The Witzard

" THE LIONS "In The Dungeon" unplugged performing "WHEN IT RAINS" off the brand new record Soul Riot on Stones Throw Records . Thanks a ton to Ross Harris and Stanley "Babylon Burning" Gonzales for direction and sound," The Lions exuberantly wrote on their Facebook page Thursday afternoon upon the release of their first unofficial video release behind third album, Soul Riot . "Our first attempt at a proper video for "When It Rains" didn't turn out how we'd hoped, but we are actively searching for directors and have a couple in mind... We did do an unplugged performance that came out great though," Lions ringleader Dan Ubick said in a brief follow-up email preceding our recent second interview conducted for this very site, The Witzard ; alluding to a filmed and since scrapped proper "When It Rains" video treatment, as well as what's seemingly amounted to the just-released The Lions in the dung...

"Kinrot describes ["Children of The Revolution"] as an interpretation of the emerging social movement in the middle-eastern countries: "From the social justice protests that happened in Israel during 2011 (and to this day), and all the manifestations that are changing the Middle East surface, emerged a strong connection to this song and its relevancy for today's reality," reads a pull-quote lifted from Ouzo Bazooka frontman Uri Brauner Kinrot (formerly UBK ). Initially billed as "Mediterranean garage rock / Israel," I've been in touch with UBK and his social media team since about November 2013, after they saw an old featurette I did on White Denim ; at this point in time, I've written about roughly 3-5 UBK/Ouzo Bazooka videos and I would best liken their overall sound to a Mediterranean -influenced brand of Queens of The Stone Age 's Desert Acid-Rock infused with The Black Keys' radio-friendly Blues-Rock Americana . ...

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...

Although he's been effectively dominating the mixtape scene with fully fleshed out "street albums" like Blue Chips 1-2 , Dr. Lecter, Well Done , Rare Chandeliers, and Bon Appetit... Bitch since about 2008, Action Bronson has finally gotten around to liberating his long-rumored major label "debut," MR. WONDERFUL , which came out nation-wide Monday. Ahead of his 13-track album, VICE Records let loose a zany, Tom Gould -directed Spın̈al Tap -esque mock-umentary , which portrayed Bronson something to the effect of "The Great Leader," Kim Jong-Un ; coinciding with yesterday's multi-formatted MR. WONDERFUL roll-out, Action Bronson partnered with the good people at the YouTube Music Awards to present the video for his Chance The Rapper -assisted Mark Ronson -produced track, "Baby Blue." It's just one of two Dap-Kings -indebted Ronson-produced tracks included within the album, the second of which showcases a Jazz-Rock sample lifted...

"It's still hard to believe I found an out-take [with] my original band @CHICorg #IllBeThere ," @nilerodgers exuberantly Tweeted late Saturday night; Rodgers, who's essentially the sole founding member of Disco-Funk originators, Chic (now, somewhat confusingly billed as "CHIC featuring Nile Rodgers" ), has been pain-stakingly compiling a collection of recently unearthed 1970-80's era Chic tracks along with contemporary producers like Avicii , David Guetta, and The Martinez Brothers . Chic 's newly-surfaced material, tentatively titled It's About Time , seems to have been oddly enough reverse "influenced" by modern-day Disco-Funk acts like Chromeo , Dâm-Funk, Tuxedo , Mark Ronson & The Dap-Kings, and even quite ironically, buddies Daft Punk & Pharrell , who were all very likely initially influenced by Chic 's genre-shaping output in the first place. " ["I'll Be There"] is a moving concept for me abo...

BOOTS is just about the only artist I can think of who's single-handedly worked with Beyoncé , modern day Hip-Hop heavy-weights Run The Jewels , and thinly-veiled Australian songstress Sia , yet has somehow still managed to draw comparisons to Acid-Rockers Queens of The Stone Age ; a comparison which @bootsonboots quickly refuted in a seemingly since deleted Tweet , instead likening himself to "future Hendrix/[Black] Sabbath ." Late Wednesday night into Thursday morning, BOOTS played what could quite arguably be billed as his biggest "show" to date — one broadcast to hundreds of thousands of fans scattered across the United States and Canada . Jordan Asher took the Tonight Show stage after "openers" Will Ferrell Little Debbie and Chelsea Peretti to perform a riveting rendition of his latest Motorcycle Jesus EP single, "I Run Roulette." Asher was simply flanked by two righteously pummeling drummers backed by a barrage of str...

Following an initial batch of emailed conversations around Thanksgiving, former Stones Throw General Manager and Now-Again Records founder Eothen "Egon" Alapatt and I decided to reconvene after the holidays to conduct an all-inclusive interview for this very site, The Witzard; and now, a few months later, it has finally come to fruition. Egon worked closely with J Dilla during his final years and shacked up at the infamous Stones Throw home/studio with Madlib, MF DOOM, Jeff Jank, and Peanut Butter Wolf during the making of MADVILLAINY. Available here in its complete unedited long-form, out full emailed conversation touches on Alapatt's tenure at Stones Throw, Dilla's unreleased food-themed beat CD's, the incomplete "MADVILLAINY 2" sessions, Madlib & Yasiin Bey (Mos Def)'s rumored "Zamrock" project, Biz Markie's notorious record fibbs, and his independent publishing house, Sinecure Books. Feel free to read and repeatedly enjoy our t...