The Witzard

"I'd like to think of this album as more of a home-made mixtape you could burn to CD and give to Trick-or-Treaters . It's what I've been working on the past few months; music is a labor of love. I love releasing albums and sharing them with my friends and I intend to never stop. Put Down The Candy & Let The Little Boy Go! furthers that narrative. Maybe one day, I'll embrace my outer-adult to the fullest and find a real job. Til then, this is all I have," Evan Souza , better known as Darko The Super or Doc Heller , wrote within a message included along with his Trick-or-Treat -ready Haloween -themed mixtape. The Witzard previously premiered the mixtape's Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg -inspired title track , which Souza says was dually inspired by Slaves' recent Mike D (Beastie Boys) -produced album, Take Control . Darko The Super clever re-appropriated a line pulled from Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg 's Eazy-E dissing "F*ck wit Dre Day (and E...

"'Johnny" was our band internal call for "dude," "bro," etc... our sound guy Jochen started, at one point, calling everyone "Johnny" and this spread to the point that everybody was called "Johnny" by everyone in the crew... [it] was easy, you didn't have to remember names... also, there is a similarity to the West African habit of using the name "Charley" for "dude,'" Poets of Rhythm/Whitefield Brothers mastermind JJ Whitefield wrote within an email concerning his latest eclectic musical output, JOHNNY! Billed by Now-Again as " Ghanaian Afro-Rock from German producer/composer JJ Whitefield and an international cast of top-shelf musicians," JOHNNY! consists of Johnny (Henry) Taylor on vocals/keys, Johnny (Eric) Owusu on vocals/percussion, Johnny (JJ) Whitefield on guitar, Johnny (Tomi) Simatupang on bass, Johnny (Bernd) Oezsevim on drums, and Karl Hector helming productio...

"No question! My objective for the song and why I named it "Bakkah" is because Bakkah refers to the Kaaba in Mecca , which is considered the "House of God," in a sense. In the song though, I'm referring to how people relate to one another as being our "house" that is faulty and shaky; barely standing, but nonetheless, is," Hamilton, Ontario, Canada emcee Emay (Mubarik Gyenne Adams) wrote within an emailed statement sent exclusively to The Witzard earlier today. "This new song, "Bakkah: The History of Humankind," was initially just a poem about humanity as a whole. When it began to rhyme, I basically just ran with it. It was also a great opportunity for me to experiment with my writing, as I was always self-conscious about using a more poetic/metaphorical style of writing, so with this track I allowed myself to get completely lost in that form," Adams continued. "Bakkah" stems from his long-rumored S...

"You could fit the contents of Tony's previous releases on Slumberland and Matador [Records] onto one side of a 90-minute cassette and still have room left over for the eight offerings on CONFRONT THE TRUTH , but would you want it any other way? When Tony sings about "trying to move on but I just don't know how," no extension of the time it takes for him to bring that feeling across is going to solve the problem at hand. You're immediately thrust into the orbit of these songs; you know how he feels, and now you can relate. Transference is complete. You've got plenty of time left over to dwell upon them. The eight offerings on CONFRONT THE TRUTH notch a significant advancement in his style and approach. Almost completely absent from these new songs are the over-loaded guitar crunch of DISSED AND DISMISSED , or his earlier work with OVENS; it's replaced by gentle acoustic balladry, tasteful Mellotron and piano backing, the kind of musicianship that o...

"'Missing Pieces" is more of an interlude type track. I had the acoustic guitar part for about a year and I came up with the backing vocals around the same time, but nothing creatively really came to me after that. A couple months ago, I re-visited the track and since recording it, a keyboard came into my life, so I decided to try some different sounds overtop of what already existed. The second half of the song has a heavier Electronic beat with the same first verse vocal and I really like the switch up from acoustic to heavier Electronic —it's very interesting to me and although it's a short one, I like what it does from beginning to end." - Timmy Miller on Friday's "Missing Pieces" Ocean City, New Jersey native, Timmy Miller , who has since re-located to Denver, Colorado and started working for the National Park Service , released two more tracks from his forthcoming solo debut, The 303 Construct this past NEW MUSIC FRIDAY ; "...

Chillactic - ßeat tape: vol. 1 by Praktikos "Born and raised in the culturally-diverse Bay Area , Haseeb Naweed (aka Praktikos ) is an Electronic music producer presenting a unique blend of atmospheric beats, often featuring deep uplifting melodies and soulful female vocals," Praktikos wrote within an email sent about two months ago; quickly likening his "ambient, downtempo, chill hip-hop style beats with a relaxing uplifting spacey vibe" to The Witzard 's recently covered Jenova 7 & Eddie Shinn 's A Cosmic Safari album, which initially prompted him to email me his music. "His latest release, Chillactic [Beat Tape, Vol. 1] is a 10-track instrumental catalog of ambient chilled hip-hop beats, providing listeners with an intimate introduction to his work... Influences range from Nujabes , Flying Lotus, Bonobo , and many pioneers of the chill-out/electronica sound ( Carbon Based Lifeforms, [Paul] Oakenfold, Enigma )," Naweed continued. Pr...

"Just some nasty instrumental Funk! It’s a niche market, but that’s always been where my heart is. I just never had the resources or the right mind and skill sets til now. When I first started playing drums, Pablo called me to sit in with his band, PABLO, because the drummer wasn’t showing up. They were patient with me as I learned my instrument and how to play with other musicians, instead of just jamming in my basement. I eventually became the drummer in that band, but for a moment, the rest of the band was busy with stuff and both Pablo and I had other side projects that were kind of dragging. The PABLO band is more like Rock, so Pablo and I decided to make a pure Funk project on our own. That became The Du-Rites and it’s ironic that it’s coming out before all the other projects and is actually getting really good feedback. It was initially inspired by restlessness and a desire to "Funk out,'" Jay "J-Zone" Mumford replied during our previous August 2016...

"Meet Sudan Archives , a 22-year-old self-taught violinist/vocalist who writes, plays, and produces her own music. In this live performance video, she flips Kendrick Lamar ’s “King Kunta” with just her voice, a violin, and a loop pedal. She'll be performing at Stones Throw Superfest in Los Angeles , November 5th," Stones Throw Records wrote on their Facebook page Thursday afternoon. Their latest signee, formerly know as Sudan Moon , "began playing the violin at age eight in her hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio , where she also played in various school and church choirs. Her [2014] debut EP, GOLDENCITY , was self-produced on an iPad in her parent’s basement." Now, just two short years later, Sudan Archives is currently preparing to release her proper self-titled "debut" album, which it appears as though, was completed long before she recently signed a deal with Stones Throw . "While classically-trained, Sudan finds inspiration from the various...

"The silver vehicle featured in ["Du-Rag vs. Headband"] is also an E31 8 Series BMW , an “M8;" the only prototype ever produced (one that was reportedly not even road safe) was locked away by BMW in the company’s Giftschrank (poison storage). BMW and The M Division had strongly denied that the car was even a possibility, since the initial stages of its development. The only public showing of the car happened on August 17, 2012 during The Legends of The Autobahn car show held in Carmel, California . The car was specially shipped from Germany for the appearance," Genius contributor @ebuzzell wrote, appended along with "Mash the petal of the 850 ; sound like the thunder cracking." Sharp-tongued Flushing, Queens rapper and former chef turned television personality Action Bronson surprise released his latest non-album single, "Du-Rag vs. Headband" last night at 10:00PM on his VICELAND travelling food show, F*ck, That's Delicio...

"The PVD Breaks [Vol. 1-2] project started as a way for me to hone my skills mixing live drums in my modest Jersey City studio. The goal was to achieve the sound of classic drum breaks using what I had at my disposal, recording different kits in different rooms, with a variety of mics and mic placements, and really taking it a step further during the mixing process to differentiate one breakbeat from the next," Redefinition Records -deemed "ultra-talented drummer, composer, producer, and bandleader" Pat Van Dyke wrote within a recent emailed statement sent to The Witzard . "I always wanted to release the [2010-12] project on vinyl so that producers, DJ's, turntablists, and beat-makers could really manipulate the music in a variety of ways... as they would an open drum break found in the context of an old record. When Redefinition Records hit me up, I was excited to work with a label who’s had such a long run of quality releases with artists like K-...

"Hi there, my name is Steven Curtis . I'm a musician based in Seattle, Washington with a decent local following going. I recently released a video that reached over 200,000 views on Facebook . I performed with a loop pedal at Robert Lang Studios , which have worked with Nirvana , Foo Fighters, Macklemore , Train, Linkin Park , Kenny G, and more," read a recent email from self-described Seattle "singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, looper, performer," and Alex Hager affiliate Steven Curtis . "With just a microphone, loop pedal, and a guitar, Steven takes the stage and blows the crowd away... in the summer of 2015, Steven did over 100 shows. 2-3 shows a night just to get his name around Washington ; now, he's starting to trend everywhere, [recently] reaching over 1,200,000 views on Facebook doing a cover of "Candy Shop" by 50 Cent . Steven 's hard work and dedication has given him a steady following and supportive fan base,"...

"Today, we announce our forthcoming full-length record, Devil Music, on our very own We Are The Men Records. The LP will be available on Friday, November 11, 2016. We found a [farm] and scratched down the songs on this LP after just a couple of days in our practice space. Luckily, our space and our studio are the same exact f**king room!, so the proceedings went quickly. “Gun” was [cut on] Friday after our shifts and some messing around with a Harry Nilsson tune. The rest were recorded on Saturday and Sunday, the holy days. You haven’t heard much from us lately, have you? It’s good to be alive and playing music," read a typewritten statement, addressed to "Everyone," published to The Men's Blogspot-run band site Monday, September 12th. It's an odd coincidence, since I was just listening to their infectious Creedance, Bob Dylan, and Rolling Stones-influenced 2014 album, Tomorrow's Hits on my Nexus 7 recently at work and wondering when the next, normally...

"I can't really say what the title will be, but it should be released as a single in a week or two, depending on what [Jordan Parrish] decides to do with it. I decided to work on it because it really brought me back to the "Hopeless Romantic 1+2" tracks emotionally and it's always nice to challenge yourself to write something new about a familiar subject," San Diego rapper-producer and engineer Mick Boche revealed within our previously published interview a few months back. Long story short, I actually first heard about "disappearing" emcee Boche (then Izaac) from my friend and collaborator John "Jumbled" Bachman, who featured Izaac within a bonus track, "World's On Fire," on his impeccable Baltimore-centric beat-minded album, [I wish it was longer]. Not long after, Izaac's social media accounts were completely wiped and he went dark, unbeknownst to Bachman and I, having left Baltimore and secretly relocated to San Di...

It's really no secret, at this point in time, that Future Islands frontman Samuel T. Herring moonlights as Socrates & Locke Ernstfrost -referencing greenhorn emcee Hemlock Ernst . "17 years in-the-making, Hemlock Ernst finally got pressed to wax. Thanks to @madlib and @nowagain for making my childhood dreams real," read an impassioned @futureislands Tweet posted on the heels of Sam Herring 's official Madlib -produced debut EP, Trouble Knows Me ; although, he professes he's been rapping since the 9th grade (around 1998), Hemlock Ernst 's first recorded appearance "on wax" was as recently as 2010 on Rapdragons' Baltimore -minded "Gotta Go." He's since rhymed alongside The Alchemist & Oh No (Gangrene) , Scallops Hotel, Curse ov Dialect , Milo, Busdriver , Cavanaugh, Open Mike Eagle , Scoop DeVille, Fat Tony 's Charge It to The Game , and most recently critically-acclaimed artists, BADBADNOTGOOD & Clams Casino ...