The Witzard

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...

Hanni el Khatib is the first natural-born American from a family of Palestinian and Filipino immigrants, who bravely heads up his own one-man band on a mission to revive 1950-60's era Rock "N" Roll , classic cars, Greaser chic, and straight razors. Khatib is a talented multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter/producer who's equally influenced by the stylings of Johnny Cash , Sam Cooke, Iggy & The Stooges , Black Sabbath, Johnny Burnette , etc. as well as Blues , Garage Rock, Soul , Folk, and Doo-Wop . Hanni el Khatib linked up with similarly-minded Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach to record his second album, Head In The Dirt , which Innovative Leisure's putting out on April 30th. The pair recorded 11 tracks down in Nashville , soon after Khatib opted to "erase everything he'd become comfortable with and to make an album out of only raw instinct and inspiration." Head In The Dirt 's lead-off single, "Family" now has...

David Bowie quietly unleashed "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)" late Monday night; It's the second pre-release single from his long-awaited/rumored album - The Next Day , which is slated for a world-wide release this upcoming March 8-15th. Bowie has been largely in-active for the bulk of the past 10-12 years... recording with TV on The Radio/Scarlett Johansson , morphed into a fashion icon, re-interpreted in Portuguese for The Life Aquatic , hanging out with Snoop Dogg and Alicia Keys , just growing old gracefully, etc. Producer-bassist Tony Visconti recently called The Next Day "quite a Rock album" that was secretly recorded between 2010-12 with Earl Slick , Gail Ann Dorsey, Sterling Campbell , Zachary Alford, guitarists Gerry Leonard/David Torn , Tony Levin, and saxophonist Steve Elson . Italian film-maker Floria Sigismondi directed "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)"' s companion music video, which co-stars actress Tilda Swinton as David ...

It's already been about 2 weeks since The Grammys aired, by the festive beef/drama is surely still going on. Early last week, a TMZ reporter asked Patrick Carney , whose band The Black Keys nabbed 4 Grammy awards, why he thought the academy didn't nominate Justin Bieber for an awards... to which Carney replied, "He's rich, right? I mean, I don't know. Grammys are like, for music, not for money and he's making a lot of money. I don't know - he should be happy, I guess." That's a pretty tame, politically correct response, but Bieber soon Tweeted " the black keys drummer should be slapped around haha." Patrick Carney quickly retaliated by changing his Twitter handle to "Justin Bieber" last weekend [Feb. 15-17th]. Tweeting @ terribly mis-led fans, harboring harsh responses, and ultimately Rick-Rolling unsuspecting Bieber fans with a NEW WORLD PREMIER, which actually ended up being "Recombo DNA" (1977). When...

Sean Price is a former member of 90's Underground Rap crews, Heltah Skeltah/Boot Camp Clik (who supposedly worked on 2pac 's last project ). My old Shop Rite buddy, Jarrad Jenkins first turned me onto Sean Price around like 2005-06, who had only released Monkey Barz and Donkey Sean, Jr. [mixtape] @ that point. Price's third solo album, Mic Tyson has been in-the-works since 2009 and after numerous delays and pushed back dates, Duck Down finally unleashed the album back in October '12. Evidence & DJ Babu produced the latest video-single pulled from Mic Tyson 's 15-song tracklist, "BBQ Sauce." It does a pretty damn great job @ showcasing the Brownsville, BKLYN native's criminally under-rated sharp tongue, un-matched cadence, and witty rhyme schemes. Pharoahe Monch co-stars in it's companion Todd Angkasuwan -directed music video, which super-imposes Sean Mandela into a number of historical events, TV shows, school sports, etc: ...

Bad-ass vampire/vampire slayer flicks have been a pretty solid Hollywood mainstay for the bulk of the past 50+ years; We're talkin' about shit like Dracula , Interview with a Vampire, The Lost Boys , Blade, Buffy Vampire Slayer , etc. - NOT those pussified, glistening love-stuck "vampires" from Twilight or whatever! While I was a little too young for The Coreys' Lost Boys (1987) and even Blade's late 90's reign of terror, I can vaguely remember Sarah Michelle Gellar 's sheer ass-whooping hotness... I guess former- Das Racist swordsmen Heems is a champion of OG vampires, too because from what I understand, his latest music video for "Desi Shoegaze Taiko" re-purposes Stephen Norrington 's opening scenes from Blade (1998). It's basically a Wesley Snipes -less scenario with a room-full of white people gettin' downright Funky @ some sort of weirdly awesome [and bloody unsanitary] vampire rave/BLOODBATH, which appropriately ...

Just a few short years after the demise of his long-time Alternative Rock band The Czars and soon after his 1970's-inspired debut solo album Queen of Denmark (2010), John Grant decided to move from Colorado all the way to Iceland on a whim. Grant had initially planned to record it's follow-up, Pale Green Ghost , with his buddies from Midlake once again. But while vacationing over in Iceland sometime between 2011-12, John Grant linked up with Electro -producer Biggi Veira (Gus Gus) and the 2 almost immediately recorded "Pale Green Ghosts" and "Black Belt." Bella Union/ Partisan Records will co-release Pale Green Ghosts this upcoming May 13-14th world-wide. "If Queen of Denmark is Grant's 70's album, channeling the spirits of Karen Carpenter and Bread , then Pale Green Ghosts is his 80's album," recounts label Bella Union in it's lengthy featured biography on John Grant . John Grant & Biggi Veira 's in...