The Witzard

Noisey premiered Chuck Inglish 's new Federal Prism single, "Swervin'" late Tuesday afternoon, which features a semi-reunion with his former Cool Kids band mate Sir Michael Rocks (FKA Mikey Rocks ). Likely the first single from his upcoming Convertibles album, "Swervin'" marks The Cool Kids' first recorded appearance on wax since about 2011. Mikey Rocks randomly mentioned what sounds like a fairly amicable split win a Dec. 2012 AllHipHop interview: "You break us up, we're still going to turn out nice as f*ck separately, and when we come together, we transition that energy into making a dope record. Right now, man, I think we just need to be focusing on blowing up... We might come together as something else different. But as The Cool Kids , no, because we're not the same people, we've changed and evolved into two different artists." More or less, part 2 in Chuck Inglish 's auto-themed series that started with D...

1976's best kept secret and a righteous-sounding precursor to Punk Rock , Death are gearing up to release their first single in nearly 40 years, "Relief/Story of The World" this upcoming Tuesday, July 30th. The Detroit Proto-Punk band were initially active from about 1971-77 , broke up upon major label distaste regarding their name, and moved to Vermont once Death split. Brothers Bobby, Dannis, & David Hackney went on to form 2 separate Gospel Rock/Reggae bands, The 4th Movement and Lambsbread . Sadly though, David Hackney passed away in 2000 (succumbing to lung cancer) right before Death 's sudden resurgence; due in part to tech-savvy record collectors, Death 's lone self-released single, "Politicians In My Eyes" rocketed to the top of thousands of blog-spun playlists once again, between 2008-09! While their sons briefly toured as cover band Rough Francis , Bobby & Dannis Hackney triumphantly re-formed the band with long-time guit...

It's pretty damn awesome and utterly ridiculous that a respected online news magazine like The Hollywood Reporter seriously tried to interview FIDLAR bassist Brandon Schwartzel about Nick Offerman 's dick! FIDLAR recorded a righteous Skate Punk -infused cover of traditional standard "Cocaine [Blues]" for their self-titled full-length and somehow managed to recruit Offerman for the Ryan Baxley -directed video, which was unleashed 2 Fridays ago. Sounds like the Parks & Rec actor (Ron Swanson) is a family friend of Max & Elvis Kuehn 's dad, Greg , a founding member of Long Beach Punk legends T.S.O.L. : "[Greg]'s played music for a long time with Nick's wife Megan Mullally -- she does music when she's not acting. Nick would do these comedy shows every now and then, and play music -- Elvis played with him a few times. Elvis played him some stuff, and we always were hinting, "Oh man, it would be awesome if you did a FIDLAR video!...

It seems like Action Bronson & Harry Fraud have a pretty size-able batch of freeze-dried SAAAB STORIES left-overs, since "Water Sports" is the second track that's been leaked since the mixtape EP's June 11th release; Between "Strictly 4 My Jeeps" (Remix) , "Heel Toe," and "Water Sports," we now have 3 appended SAAAB STORIES bonus tracks! Premiered over at Village Voice , "Water Sports" [in]appropriately features washed up (fictional) baseball player Kenny Powers on his jet-ski, fully clothed for whatever reason. I was lucky enough to experience Bronson performing choice cuts from SAAAB STORIES earlier this summer, a meticulously-assembled 7-track EP, which he says upon it's creation, "I was 100% thinking about it being a performance project... [almost] everything on there has a hook, and knocks... it's thumping. The stage is rattling, everyone's going wild" (The Green Room) ! Long-awaited Par...

Former Community cast member and aspiring funnyman Donald Glover released the first track in over a year under his Childish Gambino moniker Tuesday afternoon, "Centipede." It's a 6-minute brooding, epic track that flawlessly shifts between a cappella ballad, hard-hitting rhymefest, and bass-heavy street jam. While I was lucky enough to catch Gambino live at Starland Ballroom with Flatbush Zombies a couple years ago on the Camp concert tour (2011-12), he hasn't really put out much material since last year's ROYALTY mixtape. An uncharacteristically feature-heavy affair, Childish Gambino managed to recruit Danny Brown , RZA, Beck , Danielle HAIM, Bun B , Nipsey Hu$$el, Ghostface Killah , Chance The Rapper , and Tina Fey for ROYALTY 's 18 tracks. But anyways... "Centipede" is without a doubt Donald Glover 's return to form as Childish Gambino ; Glover recently Facebooked , "Smaller role on Community = More time for music. Life is ...

SAAAB STORIES beatsmith and Psych-Rap pioneer Harry Fraud is now the proud head honcho of a brand new label imprint, Surf School Recordings , operating under recently re-lauched Priority Records . Fraud's latest creative output is a FREE 5-track mixtape EP released in conjunction with Scion A/V ; High Tide EP features unlikely collaborations with some heavy-hitters like Action Bronson , Tech N9ne, Earl Sweatshirt , French Montana, RiFF RAFF , Mistah Fab, Smoke DZA , Chinx Drugz, and Troy Ave . "Loopy" houses choice bars from stoner rapper Smoke DZA and French Montana affiliate, Chinx Drugz . But neither the emcees nor Harry Fraud actually appear in it's companion FAFU -directed music video, which stars a lone luxurious-looking glamour model. Here's Fraud's slightly scattered Twitter-liberated "Loopy" video description: "I didn't want to do a traditional Rap video. I wanted something that was fun, wavy, and visually more colorful t...

While attempting to create a polar "opposite of Rock "N" Roll "-rooted music video, French director Simon Cahn arguably created the most Hip-Hop -inspired Rock video since "Walk This Way" (1986). "Pay No Mind" is the third single pulled from Rock "N" Roll revivalists Hanni el Khatib 's most recent album, Head In The Dirt ; Recorded down in Nashville at Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach 's backyard studio, Easy Eye Sound , the album has already birthed 2 gritty singles: "Family," "Penny," and 9 additional down and dirty Garage Rock jams. The NOWNESS premiered clip starts out with the cheerleading team passionately air drumming and singing along with "Family" in what looks like a late night car ride, which then segues into the absolute romper of a simplistic music video. Now, we're talking' about 6 scantily-clad HEK cheerleaders performing a rough-edged choreographed dance ro...

While a rough, largely unfinished version was leaked a week or 2 ago and then re-upped in a more interactive/customizable form over the weekend, "BLKKK SKKKNHEAD" (Black Skinhead) was finally [officially] uploaded to YouTube mid-Tuesday afternoon. Painstakingly developed by Kanye and director Nick Knight over the past 5+ months, "BLKKK SKKKN HEAD" is really more so an anti-hit, even though it's been used in Martin Scorses 's new trailer, The Wolf of Wall Street; The same squeaky clean edit has been released to urban radio stations nation-wide, which is slowly starting to pick up steam as a chart-topping "single." I think the only way I can possibly even begin to describe "Black Skinhead"' s special effects are those janky late 90's Tony Hawk , Grand Theft Auto, WWF , etc. video game build-a-player featurettes. Tech-savvy Hip-Hop fans can head on over to Mr. West 's personal website , where you're actually able ...

Not incredibly unlike their previous collaborative efforts with John Legend , Jay Z, and Al Green , The Roots take the "big band backseat" role on their upcoming record with Elvis Costello , Wise Up Ghost . It's stark-looking, minimalistic cover was supposedly modeled after Allen Ginsberg 's Howl , more specifically it's infamous City Lights Pocket Poets Series rendition (1955). Questlove Jenkins defined Wise Up Ghost as a "document of music of 9 cats... Helmed by 2 music dweebs & their hero," which was reportedly released on a few as-yet-undiscovered Record Store Day white label 12-inches. "Walk Us Uptown" was unleashed mid-Monday afternoon in the form of a Soundcloud stream and Mariana Blanco -directed sparse lyric video. Legendary American Jazz imprint Blue Note Records plans to issue Elvis Costello & The Roots' long-rumored Wise Up Ghost on Tuesday, September 17th. The album first came to fruition after Costel...

While it's been in-the-works for nearly 4 years and was largely recorded before Soundgarden 's recent reunion, it's kinda hard not to compare Ben Shepherd's solo side-project "HBS" to his pioneering Grunge band's 1980-90's work. The Seattle by way of Japan bassist managed to recruit a brigade of like-minded Seattle players including: Matt Cameron , Joseph Brailey, Klaus Lustica , Greg Gilmore, Matt Chamberlain , and Steve Kim . "Baron Robber" kinda sounds like the perfect soundtrack for a late night, moon-lit drive down some intertwining back roads in a bitchin' 90's Trans AM or I-ROC ; fuzzed out, bass-driven Alternative Rock at it's finest, which started out as an acoustic record! Hunter Benedict "Ben" Shepherd recorded the bulk of his debut solo project, In Deep Owl at a very interesting Georgetown location, buddy Gerry Amandes' studio that's right "behind a sex club... where [they] cou...

Thanks to Kanye , now almost every time I hear Kings of Leon mentioned, I think: "Look like a fat booty Celine Dion / Sex is on fire, I'm the King of Leon-a-Lewis ..." Founded down in Nashville way back in 1999, Kings of Leon is truly a family affair; made up of 3 brothers and their cousin -- frontman Caleb Follwill backed by Nathan, Jared & Matthew Followill . While their sound has gradually morphed from Blues -based Southern Rock to Alternative/Arena Rock , Kings of Leon have slowly risen to the top(s) of the "modern" Rock charts. Their upcoming sixth studio album, Mechanical Bull was recorded in a pretty pressure-free environment with long-time producer Angelo Petraglia and sounds "more [youthful and] musically complicated" than the band's past efforts. Although, in a Twitter -fueled Q&A, Kings of Leon noted that Mechanical Bull could be easily compared to Youth & Young Manhood (2003) and Aha Shake Heartbreak (2004)...

While they've released 2 quick-strike 12" EP's together, there's always been an underlying promise of a larger Madlib & Freddie Gibbs project: "Cocaine Piñata." Even though it still has a "due later this year" loose release date, we now have a tentative guest list: Raekwon , Earl Sweatshirt, Danny Brown , Domo Genesis, Joey Bada$$ , Ab-Soul, BJ The Chicago Kid , Meech (Flatbush Zombies), Casey Veggies , Mac Miller, Polyester The Saint , and G-Wiz. Adult Swim 's own Williams Street Records imprint has unleashed a non-album (or possible Cocaine Piñata ) track, "City" with Karriem Riggins , which they uploaded to Soundcloud earlier today, slightly ahead of it's Monday Internet -wide release. For what it's worth, "City" also kinda duals as an unofficial Supreme Team reunion; Madlib & Karriem Riggins' long-defunct golden era Hip-Hop revival crew that's only ever put out a few stellar hard-to...

"Seems @theweeknd have said there is no sample used or enough likeness to "Machine Gun" to warrant any infringement... or credit," head Quaker and Portishead mastermind Geoff Barrow angerly Tweeted early Wednesday morning. It sounds like Abel Tesfaye (The Weeknd) initially asked Barrow and Portishead for permission to use said sample and upon being denied clearance, loosely re-created "Machine Gun"'s ferocious, almost Tribal -sounding drum pattern. But honestly, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense... since The Weeknd and Portishead are both signed to Universal Records , plus Geoff Barrow and Beth Gibbons are self-admitted Hip-Hop supporters. "Belong to The World" is actually The Internet 's second taste of The Weeknd 's upcoming "sophomore" album, Kiss Land . In what seems like an effort to foster more of a prominent public image, Abel Tesfaye granted Complex his first full-fledged earlier in the we...

While it might not be the "strongest" track or optimal single contender, El-P & Killer Mike have unveiled a proper music video for "36" Chain," which is somehow the first video-single from Run The Jewels (out since June 25th). It's basically a Hip-Hop -friendly version of The Raid: Redemption that oddly enough, co-stars Andrew W.K. Amber Tamblyn, Heems , Despot, and Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire . In a preview that could [hopefully] foreshadow a possible "buddy cop movie" or reality TV show, "36" Chain" follows Run The Jewels re-cast as 2 vigilante enforcement officers out on a mission to rescue their kidnapped, cracked out, and eye-patched squirrel buddy, Mr. Killums . Preceded that morning by what you could kinda call a DVD extra, Killer Mike was also featured on a Black Noi$e -crafted Unknown Mortal Orchestra remix along with Mr. MFN eXquire ; "So Good at Being In Trouble" now houses 2 appended, hard...

Daughn Gibson and director Jeremiah Rouse have essentially managed to flip the whole concept of the flashy modern-day "music video" on it's head, stripping it back down to it's primal elements: grandiose sound and tasteful film flourishes. A former Hardcore Punk drummer (Pearls & Brass) who notoriously moonlighted as a truck driver, Gibson's latest single, "Kissin' On The Blacktop" also seemingly duals as his first ever music video release. It's a gritty brew-N-smoke-soaked scene that works quite well with Daughn Gibson 's Alt. Country/Americana hybrid sound. Surrounded by a cast of shady-looking, yet deeply interesting characters, Gibson successfully weaves a Bluesy tale about a booze-fueled romance with "Kissin' On The Blacktop" while at the fictitious "Twin Willows" watering hole; We're talkin' about toothless pool sharks, whiskey-drinking cowboys, a leopard-skinned gold digger, smokin' h...

Preceded only by a vague, Bob Dylan -like teaser clip earlier in the week, Justin Timberlake unleashed his BRAND NEW single, "Take Back The Night" late Friday afternoon; oozing Off The Wall era Disco vibes, I guess Timberlake's track shares it's name with an anti-rape organization of some sort (creepy coincidence or not). One particular commenter at Stereogum , michael_ , actually said it perfectly: "What has changed since the release of [The 20/20 Experience] and this upcoming one is Daft Punk 's "Get Lucky" and Robin Thicke 's "Blurred Lines" copping their own shares in this Neo-Disco Pop ..." The 20/20 Experience (Part 2) is slated for a September 30th release, along with the "JT Complete Package," which'll re-collect all 21 tracks from parts 1-2. "I originally recorded a massive amount of material and decided on the 20 tracks that I wanted on the album(s) over a year ago," Justin Timberlake l...

Stones Throw alums J. Rocc & M.E.D. (Medaphor) initially linked up last summer to assemble a podcast-contained mixtape; Collectively operating under the group name "Axel F," it featured a collection of largely original tracks and previously unreleased material. Now, exactly 1 year later to the day (July 9th) later, J. Rocc & M.E.D. have unleashed a brand new track from their forthcoming Rebel's Theme LP, "The Set." It's unclear if Axel F. is intentionally named after Beverly Hills Cop 's Eddie Murphy name-checking title theme or not, but either way... this is about as down and dirty, intentionally grimy-sounding Hip-Hop as it gets! M.E.D. 's semi-confrontational verses are slickly inter-spliced between J. Rocc 's neck-snapping, sample-accented production work. A few of those hard-hitting Boom-Bap 'd couplets include: "Big beat knockin', streets keep watchin', big things poppin', Pee Wee stoppin'.....

Even since I've been into Stones Throw (Champion Sound-Donuts Era), the semi-respected Bay Area record label has slowly morphed into the place to go for cool, head-jerking vinyl. Peanut Butter Wolf has hand-picked a wide array of emcees, weirdo producers, Funk/Folk revivalists, solo artists, etc. Stones Throw 's genre-blending " Hip-Hop & more" roster presently includes: Madlib , James Pants, The Stepkids , Matthew Larkin Cassell , deceased mega-producer J Dilla , Steve Arrington, Quakers (Geoff Barrow) , Jonti, The Lions , Dâm-Funk, Jonwayne , and countless others. Announced just last Friday, 2 of the label's most note-worthy musicians have teamed up for a collaborative LP - Steve Arrington & Dâm-Funk ! Arrington, former Slave Funky drummer turned spiritual foot-soldier, has bonded with Dâm-Funk , who's quite arguably G-Funk 's last remaining post-90's producer. Steve Arrington self-released his first album in 20 years, Pure Thin...

It's pretty safe to say that New Jersey Punks Titus Andronicus are having the most uncharacteristically blog-worthy week of their 8-year career; After unleashing "Still Life with Hot Deuce and Silver Platter"' s gritty performance video Monday afternoon, frontman Patrick Stickles opened his own singing telegram service... he'll personally travel to your house and sing anything you want, besides "Theme from Cheers" for $50, if you live in either New York City , New Jersey, or Long Island . Then Titus Andonicus uploaded an 8-minute "stone cold sober version recorded at one in the afternoon" of Icona Pop 's sugary sweet mega-hit, "I Love It." It was recently recorded at Brooklyn 's own D.I.Y. Punk club and the band's unofficial headquarters, Shea Stadium . I guess you could day Stickles went ahead and took a little bit of liberty with Icona Pop & Charli XCX 's lyrics: "Fighting with the cops (I love ...

Thanks in part to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater , Atmosphere were really one of the first Hip-Hop groups I discovered and got into on my own; It was right around the same time that Slug & Ant were gearing up to release Seven's Travels (2003) and Rhymesayers had licensed either "Trying to Find a Balance" or "The Keys to Life vs. 15 Minutes of Fame" for the board-driven gameplay. Atmosphere have released a steady string of Minnesota Boom-Bap albums ever since: You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having , When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold, and The Family Sign . But in my eyes, nothing will ever live up to the near-perfect 19-track Seven's Travels . Slug has become something of an Underground Hip-Hop cult hero in recent years and even went as far as to self-proclaim Atmosphere as "The Bob Seger of Underground Rap" during a June Twitter exchange with fellow emcee, Flex Grossman ha. Now, roughly a month o...

Death Grips have remained virtually silent and largely inactive for a few months, until deathgrippin uploaded a mysterious YouTube video over the weekend; Zach Hill ferociously drumming for 10+ minutes, sometimes filmed in hyper-speed, all the while being handcuffed! It was recorded during band rehearsal just the other day (07/05/13) and captures what seems to be a fragmented portion of Death Grips' blistering Proto-Rap live set. Hill unexpectedly bailed on a recent European tour , remaining in the states to actively work on an untitled film that he's writing and directing... Death Grips are planning to soundtrack the adventurous film, while they're simultaneously recording a new album. It's a little hard to follow and the band's work is always cloaked in mystery, but it's worth noting that @deathgrippin's Twitter handle is currently co-named "hushed aug13." The Witzard Conspiracy Theory: Death Grips are planning to unleash either Zach ...

Once you're able to get past the semi-absurd notion that Jay-Z decided to employ former- N'sync er Justin Timberlake to re-sing some Nirvana lyrics, "And we all just / entertainers / and we're stupid / and contagious," "Holy Grail" is actually a pretty awesome album opener/lead single contender. While Jay-Z & Beyoncé were spotted at a Grizzly Bear show pre- Blueprint 3 and Empire of The Sun frontman Luke Steele actually sang back-up vocals on that very album, it seems as though Beyoncé 's 27-year-old Indie Rock -loving little sister Solange really has quite the influence on Jay-Z 's varied musical tastes; Not only does Magna Carta Holy Grail (MCHG) feature interpolated Nirvana & R.E.M. lyrics, but it also makes use of M.I.A. and Alternative Hip-Hop weirdo Gonjasufi samples, "Bad Girls" and "Nikels and Dimes" respectively. Thanks to Samsung Galaxies , MCHG has already "sold" 1 million+ cop...

Ye, I can almost picture it now: Justin Timberlake pleading with his semi-distraught wife, Jessica Biel , "But babe, it's NOT nudity...it's art!" Billboard reports that Timberlake's latest album, The 20/20 Experience has sold 2 million+ plus copies since it's March release and previous singles, "Suit & Tie" and "Mirrors" still remain firmly fixed atop the Billboard Hot 100 . Just in time for Fourth of July Weekend , Justin Timberlake unleashed a steamy new video-single for "Tunnel Vision," which was co-directed by Jonathan Craven, Simon McLoughlin , and Jeff Nicholas . Call it a gentlemen's rivalry, if you will, but some might compare Timberlake's scantily-clad music video to Robin Thicke 's original banned-from- YouTube "Blurred Lines" clip. Although one could also argue that Thicke basically stole Timberlake's Blue-Eyed Soul musical style [SWAG] or even vice versa. "Tunnel Vision...

Once you get past the deeply religious/Satanic imagery, 5 Nameless Ghouls , and dark brooding undertones, Ghost [B.C.] are a damn good Heavy Metal/Rock band; However, I'd personally liken them more to formative Heavy Metal bands like Black Sabbath, Blue Öyster Cult , etc. despite repeated allusions to the occult. Ghost are fronted by a mysterious Pope -like figurehead who goes by "Papa Emeritus II" (formerly Papa Emeritus ) and he's usually flanked on-stage by 5 cloaked Nameless Ghouls , which each represent the five elements: fire, water, wind, Earth , and ether. Filmed by Rob Semmer at 2 recent Los Angeles and New York -based gigs, the band's new video "Monstrance Clock" is pretty much your standard Rock "N" Roll performance clip. Thankfully, I was lucky enough to catch the tail-end of the Swedes' blistering set at Metallica 's first annual Orion Music + More Festival last summer... It's the last track on Ghost 's ...

When I hear the phrase "The Dough Roller," I almost instantly think of the chain of family-friendly breakfast-lunch-and-dinner restaurants that are littered up and down the Coastal Highway in Ocean City, Maryland where my friends and I go for bi-annual car shows nearly every May and October. While The Dough Rollers (emphasis on the extra "s") are the latest budding band to release a Blue Series 7-inch record on Jack White 's Nashville -based Third Man Records . Hailing from New York and fronted by Malcolm Ford , The Dough Rollers are somehow able to effortlessly forge a unique blend of revivalist Rock "N" Roll in the same vein as bands like The Black Keys , Hanni el Khatib, and Kings of Leon . Noisey , who premiered A-side "Little Lily" just last week quite fittingly described it as a "song [that] simultaneously kicks you in the face and makes you reconsider your life in college for not becoming a rockstar;" although a s...

Well, this is quite easily the coolest impromptu event I've seen or heard happen in mainstream music in quite some time; Dusting off any pre-concieved notions of banjo-aided Bluegrass or College Rock labeling, frontman Marcus Mumford recruited a couple of friends to help his band, Mumford & Sons , perform a spirited cover of The Beatles/Joe Cocker 's two-headed hit, "With a Little Help from My Friends" at Glastonbury last night. Mumford's posse was effectively joined on stage by Ezra Koenig and 2 additional members of Vampire Weekend, The Vaccines, First Aid Kit, Staves , and a few more musically-inclined buddies. Mumford & Sons seem to have modeled their call-and-response cover after Cocker's Soul -drenched 1968 rendition, which I first heard on The Wonders Years as a kid... not even knowing it was a Beatles song 'til years later! The original "With a Little Help from My Friends" is of course, comfortably nestled within The Be...