The Witzard

"'Made for Me" was actually one of the last tracks I added to the EP I hope to release later this year. I remember walking into the studio and hearing Mikhail (my producer) messing around with two different cuts of the same sample. One was very down-tempo and in the pocket, while the other felt lively with a real bounce to it. We went back-and-forth, debating which of the two we rocked with the most, but couldn't justify separating the sounds," Canadian rapper, producer, and song-writer David Versis wrote within a recent email. Upon first hearing his latest single, "Made for Me," I wrote a quick, semi-tongue-in-cheek "review" on Twitter which read: "'Made for Me" sounds like John Mayer meets Drake and it's actually pretty awesome!" Versis is a GRAMMY -nominated producer, who contributed to Wiz Khalifia 's 2014 album, Blacc Hollywood and produced Yo Gotti & T.I. 's collaborative single, "King ...

Not entirely unlike the three-volume Art Dealer Chic EP set released leading up to his 2012 commercial break-through, Kaleidoscope Dream , Miguel suddenly uploaded a three-track EP to Soundcloud in the wee hours of Friday morning; seemingly titled either nwa.hollywoodreams.coffee EP or WILD EP , similar to the tattoo scrawled across Miguel 's knuckles on the rather suggestive album cover. It's a painfully brief 10-minute burst of guitar-fueled Soul-Funk/R&B , part of which okayplayer effectively refers to as "a swagged-out Spaghetti Western with Curtis Mayfield wheeling and dealing on the score, driven by fuzzy guitar and total impropriety." EP opener, "NWA" features Snoop Dogg -affiliated Philly rapper Kurupt atop a stuttering 808 drumbeat and slinky guitar-accented quasi-rocker flanked by Miguel 's seductive hook and bridge refrains, "she just wanna ride with a N.W.A... Got you walkin' with a gangsta lean." "NWA" ...

Let's be honest here, it'd be almost impossible for a part-time writer/web-master like myself with a regular 9-5, too to even attempt to assemble a 50-album year-end list in an effort to "compete" with the Big Dogs like Pitchfork , Stereogum, etc; I think it'd be far more feasible to do a list of my Top 5 Favorite Albums of 2013, not even your typical run-the-mill best of list. So, with that said, here's a collective run-down of the most played artists and companion albums on The Serpent (my 160GB iPod), my car stereo, and personal iTunes library. I tried to compile a pretty diverse broad-spanning list, which ranges from Industrial Aggro-Hip-Hop to Philly-bred "Pig-Fuck." Enjoy the list and Happy New Year! While The Wizard's #5-ranking album is seemingly an unwarranted 16-track leaked bootleg; the scattered fragments of Jai Paul 's long-rumored XL Recordings album. Included within were 16 rough tracks, 3 of which had been previously releas...

It must be pretty hard to try to stay "Punk Rock," rebellious, and still keep food on the table these days; Grand Theft Auto 5 (GTA V) was released last week and features a pretty awesome, broad-spanning in-game soundtrack. Rockstar uploaded an expansive 59-track 3 volume collection to iTunes: The Soundtrack, Original Music, and The Score (composed by Tangerine Dream ). Included within are tracks, both new and old, from the likes of Clams Casino , Tyler The Creator, Oh No , Yeasayer, Jai Paul , Lee "Scratch" Perry, Yellowman , WAVVES, and recently re-invigorated Hardcore super-group OFF! The Keith Morris -penned "What's Next?" was conjured up exclusively for GTA V and plays alongside Black Flag , Descendents, The Weirdos , and The Germs on a fictitious radio preset. Noisey reports that Morris, just off a stint with Black Flag off-shoot FLAG , should "head [in]to the studio soon to record a full-length of all new tracks." VICE R...

Jai Paul is a painfully mysterious British-Indian singer-songwriter/ producer who's really only released 2-3 tracks since signing with XL Recordings in 2010: "BTSTU," "Jasmine," and "Flip Out" (Str8 Outta Mumbai). Paul's forward-thinking brand of Space R&B has been embraced by Drake , Beyoncé, rapper XV , and he even appeared on Big Boi 's recent solo album, Vicious Lies & Dangerous Rumors . Practically out of nowhere, during Coachella 's weekend-spanning festivities, Jai Paul quietly uploaded his long-rumored self-titled debut album/mixtape to Bandcamp . It's selling for 7 GBP's, which converts to about $10.35 or "Name Your Price" and that gets your a download folder containing 16 untitled tracks. Jai Paul CD-R kinda sounds like a mixed bag full of rough demos, fully fleshed out songs, and random skits; Track titles have been speculated to include "Baby Beats," "A Thousand Light-Years ...

"The Witzard (Pop Culture News Blog)" Sharpcheddar856 -- Airforcelondon show details 10:37 PM Greetings, Ben & Holly! Matt from "The Witzard" music blog here... I'm a 23-year-old college grad from South Jersey. An aspiring Businessman and Journalist, I started the blog about 2 years ago in an effort to share my knowledge of Pop Culture and sharpen my writing chops. To date, we have 50 Followers and rough 55,000 views and counting. My favourite genres are Punk, Hop-Hop , and Indie Rock ... But we try to cover all sorts of Pop Culture stories. After reading this recent Stereogum interview with Drake , I was compelled to peruse the web for some Take Care era B-sides. One of the first tracks I stumbled upon was "Dreams Money Can Buy," which I soon learned sampled Jai Paul - "BTSTU" (2010). An artist that I had admittedly never heard of before... with a quick Google search, I was lead to Jai Paul 's MySpace page and saw this ver...

"We work with some amazing artists, and we appreciate the support you show them. To celebrate their work, and say thank you to you, we've made a limited edition, double 12" vinyl sampler. It features a track from each of the artists we've worked with this year. It won't be available to buy anywhere. We would love to give you a copy of the XL Recordings Sampler 2011 . If you'd like a copy of the sampler, email your postal address to XL11@xlrecordings.com and we'll send you one, wherever you are in the world. We have 1,000 copies to give away. First come, first served. .. [I know that I quickly put in to get my 12" copy around 12-1pm!] Thank you to everyone who asked for a sampler. The response was overwhelming. If you emailed us we will reply soon." XL Recordings Sampler 2011 tracklist: A1 Adele - "He Won't Go" A2 Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie xx - "I'll Take Care of You" B1 Radiohead - "Supercollider" C1 Tyle...