The Witzard

Let me just start out by saying that I've been a die-hard Roots fan for about 10 years now, since The Tipping Point (2004). But after seeing The Legendary Roots Crew LIVE @ House of Blues last night [Dec. 28th], while their frequently-released studio albums are great sounding, they pale in comparison to the band's FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC stage show. We're talking about a gang of Classically -trained musicians playing blazin' solos and breaks... synchronized Motown dance routines throughout and when drummer ?uestlove accidentally pummeled into the wrong beat mid-song, he and his Philly -bred buddies just laughed it off and kept going. The best damn thing about a Roots show is the sheer unexpected, versatility of the material to pull from - Nearly 14 records -worth of Hip-Hop/Deep Soul , a feat which most seasoned Rock "N" Roll bands couldn't even rival. Black Thought & ?uestlove proceeded to lead bandmates Captain Kirk, Tuba Gooding Jr., Frank...

When taken quite literally, David Bowie 's Folk Rock -laden "Space Oddity" (1969) is about an astronaut "sitting in a tin can, far above the world" gazing back down @ his home planet from the depths of outer-space. But I bet Ziggy Stardust , nor anyone else for that matter, would've ever imagined that a man could actually manage to write/record a song in a Canadian space shuttle orbiting over the Mediterranean . I've always been pretty fascinated with NASA , space travel, constellations, etc. But this most recent technological advancement is CRAZY/cool on a whole 'nother level!; Chris Hadfield has been steadily updating us mere Earthlings through Facebook , Twitter , and Reddit during his long, tedious process of launching into space. The infamous space recording has been rumored for a while now and "Jewel In The Night" was finally released on December 23rd, just in time for Christmas . I'm guessing Hadfield somehow transmit...

Freeway pretty much pulled out all the stops for his latest mixtape, Black Santa EP : rapped verses from Iman Shumpert/Rasheed Wallace (The Knicks) and champion boxer Adrien "The Problem" Broner , a clever Kenny Loggins sample, spear-heading the State Property reunion, and releasing a DOPE holiday-themed mixtape just in time for Christmas . I've always thought that Freeway was a talented, criminally under-rated emcee and over the years, he's been affiliated with powerhouse labels like Roc-a-Fella , Cash Money, Rhymesayers , and G.O.O.D. Music. Freeway 's critically acclaimed debut, Philadelphia Freeway (2003) was [executive] produced by Jay-Z , Just Blaze, and Kanye ... as well as star-studded guest features from Snoop , Mariah Carey, Peedi Crakk , Nelly, and Nate Dogg . Black Santa EP features some note-worthy production work from the likes of Jake One , Statik Selektah, DJ SNS , and Jumbo Beats; But one particular track, "Roc Re-loaded" (Re...

Just wanted to take a minute to wish everyone a "Happy" holiday season: Christmas, Hannukah, New Years , Festivus , Kwanzaa , etc. I'm running on fumes, pretty drained from muling at the super-market all week, and man, am I ready to eat, drink & be merry! I'd like to wish everyone a happy, safe holiday with you and yours... Thought I'd take a few minutes this Christmas Eve Eve to upload a little somethin' about this here [oddly endearing] musical nugget, before taking a few days off to CELEBRATE; 90-year-old veteran actor, Christopher Lee seems to have quite the admiration for Heavy Metal - So much so that he decided to record/release a mini-EP appropriately titled, A Heavy Metal Christmas upon the masses this 2012-13 holiday season. Christopher Lee , along with Hedras Ramos Jr. (guitar), Ollie Usiskin (drums), and Hedras Ramos Sr. (bass) dubbed up a couple spirited covers of "Little Drummer Boy" and "Silent Night," which a...

"The Throwaway" was either lifted off an old mid-90's Beat CD or DAT, which might've come from J Dilla 's hometown storage locker that Jeff Bubeck infamously stumbled upon last April. After a little bit of Internet-fueled confusion, Dilla's personal effects were rightfully returned to his mother, Maureen "Ma Dukes" Yancey - This including: nearly 8,000 vinyl LP's, pieces of mail, Slum Village paperwork, hand-written notes, and a gaggle of cassette/Beat CD-R's, etc. "The Throwaway" is out first audio-file snippet from Delicious Vinyl 's upcoming Frank Nitt -orchestrated Yancey Boys album, "The Lost Scrolls" (2013). It's the fifth posthumous J Dilla release... right behind The Shining , Jay Love Japan EP, Jay Stay Paid , and Rebirth of Detroit. Frank Nitt and J Dilla 's little brother, Illa J , decided to cruise around LA and visit some of Dilla's favoutite sun-soaked landmarks, which Josh Polon e...

Blink-182 were my [first] favourite band through most of middle school and high school. while I own nearly all of their 8-10 CD's and rare pressings, the "Blink-182" section on my iPod is fairly short and sweet, cause their music's just engrained in my head! Take Off Your Pants & Jacket is HANDS DOWN one of my all time favourite albums, Cheshire Cat/Dude Ranch are late 90's Hardcore classics, and The Enema Strikes Back is quite arguably the best recorded live album since KISS ALIVE ! (1975). Mark, Tom & Travis turned me onto great bands like Black Flag , Rancid , Misfits , Fugazi, Fall Out Boy , and Motion City Soundtrack through their well-written liner notes and interviews. I can vividly remember talking about Blink-182 (Untitled) during Gym class either junior or senior year; Like most of Blink 's albums and side projects, it was released right on the cusp of spring/summer. It was a "perfectly progressive" Punk Rock album, writ...

(1) What's up, Kassa & TECLA!? First off, it's a pretty bold statement releasing your first mini-collection on the last day of the world! Was that intentional or just completely random? Nothing is unintentional. 2) How would you guys describe the overall sound of CABIN IN THE WOODS EP? What sorta music influenced it's creation, cause it's pretty unique sounding! Both of us come from musical backgrounds with extremely wide varieties. TECLA went from Classically trained pianist to Punk Rock front-girl, and Kassa went from Jazz drum virtuoso to mosh-pitting rapper so... When stuck in a cabin in the woods together, I guess this is what came out. (3) Let's just say today is the end of the world, for arguments sake... What are your plans for the day/night, all things considered? Same thing we do every day, pinky... (4) Is the apocalypse a running theme on CABIN IN THE WOODS EP and if not, what were you going for? We didn't actually have a theme. ...

"Fuck 1 Time" is quite arguably the most gripping, utterly revealing music video of 2012. It was filmed in the post-apocalyptic-looking world that is Lower East Side [New York] after Hurricane Sandy ; Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire 's face is dimly lit by whatever lighting Shane Annas and crew could scrounge together... flashlights, police car "cherry tops," mag lights, cell phones, etc. It's an eerily realistic clip that chronicles one of the toughest, most unifying natural disasters our nation as a whole has been through since Katrina (2005). The track's pulled from Mr. MFN eXquire 's guerrilla mixtape, The Man In The High Castle , which Universal has essentially pulled from the vast cyber-waves of The Internet . Sonically, he kinda sounds like a comic book/ WWE -loving mix between Biggie & ODB . Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire rolls with a crew of up-and-coming New York area rappers: Action Bronson , El-P, Danny Brown , Das Racist , Go...

Yeah, I basically drafted up a few terms and then coined one, "Neo-Classical Psych Rock," to help better describe SPACIN' s particularly unique, noisy sound. It's members all hailing from Philly , the band's sound seems like a by-product of Hardcore Punk and Noise/Garage Rock . SPACIN' is fronted by Jason Killinger and it's kinda a side project of his old band, Birds of Maya ; In the studio, he's joined by Paul Sukeena , Sean Hamilton , and his wife Eva on guitar/bass/drums (respectively) on their righteous Richie Records debut, Deep Thuds EP... I think it'd be safe to assume that SPACIN' are influenced by guys like Iggy & The Stooges , Velvet Underground, Black Sabbath , Ty Segall, and Pixies . While they've only unleashed roughly 8-10 tracks, SPACIN' really managed to effectively display a colorful, wide variety of styles on Deep Thuds : Psychedelic Rock, Noise Rock , riff-heavy Rock "N" Roll, Power Pop , Post-...

The Police were a 1970-80's Reggae -tinged Classic Rock band, who would in turn inspire Hawaiian Blue-Eyed Soul singer, Bruno Mars some 35 years later; an influence that's especially noticeable on his latest single, "Locked Out of Heaven," which was recently remixed by zombie-slaying Dancehall king, Major Lazer . Between recording/releasing Doo-Wops & Hooligans (2010) and it's proper follow-up Unorthodox Jukebox , Mars got slapped with coke possession and slowly started straying away from his "cookie-cutter" image. Sound-wise, Unorthodox Jukebox is a little more edgy and Experimental... cause Bruno Mars & The Smeezingtons [production team] linked up with a bunch of A-List producers: Jeff Bhasker , Mark Ronson, Benny Blanco , Supa Dups, and Paul Epworth . If we're excluding his stripclub anthem - "Money Make Her Smile" (Diplo), "Show Me" is quite arguably one of the album's most interesting tracks. It's...

Madison Square Garden held a benefit concert for Hurricane Sandy last night, appropriately dubbed "12-12-12." I didn't get a chance to watch the concert, but I guess it was on TV from about 7:30-1am; Rock "N" Roll greats like The Rolling Stones , Billy Joel, The Who , Roger Waters & Eddie Vedder, Eric Clapton , Chris Martin, and Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band performed colorful sets. It looks like The Who ripped through damn-near a full album, while everyone else just plated 2-3 quick tracks. Adam Sandler covered "Hallelujah," Kanye , Alicia Keys, Michael Stipe , Bon Jovi, and Paul Schaffer (Letterman) managed to roll through, too. But arguably the most buzzed about moment of the night was when Paul McCartney performed with Nirvana 's surviving members: Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic , and touring guitarist Pat Smear . "So recently, some guys asked me to go and jam with them. So I showed up, like you do, ready to jam...

Hey, are you ready to get in "the holiday spirit," but you're growing tired of those same played out Christmas songs that seem to be on constant loop @ every super-market and department store/mall!? If that sounds anything like your annual winter-time scenario, then I'd recommend checking out Sufjan Stevens' latest release, CHOPPED & SCROOGED . Now, I spin all sorts of crazy X-mas albums -- Punk Rock , Steel Drum, Big Band [Swing] , Tijuana Christmas , James Brown , etc... But this well-executed 9-track Hip-Hop mixtape even pleasantly surprised me! Stevens even managed to recruit a bunch of his musically-inclined friends and Asthmatic Kitty labelmates to remix select cuts from his second 5-volume Christmas compilation, Silver & Gold: Songs for Christmas (Vol. 6-10) . The collection's stand-out tracks easily include contributions from Das Racist Heems , kitty pryde/Fol Chen , and Busdriver/Son Lux (Looper) . Falsely billed as as posthumous ...

Almost anybody with a dictionary/thesaurus can rap these days and even your pimply next door neighbor can throw together an average-hard hitting Boom-Bap beat. But sheer personality, genuinely original ideas, SWAG, and top-notch rhythms are what'll really push an aspiring emcee into the limelight [success]. While he just recently inked a record deal with Stones Throw , Queens -based rapper Homeboy Sandman (Angel del Villar II) has been hustling his way towards the top of the Hip-Hop stratosphere for nearly 5-8 years. Since unleashing his full-length debut -- First of a Living Bree d -- for the label back in September, Homeboy Sandman has already released some 5 unique music videos and counting. His latest clip, "VerbalSoulClapMania" actually dates back to 2009 and is a virtually beat-less track; But I'll just go a head and let Mr. Sandman explain this one in his own words... "My boy Photo Rob [Robert Adam Mayer] shot 4 years ago when I was emaciated ra...

One of the great things about Punk Rock is that it hasn't really progressed/digressed much sound-wise since it's late 1970-80's inception. I mean, most 21st Century Punks honestly don't sound all THAT different than pioneers like Iggy & The Stooges or Black Flag . So, I think it's all about sprinkling in personality and a dash of slight progress [style]. Allentown -based Pissed Jeans are kinda a hard band to label... Like is it Hard Rock ? Hardcore? Sludge Metal ? Indie Rock? Pigfuck? My insanely knowledgeable buddy, Jason Morroni basically coined the term "Power Thrash" through text earlier tonight and I'm just gonna go a head and run with that ha. The Jeans took about a 5-year break to "live life" a little bit and then re-formed over the summer to record Honeys with Alex Newport , which'll be out Feb. 12th on Sub Pop . "Bathroom Laughter" is out first LEGIT taste of the album, a collection that Sub Pop fitti...

Dave Grohl is quite arguably the hardest working man in Rock "N" Roll , having laid down drum tracks for everyone from Paul McCartney to Nine Inch Nails . Grohl is a self-taught drummer/guitar player and high school drop-out who's most notable work includes playing with Nirvana, Foo Fighters , and DC Hardcore band Scream . He really isn't your average drugged-out, middle-aged Rockstar . Since Foo Fighters went on a hiatus in October 2012, Dave Grohl has been hard @ work on a number of interesting side projects; He'll be filling in as Queens of The Stone Age 's temporary drummer on their upcoming album, might "get back together and do stuff" with Them Crooked Vultures , has been tirelessly working on his directorial debut... centered around infamous Sound City [studio], recorded a Rick Springfield/Foo Fighters track, playing that 12-12-12 Hurricane Sandy relief concert, and recently filled in for buddy Chelsea Handler on her talk show, Che...

Here's James Franco 's infamous sun-drenched "That Someone Is You" clip; It's #2 of R.E.M. /Franco's long-rumored music video collaboartion(s) unearthed in just under a month. Looks like James Franco carries around a handy dandy flip-cam just about everywhere he goes. "That Someone Is You" is very chill, fun, and laid back in comparison to "Blue"'s underlying Avante Garde [weird] feel. The footage seems to be culled from 2011, when Franco and Anne Hathaway were practicing for their Oscars co-hosting gig... specifically behind-the-scenes footage of them rehearsing a scrapped Grease -inspired bit. What blind dumb-ass decided to cut this CHERRY footage 2 Hollywood A-listers re-creating the closing, over the top "We Go Together" dance scene!? R.E.M. parted ways in September 2011, after 30+ years together, and released their 15th studio album, Collapse Into Now . Oh yeah, Anne Hathaway 's head has been replaced by an...

DMX has either gone completely bat-shit CRAZY or caught an early strain of Holiday Spirit . But I'm just gonna go a head and run with option #1 since in recent years, DMX has gotten locked up, collaborated with Swizz Beatz , picked up a nasty coke habit, and appeared on a couple D-grade celebrity "reality shows." Whatever the case may be, DMX performed a rapped-sung version of "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" LIVE on Power 105.1 Monday morning; It kinda ended up sounding like a schoolyard cypher... complete with hand drum/desktop 1-2 beat and plenty of grizzly-voiced adlibs - WHAT's , COME ON's, and FOREVER's thrown in for extra emphasis. All I know is that mid-90's Ruff Ryders DMX would've whooped this guy's ass, but it's still a highly amusing holiday cover nonetheless. I'm assuming he probably put out a new album semi-recently, but whether or not you wanna risk it and buy a copy is TOTALLY on [up to] you.

Actor-turned-musician Jamie Foxx described a track he recently produced during a Django Unchained/Success Secrets interview as "more or less, an Ennio Morricore Spaghetti Western theme, except with Rick Ross rapping on it." Tom Breihan's article was published in Men's Health last month and now the track in question, "100 Black Coffins," was finally released to the masses late Friday afternoon. It's a pretty interesting juxtaposition overall because for a good chunk of his bars, Ross raps from the perspective of Foxx's character - Django , a la ODB 's CLASSIC delivery on "Ghetto Superstar;" Django Unchained follows the story of a freed slave who ends up morphing into a ruthless bounty hunter @ the hand of Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) and seeks out revenge and his long-lost love, Broomhilda. Quentin Tarantino additionally cast Leonardo DiCaprio , Samuel L. Jackson, Jonah Hill , Kerry Washington, and Don Johnson [Miam...