The Witzard

Landfill Crew is a fictional animated Punk Rock band set during the mid-80's heyday of the formative East/West Coast Punk & Hardcore scenes. Landfill Crew AKA LFC 's self-titled debut 2x7-inch EP was originally recorded on March 12, 1987 in Bagga's Basement , although, it was just properly released earlier this week on Pirates Press & Hellcat Records . According to the record's inserts, Landfill Crew consists of frontman Anthony "Hux" Campbell , guitarist & vocalist Bagger "Bagga Bullets" Russell , drummer Jennifer "Jenny" Arellano , guitarist Cliff "Pakman" Esmond , and bassist Horace "Baby" Harringtton . Its reverse sleeve denotates the 2x7-inch EP was produced by Tim "Timebomb" Armstrong , with artwork & layout by J Bonner , and sends a very "special thanks to Clarence for bringing the donuts." However, much in the same vein as like-minded animated Alternative Rock/Hip-Hop b...

INTRODUCTION: Maybe, it's in the gray hairs that I've started finding in my thinning hair. Maybe, it's that dreaded third decade of life that seems to have been rearing it's ugly face around every corner. Maybe, it's a quarter life crisis, but something has been keeping me up at night. I sometimes, stay awake into the early hours of the morning spinning records and fumbling with CD jackets from high school, grasping hold of my youth for dear life. I search out elusive first presses of albums I'd somehow, lost to time, hoping that they'll somehow, tighten the thread leading from middle school to adulthood. To be clear, I'm not fishing my torn band T-shirts or bondage pants from the depths of my closet, but as I make the transition into my 30's, shedding roommates and getting oil changes at regularly scheduled intervals, I can't help ruminating on where these albums came from and how they've shaped me. I can't help begging the question,...

"So, my background is rooted in touring Hardcore/Punk and guitar music: Bastions , [Portrait of A Lifetime,] and My Project Ghost . Grew up listening to everything I could get my hands on at Our Price & Woolworths. Did you guys have those stores? I discovered independent record stores in my teens and just absorbed EVERYTHING I could get my hands on. Loved the immediacy of Punk & Hardcore; saw that style of music sharing the same fire that Hip-Hop & Electronica have, [ie:] Doormouse, Wu-Tang Clan, Venetian Snares, etc." - Jamie Burne (@sleepbeggar) I. Big Daddy Kane - Long Live The Kane (1988) "Just floored by the flawless delivery and syncopation of the rhyming couplets in this. I learnt you could create that same energy that a full band has with a lot less instrumentation." II. Aphex Twin - Come to Daddy EP (1997) "Less is more, textures, nerding out on a production level, imagining how that was created, and subtle synth tones (3:03 i...

While Port Arthur, Texas emcees Bun B & Pimp C were commonly referred to as Underground Kingz (U.G.K.) I would strongly attest that Broownsville emcee Sean Price AKA Sean P! AKA Ruckus/Ruck from Heltah Skeltah was, indeed, and "Underground" King in his own right. Sean P , unfortunately, only spent 43 years on this Green Earth, although, he had been rapping since 1995 after his crew, Boot Camp Clik , appeared on Smif-N-Wessun 's Wreck Records debut, Dah Shinin' . Honestly, my earliest personal memories of Sean P! date back to my 12 years spent stocking shelves at Shop Rite ; sometimes, at night, I used to help my buddy, Jared Jenkins , stock the bread shelves and he was always bumpin' and big uppin' Sean Price . I guess, what really stuck with me first, aside from his relentless rhymes, was Sean 's tendency to take his name and blatantly insert it into common Pop culture phenoms, movie titles, etc. which was a great promotional tool in the...

Manikineter Teethcrack by Manikineter Last we heard from Philly Noise -maker Carl Kavorkian , he was releasing his third EP as MANIKINETER , Not As They Do . Kavorkian has remained relatively quiet since we premiered his "Rockatansky Memoirs (The Big Nothing)" right here at The Witzard last year. Lest we forget, Carl , also, graciously curated a 22-track Halloween Playlist for TheWitzard.com featuring everyone from Gravediggaz to The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza . Although, Carl Kavorkian has now re-emerged with his first proper release of 2019: MANIKINETER/TEETH CRACK , a split EP on Wales -based imprint, Link2Wales Records . TEETH CRACK is the recording alias of James Barrington Cooper , who has been consistently recording and releasing " Heavy Electronic music since 2016." It appears as though MANIKINETER & TEETH CRACK first met back in 2016, when Carl Kavorkian played a show with James Cooper in Rhyl, North Wales , "a beach town," ...

Ozomatli are a Los Angeles -based 6-piece " Latin/Funk/Hip-Hop and everything in-between" band, who are currently celebrating their 22nd year creating genre-eschewing music together. Ozomatli's current line-up consists of Wil-Dog Abers on bass guitar/background vocals, Ulises Bella on saxophone, clarinet, Requinto Jarocho, keyboard, melodica & background vocals, Raúl "El Bully" Pacheco on guitar, tres, Jarana & lead vocals, Justin "El Niño" Porée on percussion/Rap vocals, Asdru Sierra on trumpet, keyboard & lead vocals, and Jiro Yamaguchi on drums, tabla, percussion & background vocals. Although, at one point in time, Ozomalti 's line-up famously included Chali 2na & Cut Chemist , who would later, go on to form one of my personal favorite Hip-Hop crews, Jurassic 5 , together; both Chali 2na & Cut Chemist appeared throughout Ozomatli 's 1998 self-titled debut and would later appear separately on Embrace The C...

Late Wednesday night/early Thursday morning, Weezer surprise released their fifth album entitled Weezer AKA "The Teal Album" on digital streaming platforms world-wide. It would appear as though these type of color named untitled/self-titled Weezer albums have become something of a "stunt" in recent years; although, as you may recall, Weezer 's first album widely known as "The Blue Album" (1994) was, and still is, widely acclaimed by fans and critics alike across the globe. After self-producing their second album, Pinkerton , Weezer once again joined forces with The Cars' former frontman Ric Ocasek for 2001's "The Green Album," which, as you may recall, featured undeniable green-tinted smash-hits such as "Hash Pipe," "Keep Fishin,'" and "Photograph." Following my personal favorite Weezer album, Maladroit , as well as "Beverly Hills" -featuring Make Believe , Weezer once again, r...

Apart. by Jazz Williams "This tape was made in the span of three days, an impulse to create without over-thinking. " Marcel Duchamp do it how'a wan' it,'" reads the description attached to Mugwampers' latest Bandcamp release, Lime Green Tape . Mugwampers is, of course, a Livingston, Scotland -based Hip-Hop crew consisting of emcees/producers Chris 'i's McCormick & Aaron "SaIGO" Bonnar . In addition to 'i's & SaIGO , McCormick & Bonnar's oft-used recording aliases include Jazz Williams , MoonSnakes, Adder , and my personal favorite, Sebastian Thy Third Baller . Mugwampers have collectively recorded and released music with Hemlock Ernst (Future Islands' Sam Herring,) S.al AKA Safari Al, Emmanuel Coto , WC TANK, cunabear , Uncommon Nasa, billy woods , and Lungmouth, as well as video director and frequent collaborator Joe Eaton . Following the release of their 717: Part II EP this past August, Mugwampers...

Paradice 1 by OQ Late last month, I received a mysterious cold-sent email from a man named Liam O'Brien simply titled "Hi From Wisconsin." I've since learned O'Brien has previously played and released music with Holy Sheboygan! , Moon Ruin, and his namesake, Liam O'Brien's Faithless Followers . For his latest endeavor, Liam has joined forces with fellow Wisconsinite and multi-instrumentalist Cole Quamme ("qua-mee") of The Fatty Acids ; " OQ is Liam O'Brien & Cole Quamme in collaboration with an array of Midwestern, US -based contributors," reads their "short" press release. While amidst the earliest stages of recording in 2016, Cole Quamme reached out to his fellow Milwaukee Folk/Bluegrass peers to see what they could, potentially, do with his unique style of "Bubu" -leaning beats. Quamme was, eventually, connected with Liam O'Brien , who morphed his inter-locking rhythms into full-fledged comp...

earlytwothousands by Drew Scott Baltimore -based producer and beat-maker Drew Scott had quite a big year in 2018: first and foremost, he got married to his long-time partner and frequent collaborator, Pale Spring . Congrats to Drew & Emily ! Musically, Drew unleashed CRITTER from his "Basement" Pop alter-ego, Giddeon Gallows , as well as remixes from Butch Dawson , HI$TO, and Infinity Knives . Now, Drew Scott has effectively returned with his first proper release of 2019—something I've been hearing about for a while now— earlytwothousands ; just as it sounds, is an 8-track collection of early 2000's Hip-Hop remixes "featuring" Snoop Dogg , 50 Cent, Juelz Santana , Clipse & Pharrell, Ghostface Killah , T.I. Lil' Wayne , and JAY-Z. "It was just something I've been wanting to do. I was a teenager when these songs came out, which was around the same time I first started making beats," Drew Scott told The Witzard , via email. ...

Dead Kennedys were a controversial San Francisco, California -based Punk/Hardcore , who were originally active from 1978-86; within said 8-year span, Dead Kennedys self-released four albums and an EP on their own independent record label, Alternative Tentacles . Dead Kennedys critically-acclaimed and widely praised releases include Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables , In God We Trust, Inc. EP, Plastic Surgery Disasters , Frankenchrist, and finally, 1986's Bedtime for Democracy . Dead Kennedys abruptly disbanded—arguably, at the height of their "fame"—in December of 1986, prior to their career-spanning 1987 compilation , Give Me Convenience OR Give Me Death . However, following a 15-year period of inactivity, Dead Kennedys re-formed in 2001 following a number of legal disputes, royalties lawsuits, and disputes between members. Unlike the recently re-formed Original Misfits with Glenn Danzig , this is, unfortunately, not the original incarnation of Dead Kennedys . ...

GRIND NO DIE by Constituents A couple years ago, we did a feature on Baltimore -based Grindcore band Constituents AKA CNSTS' 2017 DEMO cassette and digital release here at The Witzard . However, over the course of the past year and a half, CNSTS have morphed from a 4-piece to a 3-piece now consisting of vocalist josé , guitarist/bassist clint. and drummer zap . Just yesterday, Constituents "quietly" returned, which is ironic, with their second proper digital release simply entitled GRIND NO DIE . It's a blistering 7-minute mix of Grindcore , Powerviolence, and Metal , which consists of 9 "micro-songs." It also, contains an "INTRO," as well as numerous interlude "skits" created by Baltimore beat-maker and friend of The Witzard , Jumbled AKA John Bachman . East Coast Grindcore die-hards and Hip-Hop heads will well know, however, that this isn't exactly Jumbled & clint. AKA salk. 's first time appearing on record to...

"It's hard to pinpoint the moment I wanted to become a producer. I do remember contemplating at a young age the elements of Hip-Hop, wondering where I fit in. My older brother wrote [graffiti]. My other brother's friends were DJ's and emcees. To 12-year-old me, it was logical to take a craft up in one of these cornerstones. I, actually, wanted to break, but having no actual training available to me, that didn't last long. Around this time, I recognized my affinity for beats and beat-making. The part that interested me the most was seeing people come up with something from nothing. You didn't need to know how to play an instrument. The process intrigued and excited me. The rapping was cool, but what moved me the most was the music. I could get down with an average emcee, so as long as the sh*t he was rhyming on was tight; vice-versa, if a fire emcee had wack beats, it felt wasted to me." Four Albums of Note (Honorable Mentions) 1. De La Soul - 3 Feet...

Curse ov Dialect emcee and producer Raceless FKA Raceless The Prophet AKA Il-Belligha AKA The Filfla Lizard has added yet another nom de plume to his ever-growing cast of characters: The Maltese Well Monster . Legend has it, said Maltese Well Monster/Il-Belliegha —a pivotal part of centuries-old Maltese folklore —was supposedly, "a monster that lives in well and could pull in children who looked into them." Raceless himself, however, tells the story a bit something like this: " The Maltese Well Monster was born after a trip to Malta from Curse ov Dialect member Raceless , [whose] father is from this background... the myths of Malta run very deep into a well... some instrumental tracks that conjure these images and some vocal tracks with a Gollum -like rapping voice from the monster... heavy sampology from obscure sources." Just overnight, Raceless made a couple minor edits to The Maltese Well Monster 's Il Beliegha EP , swiftly removing one of its...

Padre by Jumbled It's been an exciting year and a half for John Bachman AKA Baltimore -based beat-maker Jumbled and his wife, Rachel . One day, The Bachmans got a call about potentially, adopting a little girl, so they immediately drove to Upstate New York and their lives, as they knew it, instantly changed forever. Upon their return back home to Baltimore with baby Lucy (LB) just a few short weeks later, Jumbled happily moved his records and equipment from Lucy 's new bedroom and into the home's guestroom. Thus, entering his aptly-named "Green Room" phase, which chronologically, started with YOU BEST NOT MISS EP with DC emcee, Lace Berriez from late last year. Padre consists of a barrage of beats Jumbled has painstakingly created and fine-tuned within the last 12 months or so in The "Green Room." Its content were primarily recorded during the early morning hours before LB would wake up or on the rare occasion Mrs. Bachman would go out...