The Witzard

Honestly, it doesn't even feel like there's a proper way to elegize an eccentric and extremely talented artist such as MF DOOM, who meant so much to so many of us for so many years for so many different reasons as truly unique as DOOM himself. So, what better way to pay tribute to The Man, The Myth, THE MASK himself than by speaking to those closest to him? With a heavy heart, I proudly present Shadows of Tomorrow; a new recurring column in tribute to DOOM in an effort to re-tell the tall tales, strange stories, and lesser-known tidbits of The Metal Face Villain himself. R.I.P. Daniel "MF DOOM" Dumile Thompson. "MF DOOM is easily the most inspirational act in Indie Hip-Hop. His voice, flow, production, character development, story-telling, and his ability to piece a cohesive album together were all extraordinary. Even in the early 90's in his KMD days, he was way ahead of his time. Going from a bright-eyed youth in his high school/KMD days—who wouldn...

Jenny Lewis is an Indie Rock singer-songwriter, musician, and actress best known for her work with Rilo Kiley, Jenny & Johnny, and Nice As F**k, as well as The Postal Service and The Watson Twins. David Cohn, better known as Serengeti, is a Chicago-based rapper, who has always seemingly teetered on the fringe of Indie Rock. In addition to his vast body of work as both Serengeti & Kenny Dennis, Cohn has collaborated with the likes of Renee-Louise Carafice & Tony Trimm as Yoome, Son Lux and Sufjan Stevens as Sisyphus (and S / S / S,) Yoni Wolf (WHY?) as Yoni & Geti, Matthewdavid as Davis, Workaholics' Anders Holm as PERFECTO! Advance Base, TOBACCO, and Child Actor. Earlier this year, Serengeti released an album titled The Gentle Fall largely based around sampled guitar loops from Christian Lee Hutson and his latest album, With Greg from Deerhoof, is just that: 8-9 songs recorded with Greg Saunie from Deerhoof. Now, as you may have guessed from the aforementione d...

Tribute to George Floyd for @mic By: Dewey Bryan Saunders (@deweysaunders) This is a very rare occasion, but I'm at a loss for words... but, in all seriousness, these are very strange, upsetting, and uncertain times. Not only re we all grappling with separation anxiety, cabin fever, Fear of Missing Out (FOMO,) and extreme uncertainty amidst this global COVID-19/Coronavirus Pandemic, but, as you may have seen on the news, we're dealing with a whole other crisis now, as well: racial injustice. We're in no position to speak on behalf of The Black & Brown Communities, but anyone who was raised with any sense of morals, values, etc. knows whats going on right now across The United States, and, I'm assuming across the whole world everyday, is completely unjust and wrong. No one deserves to die based solely on their race, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ideals and values, etc. and we, as an entity, stand in solidarity with The Black & Brown Communities. Today...

"'The Last Working Dinosaur" is the first single by Cody Jones (formerly Stillborn Identity ) from his upcoming project, Out with The Old, In With The New. Follow Your Heart & You’ll End Up Alone . Cody had been listening to a lot of Serengeti , at the time and was drawn to the idea of his writing not being confined by events and thoughts that were literally true. The theme of the track is inspired by his working relationship with his dad, who he saw doing everything a very "old school" way at Northgate Auto Body , the garage he [has] owned and worked in for the last 30 years," Cody Jones wrote within a recent press release. I first met Cody Jones (then still Stillborn Identity ) through beatsmith John "Jumbled" Bachman , like many Baltimore and Philly area rappers and producers I've worked with over the course of the last year or so; "should've stayed in school—maybe been a journalist or blogger, but now I'm runnin...

"'Rap Trope Questionnaire" is kind of a round-about way of talking about being manic depressive, but from the perspective of someone inhabiting an arena where that sort of behavior is welcomed and even encouraged. It is like an asset in some ways to be able to turn the personality up to 150%, even if it is "blindness to kick bliss in the shin and put my emotional win on display again" (yuck, quoting [myself] feels gross!)" CURTA emcee Jake recently wrote within an emailed statement. CURTA was formed in Colorado a number of years ago because, as Jake puts it, he simply "wanted to make music that was not beholden to prior ideas of what a "band" should be;" often labeling themselves as a Glitch-Hop or Art-Rap group, CURTA and in-house producer 4Digit readily cite Pavement , Coil, Saul Williams , and Pere Ubu as immediate sources of influence and inspiration. Zilla Rocca , a close friend and frequent collaborator here at The Wit...

Yoni Wolf , the rapping son of Rabbi Wolf , often makes music that sounds like a dis-jointed mix between Bright Eyes and something like Beastie Boys or Beck . Equally loved/loathed by Hip-Hop and Indie Rock fans alike, WHY? have finally re-emerged from roughly 3 years of utter silence. While they've had a full-length completed since Summer 2011 , WHY? are planning to release a new EP, Sod In The Seed , on August 14th first. Anticon uploaded "Sod In The Seed" (single) to their Soundcloud page just yesterday afternoon, along with the EP's interestingly painted cover art. Right off the bat, Yoni Wolf comes in sounding all emo, a little bit like Bright Eyes ... but fairly soon, WHY? laces up an Electronic bell-backed beat and Wolf starts rapping the shit out of "Sod In The Seed." In addition to all that, WHY? also announced a string of North American tour dates, running from August-Oct. along with some friends-collaborators: Serengeti , Doseone, D...