The Witzard

Earlier this fine post- Thanksgiving Weekend morning, whilst I was at Boscov's getting my new suit pants tailored, I had a sudden burst of creativity in the form of a clever one-liner to start a tentative review of Animal Collective 's cringe-worthy mess of a new single, "FloriDada:" "There's an age-old music industry joke that goes something along the lines of, "if Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke recorded the sounds of himself sh*tting or farting into a mic backed by the band's music, people would likely still buy it.'" But rather than give those talent-less Art-Rock Three Stooges any more unnecessary spotlight, I've instead decided to review veteran underground emcees Homeboy Sandman & Aesop Rock 's far more noteworthy surprise-released Cyber Monday FREE EP, Lice . "You're probably scratching your head right now wondering why this EP is called Lice ... The truth is, [Aesop Rock] and I always have all these ide...

"A group of three hippies on a road trip through the backwaters of 2013's rural music scene fall prey to a murderous cannibalistic band making, including a leather-masked, guitar-wielding Avey Tare , his knife-wielding keyboard player Angel Deradoorian , and their cannibal chief drummer and decaying grandfather Jeremy Hyman ," Dave Portner vaguely attempted to describe his then newly-formed project, Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks upon their April 2013 formation. An Indie Rock super-group of sorts or even a self-described " Jazz power trio," Slasher Flicks features former members of Dirty Projectors and Ponytail , along with Avey Tare who's seemingly on a brief hiatus from his main band, Animal Collective . Domino Records will release the band's debut album, Enter The Slasher House on April 7-8th and paired with the Monday morning album announcement, came Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks' first pre-release sonic-appetizer, "Little Fang....

It's become something of an annual tradition; every December, Norwegian singer-songwriter Sondre Lerche picks his favourite year-end track, re-records his own unique version, and sends it over to Stereogum 's headquarters. This yule tide season, he's conjured up a sparse acoustic-laden cover of "Wrecking Ball," effectively eliminating any remaining ounce of TWERKIN', debauchery, and mega-studio sheen. But in it's own right, "Wrecking Ball" is an incredibly well-written, dare I say... modern day power-ballad (for lack of a better term), and maybe Sondre Lerche 's version can help some naive-minded listeners finally see that! In recent years past, Lerche has sent Stereogum staff writers a few interesting Animal Collective , Owen Pallet, and Beyoncé covers. "I had trouble finding [a song] that I felt truly motivated to interpret. So, while "Wrecking Ball" may not be my very favorite song of 2013, it turned out to be ...

While he's mainly known for wielding a ukelele and generally garners comparisons to The Beach Boys , Dent May is just as downright Funky and rebellious as the next 20-something young adult. In promotion of May's recently-released Paw Tracks LP, Do Things , the label unveiled a faithful cover of The Grateful Dead 's Disco -tinged cult hit, "Shakedown Street." Stereogum writer Amrit Singh vividly details the scene way back then... "Back when Dead shows were a thing [1978], the main drag of the parking lot where kind veggie burritos, ganja goo-balls, and sundry wares of that ilk were at their highest concentration was called "Shakedown Street."' By most accounts, Do Things is a little more Surf Rock -leaning than his first album, The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele (2009). Every so often, Dent May records Dance music under the moniker, "Dent Sweat" and has been working on an unfinished Psych-Count...