The Witzard

"The WOKE project started about three years ago. I, myself, and some screenwriter friends of mine started writing a script for feature film called WOKE . It was something that we developed for quite a while. Initially, it was going to star Ishmael [Butler] from Shabazz Palaces and Jeremiah Jae . We worked on it for a while, started work-shopping, but there's always the financial issue — I haven't found anyone who is going to invest in the film," Flying Lotus recently revealed during a Pitchfork-prompted phone interview upon the release of his [adult swim] single, "The Lavishments of Light Looking." Despite the fact that he has yet to acquire adequate funding to produce a WOKE film, Flying Lotus aka multi-instrumentalist Steven Ellison decided to instead focus on the musical accompaniment for said unmade film first; "We started working earlier this year on music. We did a few songs. We have a few things. We're just going to let it build...

" DOOM 's verse was [an] interesting one. DOOM 's concept was that it's a text message. He text messages me while I'm not home, so he comes to my house anyway and starts borrowing all kinds of sh*t, you know, villain-style," veteran Oxnard -bred emcee MED (aka Medaphoar) revealed about his recent sample-heavy collaboration with fellow West Coast emcee Blu , prolific Stones Throw producer Madlib , and masked rhyming supper-villain MF DOOM , "Knock Knock." "I was like, 'what the f*ck is that?' So, there's this whole verse about him going to my house, drinking my beers, [and] going through my DVD's. It's so hilarious and genius," MED ecstatically continued. MED Blu Madlib , as they've been collectively referred to as of late, first linked up on MED -curated Bang Ya Head 3 label comp. cut, "Your Life" produced by Blu 's Below The Heavens collaborator, Exile . Madlib was almost accidentally broug...

"We have filmed a new video for our cover of The Clash 's "Magnificent Dance" with director Ross Harris . It is currently in England being animated and should air sometime in the next month or so," Lion -master Dan Ubick wrote in an emailed conversation about a month ago. "I am excited, as we've attempted a couple videos for other songs, and they didn't pan out. Even Ross' rough cut looks amazing because he brought great energy, ideas, and professionalism to the set. Super psyched to see how [our] tribute to Joe Strummer & The Clash turns out," Ubick enthusiastically continued. The Lions let loose their Stones Throw -pressed second album, Soul Riot back in February and it quickly became one of my favorite albums of 2015 right alongside MR. WONDERFUL , Detroit's Son, Uptown Special , and recent addition Yours, Dreamily . Not too far off from their first album, This Generation , Soul Riot is a well-executed R&B -leaning, h...

"My interpretation [of "Blank Space" ] from the classic Ryan Adams album "1989,"' former Fleet Foxes drummer and semi-ironic, self-loathing Indie-Pop superstar Josh Tillman aka @fatherjohnmisty Tweeted Monday evening on the heels of Ryan Adams' just-released Taylor Swift 1989 covers album. Tillman was seemingly riffing on Adams' 1989 re-imagined in the style of Bruce Springsteen 's Darkness On The Edge of Town meets The Smiths' Meat Is Murder , sloppily crooning Swift's chart-topping "Blank Space" and "Welcome to New York" in the style of Velvet Underground frontman Lou Reed . "In the studio working on a [song-for-song] reinterpretation of Ryan Adams "1989," gonna be great! Ryan's amazing," Father John Misty sarcastically wrote in a since-deleted "so psyched"-hashtagged Tweet. While Tillman's rendition of "Blank Space" is, to say the very least, a litt...

"If my mother knew I was in show business now, she would worry herself just sick... she thinks I'm in Philadelphia sellin' dope," reads a comical Richard Pryor -esque bit from an unknown comic; it acts as the spoken-word intro to Guilty Simpson 's "Blunts In The Air," which dually serves as an unofficial mantra throughout Guilty 's hard-as-nails Katalyst -produced Detroit's Son . Guilty & Katalyst first met during the recording sessions that would ultimately yield Geoff Barrow 's 35-member Hip-Hop collective Quakers' self-titled Stones Throw debut (2012). Detroit's Son 's introductory track, "R.I.P." is actually a vocal version of Katalyst 's "R.I.P." instrumental lifted from Quakers , which seamlessly ties the two projects together right off the bat. Although it was initially billed as a "Guilty Simpson x Quakers" project upon the release of THE SIMPSON TAPE , Detroit's Son was...

Jacksonville 's very own genre-blending Alt. Country superstar Ryan Adams is in fact, no stranger to recording full-length cover albums; Adams reportedly recorded, and ultimately scrapped, a stripped down 4-track revision of The Strokes' critically-acclaimed debut Is This It? (2001). But for whatever reasons, Adams' " Blues cover version" has rather discouragingly still only been heard by members of his former backing band, The Cardinals . Ryan Adams' second attempt (or third, if you count his unheard Vampire Weekend album), at a full-length cover album: a self-described Smiths -indebted version of Taylor Swift 's recent career-redefining 1989 has been very well-documented through his own personal social media accounts. "Ryan's music helped shape my song-writing. This is surreal and dream-like. Countdown to [Ryan Adams' 1989] @TheRyanAdams ," @taylorswift13 frantically Tweeted Thursday afternoon, upon the sudden announcement ...

"I did [approach TVOTR ]. They have been my friends for years and I knew it could be something special," @therealelp replied when asked by a fan what the story was behind Run The Jewels' Colbert -facilitated collaboration with "the most under-rated band of all time," TV On The Radio . "HUUUUGE shout out to our friends @TVonTheRadio , Kareem Bunton, @littleshalimar , and everyone who made last night happen. Love y'all," El-P exuberantly Tweeted Wednesday morning, following his Late Show with Stephen Colbert performance along with unlikely partner in crime, Killer Mike . El-P and TV On The Radio 's working relationship would seemingly date back to around 2006 when El-P was commissioned to remix "Hours" from their Return to Cookie Mountain LP, while Killer Mike was still running with OutKast -affiliated crews Purple Ribbon All-Stars and Dungeon Family . It should additionally be noted that TVOTR lead guitarist and in-house pro...

"We reached out to DOOM to see if he was interested in giving us a track, and were told that the DOOMSTARKS project was close to completion and there was a song we could have... we jumped on it! I mean, it's [Ghostface Killah] and DOOM rapping together. It's pretty much my rap nerd dreams coming true. I think they bring something out in each other that's very exciting for me as a rap listener," Adult Swim 's own glorified fan-boy Jason DeMarco recently gushed to Uproxx , concerning of course, the cartoon network's acquisition of DOOMSTARKS' unofficial return-to-form, "Lively Hood." While his official title may be Vice President/Creative Director of Adult Swim On-Air , DeMarco himself simply managed to distill his responsibilities down to "basically, if it's on Adult Swim and it's NOT a show, it's my group's responsibility to make;" this including, but not limited to promo campaigns, network ID's, anima...

"Throughout its storied three-year existence, Troubled Waters has emerged as the world's preeminent Paul Simon tribute band, attracting a passionate fan following in multiple states. Evoking the heavenly vocals, poignant lyrics, and sensible wardrobe of the greatest Folk-Rock artist of all time. Troubled Waters has taken every effort to mimic that classic P-Sim sound, withe exception of some of the more complex arrangements on Graceland ," reads the brief artist biography on mysterious Late Show with Stephen Colbert inaugural week guests, Troubled Waters . "So sit back, feel groovy, and remember what the man himself said: "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls, and whispered in the sound... of Troubled Waters ," the band's rather sparse website continues, making a few clever allusions to "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and Simon solo hit "Feelin' Groovy." While it was widely assumed to...

"It's Katalyst [Ashley Anderson] and Geoff Barrow that produced my album. I met Katalyst in Australia and we had dope studio chemistry. Me & Phat Kat did features for the Quakers album & later, I found out they were on Stones Throw. When I met with Stones Throw, their name came up & it made sense because I really liked their production. Now, here we are," Guilty Simpson exclusively revealed to The Witzard on the inception of his hot-off-the-press new album, Detroit's Son. Anderson runs the Australian-based headquarters of Invada Records along with long-time friend, Portishead founder, and fellow Quakers bandmate Geoff Barrow; he's been releasing music under a number of aliases since launching his music career back in 1998... Moonrock, Katalyst, 35-member Hip-Hop collective Quakers, and Space Invadas with Steve Spacek. Having previously worked with everyone from Gift of Gab to Jack Johnson, Detroit's Son is Katalyst's first full-length proj...

"Now accepting all reasonable offers for Nick's Honda . Contact The Arcs or Eddie Huang . Oh yeah... and new Arcs video drops this Tuesday... Go get the album too!! Bump it in your new Honda ?" Dan Auerbach 's The Arcs wrote on Facebook Saturday accompanying a brief 30-second trailer advertising their then-forthcoming "Outta My Mind" music video, as well as director Nick Walker 's Honda . It would appear to be a purposely lo-fi, back seat-shot clip in which two unspecified Arcs members discuss the prospect of the brief hybrid trailer-web ad, which Walker commissioned that "might help save us;" anyone interested in buying Nick Walker 's Honda can either contact The Arcs directly or apparent Dan Auerbach affiliate and Fresh Off The Boat creator, Eddie Huang . "These are people that I either met in the studio, or was a fan of the records that they made before I even met them... Richard Swift , I met him six years ago; we made a...

"Holy sh*t! Here's a new song we made [with] Homeboy Sandman for our show together Friday," now-defunct New York Hip-Hop revivalists Das Racist Tweeted way back when in 2010, promoting a then-upcoming November 5th Southpaw gig along with a pre- Stones Throw Angel del Villar II ; if I remember correctly, "I'm Up On That" was the very first time I had ever been treated to the sweet, rhythmic sounds of Homeboy Sandman , who's comfortably seated as one of Stones Throw 's sharpest emcees. "Here's a new track from Homeboy Sandman , as the MC (and amazing live performer) kicks off a couple weeks of live dates through the east and southern states, culminating with a couple Texas shows with Stones Throw crew [Peanut Butter] Wolf , J Rocc & Guilty Simpson ," Stones Throw wrote in a recent quick-strike press release accompanying Sandman's latest non-album Soundcloud loosie. '"Nonbelievers" produced by EL RNTC . T...

It's really a wonder how Future Islands frontman Sam Herring came to be the highly-scrutinized then "unnamed emcee" behind Madlib 's latest masterpiece, Trouble Knows Me EP ; unlike his fellow Hip-Hop -loving Indie Rock brethren Paul Banks and Peter Bjorn & John , Herring is front and center with some surprisingly sharp-tongued rhyming skills. Sam Herring has quietly been playing Baltimore club gigs under his Hemlock Ernst rapping alter ego between Future Islands album cycles since around June 2013, in addition to "waxing poetic" wordplay alongside the likes of Gangrene & Earl Sweatshirt , Scallops Hotel, Du Blonde , and Rapdragons. " Madlib x Hemlock Ernst project Trouble Knows Me officially dropped today [September 1st]. The Master & The Student. Double Dragon," @futureislands ecstatically Tweeted Tuesday afternoon upon the release of Herring's first widely-available "solo" project. Trouble Knows Me EP , wh...

" Black Atlass is quite literally the only artist on earth to soundtrack Louis Vuitton and Yves Saint Laurent ads while featuring on Action Bronson songs," reads part of a recently published Fool's Gold Records press release. "This diverse appeal is a testament to the captivating voice of Alex Fleming , the young singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist who created Black Atlass as a vehicle for his unique vocals, heart-on-sleeve lyrics, and experimental production techniques," it descriptively continues. Fleming is of course, the deeply soulful voice crooning "I nearly lost my mind. All a motherf**ker got is time, time... I nearly lost my brain dealin' with this motherf**kin' pain, so bad" on Action Bronson 's infectious Party Supplies -produced MR. WONDERFUL stand-out, "A Light In The Addict." Alex Fleming previously unleashed his critically-acclaimed debut, Young Bloods EP and a beautiful, free 10-track album t...