The Witzard

It's a rather unlikely story, which almost sounds too good to be true, but it all started with a single White Denim-centric piece I published back in October-November 2013; "I saw you recently featured White Denim [on The Witzard], and thought you might find UBK's (Israel) new music video interesting," read an email from a publicist named Emma. Uri Brauner Kinrot-fronted UBK would soon effortlessly morph from a mere solo project into a full-fledged band called Ouzo Bazooka. I've been in sporadic contact with UBK's people, fellow band mates, and most recently, Kinrot himself over the course of the past three years and have been honored to feature a number of their videos here on this very site. I would, if pressed, likely attempt to best describe Ouzo Bazooka's unique Israeli Rock sound as a stylistic love child between The Black Keys, Eric Clapton-helmed Cream, and a Mediterranean-influenced version of The Rolling Stones. Ouzo Bazooka's genre-blendin...

Fresh on the heels of his critically-acclaimed, Madlib -produced Piñata and a series of album-preceding EP's, Freddie Gibbs has now teamed up with yet another unexpected collaborator: Black Keys affiliate, Hanni el Khatib . okayplayer vividly describes their just-released new track, "Satin Black" as a "classic break with gritty, fuzzed-out six strings licks lacquering the cut, all before the backdrop melts into a puddle of funky goo, subverting your inner-rocker in favor of heavy wahs, deep, gurgling organs and a muddied vocal filter on [Freddie] Gibbs' already haze-treated vox." It's vaguely reminiscent of Head In The Dirt producer Dan Auerbach 's pre-widespread-acclaim, Rap-Blues Rock -indebted BlakRoc album (2009) concocted along with his fellow Black Keys bandmate Patrick Carney , executive producer Damon Dash , and a gaggle of seasoned, Roc-A-Fella Records aligned rappers ranging from Ol' Dirty Bastard to Yasiin Bey fka Mos ...

About a week ago, I got an interesting email from a woman named Emma , which started out with "I saw you recently featured White Denim [on your blog], and thought you might find UBK's (Israel) new music video interesting." Down towards the bottom of the message, it also lists his music likely well-suited for fans of The Black Keys , Hanni el Khatib, The Black Angels , and Classic Rock super-group Cream . Uri Brauner Kinrot (UBK) previously toured the world with a Balkan surf guitar-tuba-drums power trio and an infamous New York Punk band; his debut solo album, Ouzo Bazooka , is a stylistic "mix of East and West, Martin and Morrison [that] sends you on a psychedelic high, a journey in time and space." Lead single "I Got You" is a scorchin' hot, down and dirty Rock "N" Roll romper with companion visuals directed by Guy J. Bolandi , which follows a gaggle of beautiful women performing post-apocalyptic ceremonies on the terribly obli...

While attempting to create a polar "opposite of Rock "N" Roll "-rooted music video, French director Simon Cahn arguably created the most Hip-Hop -inspired Rock video since "Walk This Way" (1986). "Pay No Mind" is the third single pulled from Rock "N" Roll revivalists Hanni el Khatib 's most recent album, Head In The Dirt ; Recorded down in Nashville at Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach 's backyard studio, Easy Eye Sound , the album has already birthed 2 gritty singles: "Family," "Penny," and 9 additional down and dirty Garage Rock jams. The NOWNESS premiered clip starts out with the cheerleading team passionately air drumming and singing along with "Family" in what looks like a late night car ride, which then segues into the absolute romper of a simplistic music video. Now, we're talking' about 6 scantily-clad HEK cheerleaders performing a rough-edged choreographed dance ro...

When I hear the phrase "The Dough Roller," I almost instantly think of the chain of family-friendly breakfast-lunch-and-dinner restaurants that are littered up and down the Coastal Highway in Ocean City, Maryland where my friends and I go for bi-annual car shows nearly every May and October. While The Dough Rollers (emphasis on the extra "s") are the latest budding band to release a Blue Series 7-inch record on Jack White 's Nashville -based Third Man Records . Hailing from New York and fronted by Malcolm Ford , The Dough Rollers are somehow able to effortlessly forge a unique blend of revivalist Rock "N" Roll in the same vein as bands like The Black Keys , Hanni el Khatib, and Kings of Leon . Noisey , who premiered A-side "Little Lily" just last week quite fittingly described it as a "song [that] simultaneously kicks you in the face and makes you reconsider your life in college for not becoming a rockstar;" although a s...

Hanni el Khatib is the first natural-born American from a family of Palestinian and Filipino immigrants, who bravely heads up his own one-man band on a mission to revive 1950-60's era Rock "N" Roll , classic cars, Greaser chic, and straight razors. Khatib is a talented multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter/producer who's equally influenced by the stylings of Johnny Cash , Sam Cooke, Iggy & The Stooges , Black Sabbath, Johnny Burnette , etc. as well as Blues , Garage Rock, Soul , Folk, and Doo-Wop . Hanni el Khatib linked up with similarly-minded Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach to record his second album, Head In The Dirt , which Innovative Leisure's putting out on April 30th. The pair recorded 11 tracks down in Nashville , soon after Khatib opted to "erase everything he'd become comfortable with and to make an album out of only raw instinct and inspiration." Head In The Dirt 's lead-off single, "Family" now has...

Honestly, the only primary element missing from "Zero Dark Thirty" is pre-choreographed breaking [breakdancing]. But collaborators Aesop Rock , Coro , and Isaac Ravishankara really managed to do a pretty good job incorporating a few other Golden Age Hip-Hop elements: between that hard-hitting Boom-Bap rhythm, intricate lyrical pattern, and stop motion graffiti art backdrop. Comfortably seated on the ground, Aesop Rock laments about "brown grass both sides" and "sugar skulls in the rain," amongst other quote-ables. Coro simultaneously proceeds to paint and un-paint a series of beautiful/sinister graffiti pieces on the blank wall directly behind him. While Skelethon (July 10th) is Aesop Rock 's first solo release in nearly 5 years, he's remained far from silent during this "Lost Weekend" period... contributing to a wide array of side projects: Felt , The Uncluded , Hail Mary Mallon , Nike+iPod, 900 Bats , Jeremy Fish, etc. Skeleth...