The Witzard

"Any question which starts with "Top 5..." is hard to answer. I used to ask all my friends and other musicians about their Top 5 albums. And since I asked them, they used to ask me the same. I have been with the same list for the last couple of years, which is, maybe, not really my Top 5 right now, but it's pretty OK for a Top 5 of all-time. Any of these albums I've played intensively, most of them for years straight on a daily [basis] and I can sing/rap them along or even play some of the solos. These are must-listen records for anyone because these records are my friends in the good and dark times. The Top 5 is in order of discovery because after all, there can't be just one winner. Let's start!" - Reinier Thijs (@thijsenterprise) I. Jimi Hendrix - Band of Gypsys (1970) "When I was around 14/15-years-old, I got really into music; not only the mainstream, which was on MTV, but, also, the older stuff. I don't really know how I stumbl...

"Jaubi is a collective of musicians hailing from Lahore, Pakistan who aim to create whatever sounds good and whatever feels good. The emphasis is on amalgamating different musical styles such as Indian Classical music, Jazz, and Hip-Hop into short musical pieces," producer, guitarist, and kalimba player Ali Riaz Baqar wrote within a recent emailed statement. Jaubi (جو بھی) is an urdu word, which roughly translates to "whatever;" a sentiment that has directly influenced their band mantra of "creating whatever sounds good and whatever feels good." I recently stumbled upon Jaubi while researching for a then as-yet-unpublished interview with Basement Donuts mastermind and She's So Rad frotnman Jeremy Toy. Stones Throw wrote, within their piece titled LEONARD CHARLES - BASEMENT DONUTS - J DILLA TRIBUTE: "our friend DJ Mehdi, who passed away in 2011, was among the first to create a whole album inspired by Donuts, his 2006 mixtape Loukoums. The Roots g...

"I was asked to perform at a J Dilla Foundation fundraiser at a bar in Auckland, Neck of The Woods, 13th Feb. 2016 to celebrate the music of J Dilla and to also raise funds. My biggest influences as a producer are Pete Rock, No I.D. Diamond D, DJ Premier, and J Dilla. So, to be asked to play the fundraiser was a big deal for me. I wanted to do something on the night that would capture the creative essence of what I hear in J Dilla's work. To me, Donuts, is the ultimate expression of creativity. I remember first hearing it and being overwhelmed by how much emotion it stirred in me. It has everything: hard beats, mind-blowing sample chops, lyrical message, and some subliminal heavy sh*t... so, for the gig, I thought it was worth going all out and trying something really extreme—to cover Donuts as note-for-note, track-for-track as possible, but in a Basement Funk/home studio vibe. I had spent a year experimenting with modding old Roland drum machines, building 8-bit synths out ...

"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 recently at work and wondering when the next, normally...

"If my mother knew I was in show business now, she would worry herself just sick... she thinks I'm in Philadelphia sellin' dope," reads a comical Richard Pryor -esque bit from an unknown comic; it acts as the spoken-word intro to Guilty Simpson 's "Blunts In The Air," which dually serves as an unofficial mantra throughout Guilty 's hard-as-nails Katalyst -produced Detroit's Son . Guilty & Katalyst first met during the recording sessions that would ultimately yield Geoff Barrow 's 35-member Hip-Hop collective Quakers' self-titled Stones Throw debut (2012). Detroit's Son 's introductory track, "R.I.P." is actually a vocal version of Katalyst 's "R.I.P." instrumental lifted from Quakers , which seamlessly ties the two projects together right off the bat. Although it was initially billed as a "Guilty Simpson x Quakers" project upon the release of THE SIMPSON TAPE , Detroit's Son was...