The Witzard

Little Low, L-R: Mike Assatly, Eric Pocock, Christine Atturio, and Kris Moya (SOURCE: Facebook) Little Low hails from The Bay Area, formed by guitarist and vocalist Christine Atturio (Save Ends,) drummer Mike Assatly (Spirits, BearTrap,) guitarist Eric Pocock ( Discourage ,) and bassist/vocalist Kris Moya (Jabber, Long Knives.) While we would attest Little Low sound something like a musical menagerie falling somewhere in-between Paramore, Weezer, and Cults, yes, their members have collectively played with Punk/Hardcore greats BearTrap, Discourage, and Long Knives. Originally started as a solo project in Boston by Atturio, Little Low released a self-titled EP of acoustic songs in 2020. After a move across the country in 2021 and missing the comradery of a full band, Atturio & Assatly asked Pocock & Moya to join and Little Low was born anew. With each member bringing their unique set of musical chops to the table, Little Low melds together driving Hardcore drums, sparkly Em...

Now More Than Ever, L-R: Tyson Ritter, Scott Chesak & Izzy Fontaine (SOURCE: @nowmorethaneverband on Instagram) Now More Than Ever is a new musical group featuring Tyson Ritter, Scott Chesak & Isaac Bolivar AKA Izzy Fontaine. Ritter is, of course, the frontman of The All-American Rejects, as well as an esteemed actor, painter, song-writer, multi-instrumentalist, and model, also, functioning solo in recent years as Sharpton Mann. Chesak is producer, song-writer, session musician, and touring musician, who has worked with (in one capacity or another) The All-American Rejects, Weezer, Panic! At The Disco, Direct Hit!, Red City Radio, Screeching Weasel, Gerard Way, Lykke Li, Big Red Machine, Bishop Briggs, Adam Lambert, Christina Perri, Lea Michele, and his own project, The Old Days. Fontaine is a self-described "guitarist, abletonist, and music directorist," who has worked with Seal, Taking Back Sunday, Glassjaw, Tegan & Sara, BANKS, No Machine, RARE FUTURES////,...

Late Wednesday night/early Thursday morning, Weezer surprise released their fifth album entitled Weezer AKA "The Teal Album" on digital streaming platforms world-wide. It would appear as though these type of color named untitled/self-titled Weezer albums have become something of a "stunt" in recent years; although, as you may recall, Weezer 's first album widely known as "The Blue Album" (1994) was, and still is, widely acclaimed by fans and critics alike across the globe. After self-producing their second album, Pinkerton , Weezer once again joined forces with The Cars' former frontman Ric Ocasek for 2001's "The Green Album," which, as you may recall, featured undeniable green-tinted smash-hits such as "Hash Pipe," "Keep Fishin,'" and "Photograph." Following my personal favorite Weezer album, Maladroit , as well as "Beverly Hills" -featuring Make Believe , Weezer once again, r...

Alex Goose is, to the best of my knowledge, the first (and likely last) Hip-Hop -loving Middle American producer who's been lucky enough to have worked with vastly different musicians like underground gran-wizard, prolific rapper-producer, and revered Jazz enthusiast Madlib AND hit-after-hit-penning Indie Rock mavens, Weezer ; aside from maybe only Uptown Funkateer and London -based producer and taste-maker Mark Ronson , who's recorded genre-blending material with everyone from Ol' Dirty Bastard to Doo-Wop revivalist Amy Winehouse . While he recently had the opportunity to remix Freddie Gibbs & Madlib 's critically-acclaimed Piñata with samples culled from Now-Again Records founder Egon 's storied re-issue vaults and back catalog, Goose has previously worked alongside the likes of Hip-Hop greenhorn emcees Kevin Gates , Jake Troth, Donnis , and Detroit -bred wordsmith Red Pill . "You may recognize the next Alex Goose -produced track from Silicon V...

Greenhorn producer, song-writer, and composer Alex Goose has somehow already managed to log studio time with everyone from Weezer to up-and-coming Fool's Gold emcee Donnis and even had an ill-fated opportunity to work on Jay Z 's famed Blueprint 3 , which miraculously, ended up being one of his earliest career-defining moments; "In the spring of 2009, an A&R affiliated with Roc [Nation] got in contact with me. Shortly after, I had the opportunity to submit various tracks for Jay-Z 's long-awaited Blueprint 3 album. Unfortunately, none of them made the final cut... This is what the Blueprint 3 could have been," Goose told okayplayer on the eve of his aptly-titled The Blueprint 3 Outtakes . Six years later, Alex Goose has unleashed his next "solo" project under the creative umbrella of my former interview subject, Egon 's Now-Again re-issue and found records imprint. Egon recruited Goose, who has recently produced radio-friendly hits ...

"Hit the HASH [button] at retrohash.com to uncover secret raps over @black_milk madness..." @asherroth somewhat cryptically Tweeted late Wednesday afternoon, accented by a "#hashwednesday" hashtag; a trend which can be attributed to the bulk of Roth's recent post- RetroHash activity, consisting of fully fleshed out non-album tracks haphazardly uploaded to his Asher Paul Roth Soundcloud account. Hash Wednesdays roll call additionally includes Chuck Inglish -produced "That's Cute," "Oren's Not Sure," Fat Tony -assisted "Sushi," "Taking My Time," and Nottz -produced "Blow Yr Head" amongst other questionable non-album loosies. Although many of Asher Roth 's one-time fans and detractors might have quickly written him off as a mere "one-hit wonder" during the five years between "I Love College" -featuring Asleep In The Bread Aisle and his nearly flawless second album Retro...

"Well shit. Since @stereogum posted the You Blue It pre-order, the [first] 100 sold out. Looks like the others might too," You Blew It! Tweeted Tuesday afternoon upon the release of "Surf Wax America" premiered by the good people over at Stereogum ; whether it was intentional or not, the Florida -based Emo revival band will unleash their You Blue It covers EP on the 20-year anniversary of Weezer aka "The Blue Album" and have seemingly already gained the backing of Indie Rock blogs and fans alike. Although I was only seven when it came out, Weezer was always one of my favorite bands and quite honestly, The Blue Album and Maladroit are amongst my "desert island" albums. I forget where, but I once read that frontman Rivers Cuomo made a 3-ring binder of chart-topping Pop songs, breaking down their various characteristics, and essentially cracked the code of what makes a hit song; his meticulous sonic research surely paid off because n...

Sharp-tongued Los Angeles by-way-of Chicago emcee Open Mike Eagle has been self-described as an underground "Art-Rap" hero; recently having signed a purported three-album deal with Indie Hip-Hop imprint Mello Music Group . Noisey premiered the second single from Eagle's upcoming fourth album, Dark Comedy , which is currently set for a June 10th release, Tuesday afternoon. "Dark Comedy Morning Show" was supposedly the second to last song recorded for the new album... "It took me a long time to write because I kept wanting to sing this Stereolab song on it that was way out of my range," Open Mike Eagle revealed on Twitter. "Dark Comedy Morning Show" was seemingly influenced by Open Mike Eagle 's recent stint with traveling comedian Paul F. Tompkins and additionally features production work/vocal accompaniment from rising multi-instrumentalist Toy Light . Sonically, it's very emotive of 90's Indie Pop , something not t...

Not entirely unlike it's highly-revered Classic/Indie Rock predecessors Sgt. Pepper's and The Blue Album , sample grand-wizard Gregg Gillis aka Girl Talk ultimately intended for his latest body of work, Broken Ankles EP to function as "a continuous mix and it intended to be listened to as a while with gap-less playback." The Pittsburgh native then recruited veteran emcee Freeway from the neighboring suburb of Philadelphia to overlay gritty complex rhyme schemes atop his multi-layered 6-track mini-album, which somehow still manages to sample everyone from Aretha Franklin to Nine Inch Nails . For the purposes of this very EP, Girl Talk & Freeway have both slightly modified their respective styles, but not to the point that it's beyond recognizable or would endanger alienating long-time fans. I'm actually a little surprised at how good most of Girl Talk 's beats sound; they're 100% full-fledged Hip-Hop beats with sufficient room for additi...

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...

Despite the fact, or maybe because, he looks like a modern day hippie burn-out, Asher Roth is easily one of the most talented and criminally under-rated emcees in all of the Boom-Bap land. While I've been a fan since "I Love College," I'll be amongst the first to admit that Roth's mixtapes have always been infinitely stronger than his lone radio-friendly album, Asleep In The Bread Aisle (2009). But with that said, all of Asher Roth 's non-album projects have sufficiently spotlighted his lyrical progression and sense of zen-like calm, cool, and collectiveness during an ill-fated and now severed deal with Def Jam ; Seared Foie Gras with Quince & Cranberry , RAWTH EP, Pabst & Jazz , and The GreenHouse Effect (Vol. 2) are therefore the missing creative links between Asleep In The Bread Aisle and his upcoming sophomore album, RetroHash . Although there's really no way of telling if it's even the same collection of songs, Roth's perpetual...

"We were working on samples to make a beat and we ended up sampling the Nina Simone version of Randy Newman 's "I Think It's Gonna Rain Today" (1968), Josh Epstein recently told Paste Magazine in an exclusive premier-interview, which contrary to popular belief, dos not in fact sample Super Mario Brothers . Epstein along with fellow Detroit musician Daniel Zott are 2-man Indie-Pop band Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. who just released their second album, The Speed of Things back in October. Simply based off it's attached Souncloud cover artwork, "I Think It's Gonna Rain Today" will seemingly appear on Jr. Jr. 's forthcoming mixtape, PRODUCE, Vol. 1 ; set to feature a wide array of acclaimed rapper-producers including Murs , Slim of 112, Chuck Inglish , Quelle Chris, Asher Roth , Tunde Olaniran, King Chip , Self Says, Goldenboyz , and more. It'll definitely be pretty interesting to hear what Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. 's Weezer -indeb...

Right off the bat, "Dark Water" vaguely reminds me of "Strawberry Fields Forever"' s droning Psych-Rock wail mixed with a strong 90's Weezer Pop sensibility and a Funky , white boy Dance -able groove. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. unleashed their latest release, Patterns EP last month on Record Store Day (April 20th) and now, it's conveniently available on iTunes for just $3.99. Joshua Epstein & Daniel Zott are 2 like-minded, working class Motor City natives whose Facebook Biography blatantly suggests, "The idea being, that if one can accept a band being named Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. , then you've already opened yourself up to listening to anything the band can come up with. You've already decided to leave expectations behind." For all intensive purposes, if you don't count newly-added members Mike Higgins (drums) and Jon Visger (keys), I don't think it'd be TOTALLY unreasonable to sonically compare Dale Earnhardt...

Despite or maybe because of frontman John Paul Pitts' little "domestic dispute" SNAFU, Surfer Blood 's long-awaited Astro Coast (2010) follow-up is finally nearing release; Pythons is the West Palm Beach band's first album for new label Warner Bros. and will see a nation-wide release during Summer 2013. Surfer Blood quietly unveiled lead single, "Weird Shapes" Monday afternoon, which was uploaded to their website for email subscription/download. Pythons was recorded in Hollywood with producer Gil Norton (Foo Fighters), amplified through Pixies guitarist Joey Santaigo 's stack, then mixed by Rob Schnapf , and somehow received the Timbaland stamp of approval. Surfer Blood have a few California dates lined up, running from Feb. 24-March 3rd, and wrapping up @ SXSW . "Weird Shapes" sounds like a sun-soaked Power Pop hybrid between Weezer and Blink-182 . I can faintly hear someone shouting, "shaking down, breaking grou...

Nashville Rock "N" Roll revivalists JEFF The Brotherhood recently inked a record deal with Warner Bros. Hypnotic Nights (July) was co-produced along with Dan Auerbach , who's band The Black Keys also "sold out" semi-recently and have remained quite successful ever since. Jake & Jamin Orrall 's very own family-owned/operated record label, Infinity Cat will co-release the new album and it's companion [digital] EP, Hypnotic Knights . I downloaded a copy of JEFF The Brotherhood 's lead single, "Sixpack" before I skipped town for Maryland on Friday... No, "Sixpack" isn't a Black Flag (Rollins) cover; But honestly, it's damn near just as ferocious! After a quick first listen, I was instantly reminded of Weezer 's guitar-driven Pop melodies backed by CKY 's West Chester -bred Experimental "Skater Rock." JEFF The Brotherhood are currently touring across The USA along with Best Coast up until Ju...

While I love Hip-Hop and almost anything mildly "Punk Rock," I can honestly say that I've never really heard tell of a Hardcore band releasing a mixtape... and the sheer notion of it DOES sound pretty sketchy on paper. But I digress - Let's use the term "mixtape" loosely here and think of Titus Andronicus LLC Mixtape, Vol. 1 as more of a Who Odds & Sods-esque mix CD or hand-dubbed cassette; Rather than an arrogant DJ drop-filled collection of unclear-able sampled Boom-Bap beats and rhythms. Roger that? Titus Andronicus sold 200 copies of a hand-made CD-R rarities collection @ SXSW this past weekend. Due to a wider response than expected, Titus Andronicus LLC Mixtape, Vol. 1 was liberated on the band's Tumblr come Monday morning. It's essentially a 23-track collection of live cuts, covers, demos, out-takes, rehearsal sessions, and miscellaneous "odds & sods" spanning 2005-12. While the quality obviously varies from t...