The Witzard

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...

"Navel gazing in my basement for a decade plus / I f**kin' lied when I said it wouldn't take long / Hope you got all day maybe two / It's work, it's hard work / It took two weeks to climb down this hole," Drew Scott sings on "Avoidant" from his debut as Giddeon Gallows, CRITTER . I've been hearing about Scott's Giddeon Gallows side-project for about 6-8 months and now, it's finally out in the world and I'm able to write about it; to my ear, it sounds something like a stylistic mix of Kanye's "Auto-Tune album" 808's & Heartbreak, The Postal Service's Give Up, and early TV On The Radio à la Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes. "Giddeon Gallows is basically, just a pen name, it's not an alter-ego or anything. I have a deep appreciation for Pop music, not in a mainstream sense, but more as a vehicle," Drew Scott wrote, via email, describing CRITTER. "While I was finishing ILL VESSEL , I was ...

POWER MISSIONS: Selected Guest Spots by Height Keech "This is POWER MISSIONS , a collection of Height guest spots from 2002-present featuring @maniacmeat , @DrewciferScott, @TheMahogany , @cexmang, @kingrhythm , @emceeineye, @NapalmDef , @mickeymistakes, + more," @HeightKeech wrote within a recent Tweet self-promoting POWER MISSIONS: SELECTED GUEST SPOTS . POWER MISSIONS marks the fourth Height release of 2017 on his Cold Rhymes Records imprint, following self-produced album MIND MOVES THE MOINTAIN , Shark Tank 's Height -produced Dan's House , and ialive & Height 's collaborative TIMEWAVE ZERO album, as well as Height -compiled We Can't Go Back Now: The Cold Rhymes Collectio n from prolific oddball rapper-producer Jack Topht . POWER MISSIONS: SELECTED GUEST SPOTS consists of hand-selected Height features recorded and (un)released from 2002-17 with the likes of Grand Buffet , TOBACCO, Drew Scott , AK Slaughter, PT Burnem , Bow n' Arrow AKA M...

"I'm Height Keech. I'm a rapper from Baltimore, MD . I grew up being the guy in the crew that didn't know how to make the beats I heard in my head... Now, I feel like I've found my own voice as a producer and I'm off to the races. These are some of the records [whose] production has inspired me, through the years." - Height Keech (Shark Tank) Dan's House by Shark Tank I. Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988) "A lot has been said about this album, so let me zero in on my favorite track: "Night of The Living Baseheads." The main sample is like a Jack-In-The-Box opening every two seconds. The change-up leading into the second verse feels like a transmission from another planet. Every little piece is perfectly executed, yet it feels like you’re on an insane train that could go off the rails at any second. It used to be way more labor-intensive to do all these weird one-off changes and flourishes; the ...

Just about a month ago, I got an email from my friend, producer buddy, and frequent collaborator John Bachman AKA Jumbled mysteriously labelled "2 things." Bachman was writing me about his upcoming Bmore Club -minded project, as well as an idea he said he had been "kicking around;" wherein he simply detailed he wanted to ask "producers to name 3-5 albums that influenced them/their style and talk a little about each album and maybe their [favorite] track." Needless to say, I was immediately interested and Jumbled and I collectively decided we would jointly run our producer playlist column (now, appropriately deemed "Beat-maker Bedrock" ) on both The Witzard and his Hatford & Reckord Tumblr . And without further ado, here's the inaugural Beat-maker Bedrock artist-penned column with brainchild and beat-maker himself, John "Jumbled" Bachman . Beat-makers and producers: if you're reading this and could like to partake in f...

Dan's House by Shark Tank Not only is Shark Tank a Kevin "Mr. Wonderful" O'Leary -helmed dream-crushing ABC reality show, it's also a dream-crushing Kingston, Ontario/Pittsburgh, PA/Baltimore, MD -based Hip-Hop posse. Shark Tank AKA The Fun Youngs —fronted by "John" Height and backed by lyrical assassins "John" Lord Grunge , "John" B.Rich , and sometimes, "John" Mickey Free —are currently prepping their fourth Height -produced album, fittingly titled Dan's House for a summertime release on Cold Rhymes Records . "This is the video for "Dan's House" filmed by Ben O'Brien and edited by B.Rich . Naturally, this was filmed in my house. We were originally supposed to play ourselves in the video, but when a wrench got thrown [into] our travel plans, we got Emily Slaughter , Jones , and Mickey Free to stand-in. All three of them are fire emcees and beat-makers and of course, Mickey Free is the J...

Dan's House by Shark Tank " Shark Tank is my group with Lord Grunge and B.Rich . Lord Grunge represents the legendary Pittsburgh duo, Grand Buffet . B.Rich is an emcee with a side-career as a Canadian -centric YouTube star (see Out for a Rip. ) Mickey Free is the Jarobi White of the group," Height Keech wrote within a recent email concerning his Hip-Hop crew, Shark Tank . Their fourth studio album, Dan's House was recently announced and is scheduled to drop on Height 's own Cold Rhymes Records this upcoming July 17th. Dan's House was entirely produced by Height (Dan) Keech and is his first time producing a whole project, outside of his solo material. I was lucky enough to speak with Height and publish an interview breaking down his phenomenal solo album, MIND MOVES THE MOUNTAIN , released just a few months ago; he mentioned a new Shark Tank album within our conversation, but even I didn't realize it would be released so soon! " Dan...

"Most of my favorites from 2016 have been from friends! ialive & Darko The Super from Philadelphia released a project called [Hell Hole] Store, which I picked up on tape. Height Keech from Baltimore has ventured off in a new direction on his Unending Blaze Vol. 1 EP. Local emcee and songstress Anna Notte put out her second EP and used one my of my favorite beats I’ve ever made called "Ppl Are Mean..." Baltimore "teacher, husband, beat-maker & dish washer" John "Jumbled" Bachman wrote within our 2016 published interview. I had simply asked Bachman to name a few of his personal favorite Hip-Hop releases from the past 6-8 months, but little did I know, I would eventually end up working with nearly ALL of the artists he had mentioned (besides Kanye) and countless Baltimore area friends, affiliates, and associates. Height Keech appeared on "Lamplight" from Jumbled's then just-released [I wish it was longer] album along with the like...

Mind Moves The Mountain by Height Keech " Mind Moves The Mountain is the eleventh album from Baltimore 's Height Keech . Reflecting on 17 years of DIY touring, the record asks what happens when your dreams lead you into parts unknown; what's down in the lonesome valley from the Folk songs? What happens when you venture out there and never come back?" Baltimore rapper-producer Dan "Height" Keech cryptically wrote within a recent emailed statement. Mind Moves The Mountain is actually parts 1-3 of a planned and since-abandoned EP trilogy, which started with Height 's Unending Blaze, Vol. 1 EP and an accompanying nation-wide tour, which was released at the top of 2016. "After one EP and one tour, I realized this was all wrong. I sold out of my small run of CD's quickly (which is a good thing), but I sensed that my concept of a EP trilogy hadn't really made a dent in people's minds. I got this feeling that I was going to go in circl...