The Witzard

"Beastie Boys + James Brown = Beastie Brown. Music is the sonic version of a person's soul. You can hear it in the vibes they create. If it hits you on the positive tip, you'll definitely Shake Your Rump. You might be head-bopping on the train caught up in the commuter headphone zone or be a B-boy up rocking on linoleum in the park while a DJ does his thing. Regardless of the situation, the Body's Moving to a Funky Drummer. You can't fight that emotional connection, so don't try. The rhythmic arts are an Ill Communication, no doubt about it. What you have right here is a labour of love mixed up with true passion from the Brooklyn icon, Jazzsoon. He's the living embodiment of all that's authentic New York City and that shines through in all his endeavours." "Serious biz. It's a beautiful combination of The Three Bad Brothers That You Know So Well and The Godfather of Soul. A sonic enterprise like you've only ever dreamed of. It's...

Rollerskating Jam named "Sundays" by Nautilus "So, I asked Toshi[yuki Sasaki] from Nautilus because of his creative Jazz style and singer Fleur Earth , who I had in mind as the voice for this version to [fully] realize it for me. And yes, there will be another cool re-interpretation of a classic tune... I'll keep you updated," DJ Oonops told The Witzard roughly two years ago. He was talking about Nautilus & Fleur Earth 's Beastie Boys "Root Down" cover from Oopops Drops Vol. 1 ; at the time, the part about "another cool re-interpretation of a classic tune..." was largely irrelevant, but now, all of a sudden, it has become relevant! DJ Oonops is currently assembling Oopops Drops Vol. 2 for a September release on Hanover, Germany-based Agogo Records —an "extensive compilation covering genres from Dub, Jazz, Funk, Soul to Beats & Hip Hop"—and has unleashed "another cool re-interpretation." This time, Oono...

J Dilla + Michael Jackson = Share My Bed by J.Rocc It's safe to say, I've been patiently awaiting J.Rocc 's J Dilla & Michael Jackson -blending mash-up project ever since Stones Throw posted: " Share My Bed=M.J. & Dilla 1st track "Player Has Butterflies" ... wait 4 the rest" nearly 10 years ago back in November 2009. Over the years, a handful of tracks have been sporadically leaked out from the project—alternatively, referred to as "Dil Jackson" —but every year, as Dilla Month (February) comes and goes, I've always wondered, if we would ever hear the entirety of J.Rocc 's Share My Bed . Even this year, J Dilla 's birthday, Feb. 7th (same as my dad's!) passed, as well as Feb. 10th, the 12th anniversary of his passing, and still, no signs of J.Rocc 's anxiously-awaited Dil Jackson project. However, just a few days ago, on Valentine's Day , J.Rocc quietly dropped Share My Bed on his Bandcamp , without any pr...

ZAIRISMS (vol 1) by Ila Zair Since conducting and publishing our 2016 Deconstructed Ego-centric interview, I've been in contact with Jaubi guitarist and producer Ali Riaz Baqar every couple weeks; he's been painstakingly writing, recording, and meticulously re-arranging his Hip-Hop-minded solo debut as Ila Zair ("Ali Riaz" backwards.) While Ali Riaz Baqar has been fine-tuning his premier release, Jaubi's The Deconstructed Ego EP has garnered wide-spread acclaim from the likes of Bandcamp Daily , Beat Tape Co-Op, Flea Market Funk, Music Is MY Sanctuary, and Stones Throw. With their Astigmatic Records-released EP, Jaubi have single-handedly introduced the Hip-Hop-loving world to a unique brand of Experimental Pakistani Instrumental Hip-Hop, largely due to their critically-acclaimed cover of J Dilla's "Time: The Donut of The Heart." I've personally heard at least three different versions of Baqar's self-produced beat tape, which through the m...

"My name is Lang Vo. I'm one half of WORDS HURT with Def Jux alum ALASKA and the other half of the group REINFORCED STEEL with my friend and sage, Kwamizzle. I've been producing and making beats for the last 20+ years. Back in the heyday, before I had kids, I used to work the Columbus, Ohio scene and did shows with Camu Tao and opened for his group, S.A. Smash. I've opened for Atmosphere, Mr. Lif [& Akrobatik AKA] The Perceptionists, Blueprint with Soul Position [RJD2], etc. Although, I never hit "The Big Time," I had a great time back then. My last show was a show with Killah Priest in 2009. Once I started having kids, I still made music and did a few shows here and there in Austin, Texas, but staying out late and having drunk people dump beer on my equipment didn't seem as fun anymore. I didn't pick it back up again seriously, until I started working with Alim Wade, a rapper in Atlanta. He started sending my beats out to people like Kool A.D. ...

Strange Talk is a Melbourne -based Australian Synth-Pop duo consisting of Stephen Docker and Gerard Sindu . Their music has been likened to contemporary Indie-Pop acts such as Passion Pit , MGMT, Phoenix , Cut Copy, and Yeasayer . Strange Talk released one full-length album, Cast Away (2014) on Wind-up Records and two EP's for both Wind-up and Neon Gold Records , as well as a number of singles and commissioned remixes . However, "after working on nothing but Strange Talk for the last seven years, the duo decided to take a break from the Indie-Pop world to pursue their other love... French Electro/House ," reads a recent press statement. Now, Gerard Sindu & Stephen Docker are actively readying their Electro/House -inspired EP-length re-birth as KNIGHTFALL , VOLUME 1 . Following this year's previous two singles, "Speed Machine" and "Exodus," as well as "Motostop" (KNIGHTFALL vs. Q-Tip ) KNIGHTFALL have unleashed the l...

"It's a song I always loved, but I could never figure where to place it, in terms of albums and such. I've performed it a few times and it always did well... I kind of Kanye'd the hook and had variations of it done by El Malito & Margel The Sophant , before I put it together the way it is now. I just wanted it... to be great because the beat is crazy and the story/concept is heavily indebted to this book, The Song Is You by Megan Abbott ," Wrecking Crew & Career Crooks emcee Zilla Rocca wrote, via text Monday night, concerning his latest stand-alone single. "Lemon Drop" was released in a similar fashion to Zilla 's recent influx of 90's Golden Age Hip-Hop -evoking Noir-Hop loosies: "98 Avirex Flow" and Ghostface Killah & Raekwon -flipping "Faster Blade Redux," which was fittingly premiered right here at The Witzard . Zilla Rocca further explained that it's his "goal to drop one song a month for...

"Last year on the Yeezus tour, someone gave Kanye West a single to listen to: It was "Experience," by Kacy Hill , a 20-year-old singer who happened to be one of his back-up dancers. Kanye met with Hill after his Atlantic City show, and immediately signed her to his label, G.O.O.D. Music ," NY Mag eloquently transcribed within their 'Top 10 New Female Musicians to See This Summer' featurette. While, as DJ Booth adversely points out, "Experience" was initially released back in December 2013 to little fanfare, only to be re-released on G.O.O.D. Music nearly a year later; "Experience" still remains Hill's lone Futuristic Indie Pop/R&B -reminiscent piece of work, although, now it's set to be included within her forthcoming proper debut, Bloo EP . Kacy Hill 's G.O.O.D. Music/Very G.O.O.D. Beats label-mates and arsenal of possible collaborators now includes the likes of talented industry-worn artists and producers su...

" Tom & Ed met in history class at Manchester University in 1988. They started off as DJ's known as "The 237 Turbo Nutters" (named after the number of their house on Dickenson Road in Manchester and a reference to their Blackburn raving days). They then opted for "The Dust Brothers," which they nicked from the L.A. producers of Paul's Boutique (as they thought they would never be famous). In 1995, they changed their name to "The Chemical Brothers" after the real Dust Brothers threatened to sue," reads The Chemical Brothers' eerily cryptic abridged Discogs profile description. Electro-House pioneers Tom Rowlands & Ed Simmons are effectively back with their first album in nearly five years after taking a self-imposed hiatus following their seventh studio album, Further . All the while, The Chemical Brothers haven't remained entirely inactive during this gestation period: Rowlands & Simmons prepared a han...

" Black Messiah is a Hell of a name for an album. It can easily be misunderstood. Many will think it's about religion. Some will jump to the conclusion that I'm calling myself a Black Messiah ," illusive Neo-Soul/Funk singer D'Angelo explained in a statement at his Sunday night Red Bull Music Academy & Afropunk -hosted listening party. "For me, the title is about all of us. It's about the world. It's about an idea we can all aspire to. We should all aspire to be a Black Messiah ... Black Messiah is not one man. It's a feeling that, collectively, we are all that leader," he powerfully continued. Black Messiah , once tentatively titled "James River," has been in-the-works for nearly 15 years; imminent release details suddenly began to trickle out over the course of this past weekend. While a brief 16-second Black Messiah teaser trailer first surfaced Friday afternoon, 1,000 downloads of piano-laden comeback single "S...

" Share My Bed = MJ & Dilla 1st track, "Player Has Butterflies" ...wait [for] the rest," read a vague 2009 Stones Throw post. Beat Junkies co-founder and former Black Star & Jaylib DJ J. Rocc has seemingly been working on some sort of unspecified J Dilla/Michael Jackson mash-up project for the past 5+ years. Dilla was a known Jackson (5) super-fan and even sampled "Dancing Machine" for Q-Tip 's solo track "Move" (2008), originally appearing on his Beat CD '05 #3 web-bootleg. I can vaguely remember downloading a copy of my first J Dilla album, Champion Sound with Madlib (2003). It falls right between what I would consider his two greatest works, Ruff Draft EP and his magnum opus, Donuts . Little did I know, at the time, that Dilla's health was slowly failing because of lupus complications and a rare blood disorder; he ultimately passed away on February 10th, 2006. I didn't realize til a few years later, bu...

Aside from co-headlining Budweiser 's second annual Made In America Festival , Mrs. Carter recorded an interesting new track for what's poised to be one of Summer 2013's biggest blockbusters, The Great Gatsby . While Bryan Ferry Emile Sandé contributed a "Crazy In Love" cover, Beyoncé & André 3000 managed to conjure up their own unique re-make, "Back to Black" (2007). Needless to say, Bey & Dre have TOTALLY flipped Amy Winehouse 's breakout Neo-Soul hit; and from the sounds of this just-released 90-second snippet, "Back to Black" has been effectively turned into a modern day Electro-Funk jam. But with that said, it's pretty damn hard to judge an entire track off a brief 90-second preview! Almost every time André 3000 randomly spits a few sub-par bars like this, it just makes me want that long-rumored OutKast reunion album even more, which I'm beginning to question will ever really see the light of day. Beyo...

Back in 2004, Raphael Saadiq opened his studio doors to Spacek (band) to produce an album for one of his sub-labels. The album was supposed to be called "Pookie Blue Room" and feature 10 songs produced by both Steve & Morgan [Spacek] with Raphael singing on all of them and featuring guest appearances by Common, Q-Tip, Ledisi , Steve Spacek , and Sir [Fonzworth] Bentley . Anyhow, the album was never completed and therefore, never released. As one of the executive producer of this album, I have been sitting on those tracks for years now... sharing my fav with you now. - Mathieu Schreyer (executive producer)

Much to the delight of zealous fans, Black Star are back for Round 2, after a 10-year [semi-]hiatus. Since issuing Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star (1998), the Boom Bap duo have stayed pretty silent; Excluding the occasional Mos Def feature, Talib Kweli Remix, or vice versa, of course. In honor of Black Friday #blackstarfriday 2011, Yasiin Bey & Talib Kweli released their latest single, "Fix Up" to iTunes' online data-base. Some of you may recall the fact that this very song was performed LIVE @ Colbert Report Studios a few mere weeks ago [Below]. Mind you, that was just Friday morning... Rounding off the day's nation-wide festive shopping excursions, Black Star liberated yet another new track: "You Already Knew" that very evening. Granted, this track isn't from Black Star 's long-rumored triumphant return - Although it will indefinitely appear within Black Star Aretha : a mixtape tribute crafted in honor of legendary songst...

Honesty is key in life, blogging, and music. With that said, I've been a moderate fan of Aubrey "Drake" Graham since the beginning; Keeping up to date with his assorted releases, for the most part... But I must admit, I strongly favor a handful of songs over the bulk of Drake 's backcataloged entries. I just wish that Mr. Graham would either stick with rapping or run with singing R&B stylings - As I, and other fans, would then indeed garner a lot more respect for him as an artist. From the looks of this newly-released Lamar Taylor & Hyghly Alleyne -directed video, it seems as though Drake has fully embraced a SWAGGER -filled "Rap" persona, as of late. Excluding "Over" (2010), "Headlines" is by far the strongest original Drake composition I've heard since So Far Gone 's break-out hit, "Best I Ever Had" (2009). Universal Republic is pushing this hard-hitting Boi-1da/Noah "40" Shebib -crafted ban...