The Witzard

"The sounds of Shuggie Otis & Michael McDonald inspired a man to write a song. A couple of Mondays later, that song inspired an identity. The name is Otis McDonald . The mission? Good music;" that man was "producer, engineer, drummer, singer, bassist, guitarist, and keyboardist extraordinaire" Joe Bagale , now, better known as Otis McDonald . I was fortunate enough to grow up with parents who always had a phenomenal record collection: Billy Joel, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, James Taylor, New Jersey "staple" Bruce Springsteen, Simon & Garfunkel, Lionel Richie, and, of course, The Doobie Brothers & Michael McDonald . So, I feel as though I "get" it... The Funk, that is! While I very much enjoy all of the aforementioned artists from my parents' record collection, I'll readily admit, Michael McDonald has the voice of a silky smooth angel. Nu-Funk sensation Otis McDonald self-released a whopping 30 tracks for free on YouTu...

Precious Metals, Heavy Gems II by BLKrKRT I've been corresponding with frequent Darko The Super collaborator and Fort Worth, Texas -based Instrumental Hip-Hop producer Phil "BLKr KRT" Ford through Twitter Direct Message , Facebook Messenger, and Gmail for a few months now. I was lucky enough to premier BLKrKRT 's 40th U DONT DESERVE THIS BEAUTIFUL ART -released project, Okinato Black right here at The Witzard . Okinato Black is amongst BLKrKRT 's final 3-4 projects scheduled to be released before he plans to retire from beat-making all together and pursue a potential career in fashion design later this year. Today, I'm happy to be premiering Phil Ford 's whopping 41st project, Precious Metals, Heavy Gems II (PMHG II) , which is meant to serve as a warm-up collection of "line drawings/illustrations" or quick improvised sketches showing his progression between Okinato Black and his forthcoming BLKrKRT LP II . PMHG II is a quasi-sequel to ...