The Witzard

Despite, or maybe even because of, the fact that critically-acclaimed Queens emcee Despot has yet to release his oft-delayed, nearly 10 years in-the-making debut, We're All Excited , he's somehow still able to "rub shoulders" and get a casual Sunday brunch with industry heavyweights like Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig and 21-22 Jump Street leading man, Jonah Hill . Fresh on the heels of his recent Evan "E*VAX" Mast -produced lead single lifted from his seemingly soon forthcoming album, Despot has unleashed his "first" proper music video for "House of Bricks;" although, he's previously appeared on film alongside Mr. Muthaf**kin' eXquire , Das Racist, Vampire Weekend , a pre- Run The Jewels El-P & Killer Mike , Sky Ferreira, Chromeo , and Santigold. "Me and Evan [Mast] have been talking about this album since I met him, so we have hypothetically been working on this album for close to 10 years... Most of th...

"Local man who never does anything quietly releases single on a Sunday afternoon," @despotroast half-jokingly Tweeted this past Sunday afternoon, but truth is: 33-year-old rhyming Queens native Alec Reinstein was initially signed to El-P 's now-dissolved label Def Jux from 2004-10 and has been actively working, scrapping, and repeatedly re-working his "debut" album, either titled We're All Excited , Hooray for Me , or Jerry , ever since to no avail. Despot has almost made an intern "career" out of recording nearly flawless guest verses for his friends, having recorded with everyone from Vampire Weekend to Meyhem Lauren . His latest single, "House of Bricks," which totals just about less than five overall releases, was produced by RATATAT multi-instrumentalist Evan "E*VAX" Mast and seems to date back to about August 2012 in it's earliest incarnation; Despot performed the track, then titled "House Made of Br...

"We've been up in a beach house in Long Island recording for the past month... We have four or five songs in-the-works," Ratatat guitarist Mike Stroud revealed to Rolling Stone just about four years ago at Coachella 2011 . "It's sounding new — much more aggressive than the last album. Lots of guitar that sounds like guitar, not keyboard," Stroud continued concerning the recording process behind their long-rumored tentatively titled "LP5." "About to play this set at Coachella . Check out our new single "CREAM ON CHROME" [fourth] song of the set," @ratatatmusic nonchalantly, and somewhat cryptically, Tweeted over the weekend preceding their late night Coachella 2015 set . It's Mike Stroud and bassist-percussionist E*vax (Evan Mast) 's first proper single in roughly five years; although an official release date has yet to be announced, Consequence of Sound additionally notes that Ratatat 's new album "wi...