Russia's DJ Strange Man Re-emerges As Beat-minded One-man Band with Heat & Shadow & BLACK JESUS EP's (@heatandhadow)

Instrumental Heat & Shadow is a Russian beat-maker, part-time DJ, and multi-instrumentalist whose music, I first got acquainted with a few weeks ago, after either he started Following me (matthorowitz87) or I started Following him (heatandshadow) on Instagram. In recent weeks, I've been corresponding back-and-forth with Radislav Titov AKA Instrumental Heat & Shadow AKA DJ Strange Man through both Instagram Direct Messenger and over email... making now, as good a time as any to feature a post on his music here at The Witzard. "A native of Russia. Voronezh City. One person creates music. The studio is located outside the city; near the forest, the real "underground." This is the debut album and record single. In the future, there will be many more releases: Library, Funk, and more Experimental stuff. The first release was sold [out] before the official release!" reads an Instrumental Heat & Shadow press statement. Yes, you read that right: Instrumental Heat & Shadow's latest release SOLD OUT, before it was, actually, even released! Radislav Titov's "Afterglow" B/W "Pursuit" 7-inch lathe-cut at 33 1/3 RPM's contains two select tracks lifted from Instrumental Heat & Shadow's full-length debut, Heat & Shadow on Heat & Shadow Records; preceded by a mysterious June 2017 released 2-track digital single simply, entitled BLACK JESUS.

Instrumental Heat & Shadow constructs a unique brand of beat-centric genre-eschewing music with sonic allusions to Funk, Hip-Hop, Experimental, Groove, Library, Psychedelic, Breakbeat, and dusty Soul 45's. If pressed, I would likely, compare Instrumental Heat & Shadow's output to that of The Great Revivers, a similarly-minded Russian Library/Groove act also, recently featured right here at The Witzard. Radislav Titov tells me, he's currently planning a second pressing of Instrumental Heat & Shadow's wildly-successful "Afterglow" B/W "Pursuit" 7-inch to be released within a month or so, as well as a music video for a track entitled "Jazzy Space" within two weeks or less. Another Instrumental Heat & Shadow vinyl will be pressed and issued within the next six months and a new digital-only release in two weeks. However, for the time being, both BLACK JESUS and Heat & Shadow are currently still available to stream or download on Instrumental Heat & Shadow's Bandcamp. Ch-check out a video of Instrumental Heat & Shadow's lathe-cut "Afterglow" B/W "Pursuit" 7-inch down below with original artwork designed by Elena Kolesnikova—search "elenalenin" on Instagram to see more of her work.

"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...

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