The Witzard

CREDIT: Reid Haithcock American Ethos are a mysterious Punk/Hardcore band based out of New England. I, actually, heard about American Ethos through a recent post made by @simpsonsXcore on Instagram, wherein they re-created the cover for American Ethos' recent self-titled debut full-length. Primarily functioning as the long-time "solo" project of guitarist and frontman Daniel Lajoie, American Ethos has featured a rotating cast of players. First established in 2011, Lajoie's American Ethos released a 3-track Demo Twenty Eleven, followed by a 2015 EP entitled Cosmetics​, and yet another EP in 2018 called Futurism. Last year, right before year's end on December 26th, American Ethos returned once more with their self-titled 12-track debut full-length on Texas-based Conditions Records. For this album, Daniel Lajoie has recruited drummer Mike Moschetto and Ryan Stack, who plays organ on "mulligan" and some guitar licks on "the killing chair" & ...

Happy New Year to all of our trusty readers! 2020 marks 10 consecutive years of The Witzard, which is a little hard to believe, even for me! It's been a great ride thus far and we greatly appreciate everyone that visits and supports our site on a regular basis! I'm hoping to do a full site re-design in 2020 (something I've wanted to do for a few years!) but my wife and I are expecting our first child this Summer... so, we'll just have to see what happens, honestly. Hope everyone had a happy and safe holidays season! Here's a selection of new singles that were released over the holidays; let's just call it a best of 2019 year-end/2020 kick-off singles feature. Truth be told, these are some of our favorite artists here at The Witzard and we're excited to see/hear what they have in store for 2020! Festive Beastie Boys artwork courtesy of Pollywog Crew (@pollywogcrew.) Sincerely, Matt "The Witzard" Horowitz It's A New Year, Wavy Baby! ...

Man Bites Dog Records (MBDR) is a Woodbridge, Virginia-based Hip-Hop imprint. It's run by CEO/Founder R.M.L. AKA Ryan, VP/Director A&R Roc Marciano, and main producer/studio engineer Kount Fif. Their current roster consists of Roc Marciano, AG Da Coroner, Playdough, Bronze Nazareth, Stu Bangas, Vanderslice, Esoteric, Eddie B, and more. MBDR's back catalog additionally consists of critically-acclaimed releases from the likes of ANKHLEJOHN, Copywrite, Curly Castro, Blue Sky Black Death AKA BSBD, Illogic & Blockhead, Wu-Tang Clan's Killah Priest, and Vast Aire. Earlier this year, Man Bites Dog Records released a phenomenal joint effort from Uncommon Nasa & Kourt Fif entitled City As School boasting features throughout from Guilty Simpson, Tek from Smif-N-Wessun, Sadat X, Shortrock, DJ Ragz, and Last Sons' DJ Furious P. Happy Holidays by Man Bites Dog Records Now, just before year's end, MBDR have returned with their second proper release of 2019; Happy ...

Just in time for Hanukkah, Your Old Droog AKA YOD has returned with his third full-length album of 2019. Jewelry was surprise-released on Monday, December 23, 2019—the first full day of Hanukkah—along with a special holiday blessing from Droog : "A Chanukah Celebration." Jewelry is the proper follow-up to both It Wasn't Even Close & Transportation , which were surprise-released in succession in a very similar fashion earlier this year. Jewelry is a sonic celebration of Your Old Droog 's own Jewish heritage, which he is now officially revealing publicly for the first time. For Jewelry , YOD recruited Tha God Fahim , Quelle Chris, Preservation , Edan, and CohenBeats on the production end of things with frequent collaborator Mach-Hommy as Executive Producer. Droog receives lyrical assists from the likes of Mach-Hommy , fellow Jewish emcee Matisyahu, The Metal Face Villain himself, MF DOOM , and Tha God Fahim. Jewelry 's companion cover artwork was desi...

CREDIT: Jan Weissenfeldt "I can't believe these guys are from Germany and speak with thick German accents when not singing. Also can't believe it's a relatively new recording. They nailed it," Peanut Butter Wolf wrote within the liner notes to PEANUT BUTTER WOLF PRESENTS - BADD SANTA: A STONES THROW RECORDS XMAS. The Soul-Saints Orchestra's "Santa's Got A Bag of Soul" is featured along with a slew of festive favorites and lesser-known holiday classics hand-selected by Wolf himself. BADD SANTA additionally boasts selections from James Pants, Free Design, 69 Boys & Quad City DJ's, Bruce Haack, James Brown, and Baron Zen. The Soul-Saints Orchestra (or The Soul-Saints) was, actually, a short-lived side-project of The Poets of Rhythm; featuring Boris Geiger AKA Bo Baral, Jan "Curly" Krause, Jan Weissenfeldt AKA J.J. Whitefield, Malte Müller-Egloff AKA Wolf Schlick, Max "Muggy" Weissenfeldt, and Michael "Treetop...

CREDIT: Kara Donnelly (@kza_) Bacchae are a DC-based Post-punk/Riot grrrl, Pop Punk, and Synth Punk group consisting of vocalist/keyboardist Katie McD, drummer Eileen "O." O'Grady, guitarist Andrew "B." Breiner, and bassist Rena "H." Hagins. Formed in 2016 by four friends from various musical projects with minimal experience, Bacchae "make music with no assumptions about what a "Punk band" should sound like." Since 2016, Bacchae have self-released a home-mixed 2016 Demo and a cassette entitled Down The Drain, as well as a self-titled 5-track EP last year. Now, Bacchae have returned with the announcement of their debut full-length, Pleasure Vision, to be released next year on Get Better Records. Earlier this week, Bacchae issued the second single, "Leave Town," from Pleasure Vision, which was preceded by "Everything Ugly" this past May; "'Leave Town" is a pronouncement against predators," Bacc...

Chris Gethard is a self-proclaimed "comedian, author," and... "telephone call enthusiast," who was born and raised in West Orange, New Jersey. You may know Gethard from his podcast, Beautiful Stories from Anonymous People (Beautiful/Anonymous,) his books, Lose Well and A Bad Idea I'm About to Do: True Tales of Seriously Poor Judgement & Stunningly Awkward Adventure, or roles on The Chris Gethard Show , Parks & Recreation, The Other Guys , or Broad City. Little-know fact: Chris Gethard is, also, a wrestling super-fan and was once a staff writer for Weird N.J. He was even interviewed as part of an installment of the RTF WRESTLING FANZINE! a few years back, as well. Gethard now resides in Queens, New York, but has decided to return to his roots for his latest Comedy album, TAYLOR HAM, PORK & CHEESE: A COMEDIC TRIBUTE TO NEW JERSEY . Full Disclosure: for those who may not already know, I, too, was born and raised and still reside in South Jersey ...