The Witzard

It's really a wonder how Future Islands frontman Sam Herring came to be the highly-scrutinized then "unnamed emcee" behind Madlib 's latest masterpiece, Trouble Knows Me EP ; unlike his fellow Hip-Hop -loving Indie Rock brethren Paul Banks and Peter Bjorn & John , Herring is front and center with some surprisingly sharp-tongued rhyming skills. Sam Herring has quietly been playing Baltimore club gigs under his Hemlock Ernst rapping alter ego between Future Islands album cycles since around June 2013, in addition to "waxing poetic" wordplay alongside the likes of Gangrene & Earl Sweatshirt , Scallops Hotel, Du Blonde , and Rapdragons. " Madlib x Hemlock Ernst project Trouble Knows Me officially dropped today [September 1st]. The Master & The Student. Double Dragon," @futureislands ecstatically Tweeted Tuesday afternoon upon the release of Herring's first widely-available "solo" project. Trouble Knows Me EP , wh...

"We are over the moon to announce the first new original Peter Bjorn and John track to be released since 2011 is premiering TODAY on [Stereogum] - It's EXCLUSIVELY [featured] on INGRID Vol. 2 compilation, taken from our forthcoming album sessions written with Patrick Berger . Take a listen now!!!" Peter Bjorn & John ecstatically wrote in a quick personalized Soundcloud note included along with their comeback single, "High Up (Take Me to The Top)." It's the dreamy Swedish Indie Pop trio's first taste of proper new material released since their last critically-acclaimed four-year-old, and one of my personal favorite albums, Gimme Some ; while seemingly remaining absent from the spotlight all together, Peter Bjorn & John actually spent the better part of 2012 diligently upstarting their own home-grown label collective, INGRID along with fellow Swedish hit-makers Lykke Li , members of Miike Snow, Teddybears founder Joakim Åhlund , Coco ...

Needless to say, it's been one Hell of a week for Underground Hip-Hop ; Action Bronson , Earl Sweatshirt, and Kendrick Lamar all dropped staggering, critically-acclaimed new albums this past Monday, March 23rd (I'm unsure why they strayed away from the typical Tuesday release day). I went out and bought hard CD copies of Bronson and Lamar's albums, but I wasn't able to find I Don't Like Sh*t, I Don't Go Outside at out local Best Buy , and I've really only had a chance to delve into Action Bronson 's gloriously frantic "debut," MR. WONDERFUL . While Bronson and Lamar's TDE crew seem to have a mutual admiration for each other, the two fledgling rappers have never recorded any material together, at least not to my knowledge. But Bronson has in fact recorded a few non-album tracks with Odd Future and their reigning adolescent prince, Earl Sweatshirt ; most notably, Domo Genesis' pro wrestling-referencing Alchemist -produced mixtap...

1/3 of Swedish Indie-Pop group Peter Bjorn & John , Peter Morén is gearing up to release a series of Swedish-to-English EP's in the coming months; his four-track Broken Swenglish (Vol. 1) will see a Monday, December 9th digital-release on the band's Swedish -based collective imprint, INGRID . Stereogum premiered a new, previously unreleased Peter Morén track called "Constant Reaction" late Tuesday afternoon. It's a guitar-drenched romper of a track, which is a little bit more Rock -oriented that Peter Bjorn & John 's typically super-chill output. "Constant Reaction" is more of less an aggressive six-string musical response "that plays [out] like The Smiths , if Morrissey had a lot more protein in his diet." Peter Morén personally sent Stereogum a little bit of introspective background info on it's creation: "I wrote this after the awful shootings against a youth-camp in 2011 on the island Utöya outside of Oslo ...

While Ann Arbor, Michigan Doo-Wop singer (multi-instrumentalist) Mayer Hawthorne and Stockholm, Sweden -based Peter Bjorn & John couldn't be further apart distance-wise... They do in fact have a common affinity for Pop music . With that said, this track right here ultimately houses the essential Teenage Dream Pop team-up! Mayer Hawthorne has added his own unique vocal accents and flourishes onto PB&J's Soft Rock original , effectively morphing the track into a Doo-Wop tune for The Age of Tomorrow. Let us hope that this is only the modest beginning(s) of Peter Bjorn & John x Mayer Hawthorne 's collaborative efforts. Their latest albums -- Gimme Some and How Do You Do? -- are currently available for for your purchasing and listening pleasure. Catch Peter Bjorn & John and Mayer Hawthorne [& The County] in a town near you... As both bands are now in-midst of their respective nation-wide promotional tour jaunts. MAYER HAWTHORNE FOR DETROIT LIO...