The Witzard

A Common Wonder - The Sixth Superstition by A Common Wonder " Stevie Wonder 's early use of synthesizers, drum machines, and samplers, in a lot of ways, paved the way for Hip-Hop and sampling. Part of my motivation for this project was to highlight those contributions," Nashville -based producer Amerigo Gazaway proclaimed within a recent press release. Gazaway is, of course, the genre-bending producer and remixer behind critically-acclaimed mash-up albums—are people still calling them "mash-ups?"—such as Yasiin Gaye: The Departure and The Return (Yasiin Bey FKA Mos Def & Marvin Gaye,) Fela Soul (Fela Kuti & De La Soul,) B​.​B. & The Underground Kingz: The Trill Is Gone (B.B. King & UGK,) Bizarre Tribe: A Quest to The Pharcyde , and more like-minded projects. It would appear as though Amerigo Gazaway is likely referring to Stevie Wonder 's beloved and world-renown string of seven "classic period" albums released between 197...

I'll keep this intro rather short and sweet, as this one's pretty self-explanatory and cut and dry... while watching the Atlanta Falcons honorable attempt at a Super Bowl LI Champion trophy last night, I saw this rather intriguing @2DopeBoyz-premiered DJ Manipulator (@dustymanip) mix prop up within my Twitter timeline. Its Herbie Hancock & The Headhunters Head Hunters re-appropriating cover artwork is the first thing that caught my eye (I've been obsessed with "Watermelon Man" ever since RS500 ). After a brief, yet highly informative listen, I decided to write a quick email to the self-proclaimed "DJ/Producer/NERD Contact'"s Twitter -listed email contact, which ended up being his manager, Derek "Kas" Kastal . Long story short... Kas quickly got me in touch with DJ Manipulator himself and we decided the best form of "attack" might be some sort of playlist of "Jazz Is Everything" mix breakdown; by around 1:0...

"One of the running themes [throughout] Eddie Romero can be heard in the opening and closing tracks of the album, when I rhyme: "shall I croon or shall I spit?" Basically, I wanted to play with the image of an old school crooner, "a slow jam king," that all of a sudden flips his ballad on its ear and starts rhyming all fast and frenetic. On the first single, "Up to You" this idea is in full effect; to me, I feel like the melody is really sweet and romantic, but I wanted to contrast this with a fast and somewhat hectic beat that hits hard and could be equally at home with Big Daddy Kane rhyming over it." - Steve Mallorca (Sulu & Excelsior) Eddie Romero by Sulu and Excelsior New York -based trumpet player, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, producer, rapper, and film-maker Steven E. Mallorca 's Sulu & Excelsior Facebook page self-describes his music as " Johnny Mathis meets Mos Def meets Stevie Wonder meets Nat King Cole ...

"It was an action-packed few days, Sandman was so patient with the whole thing, it was amazing... The effect in ["Life Support"] is stop-animation; basically, every time anything moved in those sections of the video, we'd move something [and] take a picture. So, that meant pulling apart flowers, petal by petal, in some cases... It was a blast to make... Homeboy Sandman and I have built a body of visuals together and we have a lot of trust in each other. He pushes limits musically and I try to match his intensity with the visuals, while keeping an eye on his humorous side," director @pacerivers told me in a series of recent Twitter direct messages sent on the eve of his latest sun-drenched creation, "Life Support." Homeboy Sandman 's just released Hugo XL -produced self-reflective cut is reportedly "a new track, not on any album release, strictly for the video," according to Los Angeles -based imprint Stones Throw Records . Rivers a...

While he isn't preoccupied melding together the sultry melodies of Rod Stewart and Miguel for an A$AP Rocky track or recruiting his sharp-tongued Albanian-Jewish buddy Action Bronson for a widely unreleased "Uptown Funk!" remix, super-producer Mark Ronson somehow managed to record and release one of the most downright Funky , yet commercially accessible albums of 2014-15; Uptown Special has already yielded one undeniable world-wide mega-hit with Ronson's infectious Bruno Mars -assisted "Uptown Funk," but now they're attempting to score similar chart success with it's proper B-side, "Feel Right." "PARTY PEOPLE, I'M VERY PROUD TO PRESENT THE VIDEO [FOR] "FEEL RIGHT" FT. @ItsMystikal DIR. BY @brunomars & @cameronduddy !!" @MarkRonson exuberantly Tweeted this past Monday afternoon. Although they make a quick cameo appearance towards the end, "Feel Right" solely features mini- Mystikal look-a...

"I did not rhyme off the beanie sigel truth beat PF [Cuttin] looped the original Chicago that is all..." @SeanPrice furiously Tweeted \from his Brownsville, Brooklyn home late Tuesday afternoon; seemingly alluding to instantly recognizable similarities between his latest Soundcloud -aided leak, "S.E.A.N." and Sigel's 2000 Kanye -produced title track, "The Truth," wherein he famously sampled Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young founding member Graham Nash 's 1971 Folk-Rock protest piece, "Chicago." Following a flurry of sporadic Soundcloud -released loosies about every 2 weeks-month, Sean Price has finally announced his long-awaited Stevie Wonder -referencing Songs In The Key of Price mixtape, which is "coming soon" at a currently unspecified date; "Oh yeah that trash-ass artwork was done by a child the real mixtape cover coming soon lol!!!" Just a matter of mere seconds into "S.E.A.N.," the sha...

Seems as though White Denim's primary singer-songwriter, James Petralli decided to partake in one of Middle America 's most cherished pastimes over the weekend: "Spring Cleaning." Like all too many of us, Petralli was rooting through his Austin, TX garage and quickly dug up a lost treasure... Tascam Portastudio fully in toe, Petralli then took to Facebook , asking White Denim 's trusty fans to submit classic songs that they'd like to hear covered. By late Friday evening, James Petralli re-emerged complete with a 6-track zipfile, Fun Friday : Elvis Costello , Ween, Neil Young, Stevie Wonder , King Crimson, and White Stripes' "WEAReGOinGTObefriENDs" (2002). Arguably a tad bit more laidback than White Denim 's usual rapid-paced, Jazz-Fusion output, Fun Friday was recorded straight to Petralli's handy Tascam Portastudio over roughly 5-6 hours... further topped with a few Austin Jenkins -crafted guitar riffs. It should also be of pa...

"This one's an exclusive for the Stones Throw Digital Discography subscribers: It's a sampler of a few tracks off the upcoming album by The Lions , which we're planning to release this Summer. We've made just a few of these CD's, strictly for non-commercial use. The Lions are a 12-member Reggae group from Los Angeles ." - Stones Throw @ drip.fm (1) Seemingly the title track from their upcoming debut, "This Generation" was quietly premiered on Stones Throw 's J.Rocc -curated Podcast #70 (January). The Lions meld together their vast musical "chops," employing a gaggle of original Roots Rock Reggae -reminiscent sound effects. Pretty sure "This Generation" discusses the fact that kids these days, while often misguided, are getting back into tasteful music and means of playing: 12" vinyl... Check out the Dub [remixed] version up above. (2) "Roll It 'Round" plays out like a clever mix between Motown ...

So, it seems that D'Angelo is plotting one Hell of a Soulful comeback; After a self-imposed 12-year long [creative] exile, a new/old track has finally emerged - "Black Hole Sun." D'Angelo adds his signature honey-drenched vocal flourishes to the 90's Grunge Mega-Hit. There are minor audio send-ups to Michael Archer 's own go-to influences: Herbie Hancock , Jimi Hendrix , and Stevie Wonder . D'Angelo is no stranger to recorded covers... as he laid down a handful of soundtrack-appearing covers between his first sabbatical period (1996-2000): "Girl, You Need a Change of Mind," "She Always In My Hair," "Heaven Must Be Like This," and "Feel Like Makin' Love." This 2010 Soundgarden demo comes on the heels of the Occupy Music Tour (Europe) and nearly 97% complete album "announcement." ?uestlove recently said in an interview that "James River" is essentially the Funky , black step-brot...

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...