The Witzard

"2016 was simultaneously, the worst and best year of my life, so far. It was the worst because the five years I had spent struggling with an emotionally, mentally, and spiritually crippling drug addiction had finally, culminated in a failed suicide attempt and an agreement, on my part, to spend three months in a residential rehabilitation centre. It was the best because I finally took the steps to take responsibility for it all; I came through it and started making music again. The first project I made was a 6-track EP called Waking Up , which would loosely, chart those five years of addiction and I'm going to break down each track in a little more detail, as well as talk about the tracks I sampled for each beat." - Charles Edison (Beats Laying About) Waking Up EP by Charles Edison 1. "Broke In Two" Sample(s): "Stronger Than Before" By: Chaka Khan, "The Mickey Mouse March" By: The Mike Curb Congregation "I had made this beat an...

Strange Talk is a Melbourne -based Australian Synth-Pop duo consisting of Stephen Docker and Gerard Sindu . Their music has been likened to contemporary Indie-Pop acts such as Passion Pit , MGMT, Phoenix , Cut Copy, and Yeasayer . Strange Talk released one full-length album, Cast Away (2014) on Wind-up Records and two EP's for both Wind-up and Neon Gold Records , as well as a number of singles and commissioned remixes . However, "after working on nothing but Strange Talk for the last seven years, the duo decided to take a break from the Indie-Pop world to pursue their other love... French Electro/House ," reads a recent press statement. Now, Gerard Sindu & Stephen Docker are actively readying their Electro/House -inspired EP-length re-birth as KNIGHTFALL , VOLUME 1 . Following this year's previous two singles, "Speed Machine" and "Exodus," as well as "Motostop" (KNIGHTFALL vs. Q-Tip ) KNIGHTFALL have unleashed the l...

"This song was pretty therapeutic in helping me come to term with a failing relationship. It failed not because we didn't work at it, but maybe because we worked too hard at it and it became this thing that we both started resenting on some level. By the end, we were kind of like two mismatching puzzle pieces that had been shoved together... It's hard a hard spot to be in and I've had lots of friends that have been in this same place in relationships. It wasn't a horrible relationship either and I think that's what makes it harder, when its good like 50-60% of the time, but is that a way to live? ["I Need You Closer"] kind of helped me just face it in a very literal sense. This was also the fastest song on the album to write, I think I started recording it at like 11am one day and by 9pm, it was done. I remember texting my friend being like, "you have to come sing some group vocals on this song with me RIGHT NOW, before the urgency expire...

"Part of my goal in writing "Moon Pulls" was to simply just be more honest. I've always been cryptic in my writing; instead of saying what really happened, I would use a metaphor or some type of simile to get the point across. With this track, I wasn't afraid to talk about the intense feelings of lust, love, and confusion I was experiencing. I feel like " Moon Pulls" is a drama condensed into a four-minute, Pop -structured song because it has movements that represent certain moments in time for me and it builds to a climax of myself bluntly asking, "what did I do to deserve you?" When I perform the song live, I always find myself screaming that part—it's such a human experience, being both grateful to have someone, while simultaneously feeling afraid to lose them," Brooklyn -based singer-songwriter and producer Sam Friedman (professionally known as Nerve Leak ) wrote within a recent emailed statement exclusive to The Witzard . W...

Let's just go ahead and be completely frank here, Jewish-America 's biggest "claim to fame," if you will, is undoubtedly either Frat-Rap turned Conscious Hip-Hop posse, Beastie Boys or Adam Sandler 's slightly-dated four-part "Chanukah Song" series; until the fateful second night of Hanukkah 2015... when Broooklyn -bred Ukrainian-American emcee Your Old Droog ( Russian for "friend" ) unleashed his latest haphazardly-released non-album loosie, "Off Top Freestyle." Recorded in collaboration with Lower East Side vintage clothing store and quasi-recording studio @topshelfpremium , DJ J Hart -produced "Off Top" was filmed directly onto VHS tape at what would appear to be a retrofitted replica 1990's Modell's ; "somehow, Your Old Droog managed to walk through a Modell's fitting room and ride a time warp back to the Clinton years when we were all playing Number Munchers , watching Snick , and eati...

"Peep my bro @LupeFiasco 's new FREE mixtape!!! The track "Valleys" is my Dillalude #2, " Robert Glasper Experiment/Trio frontman and founder @robertglasper exuberantly Tweeted late Saturday evening. Glasper is of course referring to Chicago emcee Lupe Fiasco 's latest 6-track mixtape EP, Pharaoh Height 2/30 ; a clever allusion and quasi-sequel to his own 3-volume career-boosting Fahrenheit 1/15 mixtape series (2006). When arranged in descending order from #1-6, Pharaoh Height 2/30 's tracklist cryptically reads: "IN... VALLEYS... OF... KINGS... PYRAMID... SCHEMES." Not entirely unlike his Thanksgiving 2011 mixtape freebie, Friend of The People: I Fight Evil , Pharaoh Height 2/30 showcases an eclectic sampling of production work culled from the likes of Glasper, J Dilla , The Weeknd affiliate Daheala, Flying Lotus , and even a Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain E3 commercial . Pharaoh Height EP 's Grade A choice cuts include ...

I think it's pretty safe to say that The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye) comfortably teeters the fine line between glitched-out smooth New Age R&B and hard-hitting Hip-Hop ; while the same could arguably be said for 16-year-old New Zealand new-comer, Lorde . Her break-out single "Royals" 1/2 jokingly shouts out semi-common bravado-worthy shit like: diamonds, "gold teeth, Grey Goose ... Cadillacs, Cristal, Maybach ... jet planes, islands, [and] tigers on a gold leash." But now, the Lorde/Weeknd connection has been further solidified, as Tesfaye recently managed to conjure up and release his own "Royals" remix. My beautiful girlfriend said earlier, and I paraphrase, that it "makes her wanna dance lol and she could [likely] hear this remix in a future movie!" Following the wide-spread release of her first 2 EP's (Love Club & Tennis Court) , Universal Republic plans to unleash Lorde 's proper debut album, Pure Heroine between ...

"Seems @theweeknd have said there is no sample used or enough likeness to "Machine Gun" to warrant any infringement... or credit," head Quaker and Portishead mastermind Geoff Barrow angerly Tweeted early Wednesday morning. It sounds like Abel Tesfaye (The Weeknd) initially asked Barrow and Portishead for permission to use said sample and upon being denied clearance, loosely re-created "Machine Gun"'s ferocious, almost Tribal -sounding drum pattern. But honestly, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense... since The Weeknd and Portishead are both signed to Universal Records , plus Geoff Barrow and Beth Gibbons are self-admitted Hip-Hop supporters. "Belong to The World" is actually The Internet 's second taste of The Weeknd 's upcoming "sophomore" album, Kiss Land . In what seems like an effort to foster more of a prominent public image, Abel Tesfaye granted Complex his first full-fledged earlier in the we...

I met up my older cuz Josh and his girlfriend Jessie @ Philly 's outdoor amphitheater, The Mann Center for a Passion Pit show back in June 2010, backed by Tokyo Police Club/BRAHMS . It was the tour that took place between albums #1-2, Manners and Gossamer , which I still haven't heard a whole lot of... Chunk of Change EP (2008) was supposed to be a surprise Valentine's Day CD-R, but I remember when Kanye posted "Cuddle Fuddle" to his now-defunct blog. Manners was chock-full of Michael Angelakos' high-pitched wail and Electonica -soaked Pop sensibilities. It managed to spawn a number of memorable hits including: "Sleepyhead," "Little Secrets," "To Kingdom Come," The Reeling" and remixes for everyone from Katy Perry to Beastie Boys . "Yes, Juicy J rapped on "Constant." And it does make sense because it's fucking awesome," Passion Pit frontman Michael Angelakos Tweeted late Thursd...

When Instrumentals first dropped last year, it had that underlying "something great is going to happen" sort of feel and now a year later, on the heels of Instrumentals 2 , something great HAS indeed happened! Even when just looking @ it's commercial reception, Instrumentals achieved leaps and bounds for an independent online release; The collection was eventually label-released and re-mastered. This homegrown success is essentially what allowed Clams Casino to make the type of high-profile beats that he's managed to create in recent months. Gaining dual acceptance into both mainstream/underground circles has allowed Mike Volpe [Clams] the chance to work with Lil B , Soulja Boy, Florence + The Machine , G-Side , The Jealous Guys, and Big K.R.I.T. In fact, most of the instrumentals featured across Instrumentals 2 have been stripped down and re-purposed as vocal-less edits. These tracks previously housed either A$AP Rocky , The Weeknd, Lana del Rey , Squadda B , W...

Earlier this year, 23-year-old Nutley, NJ native, Mike Volpe ("Clams Casino") released a mixtape chock-full of instrumental Hip-Hop beats - completely on a whim. Said mixtape, the aptly-titled "Instrumentals" was received with great praise far and wide! So, instead of making one of those cliché "Year-End Lists" like everyone and their brother, though I will admit that I briefly contemplated the idea... I'm just gonna go ahead and say it: Clams Casino - Instrumentals was hands down, the Mixtape Album of The Year ! And with that said, it's almost inappropriate to categorize this genre-jumping materpiece as solely "Hip-Hop." Soon after, Witch-House label, Tri Angle released a collection of original Volpe material: Rainforest EP (June 2011). For all intensive purposes, Clams Casino essentially created Lil B 's now infamous stream-of-consciousness #BASED musical stylings. One could further argue that Volpe also had a strong ha...

Intentional or not, Abel Tesfaye managed to make quite the [late night] ruckus by boldly opening Echoes of Silence with a spot-on Michael Jackson cover: "Dirty Diana" (Bad) . Tesfaye initially burst onto the scene in March 2011 under the musical guise "The Weeknd," along with fellow Canadian producers Illangelo & Doc McKinney . Their critically acclaimed inaugural mixtape, House of Balloons was released soon thereafter and Part 2 of "The Balloon Trilogy," Thursday was released that following August. The Weeknd 's unique brand of sample-based R&B draws heavily from a number of Indie Rock sources: Beach House , Siouxsie & The Banshees, Cocteau Twins, Thieves Like Us , and Marina Topley-Bird . Mild production work has since been outsourced to fellow up-and-comers, Clams Casino and DropxLife (XO) . Echoes of Silence was released @ roughly 12 midnight, Dec. 21-22; That is, during Fall 2011 (albeit the final minutes) as originally pr...

Honesty is key in life, blogging, and music. With that said, I've been a moderate fan of Aubrey "Drake" Graham since the beginning; Keeping up to date with his assorted releases, for the most part... But I must admit, I strongly favor a handful of songs over the bulk of Drake 's backcataloged entries. I just wish that Mr. Graham would either stick with rapping or run with singing R&B stylings - As I, and other fans, would then indeed garner a lot more respect for him as an artist. From the looks of this newly-released Lamar Taylor & Hyghly Alleyne -directed video, it seems as though Drake has fully embraced a SWAGGER -filled "Rap" persona, as of late. Excluding "Over" (2010), "Headlines" is by far the strongest original Drake composition I've heard since So Far Gone 's break-out hit, "Best I Ever Had" (2009). Universal Republic is pushing this hard-hitting Boi-1da/Noah "40" Shebib -crafted ban...