The Witzard

"I think [we're] probably the world's only Indo-Pak rap group - peace process never sounded so rowdy," @SwetShopBoys triumphantly Tweeted on the eve of their premier single release, "Benny Lava." It's former Das Racist member Himanshu Suri (Heems) new 2-man group with Pakistan by way of London rapper, Riz MC ; Heems on the other hand, is a successful New York -based rapper and entrepreneur of Indian descent. Swet Shop Boys decided to rhyme over a recycled 2011 Ryan Hemsworth beat, which takes it's name from a mondegreen, Internet video re-interpretation, that's aptly titled "Benny Lava." It's all firmly anchored by Heems' neck-snapping first four bars: "Yo, Himanshu with the pen, I'm killing it / The white man the villain, them deny them penicillin / Syphilis experiments, death to the Tuskegee men / Somewhere in New York they say death to the squeegee men." The companion Prashant Bhargava & Tanu...

While drummer Patrick Carney recently initiated senseless cyber-beef with everyone from Justin Bieber to Bruce Jenner , The Black Keys really make an infectious brand of no-frills 2-man Rock "N" Roll . Their new album, Turn Blue was announced last Friday via Mike Tyson 's Twitter and was later vaguely described as "A: suffocation, B: sadness, C: numbness from extreme cold, D: a Cleveland late night TV host from the 1960's named Ghoulardi , E: all of the above." Dan Auerbach & Patrick Carney co-produced the album's 11 tracks alongside Danger Mouse , a Hip-Hop -leaning producer who helped oversee The Black Keys' last three albums. Along with an album pre-order, ahead of it's May 13th release, our first taste of Turn Blue , "Fever" was unleashed Monday afternoon; it's a 4-minute synth-soaked Psych-Rock romp that's essentially poised for modern rock radio. Now, I wouldn't exactly call "Fever" Auerbach a...

Under the cover of night, late Saturday night into Sunday morning, Jay Electronica uploaded a new track with label boss Jay Z , "We Made It." It's pretty crazy to imagine, let alone actually hear, Jay Electronica rapping over a beat initially laced up by both Soulja Boy and Drake , which ends up being his third track released in a month's time (more than 2012-13 combined). According to okayplayer , Jay Z recently asked Electronica which "turn up" [hit record] they should attempt to jump on and he suggested "OG Bobby Johnson," but HOV ultimately picked "We Made It" instead. While it was initially released as Soulja Boy 's lead-off The King mixtape track, Drake further popularized "We Made It" during his Nothing Was The Same (2013) album roll-out campaign. Preceded only by rookie producer Purp Dogg 's extremely well-played Eastbound & Down -referencing intro, Jay Electronica ferociously rhymes: "Th...

Miguel has unleashed his own unique rendition of Elton John 's classic Glam-Rock romp "Bennie & The Jets," which kinda sounds like a modern day version of Sly & The Family Stone . It's one of nine meticulously re-recorded super deluxe edition covers set to appear on the 40th anniversary edition of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road . Miguel manages to keep John's original piano melody intact, while inter-splicing an Electro-Hip-Hop , almost Space-Funk -leaning backing groove. About half-way through "Bennie & The Jets," you can year Maybach Music Group veteran rapper Wale , who sounds a little bit more displaced than Miguel . Sir Reginald Dwight himself recently told Rolling Stone that Miguel & Wale's updated version "really makes the best of what the song is all about. And it's an unusual song. it's not what I think is a hit record, but then that's probably why it was a hit record, because it didn't sound like anyt...

"This album is about growing up, and that second coming of age you have when you're already an adult. It's about being a grown-up and having a job and responsibilities and still feeling fragile and uncertain," Fucked Up guitarist and songwriter Mike Haliechuk recently told Consequence of Sound about their upcoming new album, Glass Boys . "It's also about us being in a band for 12-13 years, and what started as this weird hobby has become almost like a job," he continued. Matador Records will unleash the slightly "more chill and less OCD" record in comparison against their concept album, David Comes to Life (2011) on June 3rd; the skull-bashing Canadian Hardcore band secretly recorded Glass Boys between April 2013 and Feb. 2014 with veteran producer Bill Skibbe at his privately-owned Key Club Recording Company . Fucked Up 's righteously poppy pseudo-lead single, "Paper The House" was actually filmed by Scott Cudmore and J...

"Just dropped the first video from #DEATHDRIVE, "Old Gods Ain't Dead," read a brief less than 140 character @mcsole Tweet; "Old Gods Ain't Dead," which was produced by DJ Pain 1 , premiered over at French online music magazine New Noise's site early Tuesday morning. I first made contact with Tim Holland aka Sole around 2010-11 during the crowd-sourced album roll-out campaign for his stellar politically-charged "rap as journalism" freestyle series, Nuclear Winter, Vol. 2 (Death Panel) . Soon thereafter, he released an album and companion EP with The Skyrider Band , two full-length solo albums across 2012-13, an instrumental Hip-Hop project, and a couple odds-and-ends compilations. " DEATHDRIVE combines modern Pop/Rap aesthetics with the political edge reminiscent of Hip-Hop classics such as Fear of a Black Planet . Sole & DJ Pain 1 utilize the Golden Era Hip-Hop approach of a rapper and DJ without employing gimmicks...

There's an old English proverb that goes something like "just ask and you shall receive," a phrase which Twitter user @Erick_Grady can whole-heartedly attest to; he initially Tweeted, " @JayElectronica I think this would be a perfect time for you to drop that "Better In Tune" record" late Friday night. Following a week full of random photo-opps at SXSW , the reclusive rapper almost immediately uploaded "Better In Tune with The Infinite" from his long-rumored Act II: Patents of Nobility (the turn) to his newly-formed CRACKTRACKS Soundcloud account, FACT further reports that "Better In Tune" actually lifts it's string-based instrumental from Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto 's piece, "Bibo No Aozona" (2006). It also manages to inter-splice a re-appropriated intro speech from The Wizard of Oz , spoken word dialog from Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad , and the lush vocal stylings of LaTonya Give...