The Witzard

School is back in session across the Nation and our favorite teacher, husband, father, beat-maker, and dish-washer, John "Jumbled" Bachman has shared a new 7-track EP for your communte to and from work/school. Bachman is back with JUMBLED'S JUKEBOX, a collection of Doo-Wop inspired Hip-Hop. Jumbled describes it as "a project inspired by Tuesday night trips to the grocery store—jumping in the car and hearing the Doo-Wop radio show on 90.5 WKHS, out of Kent County, Maryland." JUMBLED'S JUKEBOX makes good use of "songs that have been long-forgotten by most, but are still cherished by some." It showcases a selection of vocalists over Jumbled's bare-bones instrumentation that harken back to simpler, times. This brief collection contains a varied assortment of beats with Jumbled choosing to not just sample Doo-Wop harmonies, but, also, include songs (samples? beats?) that maintain that vibe, as well. Jumbled's Jukebox by Jumbled Guests hear...

Biz Markie Ink Illustration (CREDIT: Dan Lish @danlish1) Marcel Theo Hall, better know as Biz Markie and oftentimes, affectionately referred to as The Biz, The Clown Prince of Hip-Hop, The Inhuman Orchestra, The Diabolical Biz Markie, and The Emizah-Emizah, was highly revered as one of the most genuine emcees to ever do it. Biz passed away on Friday, July 16, 2021 at the tender age of 57, likely due to complications from Type 2 Diabetes, although, no official Cause of Death has been revealed just yet. Biz Markie is most well-known for his infectious 1989 break-out single, "Just A Friend," but he was a truly multi-talented artist, as well. Biz Mark's lesser-known talents included beat-boxing, dancing, producing, DJ'ing, acting, singing, and song-writing. It was proven time and time again that "Nobody Beats The Biz," but he surely didn't mind collaborating with just about anyone; racking up genre-defying features with everyone from the Beastie Boys to...

CREDIT: Hand-cut "EAST." Art By: John Bachman (@NapalmDef) Happy New Year to all of our trusty readers out there! Let's hope this year will be better than the last! Today, for our first post of 2021, we're back with new music from Vans_Westly & Jumbled. We've previously featured Vans' 2017 QUILLS EP produced by NelWayne & Drew Scott, which was followed up by Bubble Boy (2018) with beats from Scott & Height Keech and released on Cold Rhymes Records. Vans_Westly's latest release, an EP entitled Rapscallion, fully produced by friend of The Witzard, John Bachman AKA Jumbled. Rapscallion was, actually, released on November's bandcamp Friday last year with 50% of the profits raised going towards Bail Fund and 50% towards BARCS or as Vans himself put it, "100 percent goes to good sh*t!" Rapscallion by Vans_Westly Now, as 2021 has kick-started itself into gear, Vans_Westly has returned once more with a proper music video for Rapsc...

"PGH to PHL. Cody & Don have been yucking it up as pals and collaborators for years, but up until now, they have never done a full album together," reads a description on Bandcamp. ialive & Cody Cody Jones (then, known as Stillborn Identity) have been working together sporadically ever since 2015-16. ialive appeared alongside Cody on Jumbled-produced "Groundhog Day" from STLBRNcollabamonth2015. "Often succumbing to areas of internal turmoil, we see the boys letting go of inhibitions, flipping the script, and cutting loose on tracks like a dirtbike through dry leaves," said description continues. Through 2017, Cody Cody Jones & ialive released two collaborative digital splits together entitled FOUR TO THE FLOOR 1-2. ialive appeared alongside Blastmaster Baker on "Call of The Void" from Cody's monthly/year-long 2018 project, Year of The Dog. Rap of The Month. ialive & Cody Cody Jones have since worked together on a number of...

Since re-launching Cold Rhymes Records a few years back around the time of the release of Mind Moves The Mountain (2017) Dan "Height" Keech has stayed extremely busy. Cold Rhymes' roster now includes 83cutlass, Ardamus, Darko The Super, Emceein' Eye Height Keech, ialive/Donovan Days, Jack Toft, Kate Ferencz, MISTER, Off The Meat Rack, P.T. Burnem, Param Anand Singh, (rapper) andrew. Shark Tank, Speak N' Eye, Trauma Lavern, Vans_Westly, and Wounds. The bulk of said recent releases having been produced by Height Keech himself, along with ialive (together, as Necessary People,) art direction provided by Height's sideman MISTER AKA CoolGuyBry, and mastered by C$ BURNS. Earlier this year, Height produced the entirety Ardamus' Astro Blocks with the exception of one beat, "Tunnel Light," produced by Necessary People. Plus, Necessary People made their proper production debut across andrew.'s second Cold Rhymes offering, W.O.T.W. Additionally, I BET...

Monday morning, self-described "Rap singer, song-writer, beat-maker, and pal" Donovan "ialive" Phillips quietly announced he'll be releasing his fourth (fifth?) solo studio album, I'LL WAIT FOREVER , later this month. It will be his fourth consecutive release with Baltimore-based Cold Rhymes Records run and operated by Dan "Height" Keech & MISTER AKA Cool Guy Bry . We first heard about ialive through an interview posted by John "Jumbled" Bachman on his blog a few years back with both Donnie & Darko The Super , together, billed as The Hellhole Store . ialive 's Height Keech -produced TIMEWAVE ZERO (2017) and self-produced follow-up, DON'T DO NOTHING (2019) were, easily, two of our favorite Hip-Hop albums of the last few years. I'LL WAIT FOREVER is the direct follow-up to ialive 's Odds & Ends-style 2019 EP, ODD ORTS , which boasts remixes from both Juan Cosby & Unsung. Now, it appears as though this...

Pittsburgh-based Post-punk/New Wave band Chantillion aren't exactly a new/"rising" artist, as this column's title might suggest—they've been active since releasing 2017 single "Brassque"—but they are, in fact, new to these digital pages of The Witzard. Chantillion 's line-up consists of Amos Levy on "lead synthesizer," Jackson O'Connell-Barlow on synth/vocals, Justin Pelissero on bass guitar, and Gregg Weber on drums. O'Connell-Barlow is a frequent collaborator and affiliate of Shark Tank's Height Keech & Mickey "Free" Freeland. Jackson O'Connell-Barlow currently has an active solo project dubbed MRS.PAINTBRUSH and was once in a Hip-Hop group called Grand Buffet with Jarrod Weeks AKA Lord Grunge from Shark Tank, as well. During their Grand Buffet heyday, Jackson & Jarrod were commonly refereed to as Mr. Pennsylvania, Nate Kukla & Plaps and Fred Durts, Matt Kukla & Viceroy, respectively. We...

NOOB SAIBOT 1-4 is an upcoming series of releases from Joshua Rogers at Illuminated Paths/Broken Machine Films Presents... (or BMFP...) which I've, personally, been hearing rumblings about for quite a while now. I believe, I've been hearing about NOOB SAIBOT 1-4 from Mr. Rogers just about as long as VIPER & Broken Machine Films Presents... BOUT THA MONEY , both of which were fairly recently re-mixed/mastered by Dan "Height" Keech at Cold Rhymes Records. Joshua Rogers/BMFP... has a very unique cut-and-paste style of creating Hip-Hop, Vaporwave, and largely genre-eschewing music culled from a nearly 20-year vault of original production work curated/created by Mr. Rogers himself; using "strictly cassette-to-cassette and VHS/record-to-cassette manipulation and layering, utilizing only vintage tape decks and medium," much like BOUT THA MONEY . NOOB SAIBOT 1 was quietly released by Illuminated Paths on Friday, August 30, 2019 with NOOB SAIBOT 2-4 , r...

"CAPITOL RECORDS' BEASTIE BOYS LOOT "PAUL'S BOUTIQUE" -- NEW ALBUM IN YOUR FACE BY MID-JULY "Yo, whassup with de Beasties??!! What gives, they split to Rio or somp'un?' Yeah, yeah, everyone's favorite B (for Beastie) Boys have taken their time getting new vinyl out. But I am here to tell you that the time has c o m e t o q u i t y e r j o n e s i n ' , cause...dum dum dum.. .IT'S HERE. So this new records oughta blow away any speculations and/or misconceptions surrounding the Beastie Boys. It's called Paul's Boutique , and it's coming out on Capitol Records -- the Beastie's brand new label. The LP is named after a men's store in Brooklyn whose low-tech radio ad -- phone number and all -- is sampled right into the LP. The album should hit sometime around mid-July. The first 12", featuring the Boys' upstanding anthem "Hey Ladies," will drop June 30th. The sleeve picture for the 1...

"We got something special for you today. ialive & The Custodian of Records teamed up to bring you this one-off gentle heat. Make it rain on the boys with half dollars," Cold Rhymes Records ecstatically posted on their Facebook page early Tuesday morning. ialive & The Custodian of Records' (TCOR) debut collaborative stand-alone single together, "INTERVALS," was quietly released late Monday night into Tuesday morning. It appears as though "INTERVALS" came to fruition rather organically, as ialive & The Custodian of Records are, simply, fans and mutual admirers of each other's work; "I believe, I reached out to ialive after peeping "THE OUGHTS" video and then, purchasing TIME WAVE ZERO and enjoying the album. He may have expressed interest in a possible collaboration, so I sent him a couple tracks and this is the one he chose," TCOR recently explained to The Witzard, via email. Intervals (prod. The Custod...

Last we heard from Dan "Height" Keech , he was prepping his 2018 E-40 & B-Legit-style double-mic sonic assault, Computer Rocker , on his very own imprint, Cold Rhymes Records , with partner-in-rhyme, MISTER as a "Featured Emcee" throughout." Prior to Computer Rocker , Height and his crew unleashed THERE ISN'T VERY MICH TIME: 14 ICE-COLD DEVASTATORS FROM COLD RHYMES RECORDS , which boasted choice cuts from their 2018 release schedule: Height -produced Stories of A Made Up Year from Darko The Super , Speak N' Eye's Cypher At The Gates of Dawn, and Kate Ferencz 's What Was The World , as well as Param Anand Singh's Psychic Arpeggiator, 808's & Milkshakes from Desperate Band Appreciation Society (Darko & Harvey Cliff MC,) Vans_Westly 's Bubble Boy , HEIGHT KEECH 1000: The Tightest Songs 2000-2018, ialive 's Don't Do Nothing —one of our personal Favorite Albums of 2018—Year of The Darko Hosted By: Height Keech, ...

2018 YEAR IN REVIEW <MIXTAPE> by Illuminated Paths and Broken Machine Films presents... Joshua Rogers (@pathilluminated) otherwise known as Broken Machine Films Presents... has been creating and banking samples since 2002. He's created over 30 albums utilizing only vintage equipment and medium and practicing the art of cassette-to-cassette manipulation. Broken Machine Films Presents... was recently featured on Memories Overloaded: A Tribute to The Caretaker , Godless America Mixtape Vol. 4, Gorgeous Lights' Latenight , and Bedroom Cassette Masters 1980-89 Volume Nine. Rogers himself attests his "creations have been most associated with like going to a late 70's lo-fi drive-in Grindhouse B-movie double-feature with your main squeeze; putting the listening device on your [car] door and continuing on with your date. Not paying so much attention to what is transpiring on the screen anymore... you have more pressing matters to attend to." Broken Machine Fil...

Donovan "ialive" Phillips is a self-described "Rap-singer-songwriter/beat aficionado/musical collector" hailing from The City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . ialive has released numerous collaborative and solo projects over the years, but hasn't released a tried and true "solo" album since 2015's Awake In The Snake Hole . However, in recent years, he's released collaborative projects with both Darko The Super as The Hell Hole Store and TIMEWAVE ZERO with Height Keech , as well as Four to The Floor 1-2 EP's with Cody Cody Jones ... just this past week, ialive announced his long-awaited third solo album, DON'T DO NOTHING , which will be dropping on Height 's Cold Rhymes Records Friday, January 11, 2019. DON'T DO NOTHING was fully produced, recorded, and mixed by ialive himself at The Green Gem in Philly with mastering done by Vinyl Cape 's own C$ BURNS . On the most recent episode of THIS COLD RHYM...