The Witzard

Monday morning, self-described "Rap singer, song-writer, beat-maker, and pal" Donovan "ialive" Phillips quietly announced he'll be releasing his fourth (fifth?) solo studio album, I'LL WAIT FOREVER , later this month. It will be his fourth consecutive release with Baltimore-based Cold Rhymes Records run and operated by Dan "Height" Keech & MISTER AKA Cool Guy Bry . We first heard about ialive through an interview posted by John "Jumbled" Bachman on his blog a few years back with both Donnie & Darko The Super , together, billed as The Hellhole Store . ialive 's Height Keech -produced TIMEWAVE ZERO (2017) and self-produced follow-up, DON'T DO NOTHING (2019) were, easily, two of our favorite Hip-Hop albums of the last few years. I'LL WAIT FOREVER is the direct follow-up to ialive 's Odds & Ends-style 2019 EP, ODD ORTS , which boasts remixes from both Juan Cosby & Unsung. Now, it appears as though this...

Water Wings by Lt Headtrip we are the karma kids (karma kids) founder, emcee, and producer Lt Headtrip has returned with his first proper offering of 2019, "Water Wings." Headtrip has reunited with his one-time Impervious Machine collaborator, producer Rich Courage FKA Defpotec . Impervious Machine released Impervious Machine v1​.​28571429 on karma kids back in 2014; Headtrip & Defpotec re-emerged in May 2016 for ImpMac_DLC , a remix collection featuring edits from the likes of Duncecap, Teddy Faley, Samurai Banana, E L U C I D, Carl Kavorkian, Uymitsu, and Headtrip himself. "Water Wings" is Lt Headtrip 's first proper, non-remixed single since his 2018 single, "WET BRAIN" Remixed By Teddy Faley, as preceded by 2017's Comedy of The Filthbeast . Lt Headtrip stated "this is the first time in my career that I've written a nice, pleasant song, let alone, record and release one..." within an emailed press statement to Th...

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...

Blastmaster Baker vs the Human Being Lawnmower by we are the karma kids Nick Baker is a Bushwick -based emcee, producer, and Punk/Hardcore frontman for Children's City Dump (C.C.D.) Nick actively records and releases his own music as Blastmaster Baker FKA simply Baker . Baker has now joined forces with Lt Headtrip 's crew/label, we are the karma kids (WATKK ) to let loose his first proper full-length, Blastmaster Baker vs. The Human Being Lawnmower . It's the proper album-length follow-up to Blastmaster Baker 's self-released 2013 debut, BAKED . To be completely honest, I've heard Blastmaster Baker 's name mentioned around "Rap" Twitter and Punk/Hardcore circles for quite a few years now, although, this is the first time I've actually heard his music. Oddly enough, Blastmaster Baker & Lt Headtrip are both Ohio -born NYC transplants and it appears as though Headtrip has taken Baker "under his wing," so to say. From my per...

Floating Polygons by Googie The Witzard regulars may recognize Googie 's name (sometimes, spelled "GooGiE" ) from "Innate Communication" from Henry Canyons' 2018 Album of The Year contender, Cool Side of The Pillow . Googie & Henry , actually, previously collaborated on a we are the karma kids' 2016 non-album single entitled "The What Ifs," which was later remixed by BRZOWSKI/Vinyl Cape affiliate and beat-maker C MONEY BURNS as #Goth Dancehall -tinged C$ Burns "Nocturnal Twinz" Remix. NYC/NJ -based emcee Googie is a member of Lt Headtrip 's East Coast Hip-Hop crew, we are the karma kids AKA karma kids and has issued a number of releases on the crew's in-house label since first joining forces around 2013; Googie 's karma kids releases include singles "All The Pretty Lights" & "Champion Sound," 2013 mixtape The Logic Is Sound, BALD AFRO with Lt Headtrip , and his 2016 debut full-...

Keenan Kilgore AKA Daniel K. Felicetti FKA Digitalfel & FEL, etc. is a Vermont-based producer, artist, and creator. For over a decade, Daniel Felicetti has been consistently recording and putting out instrumental and collaborative Hip-Hop and Electronic music under a number of aliases at quite a rapid rate; this including, but not limited to, Digitalfel, FEL, ham american, Cord5, DigitalDankin with producer/rapper Dominic Primus, Keenan Kilgore, and JWLS VRNE & Different Trucks with frequent collaborator Gruff Lion. Daniel Felicetti also, runs a few websites to host his music, production work, and visual art: first, DigitalFel - the "digital" representation of "fel" AKA his music site, next, MAN-GOES CO. - essentially, an "all-around portfolio" of various projects Felicetti and his wife have produced/curated together, and finally, TONERELATIONS - a new platform, still in development, to showcase new projects with physical copies. His most recent r...

Keenan and Karma by Karma Kids Keenan Kilgore AKA KK AKA Daniel K. Felicetti FKA Digitalfel & FEL is a Vermont -based producer, artist, and creator. For over a decade, Daniel Felicetti has been consistently recording and putting out instrumental and collaborative Hip-Hop and Electronic music under a number of aliases at quite a rapid rate; this including, but not limited to, Digitalfel , FEL, ham american , Cord5, DigitalDankin with producer/rapper Dominic Primus , Keenan Kilgore, and JWLS VRNE & Different Trucks with frequent collaborator Gruff Lion . Daniel Felicetti also, runs a few websites to host his music, production work, and visual art: first, DigitalFel - the "digital" representation of "fel" AKA his music site, next, MAN-GOES CO. - essentially, an "all-around portfolio" of various projects Felicetti and his wife have produced/curated together, and finally, TONERELATIONS - a new platform, still in development, to showcase...

As many of you may remember, a few months ago, we here at The Witzard hosted, assembled, and compiled a 7-track remix contest/compilation dubbed The Witzard's Andy Cooper "COMPANION PLAN" Remix Comp. playlist . It included a selection of original genre-eschewing submissions from Places & Spaces' Naturetone , Djar One, Broken Machine Films Presents... (Illuminated Paths) Australian beat-maker Dros, Mike East , UncleRussie, and Three Tree Posse AKA 3TP 's Getro . After receiving a moderate amount of praise from The Witzard 's trusty readership, the participating producers, and Andy Cooper and his label, Rocafort Records , I decided to start planning for The Witzard 's second remix contest. I soon reached out to my friend, frequent collaborator, and Baltimore -based producer John "Jumbled" Bachman . Together, we collectively agreed to field an instrumental composition to be flipped, sampled, re-constructed, etc. for this second remix ...

"OLD SELF, aging Millennial Rap man, finds himself at corner of nostalgia sickness and questionable materialism on his debut album, Word Art Gallery. Headtrip, of NYC Rap outfit The Karma Kids, provides beats, building a relic-filled funhouse to explore as you experience OLD SELF's "various styles." Word Art Gallery is an endearing excursion in Late-stage Capitalism Rap. The copious quotables and near-rhyming Pop culture references will have you reaching for the Repeat 1 setting," reads we are the karma kids' on-site Bandcamp description. OLD SELF's Lt Headtrip-produced debut, Word Art Gallery is a zany nostalgic trip through his "various styles" chock-full of countless 1990's-early 2000's lyrical references and allusions including, but not limited to: Britney Spears, Sammy Sosa, Chuck D, Metallica's Lars Ulrich, Salute Your Shorts, N64 cartridges, Dr. Octagon, beginner skateboard tricks, The Illuminati, Mark McGwire, Blink-182...

Just in case you've been living under a rock for the past few months or recently awoke from a coma—we're terribly sorry for 2017!—Beat-maker Bedrock (BMB) is a new, recurring column here at The Witzard; initially, the brainchild of Baltimore-based beatsmith John "Jumbled" Bachman, BMB simply asks beat-makers and aspiring producers to highlight 3-5 of their personal favorite albums, which, early on, helped shape their overall sound and style. I'm proud to present to you our first Beat-maker Bedrock column 2018 and 14th overall features a playlist selected and meticulously arranged by New York-based rapper-producer and We Are The Karma Kids founder Lt Headtrip—or just "Headtrip" for production work. Following his critically-acclaimed 2017 album, Comedy of The Filtbeast , Lt Headtrip teamed up with The GreenHouse Studio/Backwoodz Studioz producer and engineer to curate LNYCHPIN; described on Bandcamp as "a full-length collaborative album featuring 16 ...

Since unveiling his latest album, Comedy of The Filthbeast , right here at The Witzard earlier this year, New York rapper-producer Lt Headtrip has let loose a series of bone-chilling video accompaniment including Raisi K.-premiered "Father, Father," "Neck Right," and lest we forget, his 40-minute full-album stream. Now, Lt Headtrip has returned to The Witzard to premier Comedy of The Filthbeast 's next music video treatment, "Three Dollar Watch." Headtrip and his creative cohorts fittingly describe "Three Dollar Watch" as "[within] the third video from Lt Headtrip 's self-produced album, Comedy of The Filthbeast , director Gary Blake captures the tension between a caged snake and its unguarded prey, set to a song about a naive young girl's relationship with her abusive father figures." "Three Dollar Watch" consists of rather chilling footage of a snake stalking his dinner (a little white mouse) filmed...

"I'm Lt Headtrip , head of the Queens -based Indie Rap label, we are the karma kids . Also, a part of the Rap group, The Karma Kids . It started with me, Samurai Banana (my DJ/producer,) and Reson , another rapper friend from my hometown on Kent, OH , back in a basement on Long Island in 2008. We were just our Rap group, Sarcasmo and a rotating cast of spitters and Punk bands back then. Nowadays, we throw shows in NYC , book ourselves tours, make music videos, record, mix, help out fellow rappers, etc." reads a brief intro to Lt Headtrip directly from the deranged, often lyrically unhinged man himself. Lt Headtrip has released a number of projects under various monikers and with a handful of groups including, but not limited to Webtrip , BALD AFRO , Sarcasmo , Impervious Machine, and bluelight + Lt Headtrip , since around 2007. Headtrip 's New York -based label imprint and collective, we are the karma kids (or The Karma Kids , for short) now includes sharp...

Quills by Vans_Westly I was attending a wedding reception here in South Jersey at The Little Red Schoolhouse this past weekend with my fiancé, when I received a Tweet from @DrewciferScott tagging me in a previous Tweet from @Vans_Westly , which simply read: "Yo, I really want someone to review Quills ." Westly was of course, referring to his latest Quills EP , which was completed and released just in time for his Quills Release Party this past Saturday, June 24th at Baltimore 's The Windup Space with "special guests" Height Keech, Drew Scott, Raymond Strife , and Lt. Headtrip —nearly all of whom I've previously worked with and covered here at The Witzard . Drew Scott , who produced "Spring Sh*t" on Quills , road tested a few new tunes from his upcoming "weirdo Psych-Pop EP," which soon after The Windup Space show, he said "felt real sexy and pathetic;" in addition to Vans_Westly 's Quills EP , Scott also released ...