The Witzard

Download Mixtape Just in time for All Hallow's Eve , Yelawolf & DJ Paul unleashed a 5-track FreEP, Black Fall late Wednesday night. The former Three 6 Mafia producer crafted some pretty sinister-sounding beats using primarily Rock & Metal samples; so far, I've heard Metallica , Pink Floyd, Muse , Michael Jackson, and Black Sabbath (Dio) . I never really used to like Yelawolf 's hillbilly-tinged brand of Southern Hip-Hop , until I heard his genre-blending collaboration with singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran , The Slumdon Bridge EP . It's a truly timeless Alt. Hip-Hop EP that I would've gladly paid good money for and I guess Travis Barker & Eminem 's separate Yelawolf co-signs didn't hurt either. Leaked pre-release single "Light Switch" expertly manages to sample English Prog-Rock band Muse 's radio-friendly hit "Uprising," while elsewhere, "Thriller" and Pink Floyd are sampled on one track. Yelawolf &...

Chromeo , David "Dave 1" Macklovitch and Patrick "P-Thugg" Gemayel , are without a doubt two of the forefathers of now über-trendy futuristic-leaning Electro-Funk ; they've been making smooth Space-Funk together since the mid-90's, but somehow only unleashed their first album, She's In Control , as recently as 2004. While Chromeo 's fourth album, White Women still lacks a solid release date, that indeed hasn't stopped them from kicking a promotional campaign into full gear! After releasing two teaser singles within the last few months, Dave 1 & P-Thugg stopped by Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Tuesday-Wednesday night, along with fellow Canadian buddies Death from Above 1979 and "The Sexy Socialites" (a fully fleshed out Gospel choir). The recently reunited 2-piece have seemingly been delegated to Chromeo 's backing band, while Dave 1 & P-Thugg took on the role of a 1980's-minded Back to The Future -like Electr...

The Witzard was formed on three sonic pillars: Punk, Hip-Hop , and Indie Rock , which just so happen to be my personal go-to genres. And I guess you could say that I often times tend to favor Hip-Hop , but I really enjoy all three genres and it's always nice when they end up colliding organically. Case in point: Odd Future manager Christian Clancy initially introduced Tyler, The Creator to an Indie Rock band, who wishes to remain anonymous, after playing it for him on a plane a few months ago. Tyler liked the song so much, that he agreed to write and direct a video for the band's track "Glowing," under his Wolf Haley alias; "What people take from it is up to the viewer, I suppose," Clancy told NPR Monday night, "Controlling the narrative seems contradiction to the point. For me, it's a challenge to the assumption that ignorance is bliss, and that challenge is a timely as it's ever been." Even though it's an anti- Hip-Ho...

Editor's Note: I'm very proud to announce that I finally decided to purchase "thewitzard.com" last night. While the new site is currently under construction, thewitzard.blogspot.com and thewitzard.com are essentially one in the same. So, in a certain respect, this is my "inaugural" Action Bronson post ha... But make no mistake, Bronson is hands down one of my favourite rising emcees and Blue Chips (March 2012) is quite easily his most readily accessible project. "Practice" is the latest leak from his upcoming Blue Chips 2 mixtape with buddy Party Supplies , which is set to hit The Internet this upcoming Friday, November 1st. "I'M SUPPOSED TO BE THE FRANCHISE PLAYER, AND WE TALKIN' BOUT PRACTICE!?" beckons the voice of former Sixers all-star Allen Iverson (circa 2002) during the track's intro; and then, before you know it, "Practice" effortlessly morphs into a horn-laden Smooth Jazz in-debited BANGER! ...

Right on the heels of his long-awaited, nearly 2 years in-the-making Party Supplies -produced mixtape, Blue Chips 2 (November 1st), Action Bronson has teamed up with VICE Records' sister site, Noisey for VICE Eats ; a hyper-realistic weekly web-series "where [they'll] travel the world with Action Bronson and his motley crew of associates to check out the finest dives and dimes of the restaurant scene." Lest we forget, Bronson was a former Art Institute of New York -trained chef, who quite regularly seasons his dense wordplay with a dash of Food Network -friendly speak. Most likely commissioned by Warner Bros. VICE ultimately sets out to follow "Action and his rotating cast of dinner companions [while they] dine in a wide range of remarkable spots to give us their honest opinions - both on and off the plate." It was seemingly preceded by 2 far lesser-known VICE Eats micro-segments, dating back to this past August or early September. The inaugu...

"New singles off Dorner vs. Tookie by Hellfyre Club are up [at Soundcloud ]. There's "Qualifiers" with Open Mike Eagle ; Then "Manchester" with Milo , myself, and Nocando ; and today, "Elephant In The Pressroom" with Mike Eagle, myself, and our special guest, Jeremiah [Jae] on the beat and guest verse" read an impromptu Hellfyre Club web-update, via busdriverr 's Instagram feed. "Elephant In The Pressroom" is rumored to be included as a bonus track on Hellfyre Club 's upcoming label-wide compilation (November 5th) and it's almost like an über-relevant Hip-Hop track; making clever lyrical mention of Breaking Bad , Kendrick Lamar, human train-wreck Miley Cyrus , Mike Tyson, and somehow flawlessly compares game-changer "Control" to Pokemon . It's almost like Hellfyre's call-to-arms because big ticket "mainstream" rappers should really be terribly afraid of these guys! Founded by ...

Light years before unveiling his nearly flawless magnum opus, My Name Is My Name , Pusha T unleashed his unofficial 2-part G.O.O.D. Music debut, Fear of God and it's companion commercial re-boot, Fear of God II: Let Us Pray (2011). Not long after, LuckyMe & Decon Records commissioned Rustie , S-Type, Machinedrum , Lunice, and Hudson Mohawk [TNGHT] to produce a lost remix project dubbed "Lucky-T." Although LuckyMe further specified that "it never surfaced though, as Hud Mo started working with G.O.O.D. Music in an official capacity;" likely referring to his production contract, signed with Kanye 's in-house Very G.O.O.D. Beats micro-label in January 2013. While Lucky-T never really managed to fully materialize, Rustie quietly uploaded his "Trouble On My Mind" remix to Soundcloud late Tuesday afternoon. It's a terribly awesome glitched-out re-work that upon an initial trunk-rattling listen, kinda reminds me of a Trap -heavy ...

Lady Gaga recently teamed up with Hip-Hop Soul/R&B crooner and Phoenix cohort R. Kelly for her latest teaser single, "Do What U Want." The first in a series of a planned weekly singles series leading up to her third studio album, ARTPOP (November 11th); Highsnobiety further described it as "a distinct step away from some of the styles of many of Gaga 's previous songs, less Bowie -derived and more Tina Turner ." But I personally hear lurching rhythmic effects that're reminiscent of "Thriller"' s eerie-sounding central rhythm and seasoned vocal inflections akin to Christina Aguilera . It's kinda more or less along the lines of a socially-conscious "panty-dropper," inter-spliced with semi-prolific lines like, "Do what you want with my body... Write what you want. Say what you want about me." Just mere hours before uploading "Do What U Want" at 12:01am, Lady Gaga ended up posting a number of ...

Max Eisenberg from Brooklyn, NY moonlights as genre-blending Noise-Rap singer DJ Dog Dick ; a former member of Dog Leather , Nautical Almanac, Dog Synth , etc. Eisenberg is finally gearing up to release his long-rumored HOSS Records debut, THE LIFE STAINS lp (out November 19th). DJ Dog Dick hails from the same original Baltimore -based music-art scene that birthed Dan Deacon , Weekends, Dope Body , Pictureplane, and Surfer Blood . The proper follow-up to last year's Identity EP , LIFE STAINS has been slowly leaked online over the past few months in the form of "Dried Old Leaves," "Rot Is Hot," and Pitchfork -premiered "Grease That I Got." Their track review essentially likens "Grease That I Got" as a "straight-up Pop tune, built around a bass line that could've been stolen from an R.E.M. out-take... or a helium-injected Butthole Surfers ." The Artist Formally Known as DJ DOG DICK (@ALLEYPISS) on Twitter further ...

" Zach Hill is currently wrapping up a short film he directed with an [original soundtrack] by DEATH GRIPS . The film is entitled Misoneism , is shot entirely in monochrome film, and follows the exploits of a young man forced into the underground prostitution business in Brazil . Starring Robert Pattinson and Colin Hanks , the film hopes to shed light on the matter in a shocking and abrasive way," reads a fragmented chunk of an interesting Pigeons & Planes post uploaded late Thursday afternoon. While a Pitchfork counter-post claims that "there is no short film directed by Zach Hill and starring Robert Pattinson ," let's not forget... we're talkin' about a righteous Proto-Rap band here that's capable of leaking their own album along with private emails, generating countless self-shot music videos, staging elaborate pseudo-shows , and cancelling more tour dates than Axl Rose . Colin Hanks reportedly told Consequence of Sound Thursday ...

I guess you could say that I'm a modern-day musical "purist" in a sense because I don't usually like to hear a whole bunch of pre-release teaser singles before hearing an artist's entire new album. Take My Name Is My Name , for example: I only heard "Numbers On The Board" and "Who Am I?" before picking up a hard copy of Pusha T 's debut solo album on October 8th. G.O.O.D. Music recruited a handful of completely unnecessary guest features , which are now strewn across Pusha T 's 12-track record including Kendrick Lamar , Big Sean, Rick Ross , Kelly Rowland, and former Drake tour-mate Future . Pusha T & DONDA rapidly unleashed music videos for "King Push," "Sweet Serenade," "Nosetalgia," and "Pain" right around or leading up to My Name Is My Name 's eventual wide-release. Recent BET Cypher all-star Kendrick Lamar appears right alongside Pusha T in the black-and-white NPR -assist...

There's nothing quite like aimlessly diggin' through a bunch of dusty old crates and cherry-picking one random record based on either an interesting cover, lone production credit, or even a stand-out track and then having it sound 10x more awesome than you [n]ever expected; Well, that's pretty much what Otis "Madlib" Jackson Jr. does for a living! He's recorded tracks with everyone from the late great J Dilla to Brazilian Funk drummer Ivan Conti and somehow unleashed 13 full-length albums between 2010-12. It must be hard for a seasoned rapper-producer like Madlib to constantly keep melding together inventive-sounding output. Attempting to delve into a largely untouched batch of source material, Madlib has bravely crafted Rock Konducta (Vol. 1) for an unspecified December release. He'll supposedly draw potential inspiration from "1960-70's Progressive Rock , African "Zam-rock," and other Funky forms of the Rock genre,...

"I've always felt like "Life Round Here" wasn't [ever] really finished," lamented English singer-songwriter James Blake during a recent Noisey video-interview with new-found collaborator. Chance The Rapper . Arguably a First Wave Dubstep pioneer, Blake's music almost seems pre-fit for a sharp-tongued young emcee like Chance ; But it doesn't come off in that preconceived, label-suggested, and slapped together kinda way like other recent "crossover" hits (ie: A$AP Rocky & Skrillex ). It's pretty easy to tell that these guys are true admirers of each other's work, who have become fast friends. Fresh off a collaborative track with Lil' Wayne , Chance The Rapper recently revealed to online-magazine XXL that he and Blake met at this past year's SXSW and "kept in touch and started working together on a couple of tracks, including some original material... people seem to like ["Life Round Here"] a lot....

Childish Gambino (aka Donald Glover ) hasn't really released much new material since unleashing last year's feature-heavy Camp follow-up mixtape, ROYALTY . But it sounds like the former Community star is planning to unveil what will likely be a new full-length mixtape [or album?], because the internet , "this winter break;" and if @DonaldGlover's Twitter feed is to be believed, it just might house collaborative tracks with buddies Kid Cudi , Flying Lotus, and Ezra Koenig (Vampire Weekend), as well as his other recent web-single, "Centipede." because the internet 's latest rumored inclusion, "Yaphet Kotto" (freestyle) was uploaded to Gambino's Soundcloud page roughly a week ago. Preceded only by a Skylar-White -drowning- Breaking-Bad -like teaser trailer, "Yaphet Kotto" showcases Childish Gambino blatantly addressing his detractors: "Worst rapper to ever spit on an open mic / Worst rapper to ever get on so...

While Dave Chappelle is sadly nowhere to be found, "Breakfast Can Wait" features dancer/director/etc. Danielle Curiel masquerading as The Purple One . okayplayer really put it best... "When we put the teaser image (those lips, that eye!) out to our network and said "who's this girl impersonating Prince ?" the answer we got back (from some people who should know) was: That's Prince 's new girl!" It's seemingly a non-album online single, which marks Prince 's first widely-released, proper music video since "Musicology" (2004). Somewhat surprisingly, "Breakfast Can Wait" was partially inspired by Dave Chappelle's imgenious Prince -bashing Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories sketch; wherein Eddie Murphy 's brother and his friends got challenged, badly beaten, and schooled by Prince & The Revolution at a mid-80's pick-up basketball game. "Breakfast Can Wait" is one of seven ...

I mean... we just don't really post tracklists around these parts; It's kinda like a striptease, cause you can look but can't touch [or in this case, hear] anything ha. Although Queens emcee Action Bronson is generally the one exception to the rule(s). @ActionBronson leaked the tracklist for what he's dubbed "THE MOST INCREDIBLE PIECE OF ART EVER CREATED, I SWEAR," Blue Chips 2 early Thursday morning. Wholly produced by Bronson cohort Party Supplies , Blue Chips 2 will supposedly see a guerrilla-style FREElease on "The First Day it rains in NOVEMBER" "WITHIN THE FIRST FIVE DAYS OF NOVEMBER... NO MATTER WHAT." It's 19-song screen-capped tracklist boasts a gaggle of tasteful features from the likes of hype-man Big Body Bes , Meyhem Lauren, Mac Miller , Ab-Soul, and a certain "Legendary Special Guest In Which We Can't Disclose." While it's unclear as to whether or not Bronson's recently previewed Tracy Chapma...

Snoop Dogg [or Snoop Lion ] has somehow become such an instantly recognizable public figure, that even my 80-something-year-old grandparents are familiar with him. Long before his Reggae-Rap rebirth or Wiz Khalifia -assisted film soundtrack, Snoop Doggy Dogg was one of the earliest pioneers of 1980-90's West Coast "G-Funk;" It's essentially, a long-forgotten trunk-rattling Parliment-Funkadelic -sampling sub-genre of Hip-Hop that was largely produced by either Dr. Dre , Too $hort, or DJ Quik . After a few months of vague social media rumblings, Stones Throw revealed that Snoop Dogg secretly teamed up with Pasadena mega-producer and Funk revivalist Dâm-Funk to recorded an album under the group name 7 Days of Funk . It's kinda mind-boggling that NO ONE has already used that as a nom de plume [title] for something until now!? Stones Throw quietly uploaded "Faden Away" along with the semi-cryptic Facebook message: "NEW MUSIC: Two of ou...

Leading up to it's 9pm/12 midnight (eastern) online debut Monday night, "Tamale" was being billed as "A VISUAL INTERPRETATION OF TYLER'S MIND." What ended up coming out is a pretty trippy music video, especially from a guy who's supposedly drug and alcohol free; once again, directed under Tyler The Creator 's oft-used Wolf Haley alias, "Tamale" features quick-strike cameos from Pharrell , Trash Talk frontman Lee Spielman , Shane Powers, and Odd Future affiliate Lucas Vercetti . Tyler The Creator was seemingly inspired by Diplo 's TWERK-friendly brand of Dubstep , "Bubble Butt" in particular. He's seen bouncing on model Bria Myles' butt like a trampoline in one brightly colored scene... we also see a real-life recreation of one of WOLF 's 2 alt. covers, some hi-jinx on a golf course, Tyler riding a giant kitty, underwater pool aerobics, Chappelle -reminiscent "white face," and blurred scenes that...

Mayer Hawthorne has really progressed leaps and bounds since unveiling his premier limited press heart-shaped "Just Ain't Gonna Work Out" 45 for Stones Throw (2008). Hawthorne has toured across America with everyone from John Mayer to Erykah Badu ; I was lucky enough to catch Mayer Hawthorne & The County post- A Strange Arrangement at First Unitarian Church (a legit Philly church rec-room). He's already gotten a chance to collaborate with Kendrick Lamar , Snoop Dogg, Daryl Hall , SebastiAn, Jessie Ware , James Pants, Pharrell , Jake-One, etc. Andrew "Mayer Hawthorne" Cohen has effectively pioneered a sort of Hip-Hop -infused "New-Wop" sound, over the course of 3 albums and some change. But critics and fans alike are saying that Hawthorne's most recent album, Where Does This Door Go? , is swaying in a little more of a mainstream radio Neo-Soul sonic lane. 16-year-old Kiwi [New Zealand] songstress Lorde rocketed to #1 on t...

Initially mis-labelled as "New Shit, No Name," Sean Price (NIGGLETIUS!!!) quietly uploaded "Sean Shank Redemption" to Soundcloud Thursday/Friday morning, while most of The Internet was sound asleep; a hard-hitting track with no producer or emcee credit whatsoever, it's since been revealed to feature Starvin B. But it doesn't really matter, because Sean Price is hands down one of the most talented and sadly, criminally under-rated rappers in the game! DA GRODD FATHER!!!'s Twitter feed has since been updated to vaguely specify, "The dude on the song with me is [named] STARVIN B. AND HE CAN F*CKING RHYME..." Price also seemingly revealed a tentative title for his forthcoming album, BONGO LENZIE BEAR . While there isn't exactly a solid release date, a new Sean Price record is definitely something to get mildly excited about; especially since his last album, Mic Tyson was packed full of 15 certified "cold hard" Golden Er...

Party Supplies (Justin Nealis) is the ingenious anti- Hip-Hop producer behind the sonic madness that is Blue Chips ; Nealis somehow coarsed Action Bronson into rapping over Peter Gabriel , Phil Collins, John Cougar Mellencamp , Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam [all on one track!] , Extreme , Iron Butterfly, Guns N' Roses , Frank Zappa, Peter Bjorn & John , and Justin Bieber . Now, after nearly 2 years-worth of recording, Action Bronson & Party Supplies are gearing up to FREElease Blue Chips 2 on "The First Day it rains in NOVEMBER," whatever the Hell that means ha. Bronson generously previewed 2 unreleased Blue Chips 2 tracks the other night at the Toronto stop of his 2 High 2 Die tour. For the sake of continuity and sheer blog-ease, I'm just gonna refer to the new tracks as "Give Me One Reason" and "Tequila" from here on out. It's a little hard to decipher lyrically because we're watching a sub-par fan-shot video; But it cl...

When Odd Future first came out (2007), it seemed like they were pretty against working with an outside producers. But they've since slightly broadened their horizons, working with a handful of various producers: Kanye , Flying Lotus, Pharrell , James Pants, The Alchemist , RZA, BADBADNOTGOOD , Samiyam, and supposedly even MF DOOM . Late Tuesday night, without any prior notice, rhyme or reason, OFWGKTA uploaded "Look" to Soundcloud ; It's produced by Nottz Raw , a Virginia -based beatsmith who's worked with everyone from Asher Roth to [The] Game . Tyler The Creator, Hodgy Beats, Domo Genesis & Earl Sweatshirt manage to utterly RIP apart Nottz 's hard-hitting beat over the course of nearly 5 minutes. While it's chock-full of righteous-minded bars-on-bars , some of my personal favourite lines include: "Barnacles, now I gotta brag / [Beamer] drive right by you nig*as like I was kinda fat / with a paint job that's flatter than Miley Cyrus...

It turns out that "At Night In Dreams" is the absolute Fuzz-Rock romper of a track that White Denim briefly teased along with Corsicana Lemonade 's initial release announcement (uploaded back in August). Sans lyrics at that point, "At Night In Dreams" was chopped up throughout Michael Hammett, James Petralli & Aaron Weiss' behind-the-scenes Corsicana Lemonade mini-film. Anchored by a looping Space-Funk guitar line, frontman James Petralli (son of 1980-90's baseball player Geno Petralli ) kinda has a wonderfully tortured-sounding, whiskey-soaked growl that could be likened to their "Modern-Rock" peers The Black Keys or Kings of Leon . White Denim previously unleashed a slightly deranged Frank Zappa & The Mothers -reminiscent music video for the album's quasi-lead single "Pretty Green" and quite honestly, on the sheer strength of the 2 aforementioned tracks... I'll definitely be picking up a copy of the C...