The Witzard

Danger Mouse & Black Thought (CREDIT: UNCANNY, George Muncey & Elliott Elder) Danger Mouse (Brian Burton) & Black Thought (Tariq Trotter) have been long-time friends and infrequent collaborators. Long before The Roots/The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon emcee ever issued a proper solo effort (now, we're up to Streams of Thought, Vol. 3,) there had been rumblings of a collaborative effort with Danger Mouse cleverly titled Dangerous Thoughts . By most accounts now found online, that was around 2005-06 with The Roots steadily releasing Game Theory, Rising Down, How I Got Over, undun, and ...And Then You Shoot Your Cousin in the years since. They became the house band for Fallon's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon in 2009 and transitioned along with him to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2014. Danger Mouse has been far from inactive himself since 2005-06, releasing The Mouse & The Mask & Occult Hymn EP as DANGERMDOOM with MF DOOM, St. Elsewhere ...

MF DOOM Print - CREDIT: Matt Murphy (@mattmurphyillustration) Honestly, it doesn't even feel like there's a proper way to elegize an eccentric and extremely talented artist such as MF DOOM, who meant so much to so many of us for so many years for so many different reasons as truly unique as DOOM himself. So, what better way to pay tribute to The Man, The Myth, THE MASK himself than by speaking to those closest to him? With a heavy heart, I proudly present Shadows of Tomorrow; a new recurring column in tribute to DOOM in an effort to re-tell the tall tales, strange stories, and lesser-known tidbits of The Metal Face Villain himself. R.I.P. Daniel "MF DOOM" Dumile Thompson. "For many, 2020 felt like a dream, a brief interlude from reality where much was taken and little was returned. For me, it's been a year of silence, reflection, and equations. It wasn't until the death of a Daniel Dumile that I found myself trapped in a nightmare that I didn't wa...

CREDIT: James Reitano (TFU Studios) Honestly, it doesn't even feel like there's a proper way to elegize an eccentric and extremely talented artist such as MF DOOM, who meant so much to so many of us for so many years for so many different reasons as truly unique as DOOM himself. So, what better way to pay tribute to The Man, The Myth, THE MASK himself than by speaking to those closest to him? With a heavy heart, I proudly present Shadows of Tomorrow; a new recurring column in tribute to DOOM in an effort to re-tell the tall tales, strange stories, and lesser-known tidbits of The Metal Face Villain himself. R.I.P. Daniel "MF DOOM" Dumile Thompson. "In 2005, I was asked to create a video for an upcoming Danger Mouse/MF DOOM collaboration. The project was called DANGERDOOM and was being released by Epitaph Records with a partnership from Cartoon Network. The record was, also, going to feature the cast of Aqua Teen Hunger Force from [adult swim], CN's late n...

Honestly, it doesn't even feel like there's a proper way to elegize an eccentric and extremely talented artist such as MF DOOM, who meant so much to so many of us for so many years for so many different reasons as truly unique as DOOM himself. So, what better way to pay tribute to The Man, The Myth, THE MASK himself than by speaking to those closest to him? With a heavy heart, I proudly present Shadows of Tomorrow; a new recurring column in tribute to DOOM in an effort to re-tell the tall tales, strange stories, and lesser-known tidbits of The Metal Face Villain himself. R.I.P. Daniel "MF DOOM" Dumile Thompson. "Here's another DOOM story: so, the year DangerDOOM came out, it was an Indie hit record—sold, like, 350K copies, was on a ton of best-of lists, etc. When it came time to do our yearly [adult swim] Upfront party in NYC, Mike Lazzo said, "we should have DangerDOOM play." I said I would talk to DOOM/Danger Mouse and see how they felt. Of ...

Honestly, it doesn't even feel like there's a proper way to elegize an eccentric and extremely talented artist such as MF DOOM, who meant so much to so many of us for so many years for so many different reasons as truly unique as DOOM himself. So, what better way to pay tribute to The Man, The Myth, THE MASK himself than by speaking to those closest to him? With a heavy heart, I proudly present Shadows of Tomorrow; a new recurring column in tribute to DOOM in an effort to re-tell the tall tales, strange stories, and lesser-known tidbits of The Metal Face Villain himself. R.I.P. Daniel "MF DOOM" Dumile Thompson. "This post is from DOOM's [wife], Jasmine. If Jas wrote it, it's legit. I'll tell some DOOM stories a bit later, for now, I need to process... Dude made me laugh and made me furious, almost got me fired and I STILL loved him. Rest In Power to one of the greatest to ever do it. Okay, here's a DOOM story or two: Daniel Dumile AKA MF DOOM...

"Unlikely Indie legends gift us with DOOM 's best emcee effort this decade, through a track crafted by long-time collaborator Danger Mouse (Brian Burton) in [conjunction] with posthumous prolific song-writer, Sparklehorse (Mark Linkous.) Listeners already have precedent that only good could come from duo, Danger Mouse & MF DOOM , as their collaborative project, DANGERDOOM , gave us 2005's The Mouse & The Mask . What differentiates The Mouse & The Mask from DOOM 's dozens of other projects—aside from the Cartoon Network features—is DOOM acting solely as the emcee in this outfit, where he usually has a heavy role in production. It's easy to see how trust was formed, though, as Danger Mouse curated his trademark clean, unique beats that set DOOM up to verbally knock it out of the park on every track. "Ninjarous" makes no exception here and while it exhibits the sterile perfection of Danger Mouse in feel, the influence of Sparklehorse ...

Broken Bells (@broken_bells) have been teasing something since about August with cryptic black-and-white in-studio Polaroid -esque photos , some dated as far back as 7/26/18. Broken Bells is, of course, the collaborative duo of James Mercer & Brian Burton . Mercer is the long-time frontman of The Shins/Flake Music and Burton is also, known as super-producer Danger Mouse ; who has worked with everyone from MF DOOM (DANGERDOOM) to The Black Keys , A$AP Rocky to Parquet Courts , and likely, most famously, as Gnarls Barkley with Cee-Lo . Since initially forming in 2008-09, Broken Bells have released two full-lengths, 2010's Broken Bells and 2014's After The Disco , as well as a 2011 EP dubbed Meyrin Fields and a number of non-album singles. Honestly, we, here at The Witzard , personally, favor Broken Bells' self-titled 2010 debut, but their entire cannon of music is phenomenal! Lest we forget, Broken Bells courted a then-relatively unknown Christina Hendricks (...

"I think a lot about genre-blending, so the relative novelty of mixing (MF) DOOM & Doom made a lot of sense to me. I've been a fan of mash-ups like Jay-Z at Studio One, WUGAZI, Leftöver Kanye , and Yeezer, but nothing that really touched Hardcore/Punk Rock," Justin Mayer AKA Old City wrote within a series of Facebook Messages. Just a matter of days ago, I got a cold-sent email, which started off by saying, "Old City, stage name of Philly-based musician/producer Justin Mayer, announces Black Bastards, a mash-up EP between rapper MF DOOM and Birmingham Crust Punk band Doom ." Old City is currently prepping the release of his villainous Black Bastards EP—presumably named after KMD's 1993 pre-MF DOOM album, Bl_ck B_st_rds—to be unleashed this Halloween and has been preceded by "the first and only" DOOM & Doom-melding single, "Air Crimes;" a frenzied mash-up consisting of DOOM's oft-remixed verse from Dabrye's 2006 Ghostly In...

"Back in 2005, super-producer Danger Mouse and Hip-Hop super-villain DOOM came together for THE MOUSE AND THE MASK , a collaborative album released under the name DANGERDOOM . Among DOOM 's most successful projects both critically and commercially, the album was inspired by Cartoon Network 's late-night [adult swim] programming slate and includes appearances from Aqua Teen Hunger Force , Space Ghost, Harvey Birdman , and more. THE MOUSE AND THE MASK also features guest spots from Talib Kweli , Ghostface Killah, and Cee-Lo Green ," METALFACE Records wrote within a villainous statement; they're gearing up to unleash a 3xLP and deluxe CD edition of DANGERDOOM 's critically-acclaimed first and last album, THE MOUSE AND THE MASK this upcoming May 5th. Let me make an attempt to best convey the musical climate THE MOUSE AND THE MASK was released into (albeit, on Punk/Hardcore label Epitaph Records )... prior to forming DANGERDOOM , Danger Mouse 's las...

golden pears by âtƒ "I wanted to make a full, lush-sounding album that retained lo-fi aesthetics... something that works as one big piece, instead of just a beat batch. Tried to mix everything together like I would a DJ set, hopefully it works. Also notable that I included a no-sample, guitar-based track ("duckling") and worked with an artist (Jared Pittack) on the cover. I usually don't included my non-beat music because it feels out of place, but it just felt appropriate to put it on there. Letting someone else design the cover was awesome, Jared came up with all that on his own and I think the tape is the better for it. Thx for the support man, cheers," self-described "electric wizard/cave-dweller" All These Fingers (âtƒ) wrote within a recent email containing his latest, and 44th released, mixtape: golden pears . I recently got in touch with âtƒ after hearing Future Islands frontman Sam Herring , aka sharp-tongued emcee Hemlock Ernst ,...

Self-described husband, dad, crate-digger, beard cultivator, and Flea Market Funk founder DJ Prestige heroically recounted "Bug Juice" as "pure Funk with no option on Soundcloud for the Funk genre, this may be the record that makes them put Funk in there, seriously. This instrumental is heavy, and J-Zone's drum break towards the end solidifies this as one of our faves of 2016." J-Zone & Pablo Martin are currently holed up in the studio readying their "Bug JUice" 7-inch EP for September with a full-length album to likely follow as soon as October or November. J-Zone's own on-site govillaingo.com biography additionally notes that he's currently "also preparing for the roll out of SuperBlack," yet another super-group formed with the likes of legendary De La Soul-affiliated producer Prince Paul and American TV producer, filmmaker, writer, and The White Mandingos member Sacha Jenkins. "Um, I pretty much think of myself as like ...

" The Du-Rites finally drop a full song to check out. "Bug Juice" now on Soundcloud (who are a bunch of squares a bunch of squares and simps for not having a "Funk" option in their genre drop[-down] menu, but "Trap" is available). To hear: my website link in bio - newest post or soundcloud.com/thedurites . 7-inch single later next month; album late Fall," multi-instrumentalist and Hip-Hop producer Jay "J-Zone" Mumford wrote within a recent aptly-titled @jzonedontig Instagram post. Still hot on the heels of his latest solo album, Fish-n-Grits , which is made up of a gaggle of limited edition vinyl-only 7-inch releases dating as far back as 2014 and new material, J-Zone has readied "probably the closest to what [he] aspired to in my Funk-drenched 80's childhood" in the form of a newly-minted 2-man Funk band, fittingly titled The Du-Rites . J-Zone is currently preparing a 7-inch Funk instrumental EP with his lon...

"What I love about [STEAL] THIS MIXTAPE is that it's a bridge from the mash-ups that we all loved 10 years ago to the modern style of production. Josh [Young] basically grabbed ANY genre of music an threw it all into his blender and what came out is all consistent," Fool's Gold Records founder @atrak ecstatically wrote about self-described "beast known as @yehme2 " during a lengthy Monday afternoon Instagram post. One half of Chicago -based Hip-Hop and EDM -influenced DJ duo FLOSSTRADAMUS supposedly challenged himself to staggering "beat-a-day challenge that would quickly morph into Me2 ," which eventually morphed into the 33-track of a genre-less mega-album that is his System of a Down -referencing STEAL THIS MIXTAPE ; Young's 50-minute debut mixtape somehow manages to effortlessly harvest and re-purpose samples "stolen" from the likes of FLOSSTRADAMUS , newly-freed Gucci Mane, Nicki Minaj & Beyoncé , Paul Wall, Missy E...

"We reached out to DOOM to see if he was interested in giving us a track, and were told that the DOOMSTARKS project was close to completion and there was a song we could have... we jumped on it! I mean, it's [Ghostface Killah] and DOOM rapping together. It's pretty much my rap nerd dreams coming true. I think they bring something out in each other that's very exciting for me as a rap listener," Adult Swim 's own glorified fan-boy Jason DeMarco recently gushed to Uproxx , concerning of course, the cartoon network's acquisition of DOOMSTARKS' unofficial return-to-form, "Lively Hood." While his official title may be Vice President/Creative Director of Adult Swim On-Air , DeMarco himself simply managed to distill his responsibilities down to "basically, if it's on Adult Swim and it's NOT a show, it's my group's responsibility to make;" this including, but not limited to promo campaigns, network ID's, anima...

"With bluesy organs, descending basslines, and one of the slowest, hardest-swaggering beats we've heard in a good while, "Everyday" calls upon [Rod] Stewart 's classic number "In a Broken Dream," re-contextualizing it as a tale of modern ennui (read: boredom )," as okayplayer effectively describes A$AP Rocky 's latest At.Long.Last.A$AP (ALLA) single, "Everyday;" recorded with a very unlikely cast of magnificent characters... Rod Stewart , Miguel, "Uptown Funk" super-producer Mark Ronson , and co-producer Emile Haynie. When it comes to ridiculous left-field collaborations, "Everyday" falls somewhere in between The Fat Boys' utterly awesome Beach Boys -backed "Wipe Out" and Kid Cudi 's surprisingly smooth Michael Bolton & King Chip -assisted "Afterwards (Bring Yo' Friends)." Ronson ingeniously managed to convince R&B crooner Miguel to passionately sing: "Everyd...

"There are kids at school who dress like everybody else, because they don't know what to do, and there are musicians like that, too," Jack White recently told Rolling Stone in a particularly telling no-holds-barred interview. "I'll hear TV commercials where the music's ripping off sounds of mine, to the point I think it's me. Half the time, it's The Black Keys ," he continued. It's only the latest set of comments accumulated in an on-going public feud with Dan Auerbach & Patrick Carney , which originally erupted when TMZ leaked a batch of White's private emails last year. The same Rolling Stone interview, in support of this forthcoming solo album Lazaretto , somehow managed to bash former bandmate Meg White , Lana del Rey, Adele , Duffy, Danger Mouse , and the late Amy Winehouse, which have since been retracted. Jack White seems to have been converted to the age-old school of thought that nearly all press is good press; a new-fo...

While drummer Patrick Carney recently initiated senseless cyber-beef with everyone from Justin Bieber to Bruce Jenner , The Black Keys really make an infectious brand of no-frills 2-man Rock "N" Roll . Their new album, Turn Blue was announced last Friday via Mike Tyson 's Twitter and was later vaguely described as "A: suffocation, B: sadness, C: numbness from extreme cold, D: a Cleveland late night TV host from the 1960's named Ghoulardi , E: all of the above." Dan Auerbach & Patrick Carney co-produced the album's 11 tracks alongside Danger Mouse , a Hip-Hop -leaning producer who helped oversee The Black Keys' last three albums. Along with an album pre-order, ahead of it's May 13th release, our first taste of Turn Blue , "Fever" was unleashed Monday afternoon; it's a 4-minute synth-soaked Psych-Rock romp that's essentially poised for modern rock radio. Now, I wouldn't exactly call "Fever" Auerbach a...