The Witzard

"Tokyo-based Experimental Hip-Hop trio Dos Monos summon excitement with some truly unusual alchemy. The building blocks of their style balance the dissonance and cacophony of some very un-smooth, uncool Jazz with hyperactive verse trading between their three members. The results have quickly made them a mainstay of festivals around Japan & Europe and even landed them a mini-series on Japanese cable television, in which they both starred and scored all the music. After the release of a few singles, Dos Monos are now dropping their debut album, Dos City, on Deathbomb Arc —home to other Hip-Hop acts, such as JPEGMAFIA, clipping. and SB The Moor—in America and on bpm tokyo in Japan. The album will come out on March 20th. Two singles, both with music videos, are already out in the world for everyone to see and hear." - Deathbomb Arc (@deathbombarc) Dos City by Dos Monos I. Who are the members of Dos Monos and what is each members' role in the group? Dos Monos: 荘子...

"We've been getting a lot of questions about a collaborative album that Madlib & Mac Miller supposedly created. Here's the real story: What exists is what the two had originally intended—an EP's worth of music that was supposed to be the start of something. The end point wasn't planned out or even discussed. The idea was to create for creation's sake. The two met after Mac recorded the last verse on Freddie Gibbs' Piñata album. By early, 2015 Mac had batches of Madlib's beats and was recording songs. The two ate tacos at Eagle Rock's Cacao Mexicatessen and discussed ideas. Madlib played one of Mac's tracks in July of 2016 at a European festival and Egon texted Mac to tell him; "Whaaat, what song, why isn't there any video evidence!!!" was the reply. Followed by "Let's do an EP." This process continued throughout 2017, as Mac got the latest beat batches, continued recording, and continued his commitment to th...

Shadows & Light (feat. Chelsea Wolfe & Chino Moreno) by Saudade Saudade is a music collective/super-group formed by "composer of futuristic worlds" and producer Chuck Doom of ††† , Team Sleep, and THoly Ghost fame. Saudade formed around 2016 and features a wide array of musicians, artists, producers, and creative types; the crew's various members "contribute musically based on their expertise" and includes Chino Moreno (Deftones,) Chelsea Wolfe, David Torn , John Medeski (Medeski Martin & Wood,) Gil Sharone (Marilyn Manson,) Dr. Know (Bad Brains,) Mackie Jayson (Cro-Mags,) Robert Thomas Jr. (Weather Report,) Chris Bittner , and graphic artist, designer, and photographer Frank "Flem" Maddocks . Maddocks has designed covers for everyone from Metallica to Jason Derulo and, actually, designed the cover for Saudade 's latest single. Upon their 2016 formation, Saudade quietly released a self-titled single made available exclusivel...

BB PB EP O | Beastie Boys Paul's Boutique Extended Play Outtakes by Beastie Boys Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique was released in Summer 1989 as the follow-up to their massively successful debut, Licensed to Ill , and although, it was essentially, a commercial failure upon its release, has gained a cult status in the years since. Paul's Boutique , to me, personally, has always been one of my favorite albums, since I first discovered it around the age of 15-16; it completely shattered my concept of what Hip-Hop "could" or "should" be and even broke the barriers of what a Hip-Hop group "could" do. "Looking Down The Barrel of a Gun" was reminiscent of The Beasties' earliest aughts as a New York City -based Punk/Hardcore band, initially, called B.E.A.S.T.I.E. Boys: Boys Entering Anarchic States Towards Internal Excellence . Unfortunately, Adam "MCA" Yauch passed away in 2012 following a years-long bout with cance...

How's it going, ladies and germs of the music-loving Internet? Today, we here at The Witzard are proud to present to you, a brand new column: Rap Videos Killed The Radio Star. It's a collection of six of our personal favorite music videos released within the past month or so. Also, full disclosure: my wife and I are leaving for our honeymoon to Italy this upcoming Wednesday and I just wanted to do a bit of a wrap-up/send-off of some Hella dope new music, before temporarily signing off for a couple weeks. This inaugural edition of Rap Videos Killed The Radio Star showcases choice selections from Blockhead Feat. billy woods, Open Mike Eagle & Breezly "Breeze" Brewin, BULLIES AKA Denmark Vessey, DRXQUINN & Azarias, ILL BILL & Stu Banga with Goretex, Knowledge The Pirate, Reckonize Real & Guilty Simpson, and Zilla Rocca. I would also, like to send a very special shout-out to the directors of these very music videos: Mr. Oz (@claytoi,) Lil Kydd, Shawn John...

"Surreal, absurd, abstract, shot through with a E.E. Cummings sense of the vibrant and a Le Guin style comic abstruseness." - The Wire "If it was already written, well, then, shall I not have scorn / A Jazz musician died and Pan Am was born," Leron Thomas / Pan Amsterdam "One of the best horn players around today. [He] realizes the imperative to be more than just a horn player," Iggy Pop. "Elevator Music Vol. 1 marks the first in a three-part series of EP's, which will be released this year. In this installment, we have collabs with Open Mike Eagle & Iggy Pop! Not one for keeping things predictable or even sensical, Pan Amsterdam plans to drop three very different projects this year, all under the banner of "Elevator Music." There will be more surprises to follow, as this plays out..." - Def Pressé Press Release (@DefPresse) Mobile / 15 Seconds by Pan Amsterdam x Iggy Pop I. How did you first meet The Godfather of Pu...

2217 Mixtape by Children's City Dump I was just watching Part 1 of PUNK on EPIX , a new 4-part documentary series profiling a slew of early Punk/Hardcore bands, as well as the earliest aughts of the genre. PUNK Part 1 included segments focused on Iggy & The Stooges , MC5, New York Dolls , The Ramones, Blondie , Wayne/Jayne County & The Electric Chairs, PUNK Magazine , CBGB's, Hilly Kristal , and much, much more. One band of particular note were Garage Rock/Proto-Punk pioneers MC5 , who had a particularly gut-wrenching rise and fall before they ever really gained wide-spread success. Oddly enough, MC5 's politically-charged 1970 sophomore album, Back In The USA featured a song on Side B called "The Human Being Lawnmower;" this title, in particular, bears a striking resemblance to blood-curdling emcee Blastmaster Baker 's recent debut on we are the karma kids , Blastmaster Baker vs. The Human Being Lawn Mower . Now, I have yet to ask Blastmaste...

It looks like it's poised to be a pretty BIG week for Philly Hoagie-core pioneers Body Spray , as their long-awaited debut full-length, Music to Fall Down To will be released digitally this Friday, March 15th. They're also, playing a Music to Fall Down To Record Release Show on "St. Body Spray Day," Sunday, March 17th, at Ortlieb's with Plot & Table. Just this past Friday, Adam Black, Dan Haddigan, Eric Kenney & Ian Kiesel unleashed their second music video from Music to Fall Down To for Bandcamp single, "New Smell." It was directed by James Powers and edited by B.S.' own Adam Black and features the band running around "the mean streets" of Philly wreaking havoc, all the while, donning giant middle finger masks on their heads. Honestly, the "New Smell" is "Philly" through and through; from Body Spray 's Rocky -esque sweatsuits to punching meat slabs... well, much smaller pieces of meat strappe...

"So much about the duo, Last Sons, goes against the grain of what most of today's Rap fans think of when they hear a the words "Rap duo." The two most obvious deviations are the group's make-up (rapper & DJ) and where they call home, Nottingham, UK. Now I know the old heads are currently yelling at me that the only true duos are ones consisting of a DJ and a rapper—insert joke about DJ Jazzy Jeff getting thrown out by Uncle Phil—but even in many of those classic duos, the DJ was the one making the beats, but here, Furious P is manning the 1's & 2's and adding that extra oomph to the producer's musical background, handled on Chekhov's Gun by Uncommon Nasa. As for the Nottingham aspect, many US Rap fans have constantly had some sort of hang up about English emcees, but, then, in the same breath, say they "love" Slick Rick or 21 Savage. So, let us end that issue right now: we rarely have problems with other dialects or accents...

"I wrote Ears & Eyes to The World to be a mirror that I could hold up and use to self-analyze, self-critique, and self-reflect. I wanted to share this process with others. I'm not here to judge or condemn when I speak of issues, I'm also, asking, "what part do I play in this situation?" as well. I hope that when people listen, they will truly open their ears and eyes can see what's going on in their communities and see what change they can affect. I think, if everyone does one thing on a consistent basis to help, then, we can leave the world in better shape than we found it. All the beats were produced by M Slago, who I have known for years and I have collaborated [with] previously. His sound is amazing and captivating. M Slago's beats allow me to express emotions I was unaware of. There is a certain rhythm in his beats that draw you and make you speak from a deeper place in your soul. I'm very thankful to work with such a producer, who has a...

PUP are a Hardcore/Pop-Punk band hailing from Toronto, Canada consisting of frontman/guitarist Stefan Babcock , bassist Nestor Chumak , drummer Zack Mykula , and guitarist Steve Sladkowski . While their current name is an abbreviation for Pathetic Use of Potential , P.U.P. 's original band name was Topanga , an allusion to Danielle Fishel's iconic character, Topanga Lawrence-Matthews , from Boy Meets World . Since forming in 2010, PUP have released two full-length albums on Royal Mountain & SideOneDummy Records , as well as a slew of singles and EP's. In the years since 2016's The Dream Is Over , PUP have quietly been self-releasing their own fan 'zine fittingly entitled PUP, The Zine : Vol. 1 contained a comic book, as well as a flexi-disc 7-inch and a live version of "My Life Is Over & I Couldn't Be Happier," while Vol. 2 came with 3-D glasses and a mysterious then-unreleased track entitled "Kids." Soon after, PUP announ...

Hey, Apollo! This is Horror! by The Punchers The Punchers are a modern-day "Boss/Skinhead Reggae" & Ska band based out of Moscow, Russia . The Punchers formed towards the tail-end of 2016 and consists of frontman Kirill Sosed , bassist Vladimir Jurin , drummer Stanislav Ikonov , guitarist Artem Piskun , former second guitarist Evgenly Balashov , and keyboard player Kamil Gazizov . As you may well remember, we previously covered The Punchers' 2018 debut EP, Punch from The Jungle, which was released on Artem Piskun 's own Magnetic Loft Records in collaboration with fellow Moscow -based label, Mangy Little Mut (MLM) Records . The Punchers are dead-set on continually making and releasing a unique brand of Skinhead Reggae dating back to the genre's original roots from 1969 with their mantra being "no peace, no love, just pure Aggro sounds!" The Punchers even stick to the oft-adopted 1969-1980's style choices of Skins , as seen by their ...

A Different Cloth, Vol. 2 by Rolled Gold Honestly, by now, anyone who frequents these pages of The Witzard knows that we're big fans and supporters of Philly -based producer, beat-maker, and multi-instrumentalist Harry Metz AKA Rolled Gold . I believe, we've covered nearly all of his various releases and projects since 2016's Rolled Gold & Uncle Crimson: The Great Fallback EP , as well as his slightly re-worked and re-released SALTY (3P) EP . Earlier this year, Rolled Gold kick-started his latest musical endeavor with A Different Cloth, Vol. 1 EP/beat tape, as a way to fully fresh out and properly release a wide array of unfinished songs, unreleased remixes, both old and new collaborations, unplaced instrumental beats, etc. It's, essentially, an extension of his 2018 EP, Rolled Gold's Healthy A$$ Breakfast with an added "cut from a different cloth"-type of vibe, as well as a place for Metz to display his eclectic collection of quilts and tapest...