The Witzard

"With all due respect to Babe Ruth, Pelé, and Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali was the greatest athlete of the twentieth century. The Champ passed away late Friday night in Arizona at the age of seventy-four due to respiratory complications. Esquire has a trove of memorable Ali pieces—he was manna from heaven for writers—beginning with Tom Wolfe's 1963 Esquire debut, "The Marvelous Mouth," published when the fighter still went by the name Cassius Clay. At 21 he was already fully aware of himself as a show-business creation, and Wolfe predicted a fascinating career for him in "boxing or show business or folk symbolism or whatever it is that he now is really involved in,'" Esquire Classic writer and curator Alex Belth wrote within a touching June 4th Muhammad Ali piece published following the three-time World Heavyweight champ's untimely death. Belth's Muhammad Ali: The Greatest of Them All was accompanied by a similarly-titled, Funk-laden "Tr...

" ["It All Comes Back to You"] has a miles-deep atmosphere of layered synths and drum machines that sucks you in while the love and empathy of the lyrics bubbles to the surface. It's enveloping and all-encompassing, sending you deep in the same way The Church 's "Under The Milky Way Tonight" sends you into orbit,'" Philly 's WXPN The Key enthusiastically wrote about Pink Skull founder Justin Geller 's latest 80's New Wave -leaning project, Remote Places . Geller's debut solo endeavor, Nights and Weekends EP , has already drawn early stylistic comparisons to The Cure , New Order, and The Smiths , as well as a bit more contemporary artists like The National , Washed Out, and Wild Nothing ; or even more befittingly self-described as sounding "like the soundtrack to a modern day re-make of The Breakfast Club . (Sometimes)." Justin Gellar recruited a gaggle of local Philadelphia area friends and musicians for his 5-s...

"With the blessing of my Fool's Gold family by my side, I'm excited to be working with Warp [Records] on new material. They're music fans to the same high degree I am and I'm looking forward to breaking some rules together," frantic Detroit -bred emcee Danny Brown recounted within a brief statement released along with his latest single, "When It Rain." Nearly mere hours after its Tuesday night reveal, Brown appeared on revered Beats 1 Radio DJ Zane Lowe 's web-series; "it's actually even better! Shout out to [Mimi Cave] , man- she really just made my vision come to life... I really got the idea from this Talking Heads documentary that I saw and I was really into that, so I wanted ["When It Rain"] to look like that," Danny Brown divulged when Lowe inquired if Cave's video treatment came out like he had imagined. Brown continued that his still currently untitled album was heavily influenced by a book penned abo...

Tune in... on Friday, June 10 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m to hear two brand new tracks from Sacramento band Drug Apts , "Concrete Jungle" and "Mother Invention." Both tracks were produced by Zach Hill and Andy Morin of Death Grips," Pitchfork wrote Wednesday afternoon, detailing the latest installment of their London -based Pitchfork Radio . LCD Soundsystem bassist Tyler Pope will release a Drug Apts. EP fully produced by Hill and Morin this September on his newly-formed Interference Pattern Records ; "a 5-song EP by Drug Apts. will be coming soon on Interference Pattern Records . Produced by [Zach] Hill and Andy Morin (Death Grips) , stay tuned!" Pope revealed within a track description on the label's Soundcloud page roughly four days ago. Although Interference Pattern 's Soundcloud page has been established since 2012, Drug Apts. Death Grips -produced EP will be their first official release and it sounds like MLML 's "Ret...

Esquire Classic 's nearly 4-minute "Tribute to The Greatest" mash-up was quietly shared by @EsquireClassic this past Sunday morning, June 5th, along with a striking image of recently deceased three-time World Champion Muhammad Ali sorting through a collection of dusty 45's in a 1960-70's car along with the caption, "Ali spins the platters that matter;" Esquire 's digital archival curator and editor Alex Belth composed the mix along with frequent collaborator Alan Friedman (aka illchemist ). "I see it as an extension of the curation I do with print on the [Esquire Classic] site," Belth wrote within an email, which contained a 20-song tracklist from which he and illchemist meticulously composed a Soul-Funk -evoking soundbed to underlay beneath an array of Ali's finest spoken word material and fight commentary. Miles Davis , The Temptations, Bob & Earl 's House of Pain-sampled "Harlem Shuffle," Bill Deal & ...

"I did one song with them a while ago and it was cool. They felt like it was OK and I felt like it was OK. But then we actually got in the studio and made a record and I swear, the record we made is incredible. "[Frankie] Sinatra" was the first one we did. That was cool, but the one we did after that... I swear, if we put that out, it'll change the world. I heard it that first night and that was the only time I heard it. I wanna hear it again," Danny Brown mysteriously revealed to Australia 's Triple J Radio nearly two summers ago. Now, roughly 16 years after releasing their critically-acclaimed debut, Since I Left You , The Avalanches have finally unleashed the first single, "Frankie Sinatra" from their now-mythical follow-up, Wildflower . MF DOOM & Danny Brown -assisted "Frankie Sinatra" was suddenly premiered on Zane Lowe 's Beats 1 Radio program overnight Wednesday into Thursday; ultimately, kick-starting a flurry of m...

"Hi, reaching out from Northeast Baltimore . This is Jumbled 's new album – sample-based Hip-Hop ... Proof that [there] is still sample-based Boom-Bap from Baltimore ," read a mysterious email I received from one John Bachman about a week ago; his latest self-released album as Jumbled [I wish it was longer] (WIWL ) has been in constant rotation since last Friday, although I've been a little preoccupied, to say the least, with a new county job in my sights! [I wish it was longer] was produced and recorded by Bachman, a self-described "husband, beat-maker, dish washer," and high school engineering teacher, over the past two years "between working, making beats, and organizing collaborations with [emcees]." WIWL is a painfully brief 13-track album with 2 appended bonus tracks, which plays out like a "Lesson" -filled DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist Brainfreeze-indebted mix between Jazzy breakbeat instrumental tracks and Baltimore area emc...