The Witzard

Guilty Simpson is a seasoned Motor City street-worn, hard as nails emcee, yet quite surprisingly, one of the most genuine, nicest artists I've ever encountered during my 5+ years running The Witzard . Simpson has quietly released a number of nearly flawless albums produced by Madlib , Oh No, Apollo Brown , an ill-fated and ultimately, scrapped album co-produced by J Dilla & Mr. Porter , a 6-song EP recorded with Small Professor, and most recently, my absolute favorite album of 2015, Detroit's Son helmed by Australian producer, Katalyst . I would almost personally attest, as a long-time Guilty Simpson fan and Stones Throw supporter, that his collective non-album material is arguably just as strong, if not even stronger, than his crop of full-length albums; throughout the course of his sprawling 25-year career, Guilty has unleashed acclaimed one-offs with the likes of the late great Dilla , who somehow managed to clear samples of James Brown and The Beatles, Jazz-mi...

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...

For argument's sake, I guess I've always been an Usher fan... or @ least an admirer of Mr. Raymond's sheer talent and work ethic. I can vaguely remember nervously asking a few P.Y.T.'s to dance to "U Got It Bad" (2001) @ those painfully cheese-tastic 7-8th grade dances. Paraphrasing Pitchfork staff writer Ryan Dombal , it was an oddly-matched collaboration that no one expected, let alone asked for. But somehow still managed to greatly surpass everyone's non-existent expectations: Friday night @ FADER Fort (SXSW) , Usher wandered on-stage with The Afghan Whigs mid-way through their "Climax" cover. Frontman Greg Dulli & Usher then launched into spirited, guitar-driver renditions of both artists' more well-known tracks, "Somethin' Hot" and scorching set-closer, "OMG." Former- Yeasayer member and solo artist Sinkane (Ahmed Gallab) came on stage to perform a super- Funky version of his own single, ...

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If you ask me, Yeasayer really "hit it outta the park" with their last release, Odd Blood (2010)! The Brooklyn Psych-Rockers have been earnestly chipping away @ their follow-up third album, which singer-keyboardist Chris Keating describes as a mix between "an Aaliyah album if you played it backwards and slowed it down" and David Bowie 's [1979] Art Rock album, Lodger . Yeasayer 's new album is expected to materialize and be released by late spring or early summer of 2012; Back in October 2011 , the band had already compiled 22+ songs and were thinking about recording to separate LP's: a real album of 3-4 minute Pop songs and an [Internet] soundtrack . Fast-forward to May 2012... Yeasayer released the first taste of their untitled album just yesterday, "Henrietta." We All Want Someone to Shout For notes that the band recently shipped out CD singles of the track to members of their fan club and now, it has appeared online. "Henri...