The Witzard

Daniel Ledinsky & Dave Sitek (TV On The Radio) are THE NEVERLY BOYS . While it appears as though they've released a few now-scrubbed songs and have, seemingly, had a couple false starts over the years, Ledinsky & Sitek have finally unleashed their proper debut album together as THE NEVERLY BOYS , Dark Side of Everything . Back when these Nation/world-wide shut downs first started happening a few months ago, as events, concerts, and whatnot started getting cancelled indefinitely, many artists began hosting livestreamed concerts, album listening parties, etc. It was Tuesday, March 17, 2020 and we saw a post on both THE NEVERLY BOYS & Dave Sitek 's personal Instagram page that Sitek would soon be hosting a late night stream of THE NEVERLY BOYS' then-untitled album on his page (@davesitek.) We, of course, tuned in, as did many other fans who had been hearing rumblings about the project for quite a while now; R&B/Psychedelic Soul-Funk singer and producer Migu...

Now, many of you may or may not recognize the name "TV On The Radio," but for me, personally, they were my first favorite Indie Rock band. Their 2004 major label debut, Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes was essentially, my gateway into Indie Rock and to an effect, helped shape what I do now here at The Witzard . Since TV On The Radio 's initial ascension to Indie Rock super-stardom, long-time guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Dave Sitek has produced albums for everyone from Kelis to Cerebral Ballzy , released a 2010 solo album as Maximum Balloon , and in 2012, even started his own label imprint called Federal Prism and launched a sister label, Sounds Like Fun Records , with The Cool Kids' rapper-producer Chuck Inglish . LEDINSKY AKA Daniel Ledinsky is a Swedish -based singer, producer, and song-writer, who had a massive streaming hit last year with "DonalTrumpMakesMeWannaSmokeCr**k" and has worked with Cee-Lo , Rihanna, Shakira ,...

"Hit the HASH [button] at retrohash.com to uncover secret raps over @black_milk madness..." @asherroth somewhat cryptically Tweeted late Wednesday afternoon, accented by a "#hashwednesday" hashtag; a trend which can be attributed to the bulk of Roth's recent post- RetroHash activity, consisting of fully fleshed out non-album tracks haphazardly uploaded to his Asher Paul Roth Soundcloud account. Hash Wednesdays roll call additionally includes Chuck Inglish -produced "That's Cute," "Oren's Not Sure," Fat Tony -assisted "Sushi," "Taking My Time," and Nottz -produced "Blow Yr Head" amongst other questionable non-album loosies. Although many of Asher Roth 's one-time fans and detractors might have quickly written him off as a mere "one-hit wonder" during the five years between "I Love College" -featuring Asleep In The Bread Aisle and his nearly flawless second album Retro...

Let's just say, for argument's sake, that Kanye 's recent Aggro-Hip-Hop meltdown of an album Yeezus is a 10 on a scale of mid-career re-defining albums, which would then put Asher Roth 's long-delayed and well-matured second album, RetroHash at a solid five. It's technically a "Hip-Hop" album at it's beat-centric core, but Blended Babies' genre-blending production work ultimately helps Roth effortlessly bob and weave throughout a gaggle of assorted musical styles; "It's a classy little nugget — very unique — a little Prince , little Jazz , all Asher. You should be proud regardless of what happens commercially. You've created something distinctly you. Almost a concept album. Really good," as Asher Roth 's father David wrote in a praise-filled April 22nd text message. It's been a fairly long tumultuous road for RetroHash , which has been about 3-5 years in-the-making and was tentatively titled both The Spaghetti Tree ...

"'Last of The Flohicans" in many ways embodies RetroHash as a whole. Loss. Transformation. Rediscovery. "Flohicans" is basically a reminder to myself. To remember what it's like to lose faith. To rediscover yourself and ultimately become better. Growing up," Asher Roth wrote in a highly inspirational do-not-reply fan club email just the other day. Just about a week ahead of the release of his nearly five years in-the-making second album, RetroHash , Roth unleashed a fourth and final pre-release track; "Last of The Flohicans" was produced by genre-blending production team Blended Babies , like the rest of the album, which will finally see a wide-release this upcoming Tuesday, April 22nd. Asher Roth has lyrically progressed leaps and bounds since the "I Love College" days and for those who might be unfamiliar, his stellar mixtapes Seared Foie Gras , Pabst & Jazz, and The GreenHouse Effect (Vol. 2) are quite an appropriat...

While I'm a long-time Hip-Hop fan and Asher Roth is hands down one of my favourite rappers, I'd almost be a little hard-pressed to certify his latest RetroHash single 100% Hip-Hop . But with that said, "Tangerine Girl" is quite easily one of his most care-free and self-expressive singles yet. Released one day after his third weekly #HashWednesdays campaign, "Tangerine Girl" was directed by buddy Matt Spicer and as Asher Roth himself put it in a fan-club email, "the song made the perfect soundtrack to a bizarre love story at the skating rink, so we did exactly that." It centers around an average Joe working a mundane 9-5, whom we see secretly looking up "russian matures" on his office computer while in-house DJ Asher Roth smoothly croons "Made of money, I was thinking about her all week / Would've treated her to some Grigio , and fresh brie / The way we vibing it reminded me of ice tea / Want to drink it up so baby come...

Despite the fact, or maybe because, he looks like a modern day hippie burn-out, Asher Roth is easily one of the most talented and criminally under-rated emcees in all of the Boom-Bap land. While I've been a fan since "I Love College," I'll be amongst the first to admit that Roth's mixtapes have always been infinitely stronger than his lone radio-friendly album, Asleep In The Bread Aisle (2009). But with that said, all of Asher Roth 's non-album projects have sufficiently spotlighted his lyrical progression and sense of zen-like calm, cool, and collectiveness during an ill-fated and now severed deal with Def Jam ; Seared Foie Gras with Quince & Cranberry , RAWTH EP, Pabst & Jazz , and The GreenHouse Effect (Vol. 2) are therefore the missing creative links between Asleep In The Bread Aisle and his upcoming sophomore album, RetroHash . Although there's really no way of telling if it's even the same collection of songs, Roth's perpetual...

While The Cool Kids have barely scratched the surface of their recent Retro-Rap return to form, rapper-producer Chuck Inglish is still planning to soldier ahead with his long-rumored album, Convertibles ; now coincidentally complete with an April 8th release on Dave Sitek 's newly-formed Federal Prism imprint. Chance The Rapper , Mac Miller, Action Bronson , Ab-Soul, buddy Sir Michael Rocks , and more are set to appear deep within. Federal Prism and Inglish's own Sounds Like Fun label unleashed a double-hitter of singles Thursday afternoon: "Legs" and "Came Thru/Easily" assisted by Chromeo , Mac Miller, and Ab-Soul (respectively). Chuck Inglish, Dave 1 & P-Thugg have almost seamlessly melded together their separate styles to create the buttery smooth Disco-Funk/Hip-Hop hybrid, now also known as "Legs." Although I must admit, genre-blending collaborations like these don't always end up sounding as good as they might seem on p...

Well, I can't say I'm rally all THAT surprised, but it sounds like Chicago 's very own 1980-90's Boom-Bap revivalists The Cool Kids are finally back together... or as Chuck Inglish recently told fellow rapper-producer and apparent super-fan Tyler, The Creator , "Never stopped...It was just a time-out;" contrary to what Sir Michael Rocks (formerly Mikey Rocks ) told AllHipHop back in December 2012, "We'll probably do something else, but as The Cool Kids and as Shark Week , no. Those ideas are done, and we're on something different now." Ahead of their long-rumored second album Shark Week , the loose follow-up to Gone Fishing , Tacklebox, and When Fish Ride Bicycles (2009-11), The Cool Kids simultaneously unleashed 2 new tracks on the unsuspecting Internet Monday afternoon, "Computer School" and "Chop." Chuck Inglish & Mikey Rocks' own Cake Recordings imprint will seemingly self-release their new/shel...

While his primary band is taking what at least seems to be an honest, yet semi-active, indefinite hiatus, TV on The Radio frontman Tunde Adebimpe has crafted a new mouth-full of a band, Higgins Waterproof Black Magic Band . Here, Adebimpe is joined by 3 equally busy long-time friends: Ryan Sawyer, Josh Werner , and Alex Holden ... members of Lone Wolf and Cub , Lee "Scratch" Perry/CocoRosie, and Big Numbers (respectively). Higgins Waterproof have recently announced a 5-track self-titled EP that's set for an October 1st release on their own imprint, ZNA Records , along with a month-long (October) Sunday night residency at Brooklyn 's own Union Pool venue. I think it's pretty safe to assume that this is in fact the same 5-song collection Tunde Adebimpe was describing to SPIN just a few months ago: "You have friends in bands and you realize you've known each other 15 years and never played together, maybe out of respect for your friendship. We star...

Noisey premiered Chuck Inglish 's new Federal Prism single, "Swervin'" late Tuesday afternoon, which features a semi-reunion with his former Cool Kids band mate Sir Michael Rocks (FKA Mikey Rocks ). Likely the first single from his upcoming Convertibles album, "Swervin'" marks The Cool Kids' first recorded appearance on wax since about 2011. Mikey Rocks randomly mentioned what sounds like a fairly amicable split win a Dec. 2012 AllHipHop interview: "You break us up, we're still going to turn out nice as f*ck separately, and when we come together, we transition that energy into making a dope record. Right now, man, I think we just need to be focusing on blowing up... We might come together as something else different. But as The Cool Kids , no, because we're not the same people, we've changed and evolved into two different artists." More or less, part 2 in Chuck Inglish 's auto-themed series that started with D...

Since we're being honest, I don't think I've ever actually heard anything from Kelis besides "Got Your Money" and "Milkshake;" "My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard and they're like, it's better than yours..." After a few rough years full of shelved albums, label drama, and the dissolution of her marriage to Nas , Kelis has signed to TV on The Radio multi-instrumentalist/producer Dave Sitek 's new label imprint. Federal Prism plans to unleash 2 Kelis albums and a single by year's end, along with new material from Scarlett Johansson , Maximum Balloon/Miguel, Freddie Gibbs , CSS, Chuck Inglish , and more. Kelis uploaded "Call On Me" to Soundcloud mid-Monday afternoon, which was later re-upped in substantially higher quality as "Jerk Ribs." Dave Sitek weaves a densely-layered soundbed that includes squalling horns, Funky basslines, and African drum rhythms; It almost has sonic accents re...