The Witzard

Runnin' Scared/Their Disguise by Warish WARISH are a self-proclaimed "Low-Budget Horror Rock" band hailing from Oceanside, California; yes, their guitarist/vocalist is Tony Hawk 's son and fellow Pro "Street" Skater, Riley Hawk . Oddly enough, my first real-deal "concert"—aside from Dexys Midnight Runners & Sesame Street/Disney On Ice—was Activision O2 Presents: Tony Hawk's Boom Boom HuckJam held at the then-First Union Center (now-Wells Fargo Center) in Philly in November of 2002. Boldly billed as "THE ONLY ACTION SPORTS TOUR THAT MATTERS!" and featuring the biggest, gnarlist SKATE/MOTO-X/BMX stars of the day rippin' it up on a giant half-pipe constructed right atop where the Sixers & Flyers would typically play. I can vaguely remember, my family went with my best buddy, Ryan, and his family and little did we know, in addition to Action/X-treme Sports, we'd be treated to our first Punk/Hardcore X-perience: Punk R...

Over the years, Patrick Stickles -helmed Titus Andronicus have unleashed quite the expansive, genre-eschewing back catalog-worth of music; for me, personally, it all started with 2012's Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band-evocative Local Business . Titus Andronicus —often, affectionately referred to as simply "+@" —have since released a cascading 29-track "Punk" Rock Opera, The Most Lamentable Tragedy , a 2016 live album, S+@dium Rock: Five Nights at The Opera , and most recently, Folk Rock/Acoustic opus, A Productive Cough . In-between said releases, +@ have meticulously trickled out a gaggle of official/"unofficial" non-cannon releases, such as their mail-order SEVEN SEVEN INCHES series, Titus Andronicus, LLC Mixtape, Vol. 1 , Lil' Wayne-referencing +@ LLC MIXTAPE, VOL. 2A: SORRY ABOUT THE DELAY , Titus Andronicus Mixtape, Volume III: A Reductive Scoff , and spook-tacular "Home Alone (On Halloween)" 12-inch. Titus Andronicus ...

"I went to Las Vegas to perform with Liberace and went [with] him to see Elvis' show. I had never seen someone boldly standing on a stage–supposedly, a heterosexual male–wearing turquoise eye shadow and grinding his hips like that. The orchestra, one-by-one, put down their instruments. They crossed their arms and refused to play. The audience started booing and they booed him off the stage. Then, a voice said to me–and I wasn’t on any drugs–"go around the side of the hotel. There's a swimming pool and you'll find someone in a canary yellow jacket." I went around and in the dark Moonless night, far away, I could see the double-doors of the casino, golden with light. They opened and a figure came into the doorway. It was Elvis, wearing a canary yellow jacket. He looked confusedly into the darkness, so I said, "I'm over here." We walked towards each other, sat down, and talked. I told him that I was a performer and that what happened was absolu...

" Mustaine & Ving created the band name by reversing their initials. Dave Mustaine 's reversed are "MD" and Lee Ving 's are "VL," which is 45 in Roman numerals, hence, the name MD.45 ... The initials, also, stand for members of the band: Mustaine, DeGrasso, Ving, and LeMieux," according to an answer given on Megadeath's website . MD.45 was, in fact, a short-lived Punk/Metal side-project of Megadeath guitarist and frontman Dave Mustaine , along with FEAR 's founding guitarist Lee Ving , Electric Love Hogs and future Goldfinger bassist Kelly LeMieux , and former Suicidal Tendencies drummer Jimmy DeGrasso . DeGrasso would, later, join Mustaine's Megadeath between 1998-2002 for Risk, The World Needs A Hero , and Rude Awakening ; in-between his time spent with Electric Love Hogs & Goldfinger , LeMieux was, also, briefly a member of FEAR from either 1995-97 or 1997-98. Lest we forget, FEAR were one of the first and only Punk...

Madvillain Vol. 2 by Abstract Orchestra Abstract Orchestra (AO) are a Leeds, UK -based Jazz/Big Band that, much like El Michels Affair & Brownout/Brown Sabbath , often plays Jazz renditions of popular Hip-Hop compositions. Their current line-up plays out a little something like this - Conductor/Music Director: Rob Mitchell , Saxes: Rob Mitchell, Jim Corry, James Russell, Dan Brunskill & Simon Kaylor , Trumpets: Malcolm Strachan, Jack Davis & Simon Beddoe , Trombones: Kevin "Kev" Holbrough, Danny Barley, Patrick Martin & Chris Hibard , Bass: Chris "Fatty" Hargreaves , Keys: George Cooper , Drums: Joost Hendrickx , and Vox/Vocals: Anna Uluru & Akin Amusan . AO 's past incarnations—seemingly, always led by The Haggis Horns' Rob Mitchell —have performed live sets with the likes of Slum Village , De La Soul, and Yasiin Bey FKA Mos Def ; with past releases including 2017's critically-acclaimed DILLA and 2018's "New Day...

The Message / Umi Says by Star Creature Universal Vibrations "New music alert! I'm super-happy to announce that I got 2 45's out today. First one is my versions of 2 classic cuts: "Umi Says" & "The Message." Get them while they last, via @starcreaturevibes . Link In Bio. Appreciate everybody that's been supporting me along the way," Noam (@soulsupreme) posted on Instagram on May 21, along with a couple "Praying Hands" Emojis. "Noam" is, of course, Tel Aviv, Israel-born, Amsterdam, The Netherlands-based producer and multi-instrumentalist Noam Ofir ; professionally, he goes by Soul Supreme , as well as Love's High , when playing with Marlon Penninkhof AKA Marlon Penn. Soul Supreme has previously done "live" remixes of everyone from A Tribe Called Quest to Stevie Wonder on his Instagram & Facebook Live pages. Noam & Marlon have released music—both together and separately—on Chicago-based Star Cr...

" Gabe 'Nandez reminds me of a young Carnival-era Wyclef before he got weird and started collaborating with Kenny Rogers and embezzling charity money. One of the best young rappers in NYC. Diplomacy drops in July," Jeff Weiss (@Passionweiss) exuberantly Tweeted Tuesday afternoon. Weiss runs taste-making music site, Passion of The Weiss, as well as sub-label, POW Recordings . POW 's current roster includes The Outfit, TX, Chester Watson, Natia The God, Jordan Raf, T.Y.E. Ness Nite, Pioneer 11, Kent Loon, Vince Ash, Zilla Rocca, Rhys Langston, and, of course, Gabe "'Nandez" Fernandez . Upon the initial announcement of his 2017 signing with the LA-based imprint, POW Recordings released an extremely well-acclaimed 14-track compilation-style album entitled Plaques. Although, 'Nandez has been self-releasing his own music since 2014 (if not longer) with collections such as H.T. EP, No Kliché-produced Sifu EP, Disconnected EP, and 2017 "posse...

SLAB by Elyria Sequence Solium Records is a French DIY and non-profit tape label; most of the imprint's releases are collaborative projects complete with high-quality packaging and artwork. Solium is run by a Frenchman named Yoan and has been steadily issuing Experimental/Hip-Hop/Noise -centric limited releases on Bandcamp since August 2018. For their latest release, Yoan recruited a cast of characters whom The Witzard regulars should be very familiar: Denver Noise -makers CURTA & 4Digit . Here, collectively billed as "Elyria Sequence" (for the first time!) CURTA & 4Digit are joined by fellow Denver -based beat-maker Brotherhood of Machines . Not to be confused with similarly-named Brotherhood of THE Machine , Brotherhood of Machines seems to have some sort of affiliation with Sean "Erik Samuel" Makau at Bob Cosmo Radio/Phantom Haus , who, just so happens to be CURTA 's long-time manager and promoter. SLAB by Elyria Sequence Elyria S...

Kenosha, Wisconsin emcee Safari Al —AKA S.al, S. Al, Emmanuel Fade, Safari Al (Journeyman Hip-Hopper,) @s_afari_al, etc.—is a Ruby Yacht/Ruby Yacht Makers Guild (rbyt) affiliate and frequent milo/scallops hotel collaborator. The man also known as Alexander Kollman is, actually, a visual artist and carpenter by day with a degree in Biomedical Engineering. Safari Al has been consistently recording and releasing Hip-Hop music since about 2014 when he temporarily moved out to Los Angeles with milo; although, S.al has been quietly making music for at least eight years, having released music as part of or alongside Busdriver, The Dilla Gents, milo, Mugwampers, REDWALL , scallops hotel, WC Tank, and short-lived Folk/Hip-Hop group, MANTRAS, as well as Ruby Yacht and now-defunct Hellfyre Club. Since 2012, Safari AL has rapidly recorded, finessed, and self-released nine separate projects on his own personal Bandcamp page. In-between these aforementioned releases, S.al has appeared across m...

"The new Wu-Tang EP is kind of boring. So, in response, I made my own "Wu-Tang EP" with all of their collabs/remixes with Madlib, who has surpassed RZA ten-fold: Wu-Tang Clan x Madlib - The Wu Digger ... Madlib is what you get, if RZA just keep sitting in a room full of records from '95 until today. "And Madlib is who RZA would have been, if he could just learn instruments when he felt like it," Small Professor (@smallpro)... On some real sh*t, Madlib's remix of "Black Boy" by [Cappadonna] is better than almost any [Wu-Tang Clan] track this decade by any Wu member. These guys have access to any producer on the planet and act like Madlib or Alchemist don't exist." - Zilla Rocca (@ZillaRocca) Wu-Tang Clan & Madlib - The Wu Digger Playlist/EP (Tracklist) 01. Cappadonna - "Black Boy" (Madlib Remix) from Madlib Medicine Show #12: Raw Medicine [2011] 02. Method Man - "Uh Huh" (Madlib Remix) from MIND FUSION ...

"Sweet Fall" is a song I've had in my possession for, at least, six months now, as I received it literally days before my wedding. It's been a bit delayed on my end, as most coverage has been for the last few months because... well, life! Although, honestly, it might have just worked out this time because the accompanying Bob Sweeney -directed music video for "Sweet Fall" is out, now, too. DEC 4 is the newly-enacted project of Philly -based musician, vocalist, and lyricist Justin Zugerman (@zuwear_.) It appears as though Zugerman is, in fact, a childhood friend of both John Morrison & Josh "Indi" Leidy of the Serious Rap Sh*t podcast. After going on an indefinite hiatus from his long-time Psychedelic/Experimental/Hip-Hop project with Chris Grau , Oxygen&Light , Morrison & Leidy introduced DEC 4 to their friend and fellow Philly -based producer and multi-instrumentalist, Harry Metz , whom most of you may well know as Rolled Gold...

Walk It Out feat. Georgia Anne Muldrow by Tensei Tensei is a Chicago -based composer/producer/musician/beat-maker/song-writer "dream" team consisting of Chris "Kramer" Kramer and Midas Wells . "The two have a vast wealth of influences and history to inform their production including: Hip-Hop , House, Soul , Jazz, Library , and Electronic music among others; as a result, they create eclectic compositions that fuse many disparate styles," Tokyo Dawn Records' press page explains. Since about 2012, Tensei have worked alongside and remixed the likes of A. Billi Free , Anderson .Paak, Bilal , Black Thought, Denmark Vessey , Jimetta Rose, Tall Black Guy , TOKiMONSTA, and Dirty Science emcee ADaD . Interestingly enough, Midas Wells & Kramer rarely ever make use of source material/samples, both playing and composing most musical elements themselves, but, often, enlisting a talented cast of Chicago -based Jazz & Soul artists, which includes Maka...

Chase The Grail (Remixes) by Bobby Obsy The Find "Mag" Magazine is an Amsterdam, Netherlands -based digital music publication founded and operated by Danny Veekens since 2007. Over the years, Danny & I have become pretty friendly, through social media, and definitely have a mutual admiration and respect for each other. In fact, our sites were amongst the first publications to cover Myrrow's Outlet (formerly TT5BR )'s Paul's Boutique -remixing BB PB EP and its recent follow-up, BB PB EP O . Following in line with our recent Punk/Hardcore merch feature, The Witzard's Best-Of Instagram: "Mommy, Can I... Buy These Punk/Hardcore Merch Oi!-tems?" we figured we do a little Hip-Hop /crate-diggin' merch feature, as well, for our good friends at The Find Mag . "The hunt for records never ends. No vinyl crate is safe. Our new T-shirt visualizes that: the art of crate-digging. Illustrated by beat-maker/designer Bobby Obsy (UK) in a 30'...

Never Thought by Renaldo Domino " Renaldo Domino , one of the unsung heroes of Chicago Soul , is joined by six Chicago music veterans to unleash a groove explosion," reads the About Me section on The Renaldo Domino Experience 's Facebook page. The Experience consists of Renaldo "Domino" Jones on vocals, Jason Larson on guitar, Kenn Goodman on keys, Ralph Baumel on bass, Joe Camarillo on drums, David E. Smith on saxophone, and Justin Amolsch on trumpet. Goodman & Smith previously appeared on "Lady (You Are My Woman)" B/W "Mercy On Me" from Pravda Records' 2017 7-inch as part of Renaldo Domino & The Imperial Sound . Renaldo Domino is a " Chicago Soul & Funk singer from "The Valley" around 49th & Forestville. He got his name because his voice was sweet like Domino Sugar ," according to Mr. Jones' Discogs page. Domino originally released, at least, six 7-inch singles on Smash Records,...

Jason "EDID" McKenzie is a Minneapolis -bred/ Brooklyn -based "Outsider Hip-Hop, Indie & Far Left-field" artist, who, by his own admission, "[makes] all the beats and [raps] all the raps." Since about 2004, ECID has established working relationships with like-minded Experimental Hip-Hop artists, such as Awol One , Eyedea, Kristoff Krane , Louise Dorley FKA Louis Logic, and milo ; over the years, ECID has been part of a number of groups including Living Stereo , Jordan Miché & David Mars Accompanied By ECID, Saturday Morning Soundtrack , Sector 7G, and most recently, TOYFRiEND with Louis Dorley . As many of you may well remembers, we, actually, covered TOYFRiEND 's debut 2017 Indie Pop/Hip-Hop EP, foolHearty with custom artwork designed by @unibrowduck . Just about six months after foolHearty , ECID returned with HowToFakeYourOwnDeath (HTFYOD) his first album solo since 2015's 2-pronged release, PHEROMONE HEAVY/Pheromone Coma: PHE...

Self-Titled by CHARGER Christian Wagner from Emeryville, California -based Pirates Press Records has been sending us digital promos and EPK's for a year or so now, via email, but within the last few months, he's been sending us physical promos, as well: Lenny Lashley's Gang of One 's All Are Welcome , Harrington Saints' 1,000 POUNDS OF Oi!, and most recently, CHARGER 's debut self-titled EP AKA "S/T" EP . Oddly enough, CHARGER 's S/T EP is the third Rancid -related release recently issued by Pirates Press ; Landfill Crew 's self-titled 2x7-inch EP features long-time Rancid frontman Tim Armstrong , The Old Firm Casuals' Holger Danske features Lars Frederiksen of both Rancid and Lars Frederiksen & The Bastards , and CHARGER features Matt Freeman (bass/vocals) of Rancid , as well as genre-shaping Operation Ivy . Just today, Friday, May 10th, Pirates Press are, somehow, releasing CHARGER 's S/T EP , Harrington Saints' 1,...

From what I can gather, Drynage Orchestra is a Japanese Hip-Hop crew consisting of emcees Steez & Grow-D , as well as in-house producer GG . It appears as though there's, also, a group within the group, Garahavi , consisting of just Steez & Grow-D ; " Garahavi takes their name from the classic Edo G[/Ed O.G.] song "I Got to Have It, " which, when said in Japanese , sounds like "Garahavi."' Drynage Orchestra/GG & Garahavi 's latest release, "Forbidden Fruit," features New York -based emcee Jaylon "Timid" Carter . Oddly enough, Timid has toured extensively with Ed O.G. and, actually, first met Grow-D & Steez a few years back while touring across Japan with Ed O.G. & Da Bulldogs and his crew. Timid has shared the stage with the likes of Travis Barker & DJ AM , Warren G, Paul Wall , Jeru The Damaja, CunninLynguists , A-Alikes, Agallah of Dipset , and Pack FM. Carter has been fortunate enough to w...

THE ADVENTURES OF DR VOODUN by Roughneck Jihad & Solomon Strange As you may have seen last week, we hosted a nearly 12-minute video on our YouTube channel entitled "'The Adventures of DR. VOODUN" Starring: Roughneck Jihad & Solomon Strange (E.S.P. Teaser.)" Honestly, it's been hard to keep this quiet for the past few months... but, back at the top of the year, The Diabolical Doctor Strange AKA Solomon Strange AKA Solomon Caine personally, reached out to me, via emailed transmission. Solomon Caine was, initially, commending us on our recent string of coverage concerning Third Sight emcee, Roughneck Jihad , as both a fan and admirer of Jihad 's sharp-tongued rhymes, as well as The Witzard . As you may well know by now, The Diablocal Doctor Strange is a mysterious, other-worldly producer, label head, and founder of the Guerilla Godz posse. Long story short, Doctor Strange kindly asked, if I might be able to get him in contact with Roughneck J...

Surfin' Turf by Franks & Deans I've been, personally, mulling over something recently: what's the most creative Punk/Hardcore band name? I've since come to the conclusion that it's either The Mr. T Experience (MTX,) The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza (TTDTE,) or Franks & Deans . MTX is American Punk Rock/Pop-Punk band formed in 1985 in Berkeley, California , while TTDTE is a now-defunct American Mathcore/Grindcore band from Murfreesboro, Tennessee . Las Vegas, Nevada 's Franks & Deans —a homage to Frank Sinatra & Dean Martin , of course—have deemed themselves the "world's first Rock "N" Roll Rat Pack band tributing Sinatra and his boys of The Rat Pack ." Franks & Deans are currently signed to SquidHat Records and consists of Robert "Rob" DeTie on vocals/4-string, Mike "Pip" Ullemeyer on drums/backing vocals, Jordan "HOSS" Hoss on guitar/vocals, Ryan "Sampson" Sa...