The Witzard

La Côte West by Henry Canyons Henry Canyons is an LA -based Brooklyn -bred emcee, who, as a self-described "Brooklinite-French-Jew," transcends your typical ideal of what Hip-Hop could and should be; from his training as a Jazz saxophonist to his teenage years spent in Brooklyn ciphers, his melodic style, and bilingual lyrical integrity, Henry Canyons isn't exactly your typical emcee. He evokes a laid-back, yet extremely impactful flow similar in style to one-time Stones Throw signee Jonwayne with a keen ear for heavy-hitting, slightly off-kilter beats akin to Homeboy Sandman . Over the course of his storied career, Canyons has shared the stage with the likes of Macklemore , Tash (Tha Alkaholiks,) Open Mike Eagle , Pigeon Jon, Homeboy Sandman , Blue Scholars, DJ Mo Niklz , and PremRock. Henry Canyons boasts label affiliation with Brooklyn -based "Dystopian Hip-Hop" imprint/collective Backwoodz Studioz , whose current roster includes Armand Hammer (o...

Jeremy Toy is a New Zealand -based Shoegaze revivalist and one half of She's So Rad , who moonlights as "Leonard Charles:" a Hip-Hop -leaning producer, multi-instrumentalist, and Basement Funk originator. Since releasing his critically-acclaimed J Dilla tribute album, Basement Donuts , Leonard Charles has teamed up with Jellphonic, Reggie Blunt & kutcorners for a Rick James covers EP entitled ALL NIGHT LONG ; earlier this year, he joined forces with Detroit emcee Guilty Simpson for "Breaking Over You" 7-inch on Japanese imprint WONDERFUL NOISE , which was premiered digitally right here at The Witzard . However, in recent weeks, Jeremy Toy was unfortunately, involved in a hit-and-run accident after a Leonard Charles gig and was left with two broken legs. Now, with nothing but idle time while his legs slowly heal, Toy has vowed to return to recording material as "Leonard Charles" from his bed with beat machine and a crate-full of reco...

Nite Owl's Theme (feat. Ai-Que & Reef The Lost Cauze) by Rolled Gold I'm not entirely sure what's the best aspect about Philly -bred producer Harry Metz AKA Rolled Gold : that his name is an allusion to delicious pretzel company Rold Gold , his logo is an upside down cigar-smoking pretzel, or that he makes infectious Jazzy Blues/Soul -inflected Hip-Hop beats. While remaining largely silent throughout 2017, Rolled Gold has returned to dominate 2018 with his unique hard as nails sour dough brand of Hip-Hop . Barely two months into 2018, Harry Metz recently told The Witzard about a slew of beat-twisting projects he currently has in store for this year; already having properly re-released an abridged version of his 2016 SALTY EP re-titled SALTY (3P) and effectively, trimming it back to a concise 3-track collection. Now, not even a full week later, Rolled Gold has already re-surfaced to unleash a vocal-assisted version of his 2016 single, "Nite Owl's Them...

End Of Future Park by CURTA Die-hard Hip-Hop heads and The Witzard 's trusty devotees alike will recall: the last time we heard from Denver emcee CURTA , he and long-time producer 4Digit were preparing to release their CLICK BAIT EP on FilthyBroke Recordings/Hello L.A. Lest we forget, Philly Noir-Hop originator Zilla Rocca 's re-contextualized and remixed version of CURTA 's "Rap Trope Questionnaire" was premiered right here at The Witzard last March. Now, CURTA are back with their first single, "The Messiah Complex," lifted from upcoming EP End of Future Park slated to be self-released on Bandcamp this upcoming March 19th. " End of Future Park is named for a construction sign meant to indicate the point at which the City of Denver 's proposed "future park" starts and ends," CURTA wrote within a recent press statement. "This sign is painted on an underpass pillar a few blocks from my home and small studio whe...

"It's cool to see things come full-circle. A year ago, nearly to the day, I walked out of my classroom and headed home for Winter Break . My only aim for that window of creative time was to put together the foundation for the best project possible to submit for Fake Four 's Freecember series the following year," San Francisco/Bay Area rapper-producer OneWerd wrote within a recent press statement. Adding that he then, spent the next three weeks "experimenting with new production approaches, brain-storming, and collecting song ideas and working them out into lyrics." Upon completing eight genre-eschewing beats for what would ultimately, become his Alive EP , OneWerd reached out to a particular collection of artists he looked up to and admired to appear within Alive ; this would end up including features from Denver emcee sole , Graves 33, Sleep of Oldominion , Ersatz Splynter, and Fake Four, Inc. 's own "anti-boss himself," Ceschi . OneWerd...

J Dilla + Michael Jackson = Share My Bed by J.Rocc It's safe to say, I've been patiently awaiting J.Rocc 's J Dilla & Michael Jackson -blending mash-up project ever since Stones Throw posted: " Share My Bed=M.J. & Dilla 1st track "Player Has Butterflies" ... wait 4 the rest" nearly 10 years ago back in November 2009. Over the years, a handful of tracks have been sporadically leaked out from the project—alternatively, referred to as "Dil Jackson" —but every year, as Dilla Month (February) comes and goes, I've always wondered, if we would ever hear the entirety of J.Rocc 's Share My Bed . Even this year, J Dilla 's birthday, Feb. 7th (same as my dad's!) passed, as well as Feb. 10th, the 12th anniversary of his passing, and still, no signs of J.Rocc 's anxiously-awaited Dil Jackson project. However, just a few days ago, on Valentine's Day , J.Rocc quietly dropped Share My Bed on his Bandcamp , without any pr...

DARK THOUGHTS WINTER TAPE by DARK THOUGHTS "Some copies left from our tour of Mexico . 100 white tapes with blue insert. 3 songs from the upcoming LP ' DARK THOUGHTS AT WORK ,'" Philly Punks DARK THOUGHTS wrote on their Bandcamp page this past week. Fittingly-named DARK THOUGHTS WINTER TAPE is their latest quick-strike release and quasi-follow-up to October 2017's festively-appropriate DARK THOUGHTS HALLOWEEN TAPE . Not entirely unlike similarly-named DARK THOUGHTS HALLOWEEN TAPE , DARK THOUGHTS WINTER TAPE features three select songs from DARK THOUGHTS' upcoming sophomore album, DARK THOUGHTS AT WORK : "PSYCHO WARD," "NO GOOD," and "DON'T WANNA." "NO GOOD" and "DON'T WANNA" were previously featured on DARK THOUGHTS HALLOWEEN TAPE —along with "HATE THIS SONG" and "LITTLE THING" —in rough demo form; although, I'm assuming, much won't change from "rough demo...

Petridisch (@petridisch) describes himself as a "mainly Electronic music composer on the Darkwave side, who loves VOCALOID / sometimes plays a reverbed-out guitar" hailing from Boston . Petridisch is a mysterious creature, also know as Thor Maillet , who has issued a staggering 26 individual releases, since first launching his project on Bandcamp in 2015-16. Just in 2017, Petridisch released four full-length albums: Wired , Classical Vocaloid, Monolith , Split—re-released on Amazon , Spotify, and Apple Music as An Interrogation —and most recently, 358 , as well as limited edition 358 VHS + CASSETTE + DIGITAL + DVD! combo-packs on Illuminated Paths , as well as a unique "video album" crafted in collaboration with Broken Machine Films Presents... However, Thor Maillet has personally, been making music since 1995 as part of various bands, collaborative projects, and solo endeavors, including, but not limited to, Cryostasium / Thor Maillet , CTM, Petridisch ...

SALTY (3P) by Rolled Gold Since we last heard from beat-twisting West Philly producer Rolled Gold here at The Witzard , it was when he and Philly emcee Uncle Crimson self-released their collaborative 2016 The Great Fallback EP . Rolled Gold producer Harry Metz quietly released a one-off single entitled "The Field" with a vocal assist from No Headliner in July 2017, as well as "Nite Owl's Theme" from The Nite Owls AKA Harry Metz and his cousin Nate Forman . The Nite Owls actually, formed in April 2016 and are being billed as a " Soul, Jazz , and soundtrack music duo," which also features contributions from musically-inclined friends Kavian Bina , Jonathan Vaders, and Ray Bailey . "This time around, me and my cousin are putting together a band that will do less Hip-Hop and more Soul, Jazz , and 1960-70's soundtrack music. I've linked up with a handful of Soul singers, as well to work with this year," Rolled Gold told Th...

First and foremost, I have to readily admit, what you see below is a previously unpublished 2017 interview with Jay "J-Zone" Mumford & Pablo Martin of The Du-Rites conducted right around the release of their second collaborative album, Greasy Listening, or "2 albums - 1 CD Mo' Funk, Less $$." After conducting the initial emailed interview with both Jay & Pablo, my fiance and I purchased our first home together, the holidays came and went, and amidst constant preparations for our Fall 2018 wedding, I quite simply, and unfortunately, forgot to publish my second comprehensive Q&A with The Du-Rites. It actually, makes complete and total sense, in its own weird way, to publish this interview now, as Greasy Listening and almost all the separate projects from J-Zone & Pablo Martin mentioned within—aside from The Du-Rites' full "The Odyssey" (The Fizzy Wo-Magnificent Remix)—have been effectively released to the masses: THE ZONE IDENTITY...

JE DOUBLE F (Jeff Richie) is a self-described "Punk-Rap" emcee and producer hailing from Atlantic City, New Jersey . Richie has previously crafted demonic-sounding beats for fellow East Coaster Stillborn Identity AKA Cody Cody Jones , released a split 7-inch with Sleep Beggar , and runs his own music, film, and book imprint called AMERICAN SCREAM RECORDS . Last year, Jeff put together one of the earliest Beat-maker Bedrock columns for The Witzard , which showcased Gravediggaz 's RZArector -produced 6 Feet Deep , Glenn Danzig -fronted Samhain 's Final Descent , and Nine Inch Nails' critically-acclaimed 1989 debut, Pretty Hate Machine . JE DOUBLE F 's latest solo release, HUMAN RITES , was issued on AMERICAN SCREAM in June 2017 and was fittingly, first described to me as something along the lines of " Danzig [meets] MF DOOM ." When Jeff Richie 's not composing his own unique brand of Punk-Rap head-bangers, he's busy fronting a ...

South Philly rapper-producer and one half of Career Crooks , Zilla Rocca has returned with his first proper solo release of 2018, "99 Triple 5 Soul Flow." Zilla is not only, part of Career Crooks with producer buddy Small Professor , but also, runs with his own crews, The Shadowboxers —formerly, The 5 O'Clock Shadow Boxers —and Wrecking Crew with fellow emcees Curly Castro & PremRock , along with Small Pro . Zilla Rocca additionally, runs his own Philly -based label, Three Dollar Pistol Music , is co-creator of @rapbooklets' Instagram , and fancies himself a " Noir-Hop originator and corrupt novelist." "99 Triple 5 Soul Flow" is of course, a reference to infamous 1990's Hip-Hop clothing brand Triple 5 Soul and is the sequel to last year's similarly-minded "98 Avirex Flow;" a stand-alone single with sonic ties to Zilla Rocca 's upcoming '96 Mentality , which was produced by Disco Vietnam AKA @SupernovaLox ...

The Witzard regulars might recognize the name "Sleep Sinatra" from a recent post on these very pages; if so, you've likely heard his silky smooth rhymes schemes on either "B.I.E." with The Custodian of Records AKA TCOR or Flashius Clayton 's The Custodian of Records -produced "Anchorman Fight Scene" —or maybe, even TCOR 's recent "Anchorman Fight Scene" (Frozen Earth Mix) —alongside equally gritty SPENCER for Higher emcee Vic Spencer . Since running said "B.I.E." -centric post, both Sleep Sinatra and The Custodian of Records have issued new projects: surprise-released XMXTHXST (AMETHYST) EP and mail-order "Lousy New Year's" B/W "Blizzard" 7-inch, respectively. 7-inches can be ordered directly from The Custodian of Records at fiverowsback@gmail.com , however, at the time of this articles's publishing, post- Super Bowl LII , @Custidainofreco Tweeted 7-inches were quickly "Going, go...

I'm proud to present to you, my trusty The Witzard disciples, a new (hopefully) recurring column to be tentatively entitled "Wax Watchers," which will, for the time being, at least, chronicle physical reviews of physical media, such as: full-length vinyl, 7-inches, cassettes, and CD's. This first introductory installment of Wax Watchers will showcase a freshly-pressed 7-inch EP from Bay Area Ska Punks Jokes for Feelings (JFF) entitled Too Much Too Hipster . Last October, I was "cold sent" a pre-release digital single from JFF called "Sweet Song," which was slated to appear within the band's then-upcoming 4-song EP to be released at the top of 2018. Last month, Jokes for Feelings played an EP Release Show at notorious West Berkley Punk/Hardcore venue 924 Gilman St. AKA Gilman , along with Mustard PLUG , Buck-O-Nine, Neverlyn , and Shark Punch—awesome band name; just about a week or so ago, I received my characteristically checkered ...

Justin Timberlake released his long-awaited fifth studio album, Man of The Woods today, which has taken him "back to his Nashville roots," as well as his pre- Timbaland production partners, The Neptunes . This upcoming Sunday, Timberlake will also make his return to Super Bowl LII , playing his first half-time show since 2004's Super Bowl XXXVIII half-time show controversy, widely regarded as "Nipplegate." "When it was announced JT would return to the Super Bowl , after spectacularly failing to stand by [Janet] Jackson at the height of his career, it started bugging me more," one half of Epic Beard Men , B. Dolan wrote on Soundcloud early Friday morning. "I started out to make a single one of these mash-ups out of curiosity. Then, I kept going because I'm petty and a music nerd and it was stunningly easy," @BDolanSFR continued. B. Dolan is of course, referring to his "dope, highly unofficial 30-minute satirical mix"...