The Witzard

The Grand Scheme are a Los Angeles-based "SOUL POWER" band, who, according to their Facebook About (Me) section, make "Soul for your mouth." Self-described "World Travelers & Explorers," The Grand Scheme have functioned as the backing band for American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, philanthropist, and emcee Aloe Blacc FKA Nathan Yell. The Grand Scheme have been backing Blacc ever since his career-securing break-out with 2010 single, "I Need A Dollar," if not longer. The Grand Scheme 's current line-up consists of drummer Te'Amir "Yohannes" Sweeney , bassist Joseph "Joe" Gonzales , trumpeter Chris Bautista , guitarist/producer/musical director Joel Van Dijk , saxophonist Randal "Randalio" Fisher , and keyboardists Peter Dyer & Farmer Greif . The Grand Scheme 's players have collectively contributed to recordings for artists as varied as Blu & Exile , Breakestra, The Velve...

Tiger Breaks (Vinyl / Producer Drum Kit) by Te'Amir Sweeney Los Angeles -based drummer and producer Te'Amir Sweeney has frequently toured and recorded with Stones Throw -affiliated Soul singer and Emanon emcee Aloe Blacc . Sweeney has additionally played with a wide array of musicians, mainly affiliated with LA 's burgeoning Hip-Hop , beat-making, Jazz , and Neo-Soul scenes including, but not limited to Sa-Ra Creative Partners , Mark de Clive-Lowe, Kamasi Washington , Kadhja Bonet, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson , YG, Wondem , and Ethic-Cali. Te'Amir Sweeney has recorded extensively with "LA All Day" musician and producer Jason McGuiness (AKA Analog Burners ) contributing drums to his Bandcamp-released collections: Masterpiece EP: A Whitfield​-​Strong Tribute , "We Could Be" with High Science Project/"Empyrean Tones" with Keyon Harrold, and ConSoul 's 2017 "I Need You"/"Ball of Confusion" 7-inch. The Ologist (@Olo...

“There’s a song on there called "Shine Your Light" ["This Little Light"] and it’s about people being more aware about things happening in their government and the society around them. Using that awareness to spread light to other people about what’s going on,” Aloe Blacc revealed during a 2011 interview with Cuepoint @ Medium Managing Editor & Co-creator Mike "DJ" Pizzo . Blacc was referring to his Joanna Newsom "The Book of Right-On" (or The Roots "Right On" )-sampling "Shine Your Light," now slightly re-titled "This Little Light," from his long-rumored comeback with 1999-2006 rapper-producer group Emanon . It appears as though Aloe Blacc 's Exile -produced Dystopia EPx2 , which was somewhat surprised released this past Blacc(k) Friday , has been completed in some form since around 2011 and back then, may have been called either Bird's Eye View or Bullet ; " Emanon ’s Bird’s Eye View has...

" Westman Islands singer-songwriter Júníus Meyvant [Unnar Gísli Sigurmundsson] has recently caused big waves in Scandinavia after being the star of the Icelandic Music Awards -winning Best Newcomer and Best Song , as well as being nominated for Best Male Singer and Best Song this year," read the opening of Mystic Sons' "Neon Experience" -accompanying press release. While his music has already been compared to the works of "Wake Me Up" Funkateer Aloe Blacc , Ben Howard, Lucy Rose , Benjamin Francis Leftwich, and Graffiti6 , I would personally liken Meyvant's unique throwback sound to that of an Icelandic Rod Stewart backed by a Mark Ronson -produced rendition of Smokey Robinson & The Miracles or even something to the effect of critically-acclaimed Stones Throw New-Wop crooner, Mayer Hawthorne . Ahead of his forthcoming July LP, Floating Harmonies , Júníus Meyvant has honed in on a trademark sound that's been described as a rath...

" DOOM 's verse was [an] interesting one. DOOM 's concept was that it's a text message. He text messages me while I'm not home, so he comes to my house anyway and starts borrowing all kinds of sh*t, you know, villain-style," veteran Oxnard -bred emcee MED (aka Medaphoar) revealed about his recent sample-heavy collaboration with fellow West Coast emcee Blu , prolific Stones Throw producer Madlib , and masked rhyming supper-villain MF DOOM , "Knock Knock." "I was like, 'what the f*ck is that?' So, there's this whole verse about him going to my house, drinking my beers, [and] going through my DVD's. It's so hilarious and genius," MED ecstatically continued. MED Blu Madlib , as they've been collectively referred to as of late, first linked up on MED -curated Bang Ya Head 3 label comp. cut, "Your Life" produced by Blu 's Below The Heavens collaborator, Exile . Madlib was almost accidentally broug...

Portishead mastermind Geoff Barrow has spent the majority of the last six months to a year of his life tediously constructing Hip-Hop beats along with fellow Quakers producer Katalyst for inclusion on new-found collaborator Guilty Simpson 's forthcoming DETROIT'S SON record, but he's currently readying a quick-strike 4-track EP with his other, other Krautrock -inspired band, BEAK> and their "alter ego," KAEB (or BEAK> backwards). Barrow and Bristol -based bandmates Billy Fuller and Matt Williams have released two full-length albums and a few miscellaneous projects since forming BEAK> back in 2009, but KAEB was just recently "formed" as an outlet to be used specifically for recording collaborations; as such with "There's No One," which was "written and filmed in one take [one day last year] at Invada Studios Bristol as part of the 4-track BEAK-KAEB EP ," reads an Invada Records -sanctioned press release. ...