The Witzard

"That image just came to me as a bit of a non [sequitur]. I was imagining being camping with a girl who had underestimated the amount of kerosene to bring. Just a sliver of the sort of forgiveness and empathy one must have in a relationship," prolific singer-songwriter D.A. Wallach recently explained during an emailed interview for this very publication on the eve of his proper debut record, Time Machine ; with the specific song fragment in question being "Long Way Down'" s poetically-worded non sequitur, "girl, if we run outta kerosene, don't say I never told ya... might be embarrassing, but I'm still here to hold ya." Time Machine is, quite frankly, without a shadow of doubt, amongst the most note-worthy albums released throughout 2015, alongside a rather unlikely cast of characters including Detroit -bred emcee Guilty Simpson , Action Bronson, Run The Jewels , Mark Ronson, and Stones Throw 's premier Reggae act, The Lions . Nearly ...

"Once in a while, a pop songwriter is not a songwriter, but a discoverer – some kind of celestial [archaeologist], uncovering the bones of songs that already exist somewhere, perfectly. D.A. exhibits such exploration here, his discoveries beautifully intact in their sparest, most potent forms. Some daringly plain wizardry," Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes frontman Alex Ebert said in high praise of close friend D.A. Wallach's long-awaited Harvest Records debut, Time Machine . Along with former Chester French partner-in-crime Max Drummey, Wallach was initially discovered by Hip-Hop heavyweights Kanye West and Pharrell, while he was studying as an undergrad at Harvard. Chester French released three full-length albums during their brief tenure together and somehow, managed to ignite a three-way bidding war between Kanye, Pharrell, and Jermaine Dupri with their infectious debut single, "She Loves Everybody." On the heels of Chester French's final album, ...

Preceded only by a vague, Bob Dylan -like teaser clip earlier in the week, Justin Timberlake unleashed his BRAND NEW single, "Take Back The Night" late Friday afternoon; oozing Off The Wall era Disco vibes, I guess Timberlake's track shares it's name with an anti-rape organization of some sort (creepy coincidence or not). One particular commenter at Stereogum , michael_ , actually said it perfectly: "What has changed since the release of [The 20/20 Experience] and this upcoming one is Daft Punk 's "Get Lucky" and Robin Thicke 's "Blurred Lines" copping their own shares in this Neo-Disco Pop ..." The 20/20 Experience (Part 2) is slated for a September 30th release, along with the "JT Complete Package," which'll re-collect all 21 tracks from parts 1-2. "I originally recorded a massive amount of material and decided on the 20 tracks that I wanted on the album(s) over a year ago," Justin Timberlake l...

Justin Timberlake makes the kind of music that's supposed to help you get laid; Let's call it "baby-making music," for lack of a better term. But JT has spent the bulk of last 6-7 years since his last album, Future Sex/Love Sounds (2006) doing damn-near everything besides writing/recording music: re-launching MySpace , sharpening his acting chops, launched a designer clothing line, recorded a few seriously good comedy tracks, and just being charming in general. During his time off, Justin Timberlake managed to record vocals for a gaggle of hits and misses for his musical friends' albums, too... 50 Cent , Jimmy Fallon, [The] Game , Ciara, The Lonely Island , T.I. Madonna , Timbaland, Duran Duran , Diddy-Dirty Money, Talib Kweli , Rihanna, and Chris Cornell ? Timberlake finally took the plunge and "wifed up" his long-time on-again-off-again girlfriend, Jessica Biel @ a private ceremony back in October 2012. Following nearly a solid week's-wor...

And I'm back from a nice, relaxing weekend getaway to Ocean City, MD : friends, cars, chicken, girls, beer, scooters, sun rays, etc. But it's great to finally be back home in good ol' Jersey ! Upon my re-entry to The Inter-web earlier this evening, I was pleasantly surprised with 3 FRESH Cocaine 80s tracks, which were slowly unveiled over the past 3 days. "This Can't Be a Crime," "Queen to Be," and "Take My Keys" were recently recorded by Chicago mega-producer, No I.D. While Cocaine 80s' choice nom de plume might implies a certain level of excess and debauchery, their collective musical output is far from it... Cocaine 80s is a Chicago -based group of talented behind-the-scenes players, which includes the likes of James Fauntleroy , Kevin Randolph, Rob Kinelski, Steve Wyreman , and Makeba . Since quietly forming roughly 1 year ago, the loose collective has released 2 digital projects, The Pursuit EP and Ghost Lady EP . The att...

This cryptic message was packaged along with the 10/20-21 after midnight release of Cocaine 80s - GhOSt LaDy EP : " ...but one of the many had their soul forced from where it was once was, and realized it wasn't so scary floating there, just outside the norm... " Thus building off the loose story arc initialized with Cocaine 80s' 2 previous June 2011 efforts: "...and he sang softly to them, and told them that though their noses may bleed, there would always be tissue... (The Pursuit EP) ...and when they returned only a short while after, they were warmly welcomed back with promises of more dope...oh, so much more..." (Like a Fool - birdsong) . Once again, the gang's all here; A slew of earnest session musicians, singer-songwriters, studio engineers, etc: Common, No I.D. James Fauntleroy, Kevin Randolph, Rob "The Mixer" Kinelski, Steve Wyreman , and Makeba . Employing a similar Tweet -for-download promotional campaign, GhOSt LaDy EP is no...

"You guys think this is bad? Try waiting over a decade for Dr. Dre 's Detox album. A guy who says he'll release it for sure, then gives us musical blue balls by extending the release date. Last year and this year, he teased us with music videos, but still no word of Detox . WTF DRE!!?" - regulatorzone (YouTube)