The Witzard

"If you are one of the few who have known about MF DOOM ’s debut album since the year it first dropped (1999), you’ll know there’s been a few versions of the album to come out. There’s been bonus tracks, bootlegs, CD's, tapes, and even a lunch box edition. But here’s the thing about OPERATION: DOOMSDAY — it’s a Hip-Hop classic! Those who don’t have it, need it. The record keeps selling out, and they keep making more. Just like The Beatles , if The Beatles came to destroy Rap ," Egon 's Now-Again -affiliated online record store Rappcats wrote within a rather "villainous" press release. Egon 's co-conspirator and revered Beatsmith-In-Chief , Madlib has had a particularly mysterious, light years ahead of its time, and oddly progressive relationship with the self-proclaimed METAL-FACE[D] VILLAIN since unveiling their lone collaborative project, MADVILLAINY , amongst the terribly unsuspecting world nearly 12 years ago. Now, upon Rappcats latest OP...

"Daptone [Records’] newest imprint, WICK, has been established to create the kind of records that fans want from a truly Rock "N" Roll record label. Using the same recording techniques that have made the likes of Daptone Soul legends Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings and Charles Bradley, Daptone’s House of Soul has been developing a sound as exciting and authentic as anything you’ll hear on the airwaves today. WICK Records will be a go-to destination for fans of Rock "N" Roll and the release schedule will include quality archival releases, along with the latest swingin’ combos," Daptone's newly-formed sister imprint, WICK Records wrote within a powerful mission statement affixed to their Soundcloud page; "Follow Me Down," the lead single from New York-based greenhorns THE MYSTERY LIGHTS, was amongst their first batch of inaugural releases, along with well-received 7-inch "Too Many Girls/Too Tough to Bear." I first, rather unknowing...

"The Audience's Following is a 10-year anniversary fan club edition version of The Audience's Listening. I like to call this the bizzaro version follow-up to [The Audience's Listening], as it features songs that never made the cut and demo versions of songs that did. There are also B-sides from vinyl singles, plus a special mix of the original song sampled for "What's The Altitude" by Curtis Knight[-Zeus] . Have fun listening to the album that was almost released 10 years ago. It's the follow-up and the audience is still following and listening and... whatever else," world-renowned DJ Lucas "Cut Chemist" Macfadden wrote within a short 7/11 Bandcamp description attached to The Audience's Following. Now, I don't mean to get all fanboy here, but I've been actively wishing and working on scoring an interview with Cut Chemist for about 3-5 years now; I can remember purchasing Jurassic 5, Cut's on-again off-again and recently...

" Sound Me fully embodies the ambiance and a sense of dualism captured between a dark past giving way to a brighter future. Inspired by the struggle of living day-to-day in working class Poland , Aani spins her lyricism into an art that paints a picture of love lost searching for a genuine connection, in a world that seems to have long forgotten the almost reminiscent old school values embedded in the unique style delivered by Sound Me ," WeGrowWax wrote within a self-contained press release shared on Polish Trip-Hoppers Sound Me 's mysteriously sparse Bandcamp page. Upon a first listen to Sound Me 's snippet-laced "Growing" (Album Promo Mix) , my well-trained ear immediately sensed notes of Amy Winehouse backed by Jurassic 5 in-house DJ's Cut Chemist and DJ Nu-Mark , as well as skilled songstresses Joss Stone , Macy Grey, and jj frontwoman Elin Kastlander —all of course, backed by Mayer Hawthorne -esque trumpet work. "[ Sound Me is] a ...

"What's goin' on? My friend Alex Belth referred me to you. I'm releasing an album on Tuesday, [July 19th] on Hip-Hop Indie label Worldwyde Recordings . I'm lookin' to submit to magazines and blogs who write about or review Hip-Hop . Let me know, if that fits what you do," read a rather interesting cold-submitted email I received Friday afternoon; low and behold, Ras Beats is a Queens by way of Denmark Hip-Hop producer and DJ who used to work alongside Esquire Classic Editor Alex Belth at DJ Premier , Q-Tip, Pete Rock , The Beatnuts producer JuJu, Lord Finesse , and Large Professor's favorite late 90's East Village record store, The Sound Library . Rasmus “Ras Beats” Jensen has been "a Hip-Hop head since discovering turntables and records, raised on the greats of the golden era, Ras' production stays true to the original sound of Hip-Hop . Dusty records, drum breaks, chopped up, and re-arranged samples" reads a fragmented c...

Pure Disgust by Pure Disgust "The NWODCHC [New Wave of DC Hardcore] is so powerful and on the rise. It’s great to see young kids being in the center of it all as well. It’s even cooler to see that all my friends are [getting] on bigger labels, putting the name of DC back on the map. You've got Protester putting a record out on Triple-B Records , Stand Off putting one out on Youngblood , Red Death putting something out on Lockin' Out ... I love it all. My friends are what keep me here, and I love every single one of them and what they're doing," Pure Disgust frontman Rob Watson recently revealed to DC -based publication Bandwidth ; it's fitting that Washington, DC is currently experiencing a period of musical rebirth— nearly some 40 years after 1980's Hardcore founding fathers Bad Brains , Fugazi, Minor Threat , Dag Nasty, Black Flag frontman Henry Rollins , Scream, Rites of Spring , Embrace, etc. initially burst onto the scene. Watson formed...

Denver-bred genre-defying Echo Beds are the inagural signees to politically-charged emcee and former Anticon founder Tim "sole" Holland's latest label venture, Black Box Tapes. I would likely describe Echo Beds' rather long-winded "overdriventapehissnoisewalllandscapemetaldrumpummelpain- facevolumetherapy" sound of something strangely evocative of what an imagined missing link between late 80's-1990's Industrial Rock forefathers Nine Inch Nails and their critically-acclaimed modern day counterparts, Noise/Aggro-Rap group Death Grips; an obtuse indefinable sound, better yet, self-described by vocalist/bass player Keith Curts and beat-maker Tom Nelson as "a caterwaul of contact-mic'd oil drums, broken cymbals, battered basses, unrecognizable tape loops, and dilapidated voices with the expressed intention of volume as therapy and put it through the grinder of self-practiced D.I.Y. ethos;" with all that said, I'm proud to finally be a...