The Witzard

Not since Interpol frontman Paul Banks unleashed his semi-awkward Everybody On My D*ck Like They Supposed to Be have I heard a more un- Hip-Hop sounding mixtape; But with that said, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. uploaded their long-rumored PRODUCE (Vol. 1) mixtape mid-Wednesday afternoon. It's an oddly endearing juxtaposition of Weezer -indebted Indie Rock and Underground Hip-Hop with a little help from their friends, Asher Roth , Murs, Chuck Inglish , 112 crooner Slim, King Chip , Quelle Chris, and more. While it's actually a pretty legit-sounding Hip-Hop affair, there are still in fact flavors of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. 's deeply-ingrained Pop tendencies subtly inter-woven through out PRODUCE : a light-hearted Beach Boys/Biggie mash-up, a cover of Nina Simone covering Randy Newman , and even decades-old interpolated P aul Simon lyrics. The 16-track mixtape is flanked by two album tracks remixed by Absofacto and Jon Zott (Goldenboyz), brother of co-frontman Daniel ...

"We were working on samples to make a beat and we ended up sampling the Nina Simone version of Randy Newman 's "I Think It's Gonna Rain Today" (1968), Josh Epstein recently told Paste Magazine in an exclusive premier-interview, which contrary to popular belief, dos not in fact sample Super Mario Brothers . Epstein along with fellow Detroit musician Daniel Zott are 2-man Indie-Pop band Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. who just released their second album, The Speed of Things back in October. Simply based off it's attached Souncloud cover artwork, "I Think It's Gonna Rain Today" will seemingly appear on Jr. Jr. 's forthcoming mixtape, PRODUCE, Vol. 1 ; set to feature a wide array of acclaimed rapper-producers including Murs , Slim of 112, Chuck Inglish , Quelle Chris, Asher Roth , Tunde Olaniran, King Chip , Self Says, Goldenboyz , and more. It'll definitely be pretty interesting to hear what Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. 's Weezer -indeb...

(1) What's up, Kassa & TECLA!? First off, it's a pretty bold statement releasing your first mini-collection on the last day of the world! Was that intentional or just completely random? Nothing is unintentional. 2) How would you guys describe the overall sound of CABIN IN THE WOODS EP? What sorta music influenced it's creation, cause it's pretty unique sounding! Both of us come from musical backgrounds with extremely wide varieties. TECLA went from Classically trained pianist to Punk Rock front-girl, and Kassa went from Jazz drum virtuoso to mosh-pitting rapper so... When stuck in a cabin in the woods together, I guess this is what came out. (3) Let's just say today is the end of the world, for arguments sake... What are your plans for the day/night, all things considered? Same thing we do every day, pinky... (4) Is the apocalypse a running theme on CABIN IN THE WOODS EP and if not, what were you going for? We didn't actually have a theme. ...