The Witzard

"[a] beach boys meets ty$ kinda vibe," @diplo Tweeted early Thursday afternoon, attempting to best describe his latest Soundcloud upload, "LONG WAY HOME;" a quasi-remix, or more so a loose cover, of Ty Dollar $ign 's non-album single, "Stand For" re-recorded with Grizzly Bear/Vampire Weekend members Ed Droste & Rostam . "its about time that indie rock acts started to co-opt rap beats," Diplo lamented in the track's short-lived Soundcloud description, which Pitchfork points out, was imminently deleted. I was just telling my beautiful girlfriend, in terms of sheer line-blurring concept, "LONG WAY HOME" vaguely reminds me of Vampire Weekend 's middle-of-the-road Indie Rock/Hip-Hop hybrid track, "Step (Wintertime Remix)" featuring appended verses from Danny Brown , Heems, and Despot . "Stand For," the structural basis for "LONG WAY HOME," was actually co-produced by Diplo ...

"Their musical anarchy and constant attitude to disregard rules and forge their own path was inspirational to me. [The Clash] meant death to genres, music, and message above everything," Diplo lamented about collaborators Mick Jones & Paul Simonon in a pre-release statement. Following the track's initial announcement this past Friday, "HERO" was unleashed early Monday morning as part of Converse 's annual Three Artists, One Song collaborative campaign. It was presumably produced by Mad Decent founder Diplo and was one of five tracks recorded recently between London , Hawaii, and Los Angeles ; Basic tracks for "HERO" were recorded at Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn 's Studio 13 , whom Jones and Simonon had previously worked with on Plastic Beach (2010). Fans of the newly-forged super-group's past works with recognize familiar elements of Hip-Hop -infused R&B , 1980's Punk Rock , and Reggae-Fusion , but I wouldn't ...

Here we have the second Major Lazer post of the day; Yeah, I guess I could've augmented that Macklemore piece [below] to include it, but I really think "Bubble Butt" deserves it's own post. I can almost picture it now: Diplo and Eric Wareheim hanging out, watching TV and drinking beer, seeing the old school "Baby Got Back" video, and wondering how they could re-create it for 2013 A.D. It's more or less a companion set of visuals meant to go along with last week's "Bubble Butt" (Remix), which features Bruno Mars, 2 Chainz, Tyga , and Mystic - None of whom actually appear in the booty-licious Wareheim-directed video ha. I'd personally like to think that when he's not jet-setting back and forth across the free world, Diplo hangs out with the infamous Tim & Eric cult-hero, who's had a hand in creating the twisted bionic soldier of the zombie apocalypse Major Lazer mythology. "Bubble Butt" chronicles the...

Diplo has been a very busy man lately; a full-length with Snoop Lion , that new Major Lazer record, produced a track for Mac Miller , formed an audio-video channel with Skrillex & A-Trak , etc. Sometimes it's pretty easy to forget that Thomas Wesley "Diplo" Pentz is a former Philly teacher who just so happened to single-handedly pioneer Hip-Hop/Dancehall/Moombahton/Dubstep . Fully employing his Major Lazer alter-ego, Diplo 's latest creation is a remix of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' recent mega-hit single, "Can't Hold Us." Diplo then recruited 1st Klase to re-work to Hip-Pop beat into an Island riddim, which Trinidad -based rapper Swappi 4D proceeds to lyrically shred to pieces! Essentially, all that remains from the original are that Microsoft Outlook piano lick and Ray Dalton 's smooth "Can we go back, this is the moment. Tonight is the night" central hook. Macklemore 's verses seem a little haphazardly sprea...

Rising Brooklyn producer-of-the-moment Harry Fraud wrangled up a crazy/awesome posse of Internet -friendly rappers for his upcoming High Tide EP ; It'll feature frequent collaborator like Action Bronson , French Montana, and Chinx Drugz across 5 contained tracks. Lead single "Yacht Lash" positions JODY HiGHROLLER (RiFF RAFF) alongside Odd Future 's returning prince, Earl Sweatshirt . Harry Fraud successfully melds together a DIRTY Psych-Rock -drenched Hip-Hop beat, which leaves plenty of room for 32+ bars worth of swagged out bravado. Earl Sweatshirt effectively slays the first 1/2 of this track, only his 10-12th recorded appearance since returning home from juvie in Samoa (Feb. 2012). Sweatshirt laments about his triumphant return to prominence, "Nothin' much to my ethics / Bitch, I'm joggin' like I already won the election / Fuck it, shunning protection... Rest assured, I keep the label embarrassed." RiFF RAFF on the other hand...

Shouts to critically-acclaimed Hip-Hop producer, Just Blaze for bravely stepping into unknown, spray tan-glazed new territory; His latest genre-blending masterpiece, "BEHOLD! (Exhibit J)" was released online Wednesday afternoon. While it may come to a surprise to quite a few Hip-Hop heads, Just Blaze has been fucking around with House music for a little under 10 years now. While he wasn't producing countless hits for Jay-Z , Ghostface Killah, Saigon , Busta Rhymes, and Jay Electronica ... he managed to sneak in a few Hip-House influenced tracks: Cajmere Remix, Joe Budden - "Pump It Up," unreleased Rah Digga , and "Exhibit G, F & P" [Guido Fist Pump]. It sounds like Just Blaze ran into Fool's Gold label-head/resident DJ, A-Trak @ a holiday party a few years back, who's now gearing up to unleash his debut House EP. "Exhibit J" is a rough, NEAR[LY] FINAL cut that won't be featured on the EP, but you get th...

It's not really about Diplo or Zeb Malik , 2 left-field multi-instrumentalists hailing from the heart of Philly . It isn't even about stupid, in-descriptive genre classification(s). It's just "About That Life:" The plain and simple, every day is Saturday type of GOOD SHIT! The Mad Decent labelhead and super-producer who has semi-recently worked with Beyoncé , No Doubt , Usher, and Kid Cudi is finally gearing up to release his long-awaited follow-up LP to Florida (2004). Teaming up with JAHAN LENNON aka Zeb Malik from PO PO fame, who amidst inner-band fighting, have now disbanded after liberating their "debut album," DOPE BOY MAGICK (20012) ... Diplo has self-described "About That Life" as a Psychedelic Southern Gospel jam. Along with "Express Yourself," it'll eventually appear on Diplo 's untitled 2012-13 solo record. Somehow making use of a bunch of instruments that're even pretty "weird" for adv...

Diplo reportedly antied up some $3-5 million to sign "viral rapper" RiFF RAFF to Mad Decent for a staggering 8 album deal; The labelhead also threw in a $45,000 3-D/reversible gold-encrusted Cheshire Cat chain to further sweeten their deal. Over the weekend, RiFF RAFF unveiled his first official [mixtape] project for Mad Decent , BiRTH OF AN iCON . It's basically a collection of 25 re-mastered tracks total, including 7 BRAND NEW productions to hold fans over til his 2013 full-length. 16 of 25 tracks already have music videos , all varying in quality and some of which date way back to Spring 2011. RiFF RAFF 's currently-untitled album will probably be released sooner than later and is supposed to highlight Dubstep production(s) from Diplo, Skrillex , and Rusko . BiRTH OF AN iCON kinda plays out like a "Best Of" collection and it's material was selected from a super-sized mix of old tracks, remixes, and features ... that further display the vast ta...

Since PO PO basically de-constructed right before our very eyes without even releasing an album, sole remaining brother Zeb Malik has christened a BRAND NEW musical moniker: Jahan Lennon . While readying his official [re-]debut and the proper follow-up to DOPE BOY MAGICK , Zeb sent a twisted Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers cover over to Stereogum late Thurs. afternoon. "DON'T COME AROUND HERE" here is an interesting take on the Southern Accents (1985) original; First off, Jahan Lennon decides to sub in a sitar and gun-shot rhythm for the stock Rock "N" Roll guitar/drum pattern. Zeb Malik really did his best to try and describe his "Don't Come Around Here No More" cover to @tompetty on Twitter : "I did a trap cover of "dnt come around here" about my hometown, philadelphia ... thnk u for the inspiration *." While Jahan Lennon is busy finishing up his Mad Decent EP (October), Diplo 's gonna release a Rock tr...

Jah artist formerly know as Snoop Dogg has finally decided to unveil that he has plans to release a Reggae record, sometime within the next few months. Diplo & "Snoop Lion" somehow managed to record a batch of 18 tracks for the long-rumored album, which has now been dubbed Reincarnated , over @ Major Lazer's TOP SECRET Jamaican headquarters/studio. Ariel Rechtshaid also assisted in producing the first single, "La La La," which dually showcases a pretty solid Roots Rock Reggae sound and Jovi Rockwell on backing vocals. It's all actually built around a simple Ken Boothe riddim [sample] that Diplo pulled from "Artibella;" Mad Decent and Vice Records plan to co-release Snoop Lion 's album in a few months' time. Below the break is a nifty little quote from Diplo (MTV) about recording with Snoop... along with Snoop Dogg / Diplo & Kid Cudi 's previous Weed Rap -tinged collaborative track, "That Tree" (2010). ...

I was originally going to do a feature-length spotlight [rising] post on Bizarro Internet rapper, RiFF RAFF , but I soon realized that my scope was far too broad for the average reader's attention span. So, like they tell you on those high school research papers... I decided to "narrow my topic range." While RiFF RAFF recently signed to Diplo 's ever-growing Mad Decent record label and has released tracks with everyone from Action Bronson to Kitty Pryde , he has yet to unveil a proper full-length album. RiFF RAFF was notoriously axed from the cast of From G's to Gents on the second episode (2009). RiFF RAFF has since strategically aligned himself with Soulja Boy , Chief Keef, Lil Debbie [KREAYSHAWN], Wiz Khalifa, MOD SUN & Cisco Adler as his rap career slowly grows into something more and more prosperous. Having all raked up reality [M]TV time, RiFF RAFF formed "Three Loco" along with fellow weirdly funny rappers, Dirt Nasty and Andy Mi...

Philly -bred DJ, Thomas Wesley "Diplo[docus]" Pentz has recently gone against music production's coveted behind-the-scenes nature by essentially becoming the world's mos recognizable champion of Dubstep and various progressive Dance -based formats. In recent days, Diplo has managed to bridge the gap between underground independence and mainstream success... working with house-hold names like: Beyoncé, Wale, Usher , Passion Pit , Lil' Wayne, Chris Brown, Das Racist, Yelawolf & Fefe Dobson . Pentz is nearly 18 tracks deep into a mysterious full-length joint album along with Snoop Dogg , of which little else is known. Before breaking onto the Electronic music scene in 2003, Diplo worked as a Philadelphia -area school teacher: Mr. Pentz . Dilpo is gearing up to liberate his latest solo release, a 6-track EP titled Express Yourself (May); It looks like Elephant Man, Datsik, Sabi , LAzerdisk Party Sex , and Billy The Gent will be featured within. Earlier ...

Earlier this year, Usher linked with Diplo to make "Climax," a pretty amazing heartbroken R&B track with masterful Dance -music flourishes and an excellently subtle string arrangement from Indie-Classical wunderkind, Nico Muhly . It's an early contender for Single of The Year (2012) and a fine reminder that, no matter what you may think of Usher and/or Diplo , they are both extremely good @ driving their respective lanes. The new "Climax" video is a bit of fairly typical R&B -video melodrama, all about Usher contemplating the different tragic paths he and his ladyfriend could take, but it's a nice excuse to enjoy the song again. Watch it below... Usher hasn't announced a new album yet or anything, but the "Climax" single is @ iTunes now. - Tom Breihan (Stereogum)

Pretty simple premise for a "music video" and companion blog post here, if I do say so myself: Philly Dubstep Master and Mad Decent label head honcho, Diplo recently teamed up with Dutch DJ-songwriter, Don Diablo to record the sheer bo(o)mbastic goodness that is "Make You Pop." Soon after laying down and properly "lacing up" said track, Diplo & Diablo quickly sent the final edit over to their Dutch compadres, Zanger Rinus & Romana . Legend has it... the music video below showcases their honest, eccentric reaction(s) while whilst initially listening to the snailmailed "Make You Pop" promotape [cassette]. Internet -savvy fans just might liken Zanger Rinus & Romana 's escapades to something that exists somewhere in-between Napoleon Dynamite and Major Lazer 's recent Lo-Fi comeback clip, "Original Don." Almost positive that a segmented portion of "Make You Pop" was previously featured @ the tail-e...

Since initially bursting onto the music scene in 2008-09, Philly Psych-Pop band PO PO has somehow mysteriously morphed from "family affair" (3 brothers) to the solo endeavor of remaining member, Zeb Malik . Regardless of "current events," PO PO have signed to home-bred label, Mad Decent and are gearing up to release their long-awaited debut album, DOPE BOY MAGICK . Labelhead Diplo and Nick Launay lent their production talents, but with such a tensured past, it's almost hard to tell how many bandmembers are ACTUALLY present on each specific recording. Zeb teamed up with [art] director, Clayton Vomero on Staten Island to produce the music video for "Teen Dreamz / "Let's Get Away" along with DOPE BOY MAGICK's featured artwork (Noah Conopask) . Stereogum debuted the new PO PO video yesterday afternoon, which for all intensive purposes... is a short film oddly rooted somewhere between the genres of gut-wrenching Horror and Roman...