The Witzard

Run The Jewels are already poised to be a little different than El-P & Killer Mike 's previous collaborations because it'll feature the 2 emcees trading bars, rather than just acting as rapper/producer. The LL Cool J -inspired "dream team" are planning to unleash a currently untitled free album [mixtape] by June on Fool's Gold . "Get It" is our first LEGIT taste of what Run The Jewels really have in store for the unsuspecting world of Hip-Hop , unless you count that short and sweet 90-second "Banana Clipper" sample. Tom Breihan recently attempted to describe "Get It" 's overall sound as "someone beating up Kanye 's "Clique" with an aluminum baseball bat," which I think is a pretty accurate description for El-P 's borderline mainstream, robot squall-accented brand of Experimental Hip-Hop . It's almost impossible to explain how HARD this track hits using mere words... so, here's a...

It's a collaboration that no one really expected, but everyone secretly dreamt about and longed for: [MF] DOOM & Clams Casino ! We're talkin' about the most mysterious man in Hip-Hop and rising Cloud Rap beat-maker, Mike Volpe (Clams Casino). The Nutley, NJ native's self-released Instrumentals 1-2 mixtapes (2011-12) are arguably right up there with classic DOOM albums Operation: Doomsday , Mm.. Food, and MADVILLAINY , and MF DOOM Meets Clutchy Hopkins. @clammyclams Tweeted early Monday morning, "new track (feat. DOOM ) available now at new site CLAMMYCLAMS.COM ," which in turn, linked to Soundcloud . "BOOKFIEND" essentially features DOOM spitting wordy, dense rhymes about occult leader Alistair Crowly , Kindle tablets, allusions to "November Has Come," whatever the Hell Tetragrammaton is, and Netflix over a spaced out Clams Casino beat... "It's Netflix to the head, second best trick to get chicks to the bed....

Pay Jay , quite arguably the "Holy Grail" of unreleased J Dilla material, briefly leaked online a few years ago; The infamous MCA -commissioned vocal album that Dilla recorded with friends-producers ?uestlove & Karriem Riggins , Nottz, Kanye , Pete Rock, Supa Dave West , Hi-Tek, and Bink! [Dawg] . From what I can remember, it featured a pre- "Takeover" Doors ("Five to One") sample flip, a Funky Vanity 6 "Drive Me Wild" cover, and just one previously released track - " Fuck The Police." Thankfully, Maureen "Ma Dukes" Yancey recently re-gained the rights to a storage locker full of old DAT and 2-inch tape masters, which were obviously used to re-mix/master the 11+ tracks. Pay Jay Productions plans to release The Diary sometime during 2013-14 and it's material represents the unknown period in-between J Dilla 's self-produced Rap albums, Welcome 2 Detroit and Ruff Draft EP (2001-02). Standout track ...

Los Porcos are a band of self-proclaimed "Disco House Pigs" hailing from New Pork City ; Consisting of 3 former members of recently defunct Manchester band WU LYF , as well as musicians from FAMY and Profondo . Tom McClung, Joe Manning, Evans Kati , and the rest of the band played their first show in London last night, April 25th @ Jones' Disco (Salon Club). Los Porcos' Facebook page was mysteriously registered way back in Sept. 2012 and 2 Yacht Rock -inspired tracks, "Do You Wanna Live?" and "Jesus Luvs U Baby," were uploaded to Soundcloud last month. Honestly, I think the Jones' Disco show flyer describes Los Porcos' 1960-70's Funk -drenched sound best, "pumpin' the smoothest tracks of New Pork City all over town, coming up through the dancefloor & into your trotters. Said we got the groove! "You fake The Funk [and] your nose'll grow."' Needless to say, WU LYF/Los Porcos didn't r...

While he's arguably years past his heyday, Marshall "Eminem" Mathers really set the stage for white-bred rappers and seems to have inspired a whole new generation's-worth of angry young white men: Atmosphere , Macklemore, RiFF RAFF , Asher Roth , Mac Miller, Action Bronson , etc. Mac Miller just never really seemed interesting enough for me to wanna check out. But it looks like he's starting to align himself with a slew of genuinely skilled rappers/producers that includes Earl Sweatshirt , Ab-Soul, Freddie Gibbs , Hodgy Beats, ScHoolboy Q , Thundercat, Pharrell , and executive producer Diplo. Mac Miller 's become a lot more interesting since he started releasing material under his assorted Larry Fisherman , Larry Dollaz, and Larry Lovestein & The Velvet Revival aliases, too. We're talkin' about beautiful Bright Eyes and Elliott Smith covers, hard-hitting Hip-Hop beats, a 5-track Jazz EP, and an instrumental mixtape called Run-on Sentences (...

Quasimoto is one of producer/rapper extraordinaire Madlib 's many alter-egos; But this one's a brick-wielding yellow critter with a high-pitched voice and an affinity for weed smoke. Rumors of a new Lord Quas album titled Yessir Whatever began to swirl earlier this month, which ends up being a 12-track "Odds & Sods" style comp. album. Stones Throw lamented that " Yessir Whatever collects 12 tracks made by Madlib & Quasimoto over a roughly 12-year period. A few were released on rare and out-of-print vinyl, while a few others are previously unreleased, now mixed and mastered for the first time" in a recent press release. I'm almost positive that this collection includes 4 previously unreleased tracks, too: "Planned Attack," "Brothers Can't See Me," "Catchin' The Vibe," and "LAX to JFK," which don't seem to have appeared anywhere else prior. Madlib 's scattered post- The Further...

Since we're being honest, I don't think I've ever actually heard anything from Kelis besides "Got Your Money" and "Milkshake;" "My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard and they're like, it's better than yours..." After a few rough years full of shelved albums, label drama, and the dissolution of her marriage to Nas , Kelis has signed to TV on The Radio multi-instrumentalist/producer Dave Sitek 's new label imprint. Federal Prism plans to unleash 2 Kelis albums and a single by year's end, along with new material from Scarlett Johansson , Maximum Balloon/Miguel, Freddie Gibbs , CSS, Chuck Inglish , and more. Kelis uploaded "Call On Me" to Soundcloud mid-Monday afternoon, which was later re-upped in substantially higher quality as "Jerk Ribs." Dave Sitek weaves a densely-layered soundbed that includes squalling horns, Funky basslines, and African drum rhythms; It almost has sonic accents re...

Let me just start by pointing out that my old Loyal Lanes bowling crew and I were into world-renown DJ David Guetta [light]years before 1/2 the free world even knew who he was! Now, I'm talkin' about EPIC strikes/spares soundtracked by "The World Is Mine" (2004), which was practically eons before Fergie & will.i.am , Flo Rida, Kid Cudi , LMFAO, Rihanna , or Usher even knew how to pronounce Guet-ta . His latest video-single, "Play Hard" samples an already infectious Alice DeeJay Dutch-Eurodance track, "Better Off Alone." It's ridiculously zany companion music video plays out like some sort of twisted gangster flick... complete with pointy toed Mexican cowboys, unibrow-sporting pageant queens, heavily tattooed cholos, a fake Tron dancer, Les Twins , a pint-sized prize champion dancer, and disjointed cameos from David Guetta along with guest singers Akon & Ne-Yo . But general weirdness isn't always a bad thing; Although, I...

Garrett "G. Love" Dutton is a Philly-based musician who's been making Blues -infused Hip-Hop for the better part of the past 20+ years. If you ask me, close friend/frequent collaborator Jack Johnson basically aped his whole " Funky [acoustic] surfer dude" style, ran with it, and got commercially successful. But maybe G. Love belongs in the underground music scene; I personally have damn near 100 G. Love & Special Sauce tracks in my iTunes library and 2011's Fixin' to Die was his 12-13th studio album. For those of you who are un-familar with G. Love (WAKE UP!), I'd say he's equal parts rapper and singer-songwriter; almost like a Beastie-Boys -meets- Johnny-Cash kinda guy. Bloodshot & Blue , a 10" EP limited to 2,000 copies, was released this past Saturday for Record Store Day ... and I was lucky enough to score a copy on wax! G. Love recently described the sheer genesis of the EP's creation to Rolling Stone , ...

Aside from co-headlining Budweiser 's second annual Made In America Festival , Mrs. Carter recorded an interesting new track for what's poised to be one of Summer 2013's biggest blockbusters, The Great Gatsby . While Bryan Ferry Emile Sandé contributed a "Crazy In Love" cover, Beyoncé & André 3000 managed to conjure up their own unique re-make, "Back to Black" (2007). Needless to say, Bey & Dre have TOTALLY flipped Amy Winehouse 's breakout Neo-Soul hit; and from the sounds of this just-released 90-second snippet, "Back to Black" has been effectively turned into a modern day Electro-Funk jam. But with that said, it's pretty damn hard to judge an entire track off a brief 90-second preview! Almost every time André 3000 randomly spits a few sub-par bars like this, it just makes me want that long-rumored OutKast reunion album even more, which I'm beginning to question will ever really see the light of day. Beyo...

Damn near the furthest thing from a pothead or Neo-Nazi , while being an avid music fan/vinyl-collecting "champion," Record Store Day is my kinda holiday; already in it's sixth annual year of festivities, I trucked up to my favourite record store, Tunes (Turnersville) around 10:30-11ish with 2 wish lists in hand. After assembling quite a few stacked, re-stacked, and un-stacked 45/LP piles, my final haul included: Mike Watt + The Black Gang , Surfer Blood, Pornography , G. Love, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. some J Dilla from the postman... Bob Dylan, Rob Zombie , and Dio/Killswitch Engage (for my buddy waiting tables @ Friendly's ). Based solely on Thom Yorke & Flea 's involvement, my co-pilot Mr. Moot bought a copy of Atoms for Peace - AMOK , which ended up being pure fucking garbage! Like anybody, if I had an endless cash-flow, I would've gotten a lot more. But I'm very happy with what I got an how they sound on wax. Needless to say, Mike Watt + Th...

Daughn Gibson is a former truck driver who looks like he could be a flannel/chainsaw model and sings kinda like a disjointed mix between Joy Division , Crash Test Dummies , and Johnny Cash . Gibson's new label, Sub Pop is gearing up to release his second album, Me Mean , this upcoming July 8-9th; It was recorded with producer, Benjamin Balcom and features guitar work from John Baizley (Baroness) and Jim Elkington (Brokeback). I really don't think that calling Daughn Gibson 's unique style of music Americana would be totally inappropriate or wrong... Sub Pop laments that "if All Hell was a gritty black-and-white movie, Me Moan is a widescreen IMAX 3-D extravaganza." Just unleashed late Thursday afternoon, "The Sound of Law" is a deep, gravely-voiced progressively dark track that makes use of a wide array of live instrumentation including drums, pedal steel, horns, house strings, bagpipes, and organs. Daughn Gibson was born and raised in Naz...

Professor and record store owner-turned- Blaxplotation producer Adrian Younge somehow managed to find time to pen an intricate Rap opera that's loosely based on Ghostface Killah 's infamous Tony Starks character. It's set in 1960's Italy where The DeLuca Family crime mob wreaks havoc throughout an innocent small town. Tony Starks falls in love with the kingpin's daughter, soon falls to his tragic end, and is eventually re-born. Twelve Reasons to Di e narrator/executive producer, RZA tells is best, " The DeLucas pressed Tony's remains into 12 vinyl records; One for each member of the family. But little did they know, he would return..." Adrian Younge & Venice Dawn successfully weave together a badass Neo Soul-Funk , guitar-drenched soundtrack for Ghostface Killah to lace up with raps. He then recruited a band of tough as nails Wu-Gambinos including Inspectah Deck , Masta Killa, U-God , Cappadonna, Killa Sin , and crooner William Hart (T...

Monday mornings almost always suck; whether it's waking up in a drunken haze, with vaguely spotted memories of the weekend, or in sheer disdain of the impending week... Nothing incredibly good/bad ends up happening most Mondays . Daft Punk 's new pseudo-video for "Get Lucky" kinda feels like a hazy, weekend-spun memory, too. It was initially released via some grainy cell phone-shot footage that was filmed @ Coachella Friday night. The band's third Random Access Memories [May 20-21st] TV commercial aired Saturday night during the new Vince Vaughn-hosted episode of SNL . One would most likely assume that this is all the clever build-up to an upcoming "Get Lucky" music video, which would feature Daft Punk, Pharrell & Nile Rodgers outfitted in bedazzled Saint Laurent suits. Temporary frontman Pharrell recently told The Creators Project that "the robots" sought him out @ a Madonna party, drugged him, an flew him out to a Paris rec...

Jai Paul is a painfully mysterious British-Indian singer-songwriter/ producer who's really only released 2-3 tracks since signing with XL Recordings in 2010: "BTSTU," "Jasmine," and "Flip Out" (Str8 Outta Mumbai). Paul's forward-thinking brand of Space R&B has been embraced by Drake , Beyoncé, rapper XV , and he even appeared on Big Boi 's recent solo album, Vicious Lies & Dangerous Rumors . Practically out of nowhere, during Coachella 's weekend-spanning festivities, Jai Paul quietly uploaded his long-rumored self-titled debut album/mixtape to Bandcamp . It's selling for 7 GBP's, which converts to about $10.35 or "Name Your Price" and that gets your a download folder containing 16 untitled tracks. Jai Paul CD-R kinda sounds like a mixed bag full of rough demos, fully fleshed out songs, and random skits; Track titles have been speculated to include "Baby Beats," "A Thousand Light-Years ...

Spearheaded by a guerrilla-style video "performance" that was broadcast @ Coachella late Friday night, the robot helmeted men behind Daft Punk have finally revealed some concrete info about their upcoming album, Random Access Memories . Eager fans rushed to pull out their cell phone cameras as a 2-minute teaser clip for "Get Lucky" with Pharrell and Nile Rodgers flashed on-screen; about 1 minute+ worth of shaky video was haphazardly captured by a few tech-savvy concert go-ers. It also revealed Daft Punk 's genre-blending list of friends-collaborators: Julian Casablancas , Panda Bear, Giorgio Moroder , Paul Williams, Chilly Gonzales , DJ Falcon, and Todd Edwards . Rolling Stone then posted fragmented pieces of a featured article/interview, which will most likely be released to coincide with Random Access Memories (May 20-21st). Funnyman Aziz Ansari soon Tweeted , "Can anyone confirm the rumored Daft Punk show at the Palm Springs Chuck E Cheese ? #C...

Released just a few mere hours after "Open Letter" [below] and Tweeted along with a Kanye -fied message, "Our family HOV brought that real Hip-Hop shit this morning, so me and Pusha T wanna keep that feeling going." G.O.O.D. Music approved, Kanye/Don Cannon co-produced, and DONDA -commissioned artwork... "Numbers on The Boards" pulls a Jay-Z vocal sample from "Intro/A Million & One Questions/Rhyme No More" (1997). I'm pretty white and I still caught the whole "Ballers, I put numbers on the boards" basketball reference utilized on the track's hook. "Numbers on The Boards" is Pusha T 's first major release since his critically-acclaimed Wrath of Caine mixtape @ the top of the year; It might re-appear on My Name Is My Name , his long-rumored solo debut, which should be out sometime this upcoming May. Not unlike "Open Letter," from a sonic perspective, "Numbers on The Boards" ...

Rather than just issue some dumb, pre-concieved press release/statement, veteran lyrical assassin Jay-Z decided to step into the studio and record a track about his involvement in a few current events. "Open Letter" bravely delves into slightly questionable shit like The Carters vacationing in Cuba (a restricted tourism zone) and having to sell his small fraction of the Brooklyn Nets in order to become a sports agent. Timbaland and Swizz Beatz co-produced the track, which also somehow manages to work in references to Kevin Hart 's infamous "You gon learn t'day" comedy skit and Bob Dylan 's Blood on The Tracks era single, "Idiot Wind" (1975). It's worth noting that Jay-Z most likely isn't working on a new album, cause his hair is pretty shaped up and well-kept ha, which in itself, basically alludes to time NOT spent in-studio. Here's a few well-written bars pulled straight from the painfully short Life + Times -b...

Rapping friends El-P & Killer Mike already produced one critically-acclaimed joint album together last year, R.A.P. Music . But it seems like they've made their Hip-Hop group a little more official - That's now been re-christened Run The Jewels and are currently nearing completion of a second record; Sounds like El-P 's decided to step out from behind the boards and back onto the mic this go-round, too. After a few solid months-worth of vague teasers, El-P uploaded an 84-second snippet of "Banana Clipper" to his Soundcloud Tuesday afternoon. It's a short but sweet sampling of what Run The Jewels upcoming album might sound like, which is rumored for a Summertime release. El-P 's also busy writing/recording new music along with Nick Diamonds (Islands) that they're calling Stepson , and possibly working with Big Boi/T.I. Killer Mike , on the other hand's about to head out on a MASSIVE 40+ date tour with frequent collaborator, Big Boi...

It's very likely that "Counter Culture Complex" is the first Sludge Metal -associated music video to feature leather-clad warrior chicks running around, wreaking havoc across a barren wasteland. No, KEN Mode doesn't have anything to do with Barbie 's crotch-less boy toy, it actually stands for "Kill Everyone Now." Formerly titled "Party Fun Blast," the track's pulled from KEN Mode 's fifth and latest alum Entrench , which was released on Season of Mist this past March 15th. "Counter Culture Complex" is a nearly perfect Metal/Hardcore/Noise-Rock hybrid that formally introduces the band's new bassist, Andrew LaCour . Brothers Jesse & Shane Matthewson formed KEN Mode in their hometown of Winnipeg, Canada way back in 1999 and have gone through about 3-5 bassists over the years before discovering LaCour (2011). These guys would've been perfect for Headbanger's Ball ...especially with a video like this tha...

Sean Price is kinda like a one-man Run-D.M.C. , when you really think about it; a no bullshit, low gimmick guy with outta-this-world rapping abilities! Price could easily out-rap your favourite Ringtone Rapper on an off day, while hooking up with your mom (Yeah, he's THAT kinda dude) ha. Long-time label, Duck Down have invested a good-sized chunk of change into producing 4-6 simplistic music videos for Mic Tyson and some of it's bonus cuts: "The Genesis of The Omega," "Haraam," "STFU (Part 2)," "I See," and "BBQ Sauce." Now, we're talkin' about videos that re-cast Sean Price as a crazed lumberjack, jet-setting humanitarian, cartoon robot ape fighter, ruthless drug dealer, and a sharp-tongued emcee. Duck Down unleashed the gritty Isaac Aguirre -directed "Bar-Barian" video just in time for the weekend; It's a short and sweet snow-covered clip that features Sean Price spitting cold hard rhymes and ...

No matter, how old I get, Black Flag and The Neptunes (N*E*R*D) will always be amongst my first favourite artists. While I deeply love and appreciate their separate outputs, Pharrell & Henry Rollins are 2 of the last guys I'd ever figure would get along. With that said, Rollins and Pharrell get along like a couple reunited long-lost friends; Reserve Channel & Noisey recently uploaded a 2-part sit-down interview/conversation between the 2 prolific artists. Born and raised on the East Coast between DC and Richmond , Henry Rollins (52) and Pharrell (40) quickly bonded over the shared D.I.Y. nature of their Hip-Hip/Punk roots and early projects. Part 1, hosted by ARTST TLK , covers everything from Black Flag , weight lifting, the advent of Grunge , Regan -era tattoos, spoken word, sobriety, etc. Prenatal Hardcore fans should start out with Rollins' first Black Flag album, Damaged right on through to their sixth and final album, In My Head (1986). Might as we...

James Blake 's music has always had an underlying, vaguely Hip-Hop feel to it; from his early Harmonimix tracks to his work with Grime rapper, Trim . But now, it seems like Blake is fully embracing his inner beatsmith on his upcoming sophomore album, Overgrown ... having worked with legendary Wu-Tang Clan emcee/producer RZA , sampling Big Boi for a bonus track , and most likely logging some studio time with Kendrick Lamar in the near future. James Blake recently linked up with former R&S Records manager, Dan Foat to form a new imprint, which has been dubbed 1-800-DINOSAUR . Overgrown hits shelves next week, April 8-9th and it will be their second (first major) release. James Blake lamented, "It was like sending it for mastering. It was like, 'Just see what comes back.' [RZA] really nailed it though. I mean, he's obviously a consummate professional. He also did it with such a level of intimacy and sensitivity that I got it back and I got shivers,...

This Is The End , the movie formerly known as The End of The World/The Apocalypse , is quickly nearing it's June 12th nation-wide release. First time directors, Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg just unveiled it's second Red Band trailer this past Monday, which follows one that was released on "the dawn of the apocalypse" (just in case). Thinly veiled behind a Pineapple Express 2 / Sony -backed April Fool's prank, This Is The End 's new trailer naturally reveals a lot more of the film's plot than it's predecessor; Mishka Bloglin laments that "the movie plays out an end of the world scenario at a party hosted by James Franco -- including everyone who's ever been in a Judd Apatow comedy," plus Rihanna , Emma Watson, Mindy Kaling , Martin Starr (Bill) from Freaks & Geeks , and maybe even a semi-misplaced Backstreet Boys cameo ha. Franco's RAGER is soon interrupted by the impending apocalypse, pesky Earth quakes, etc... as soo...

While Alec Baldwin 's first major post- 30 Rock endeavor, "Here's The Thing" only has about 4,000+ Facebook Likes , Baldwin's still been able to book some pretty A-List-worthy celebrity talent for his bi-monthly podcast series: Brian Williams , Lena Dunham (Girls), Billy Joel , Judd Apatow, Andrew McCarthy , Fred Armisen, and most recently, Thom Yorke . Randomly littered with mid-conversation Capitol One drops, Baldwin's latest podcast is a rare sit-down with a mysterious an who really doesn't give a lot of interviews; Alec Baldwin & Thom Yorke 's nearly hour-long conversation covers everything from getting impromptu singing lessons from Björk and Micahel Stipe (R.E.M.), computer-based recording techniques, just being able to email guys like Flea to join a band, etc. Here's a choice quote pulled from their "Here's The Thing" interview: "I got Ed [O'Brien] because he was dressed like Morrissey and he had some ...