The Witzard

While they generally make a unique brand of self-loathing, love sick Dream Pop , Swedish duo JJ (formerly known as "jj" )'s music has always been heavily influenced by Hip-Hop and R&B ; take their latest single "All White Everything" for example, sonically it's a crisp piano ballad accented by a sparse Hip-Hop drum pattern about mid-way through, who's title is seemingly an allusion to Jay-Z 's Kanye & Rihanna -assisted smash single, "Run This Town." It's our first legitimate taste from JJ 's forthcoming album for Sincerely Yours/Secretly Canadian V , which will be their first proper full-length since jj n° 3 (2010). Aside from it's August 19th release date, 12-song tracklist, and cryptic album artwork , little else is known about V . Roughly two weeks before unveiling the aforementioned information, bandmates and apparent couple Elin Kastlander & Joakim Benon quietly uploaded a 45-second JJ V album trailer...

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...

Mauro Remiddi is a well-traveled man (Rome, Brooklyn, London) who's not afraid to show his emotions through song, when need be. Remiddi moonlights as "Porcelain Raft," crafting densely-layered Dream Pop tunes, and mildly reminds this particular listener of one Steven Morrissey . Maybe it's the androgynous vocal stylings and "artsy" public image, paired with that all too familiar devil-may-care sate of being [attitude]. Porcelain Raft 's music is dark and emotional. But not in that worn out, "obvious" sort of way. The casual music fan might find it a bit shocking to realize that Mauro Remiddi has been involved in the world of music for the bulk of his 27-year existence; From playing circus gypsy music to tap dance piano, Remiddi has tracked a wide array of tunes to tape, mini-disc, and CD. Secretly Canadian will liberate his proper debut, Strange Weekend , this coming Jan. 23-24th. "Once a dear friend of mine said, "Imagine if in...