced a number of scattered beats for Action Bronson including: "Jar of Drugs" (2011), "Muslim Wedding," "Mean," and tracks from Adrift/High ...