Portland Guitarist & Producer Teddy Presberg Teams with Garett Brennan & LeClare Stevenson for pigWar's J Dilla, Rod Stewart & Led Zeppelin-influenced Full-length (Outright Music)

"We’re mashing up classic 60/70’s Soul grooves with the 80’s Synth-aesthetic of guys like Lucio Battisti and the heavy guitar riffs found in Modern Rock by guys like Jack White... There’s an incredible throwback thing happening in Soul music right now. We love that sound, and we’re hugely inspired by it, but we want to take people to the edge. The edge is where new meaning emerges, new perspective; the weird stuff," Portland-based pigWar guitarist and producer Teddy Presberg detailed within a recent Outright Music statement. Presberg, along with core pigWar members frontman Garett Brennan and keyboard-bassist LeClare Stevenson, craft a unique blend of Hard R&B and spaced-out Psychedelic Soul that's equally informed by traditional 1970's Soul-Funk, as well as J Dilla, Led Zeppelin, Teddy Pendergrass, Rod Stewart-helmed The Faces, Parliament-Funkadelic, and Lee "Scratch" Perry. Prior to pigWar's January 2015 inception, Teddy Presberg spear-headed a wide array of genre-spanning collectives including (but not limited to) DoveDriver, FU*K MONSTER, The Resistance Organ Trio, Soul Rub, and Broken Hearts Club, as well as his critically-acclaimed Ropeadope Records-issued solo debut, Blueprint of Soul (2007). Teddy Presberg has released more than 12 albums since Blueprint of Soul and actively collaborates on several different musical side-projects scattered all across the country. "pigWar has also made a unique pact with their fans in that the lyrical content of their music can only pull from the tenants of Soul & Rock: sex, heartbreak, and justice!"

"After spending five years steeped in the St. Louis Jazz & Soul scene, collaborating, and touring heavily with organ player LeClare Stevenson, the two decided to move back to Portland to launch a new project. When they landed in Portland and fired up their Experimental organ trio project DoveDriver, they sought out an unlikely vocalist and song-writer to tighten that sound and launch pigWar: Garett Brennan," pigWar's Album Release One-Sheet continued. While it's largely unclear who else took part in DoveDriver's self-titled October 2015 released EP, it seemed to serve as a solid jumping-off point for pigWar's imminent formation—their 2-part debut release, Make Love Vol. I-II, was actually let loose prior to DoveDriver's 5-track EP. pigWar's just-released self-titled album was co-produced by Teddy Presberg & The Monophonics and was recorded in Nov. 2015 at Transistor Sound Studios following a set of particularly rambunctious gigs at their favorite San Francisco venue, The Boom Boom Room. pigWar's current studio line-up is rounded out by drummer Dave Coniglio, trumpet player Josh Thomas, Reid Neuman on sax, "vibes" from Kelly Finnigan, and backing vocals from Angie Fritz and Tony Ozier. Arietta "Mz. Etta" Ward sings lead vocals on pigWar-2 track "Sweet Thang," as does Nick Savage (in lieu of Garett Brennan) on "Wait a Bit More." pigWar's self-titled album is currently available to stream, download, or purchase on CD from teddypresberg's aptly-titled "music for dancers and lovers of life" Bandcamp.

"Let Me Shine for You:" Lindsay Lohan for Playboy (Winter 2011-12 Leak)

Lindsay Lohan essentially embodies exactly "What NOT to Do In Hollywood :" Fame, fortune, success... sex, drugs & Rock "N" Roll . Within a fairly short period of time, Lohan somehow managed to obtain a plentiful helping of POWER @ a very young age. This gradual rise-downfall was captured on film; Between 1998-2010, she portrayed a wide array of roles across the silver screen in movies including: Mean Girls, Bobby , Herbie Fully Loaded , Georgia Rule, Machete , and Freaky Friday . Between rapid-paced film shoots, Lindsay Lohan also found time to record 2 Pop Rock albums for Casablanca , Speak (2004) and A Litter More Personal-Raw (2005). Needless to say, Lindsay Lohan has gotten roped up in a lot of troubles and woes with the law over the last 3-5 years... a vicious cycle of drugs, arrest, court, rehab, "daddy issues," jail time [Repeat]. That's the pure basics of it - But Google that shit for additional info, if necessary. Towards the end of...

[W]reckless, Topless American Youth: Lana del Rey - "Born 2 Die" (Britney Spears Birthday 30)

Lana del Rey [Lizzy Grant] effectively became 2011's "It Girl" with the release of her phenomenal debut single, "Video Games" (Stranger) . Like many struggling singer-songwriters, Grant has been signed, dropped, and significantly changed her public image since bursting onto the scene (2009). With that said, it can be assumed that Lana del Rey has collected just as many "haters" as she has avid supporters. To be perfectly honest, the only other artist I can think of that made this much commotion... garnered so much wide-spread buzz/hate and critical acclaim -- right out of the gates -- with just one track is Britney Spears . And maybe in this post- Mike musical era, that's the true synthesis of Pop Culture: Britney Lynn Spears . After months of repeated teasing and speculation, Lana del Rey 's major label debut, Born 2 Die will [finally] be released this coming Jan. 30-31, 2012. Pitchfork reports that it will feature "Off to The Ra...

Liberty Bell Cracked In 1/2: Ween - "Freedom of '76" (Gene Ween's Final Send-Off)

Chocolate & Cheese (1994) was one of the first albums I bought with my own money. I was in some sort of BMG Music Club , where you'd buy 5 CD's and then get 10 for "FREE." It was all sent through mail order and you picked the titles from some special booklet. I'm almost positive that Chocolate & Cheese's side boob-baring album cover was what initially drew me in... mind you, I was 12-15 and the zany Ween logo/middle finger CD graphic really didn't hurt either. Honestly, I forget how I really felt about it @ the time, but a few years later, my older cousin Josh told me that Ween were this BIG college "jam band." CKY did some sort pf 93.3 radio takeover to promote their new album and played "Freedom of '76" late that night on air. Needless to say, I re-visited Chocolate & Cheese @ about 20-something this go 'round and I fucking loved it! Ween were really weird, yet talented... almost too talented. I can vaguel...

The Witzard

Search This Blog