The Witzard

Since Halloween '62.

A couple jams for the Hallo-Weekend! Lemondheads cover of The Misfits' "Skulls." From the Favourite Spanish Dishes EP . And the 1981 Misfits punk classic!.. From Legacy of Brutality, 12 Hits from Hell, and Collection II. Here's to a happy, safe, and SCARY Halloween!

Hypothetical Pauly D quote: "Oh yeah, Most Magical Place on Earth!... YEAH!"

George Lewis, Jr. is "Twin Shadow." He makes Electronic music with synths, guitars, and drum machines. His debut album, Forget , was just released on Terrible (Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear's record label). I bought a digital version of it during a Limited Time Sale for $1. It's worth that, and much more! [I heard that the album has moved 1,000 units since Sept. 28.] At times, George's voice reminds me of Smiths-era Morrissey. The music has a very DIY '80's feel to it; But at the same time, it sounds fresh and innovative. Rough Trade (UK) is issuing a version of Forget along with a bonus disc. It's their Albums Club "Album of the Month" for Oct. The Rough Trade Bonus Disc version includes basically every other Twin Shadow track that's floating around - Remixes, collaborations, and B-sides. Both discs are definitely worth checking out! The "Slow" video is a rip off/homage of some racy '90's Calvin Klein ads. Surfer Blood...

Frank Zappa (Francis Vincent Zappa), I don't even know where to start. Zappa was an amazing musician, filmmaker, composer, activist, producer, and over-all character... But he's not for everyone. Some words used to commonly describe Zappa include: funny, offensive, eccentric, genius, pioneer, weirdo, cult hero. From 1966 up until his untimely death in '93, he put out hundreds of albums. [I've been into Zappa for years, and I've still only seen the tip of the iceberg.] He jumped all over the Genre Map - Playing styles ranging from Rock and Jazz to Experimental and Classical. Frank was also one of the early pioneers of sampling in the '80's, making use of the Synclavier. Oh yeah, and he named his 4 kids Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet Emuukha Rodan and Diva Thin Muffin Pigeen - CLASSIC! So, check out The Man, The Myth, The Legend... Frank Zappa. Here's 2 of my favourites: From Hot Rats (1969). Off The Mother's 1972 live album, Just Another Band from L.A.

Thought I'd post some cool (Follow-Up) Interviews I stumbled upon in my Web-Surfing Travels. First up, is an interview CuDi did with MTVNews. This is the full-length interview; They've been chopping it up into smaller pieces. Mr. Rager talks about a variety of topics, including: working with Kanye, Mary J Blige and Cage, "CHRISTIAN DIOR DENIM FLOW," his new "Rock" direction, being over rapping, fans, and * upcoming projects with Dot Da Genius (WiZard) and Chip Tha Ripper (Almighty GloryUS). cudi mtvnep Uploaded by yardie4lifever2 . - More video blogs and vloggers. And secondly, XLR8R TV an interview with El Guincho. XLR8R posted it along with their recent "Flying Solo: Barcelona's El Guincho Creates a Greatest Hits Collection for an Imaginary Genre" feature/interview. The video-interview is definitely a tad bit dated (2008?), but is still very insightful. Pablo talks about growing up in the Canary Islands, some of his influences/musical tastes,...

Figured it'd be cool to post this as a little Halloween "Treat" and as a Tribute to Mike. So, in honor of the holiday and the legend - Here it is, "THRILLER!!!" It really is a classic short-film (music video)! So much so, that there are rumblings of it being made into a feature-length film. Sounds like Mike's choreographer Kenny Ortega ("This Is It," "High School Musical") is in line to direct. The project will reportedly have a $50 million budget, along with a script penned by "Hangover" screenwriter, Jeremy Garelick. Supposedly the plot will stay true to the song's folklore, and follow a storyline that would incorporate aspects of Vincent Price's childhood town. Price was the Narrator/Voice-Over "Rapper" of the original 1983 clip. Let's hope the project gets the "green light" from the Jackson family... Because the ideas sound pretty solid!

I'm fairly new to Dos Esquis - But I do know that they make good beer, along with stellar ad campaigns! And this is indeed shaping up to be another one to add to the list. The company teamed-up with Jersey/New York visual artist KAWS to release a limited run (about 720,000) of 2 custom bottles prints. - ARTIST BRIEF: KAWS (AKA Brian Donnelly) is known for his Pop Art takes on cultural staples. Some of his go-to designs include "X X eyes" and "Mickey Mouse hands." In the past, he has worked with Kanye, Lindsay Lohan/Complex, Vans, BAPE, "Original Fake," Comme des Garçons, Pharrell/N*E*R*D, Nike, and Burton. This is Dos Equis' (Heinekin USA) first 100% viral-only campaign. So, if you're in Mexico City, Guadalajara, or Monterrey any time soon, snatch up a KAWS x Dos Equis 6-pack!

Hands down, my favourite Sinatra track OF ALL TIMES! From the That's Life LP (1966). Frank was backed by an orchestra, arranged and conducted by Ernie Freeman. Many of you might also remember this song from the THUG 2 in-game soundtrack... I used to love to "skate" around to it!

Vincent: "That's a pretty f*¢king good milkshake. I don't know if it's worth five dollars, but it's pretty f*¢king good." (Pulp Fiction) The Dude, Walter & Jesus (Big Lebowski) Mr. White & the kidnapped cop, Marvin Nash (Reservoir Dogs) R2, C-3PO & Frozen Han (Return of the Jedi) And some more of Angus' LEGO creations: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27826007@N05/sets/

New Video-Single from Mad Decent's upcoming "Blow Your Head, Vol. 1: Diplo Presents Dubstep" (Nov. 2).

Part 1, Featured Tracks = Port O'Brien "I Woke Up Today" + Henry Clay People "This Ain't a Scene" Part 2, Featured Track = Lightspeed Champion "Midnight Sunrise" In lamest terms, Wakeskating is like a mash-up of surfing/wakeboarding & skateboarding. This Nike 6.0 video (broken down into 2 parts here, for the purposes of YouTube) highlights the up-and-coming talent in this fresh, new water sport. If I ever get around to making a "Bucket List," this will most def be added to it!

Sailing Tour Book/Program (1979) Christopher Cross & Michael McDonald. From Christopher Cross' Self-Titled 1979 debut album, which famously won him 5 Grammy's in 1980. 1 of the 5 even beating out Pink Floyd's The Wall (Album of the Year). * I'm not sure exactly which tracks, but the Christopher Cross LP inner-sleeve also lists Don Henley (Eagles) & Eric Johnson as "Featured Performers." Take in the Soft Rock smoothness!

Yeah, this is a Nine Inch Nails Queen cover! From the upcoming Pretty Hate Machine Re-issue (Nov. 22). Originally released on the "5in" (Halo 4) UK Single, it will serve as a Bonus Track on the band's re-mastered debut album. According to Trent Reznor himself, it will be an over-all "greatly improved sonic experience." The new cover [shown above] is also a Rob Sheridan re-interpretation of the original Gary Talpas cover art. For good measure,

This debuted on MTV, VH1, BET, and MTV2, etc. the other night. Directed by Kanye, Starring Kanye (Griffin) and Selita Ebanks (The Phoenix). Shot in Prague over 4 days. Features 9 tracks from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (Nov. 22). - "Dark Fantasy," "Gorgeous," "POWER," "All of the Lights," "Devil In a New Dress," "RUNAWAY," "Hell of a Life," "Blame Game," and "Lost In the World." Yeah, it's a little abstract... But I think it'll really work well as a companion piece to the album. Kanye is a true artist in every sense. Slightly dirtier version @ http://kanyewest.com/ Enjoy!

2 samplings of Earmilk, from 2 FRESH new bands. Summer Camp is Singer/Songwriter Jeremy Warmsley and Journalist/Writer Elizabeth Sankey. At their formation, they were thought to be a Pop group made up of 7 friends from Sweden. Makes sense - The band casually references the '80's (Heathers, John Hughes, Sixteen Candles) and uses old, cheesy pictures as their artwork/promo pics. * BONUS, Check out their photo- blog of swiped retro snapshots: http://summercampband.blogspot.com/ Broken Bells is James Meecer (The Shins) and Danger Mouse ("Grey Album," The Black Keys, DANGER DOOM, Gorillaz, Beck). They are one hell of a (somewhat odd) duo! James and Brian met while working on a track for the Sparklehorse/Danger Mouse collaborative project, "Dark Night of the Soul." The Broken Bells album really came out of nowhere, and is one of the best set of songs I've heard in a while. * BONUS 2, Create your own 3-D version of the "October" video-single: http://...

“Trent Reznor, Thom Yorke.. they don't even try for the radio anymore, cause they don't want to do the ten-city tour that I'm doing. They're like, 'Nah, I'm not doing that.' But what song in the last ten years is competing with "Closer? " In music, the artists you feel are the best, you don't hear, and the artists you feel are the weakest, you hear all the f*¢king time. I decided to not say, 'F*¢k Pop Culture' when Pop Culture said, 'F*¢k me.'" - From the 10/21 "RUNAWAY" NY Screening/Q&A Sesh Mr. West posted this (or something like it) on his old blog, a year or 2 ago. nine inch nails - closer behind the scenes from dori doreau on Vimeo .

Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard zanimal | Myspace Video Paul Simon, Biz, Big Daddy Kane & Julio Down By the Schoolyard

- Every year around this time, when the cold weather rolls around, I start to listen to "Summertime Music." Through the Winter, right up until Summer. This year, the Most Frequently Played is El Guincho. Pablo Díaz-Reixa just released his new album, "Pop Negro," under his AKA. I just got a copy of the LP last week. From what I can gather, the loose "concept" of the album is - Pablo making the Greatest Hits for an imaginary musical style, also serving as the album's title (which roughly translates to "Black Octopus" in Catalan). Pablo delved back into the history of Pop(ular) Music. Realizing that a good amount of the big hit singles made use of the same producers and engineers. The record was crafted using many of the styles, techniques, instruments... It's like a cheat sheet to Pop Music. Oh, and it's all in Spanish; But that's the beauty of Pop, it transcends boundaries. Makes you like things you don't realize/understand. T...

Stones Throw, 2009.

The other nonsensical, fish-eye "Mr. Rager"/Goldwatch collabos. (#1) Man on the Moon: The End of the Day, Act I, Track Dos (#2) "cudderisback," Vampire Weekend "Ottoman" Promo Freestyle KiD CuDi "cudderisback" - Directed by Jason Goldwatch - DatNewCudi.com from DatNewCudi / DP on Vimeo . GET FAMILIAR!!! + RAGE, compadres!

Pretty basic premise here... I got a new KiD CuDi 45 (7" single) in the mail last week. Feast on some Audio/Visual ACTION like it's Thanksgiving! A-side: KiD CuDi & The Goldwatch - "Erase Me" [-feat. Kanye] New Video-Single, also staring Christopher "McLovin" Mintz-Plasse. Directed by Jason Goldwatch ("Soundtarck to My Life," "Cudderisback," Jay Electronica, The Roots "Dear God 2.0," Shakira "She Wolf" Web commercial). B-side: The "REVofEV" Promo Single #1. Guerrilla BAPE Store Show, Part of the VEVO "Go Show" Series. [The track starts @ about 1:40 in. - Interview's pretty cool though, too.] * CuDi's second album, "Man on the Moon 2: The Legend of Mr. Rager" is out Nov. 9, 2010 AD.