The Witzard

Rhys Langston x Pioneer 11 (CREDIT: Emily Berkey) Cutting-edge Los Angeles-based trio dubbed Rhys Langston x Pioneer 11 have announced a new collaborative effort, To Operate This System, set to drop in a couple months on Passion of The Weiss & The LAnd Magazine founder Jeff Weiss' own P.O.W. Recordings. The self=proclaimed "Poet Laureate of Your Living Room," Rhys Langston joins forces with the psychedelic cosmonauts Pioneer 11 (Bryan Gomez & Alex Hastings) to chart new terrain grounded in extraterrestrial R&B, Hip-Hop, Acid House, deep space Dance music, and cosmic Soul. Pioneer 11 & Rhys Langston are, indeed, not here to bury the computer, they're here to save it. Their sprawling eight-track debut, To Operate This System, is an attempt to become one with the wires and bytes—to fuse the most cherished qualities of humanity with the power of the matrix. Crunch the data and you might receive only computative errors. After all, it is difficult to fin...

Sacha "Sach" Orenstein is a fellow writer and music critic based out of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Orenstein additionally moonlights as beat-maker, multi-genre musician, and Twitter personality Son Raw. It appears as though Son Raw has been reporting on and contributing to the intersection of Hip-Hop, Grime, Dancehall, and other beat cultures for the past 15 years. Sach Orstein is, likely, best known for his recurring features on Passion of The Weiss, but has, also, written for publications such as Fact Magazine and Complex UK. For those interested in booking Son Raw, he's currently available for podcast guest spots, interviews, DJ sets, Bar Mitzvahs, and... exorcisms!!? Son Raw Vs. The Psychotic Hippies by Son Raw Son Raw has been making music of his own for quite some time now, but it's unclear exactly when he started; Discogs lists just two releases, Son Raw & eGOn – Mellow Submarine (2017) and Take A Kayak, a self-released cassette from 2018. Son Raw...

Gabe 'Nandez is an extremely talented New York-based emcee who has been closely aligned with Passion of The Weiss founder Jeff Weiss' POW Recordings since before 2017. 'Nandez has been regarded as a child of DOOM & DMX, whose parents worked in diplomacy, so he grew up moving around often, temporarily living in Tanzania, Haiti, and Jerusalem, as well as New York City. Gabe 'Nandez's latest EP, simply titled Ox, is being framed as a tribute to the spirit of Ruff Ryders. POW initially released 'Nandez's 2017 cassette compilation album Plaques and soon after, released his proper full-length debut, Diplomacy , to widespread critical and fan acclaim over the summer of 2019. Since then, Gabe 'Nandez has quietly issued a number of singles, EP's, loosies, etc. sometimes, self-released, sometimes, with POW Recordings, and, sometimes, on a variety of other Indie labels, such as Stereoma and Epidemic Sound , namely, for his guitar-fueled 2020 EP, Grove. ...

" Gabe 'Nandez reminds me of a young Carnival-era Wyclef before he got weird and started collaborating with Kenny Rogers and embezzling charity money. One of the best young rappers in NYC. Diplomacy drops in July," Jeff Weiss (@Passionweiss) exuberantly Tweeted Tuesday afternoon. Weiss runs taste-making music site, Passion of The Weiss, as well as sub-label, POW Recordings . POW 's current roster includes The Outfit, TX, Chester Watson, Natia The God, Jordan Raf, T.Y.E. Ness Nite, Pioneer 11, Kent Loon, Vince Ash, Zilla Rocca, Rhys Langston, and, of course, Gabe "'Nandez" Fernandez . Upon the initial announcement of his 2017 signing with the LA-based imprint, POW Recordings released an extremely well-acclaimed 14-track compilation-style album entitled Plaques. Although, 'Nandez has been self-releasing his own music since 2014 (if not longer) with collections such as H.T. EP, No Kliché-produced Sifu EP, Disconnected EP, and 2017 "posse...

"This is a loosie joint that I put together this month (sort of celebrating my birthday) with Weirdo Rock God-head R. Stevie Moore on the hook; to that effect, I produced an Avalanches -inspired instrumental and we're spitting rhymes that lament and celebrate being grown-up Rap dudes," rapper-producer Raj Haldar , better known as Lushlife , recently told me within an email concerning his latest Soundcloud release, "Earl Sweatshirt, Give Me a Hug." "I actually knew R. Stevie Moore when I was a kid—he worked at the record store where I would go every day and spend my lunch money on records. Never really knew he was like a lo-fi God or later, would be huge inspiration to dudes like Ariel Pink . We got to talking a while back and decided to flip this joint together," Lushlife tellingly continued. Haldar then recruited fellow Philly -bred emcee, Anything I Touch, I Bruise master-remixer, recent Rap Booklets curator, and part-time Passion of The W...

Anything I Touch I Bruise Vol. 2: The Superior Foes of Zilla Rocca by Zilla Rocca "Grab my remixes of every dope-a** rapper I've met in the past eight years at threedollarpistol.com ... I remix songs for the challenge; to outdo the original or make something new out of the established piece of art," @ZillaRocca wrote on his rather lively Twitter page upon the release of his latest, and might I add, wonderfully-titled, Anything I Touch, I Bruise Vol. 2: The Superior Foes of Zilla Rocca . However, oddly enough, I first stumbled upon Rocca about two weeks ago, whilst searching for a little background information concerning one of my all-time favorite Hip-Hop albums, Mos Def & Black Jack Johnson 's genre-rattling The New Danger (2004). I eventually unearthed a March 2015 ZILLA -penned Passion of The Weiss piece titled, Rework The Angles: Mos Def The New Danger ; " The New Danger was dark, scattered, and bizarre. It was also 75 minutes long [and showcases] ...

Following the recent conclusion of his 3-part Cassette series, Jonwayne can now concentrate 100% of his focus on his long-awaited Stones Throw full-length; Formerly titled "Bohemian Rap CD," it's now called Rap Album 1 and cleverly sports a saltine cracker strewn across it's cover (likely a nod to how far "white boys" have come in Hip-Hop ha). While he was actually born Jon[athan] Wayne , the budding emcee kinda swagger-jacked the other, more infamous John Wayne 's birth-right for his latest mixtape, Marion Morrison (Cassette 3). "Reflection" is just one of 11 largely self-produced tracks culled from Rap Album 1 , which drops October 29th and is currently available for pre-order. Stones Throw liberated what Jonwayne later effectively dubbed a non-single mid-Wednesday afternoon; as Wayne perfectly put it, "If you don't like "Reflection," give yourself some time to adjust to new ideas in Hip-Hop and then listen a...

While attempting to create a polar "opposite of Rock "N" Roll "-rooted music video, French director Simon Cahn arguably created the most Hip-Hop -inspired Rock video since "Walk This Way" (1986). "Pay No Mind" is the third single pulled from Rock "N" Roll revivalists Hanni el Khatib 's most recent album, Head In The Dirt ; Recorded down in Nashville at Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach 's backyard studio, Easy Eye Sound , the album has already birthed 2 gritty singles: "Family," "Penny," and 9 additional down and dirty Garage Rock jams. The NOWNESS premiered clip starts out with the cheerleading team passionately air drumming and singing along with "Family" in what looks like a late night car ride, which then segues into the absolute romper of a simplistic music video. Now, we're talking' about 6 scantily-clad HEK cheerleaders performing a rough-edged choreographed dance ro...

James Blake is basically the "Iggy Pop" of imported First Wave Dubstep , before it got all sugar-coated and mainstream [corny]. While it's a little unclear as to when it was originally stripped down and mixed together, "Confidence Boost" is a James Blake Harmonimix of a track that was first released back on Soulfood, Vol. 2: Lyriks (2007). Blake has brutally remixed Grime emcee Trim 's hard-hitting composition into something completely different... Skrillex could definitely learn a few things! Although, Pitchfork went on to point out that this isn't just a mere remix, it's a newly-recorded, suped-up version. Let's just call it "Confidence Boost (2.0)," for argument's sake and man, this is a CRAZY/cool breed of Hip-Hop that's in a category all of it's own! James Blake is quite arguably the most Soulful white dude in contemporary music since Hall & Oates made their ever-lasting mark on Soft Rock back in the...

Gonjasufi is a true "gypsy" in all senses of the word - A yoga instructor by day, rapper by night. He has been actively involved in the music industry in various facets for an un-disclosed period of time. Prior to releasing A Sufi and A Killer (2010), Gonjasufi somehow managed to quietly assemble and circulate a limited number of mix CD's. Released under his government name Sumach [Ecks-Valentine] , 4 hand-made CD-R's were spread throughout the San Diego, CA area between 2002-07. Upon its release, A Sufi and A Killer was widely praised by critics and Indie Hip-Hop fans alike; Due in part to its unique mix of Hip-Hop, Middle Eastern stylings, and 60's era Psych/Acid Rock ... all the while, skillfully blended with Gonjasufi 's signature chant-like vocal touches. The bulk of the record was produced by The Gaslamp Killer, Flying Lotus , and Mainframe under Ecks-Valentine's own artistic direction. Contrary to popular belief, Gonjasufi has been far fr...