The Witzard

"Unlikely Indie legends gift us with DOOM 's best emcee effort this decade, through a track crafted by long-time collaborator Danger Mouse (Brian Burton) in [conjunction] with posthumous prolific song-writer, Sparklehorse (Mark Linkous.) Listeners already have precedent that only good could come from duo, Danger Mouse & MF DOOM , as their collaborative project, DANGERDOOM , gave us 2005's The Mouse & The Mask . What differentiates The Mouse & The Mask from DOOM 's dozens of other projects—aside from the Cartoon Network features—is DOOM acting solely as the emcee in this outfit, where he usually has a heavy role in production. It's easy to see how trust was formed, though, as Danger Mouse curated his trademark clean, unique beats that set DOOM up to verbally knock it out of the park on every track. "Ninjarous" makes no exception here and while it exhibits the sterile perfection of Danger Mouse in feel, the influence of Sparklehorse ...

Mr. Dibbs is a world-renown DJ, turntablist, and producer hailing from Cincinnati, Ohio. Dibbs is the founder of ever-evolving DJ crew 1200 Hobos, is the co-founder of "America's Largest Hip-Hop Festival," Scribble Jam , and has had a career-long allegiance to Atmosphere's Slug & Ant, Sab The Artist & Siddiq's Rhymesayers Ent. For years, Mr. Dibbs served as the touring DJ for Atmosphere, El-P, Run The Jewels, and Eyedea. Dibbs' music has appeared on countless soundtracks and compilations, including, but not limited to Alien Workshop's Photosynthesis, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, Tony Hawk's Underground (THUG,) and Peanut Butter Wolf's My Vinyl Weighs a Ton , as well as numerous Warped Tour comps. Over the course of his storied career, Mr. Dibbs has worked with the likes of The Black Keys, Buck 65, cLOUDDEAD, doseone & Jel (as Presage,) DJ Mayonnaise, El-P, Felt, Gym Class Heroes, MURS, Playdough, Sage Francis, Terror, Themselves, and...

I honestly can't even remember how, but about 5-6 years ago now, I first discovered Pennsylvania -based by way of Ocean City, NJ —which just so happens to be my family's favorite "beach town"—awesomely-named Psych/Indie Rock trio Peanut Butter Lovesicle . PB Lovesicle consisted of blonde dread-locked drummer and frontman Timmy Miller and his two cousins (and brothers) guitarist Jake D'Arc and bassist Mike D'Arc . Between 2010-15, Timmy, Jake & Mike self-released a steady supply of Queens of The Stone Age & The Black Keys -influenced material, which included an array of Blues/Desert Rock -minded singles and EP's including, but not limited to: Heavy Daze Wildcat Craze EP , "Black Eyed Blues," Dirty Pride EP , "Complex," "Jealous Minds," and "Dragon Disease," as well as Timmy Miller & Jake D'Arc 's Hip-Hop -indebted Milky 22's EP from their side-band of the same name. Lest we forget, Pean...

In the Pines by Dan Auerbach and Robert Finley / MURDER BALLADS " THE BALLAD OF FRANKLIN BONISTEEL acts as a prequel, of sorts, to MURDER BALLADS , the highly-anticipated Rock "N" Roll noir graphic novel about the music industry and redemption. The highly-anticipated graphic novel from Z2 Comics ... will be distributed at comic book stores and bookstores nation-wide and will be available digitally, via ComiXology . It is available now for pre-order," reads a recent press release for Murder Ballads and its accompanying prequel, The Ballad of Franklin Bonisteel ; the latter was available for FREE on a first-come-first-serve basis from participating comic book shops and bookstores nation-wide this past Saturday, May 6th, 16th annual Free Comic Book Day (FCBD). The Ballad of Franklin Bonisteel was made available by Z2 Comics and Easy Eye Sound on FCBD along with an exclusive download link to a new rendition of Lead Belly -popularized 1870's Folk song ...

“We went out to LA with [Action Bronson] last month—me, him, Alchemist , and Sean [Mahon] recorded an entire EP of material under the name Jericho . Jericho may be a project that we drop, that’s really under-the-table, no one knows about that yet. Jericho may just be like a multi-genre, no label EP that may cross genres from Hip-Hop to Electro to 80's Pop . We may bridge the gap with that actually, because some of the stuff we recorded for that, one of the songs sounds like a late 80's Smokey Robinson record and sh*t. And then, there’s some Surf Rock on there that sounds like The Beach Boys and Bronson’s rhyming on it," Party Supplies multi-instrumentalist Justin Nealis revealed to HipHopDX way back in January 2014. Nealis, at the time, proclaimed that he aspired to be "like The Black Keys ; they blew up in Rock and had a few Rock records out and then, they went on and used that leverage to call up Raekwon on that BlakRoc sh*t." Party Supplies ...

It's a rather unlikely story, which almost sounds too good to be true, but it all started with a single White Denim-centric piece I published back in October-November 2013; "I saw you recently featured White Denim [on The Witzard], and thought you might find UBK's (Israel) new music video interesting," read an email from a publicist named Emma. Uri Brauner Kinrot-fronted UBK would soon effortlessly morph from a mere solo project into a full-fledged band called Ouzo Bazooka. I've been in sporadic contact with UBK's people, fellow band mates, and most recently, Kinrot himself over the course of the past three years and have been honored to feature a number of their videos here on this very site. I would, if pressed, likely attempt to best describe Ouzo Bazooka's unique Israeli Rock sound as a stylistic love child between The Black Keys, Eric Clapton-helmed Cream, and a Mediterranean-influenced version of The Rolling Stones. Ouzo Bazooka's genre-blendin...

"Now accepting all reasonable offers for Nick's Honda . Contact The Arcs or Eddie Huang . Oh yeah... and new Arcs video drops this Tuesday... Go get the album too!! Bump it in your new Honda ?" Dan Auerbach 's The Arcs wrote on Facebook Saturday accompanying a brief 30-second trailer advertising their then-forthcoming "Outta My Mind" music video, as well as director Nick Walker 's Honda . It would appear to be a purposely lo-fi, back seat-shot clip in which two unspecified Arcs members discuss the prospect of the brief hybrid trailer-web ad, which Walker commissioned that "might help save us;" anyone interested in buying Nick Walker 's Honda can either contact The Arcs directly or apparent Dan Auerbach affiliate and Fresh Off The Boat creator, Eddie Huang . "These are people that I either met in the studio, or was a fan of the records that they made before I even met them... Richard Swift , I met him six years ago; we made a...

"I've spent enough time thinking about [making songs for radio] with The Black Keys , not that we ever wrote songs just for radio. I just don't want to ever think about that stuff again. With The Arcs , we were just trying to make music that loves up to the kinds of standards that we love: old soul records, Captain Beefheart , newer Hip-Hop records. The songs are really experimental, but not over your head," Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach recently told Rolling Stone . Auerbach unleashed The Arcs' debut boxing-inspired single, "Stay In My Corner," back on May 2nd to coincide with Mayweather & Pacquiao 's monumental prize fight; in addition to all-female Brooklyn mariachi band Mariachi Flor de Toloache , The Arcs additionally showcases the musical talents of long-time studio buddies Leon Michels , Richard Swift, Homer Steinweiss, Nick Movshon , and Kenny Vaughan . Initially billed as a Dan Auerbach "solo" album, the newly-assemb...

"Kinrot describes ["Children of The Revolution"] as an interpretation of the emerging social movement in the middle-eastern countries: "From the social justice protests that happened in Israel during 2011 (and to this day), and all the manifestations that are changing the Middle East surface, emerged a strong connection to this song and its relevancy for today's reality," reads a pull-quote lifted from Ouzo Bazooka frontman Uri Brauner Kinrot (formerly UBK ). Initially billed as "Mediterranean garage rock / Israel," I've been in touch with UBK and his social media team since about November 2013, after they saw an old featurette I did on White Denim ; at this point in time, I've written about roughly 3-5 UBK/Ouzo Bazooka videos and I would best liken their overall sound to a Mediterranean -influenced brand of Queens of The Stone Age 's Desert Acid-Rock infused with The Black Keys' radio-friendly Blues-Rock Americana . ...

Fresh on the heels of his critically-acclaimed, Madlib -produced Piñata and a series of album-preceding EP's, Freddie Gibbs has now teamed up with yet another unexpected collaborator: Black Keys affiliate, Hanni el Khatib . okayplayer vividly describes their just-released new track, "Satin Black" as a "classic break with gritty, fuzzed-out six strings licks lacquering the cut, all before the backdrop melts into a puddle of funky goo, subverting your inner-rocker in favor of heavy wahs, deep, gurgling organs and a muddied vocal filter on [Freddie] Gibbs' already haze-treated vox." It's vaguely reminiscent of Head In The Dirt producer Dan Auerbach 's pre-widespread-acclaim, Rap-Blues Rock -indebted BlakRoc album (2009) concocted along with his fellow Black Keys bandmate Patrick Carney , executive producer Damon Dash , and a gaggle of seasoned, Roc-A-Fella Records aligned rappers ranging from Ol' Dirty Bastard to Yasiin Bey fka Mos ...

"Trust this trio to make contagiously vibrant Psych-Rock that's this hideously cool. Prepare to have your brain cells stolen and shoved in a Rock "N" Roll grinder," laments Spoonfed UK ... Even having grown up a proud New Jerseyan , it's still a little hard to believe that a modern Hard Rock band such as Peanut Butter Lovesicle was essentially birthed at The Jersey Shore . While they're currently based out of New York City , brothers Mike & Jake D'Arc grew up in Pennsylvania along with their cousin and drumming frontman, Timmy Miller ; not unlike most East Coasters , PBL seemingly spent their childhood summers down at Ocean City, NJ , where they still frequently record at Ice Box & Ice Palace and play shows at local venue, Yesterday's Restaurant & Bar . Peanut Butter Lovesicle gained notoriety when their two singles, "State of I" and "Black-Eyed Blues," were featured on a recent season of Gossip Girl ...

"There are kids at school who dress like everybody else, because they don't know what to do, and there are musicians like that, too," Jack White recently told Rolling Stone in a particularly telling no-holds-barred interview. "I'll hear TV commercials where the music's ripping off sounds of mine, to the point I think it's me. Half the time, it's The Black Keys ," he continued. It's only the latest set of comments accumulated in an on-going public feud with Dan Auerbach & Patrick Carney , which originally erupted when TMZ leaked a batch of White's private emails last year. The same Rolling Stone interview, in support of this forthcoming solo album Lazaretto , somehow managed to bash former bandmate Meg White , Lana del Rey, Adele , Duffy, Danger Mouse , and the late Amy Winehouse, which have since been retracted. Jack White seems to have been converted to the age-old school of thought that nearly all press is good press; a new-fo...

While drummer Patrick Carney recently initiated senseless cyber-beef with everyone from Justin Bieber to Bruce Jenner , The Black Keys really make an infectious brand of no-frills 2-man Rock "N" Roll . Their new album, Turn Blue was announced last Friday via Mike Tyson 's Twitter and was later vaguely described as "A: suffocation, B: sadness, C: numbness from extreme cold, D: a Cleveland late night TV host from the 1960's named Ghoulardi , E: all of the above." Dan Auerbach & Patrick Carney co-produced the album's 11 tracks alongside Danger Mouse , a Hip-Hop -leaning producer who helped oversee The Black Keys' last three albums. Along with an album pre-order, ahead of it's May 13th release, our first taste of Turn Blue , "Fever" was unleashed Monday afternoon; it's a 4-minute synth-soaked Psych-Rock romp that's essentially poised for modern rock radio. Now, I wouldn't exactly call "Fever" Auerbach a...

When describing their forthcoming album, Underneath The Rainbow to Rolling Stone back in December, Black Lips bassist Jared Swilley said that "'Boys In The Wood" is an ode to Lynyrd Skynyrd and growing up in Atlanta ... [it's] about doing bathtub drugs and doing bathtub gin;" a sentiment which is without a doubt echoed through out the course of their grizzly, just-released "Boys In The Wood" video. For whatever reasons, it was jointly directed by Matt Swinsky and James Franco -affiliated weirdos The ATL Twins and by non- Internet standards, "Boys In The Wood" would surely be rated R (aka totally NSFW). It's kinda like a twisted backwoods video-collage chock-full of blood, piss streams, wrestling, masked vixens, blazin' fire, general weirdness, sex, drugs & Rock "N" Roll all captured in 4K vision. Underneath The Rainbow was recorded between New York and Nashville with musicians-producers Tommy Brenneck an...

In our web-industry, citing TMZ as a source is basically the real-world journalist equivalent of using Wikipedia as a source on a high school or college senior term paper; it's just something you're better off NOT doing, if possible because sites like these aren't generally the most reliable or accurate sources. But with that said, I think I'm about to commit blogger treason and cite TMZ within this very post (please forgive me!)... Back in late August, Pitchfork reported that Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach supposedly lost an interesting asset which court papers described as "Bob Dylan hair" amidst his bitter divorce from ex-wife Stephanie Gonis . While it was then "unclear how the hair was obtained, when it was obtained, [or] if the hair [contained] any product," an updated TMZ report uploaded Friday morning specifies that Auerbach was never actually in possession of Dylan's curly locks. Dan Auerbach himself recently told a guerrilla...

About a week ago, I got an interesting email from a woman named Emma , which started out with "I saw you recently featured White Denim [on your blog], and thought you might find UBK's (Israel) new music video interesting." Down towards the bottom of the message, it also lists his music likely well-suited for fans of The Black Keys , Hanni el Khatib, The Black Angels , and Classic Rock super-group Cream . Uri Brauner Kinrot (UBK) previously toured the world with a Balkan surf guitar-tuba-drums power trio and an infamous New York Punk band; his debut solo album, Ouzo Bazooka , is a stylistic "mix of East and West, Martin and Morrison [that] sends you on a psychedelic high, a journey in time and space." Lead single "I Got You" is a scorchin' hot, down and dirty Rock "N" Roll romper with companion visuals directed by Guy J. Bolandi , which follows a gaggle of beautiful women performing post-apocalyptic ceremonies on the terribly obli...

Purchased on a whim and the sheer strength of two Southern -fried rockin' Blues-Funk teaser singles, White Denim 's recently released sixth album, Corsicana Lemonade is without a doubt one of this past year's late-blooming sleeper hits; While I've always seen White Denim 's name strewn across various Indie Rock -leaning blogs (especially Gorilla vs. Bear ), I'd never really given the Austin -based band a legitimate shot. It's just a solid, no frills 10-track Rock "N" Roll album that's equal parts Black Keys and Creedence (with some added Psych-Rock flavor). But in true Southern Rock fashion, White Denim recruited The Bottom Dollar String Band for "Pretty Green Mash," a reduced version of their lead Corsicana Lemonade single. From what I understand, the track's included on a "Pretty Green" online/tour-exclusive 10" EP, along with B-sides "Under mi Pretty Green" and rough album closer "...

Ocean City, NJ 's finest Brooklyn -transported Rock "N" Roll revivalist outfit, Peanut Butter Lovesicle (PBL) recently returned back home to record their latest single, "Jealous Minds." Drummer-frontman Timmy Miller and brothers Jake & Mike D'Arc laid down some righteous-sounding basic tracks at Ice Box/Ice Palace ; "Jealous Minds" was produced by Andrew Wilson and PBL also included a special Soundcloud shout out to local record store, Grass Roots Music , for good measure. Sonically, I'd equate the band's new track to modern day Prog-Rock in the vein of Wolfmother or even along the lines of The Black Keys , but it's a pretty Aggro-Metal affair (post-spaced out intro ha). "Jealous Minds" was preceded by Dirty Pride EP roughly a year ago, from which one track in particular, "Black-Eyed Blues," Peanut Butter Lovesicle and their all-star team somehow managed to land a featured spot on Gossip Girl ....

It turns out that "At Night In Dreams" is the absolute Fuzz-Rock romper of a track that White Denim briefly teased along with Corsicana Lemonade 's initial release announcement (uploaded back in August). Sans lyrics at that point, "At Night In Dreams" was chopped up throughout Michael Hammett, James Petralli & Aaron Weiss' behind-the-scenes Corsicana Lemonade mini-film. Anchored by a looping Space-Funk guitar line, frontman James Petralli (son of 1980-90's baseball player Geno Petralli ) kinda has a wonderfully tortured-sounding, whiskey-soaked growl that could be likened to their "Modern-Rock" peers The Black Keys or Kings of Leon . White Denim previously unleashed a slightly deranged Frank Zappa & The Mothers -reminiscent music video for the album's quasi-lead single "Pretty Green" and quite honestly, on the sheer strength of the 2 aforementioned tracks... I'll definitely be picking up a copy of the C...

Once you get past the inherent trippiness and utter nonsense that comes along with White Denim 's latest "Pretty Green" video, it's a pretty damn great Rock "N" Roll number. Austin 's finest recently teamed up with director(s) The Modern Plow Collective to create what The Line of Best Fit (who premiered the video) describes as "a particularly hungry acid trip." It features both quick glimpses and extended scenes of White Denim dressed in all sorts of fucked up food masks, face-encompassing beards, empty-looking gold masks, green screened giant lips, and a bunch of 90's-reminiscent cheesy CGI video trickery. Forget about anything vaguely weird that Michael Jackson ever released, White Denim have easily produced the most tripped out performance video I've ever seen! ha Sonically, I think "Pretty Green" sounds a lot like The Black Keys and I'm sure we could sit here and argue ALL DAY about who came first... Wilco ...