The Witzard

Los Angeles sister act HAIM have indeed dabbled with Hip-Hop in the past, whether it be nearly getting recruited as A$AP Rocky 's backing band or appearing on genre-blending Kid Cudi and Childish Gambino tracks... But now they've enlisted rising A$AP Mob emcee, A$AP Ferg to append a ferocious add-on verse to their Days Are Gone album stand-out, "My Song 5." It's not entirely unlike a visual Where's Waldo? of seemingly everyone Danielle, Este & Alana Haim have encountered or befriended while on the road over the last couple years; featured emcee A$AP Ferg , Ke$ha, Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig , Grimes, Big Sean , SNL comedian Vanessa Bayer, Mama & Papa Haim , producer Ariel Rechtshaid, and even "Artemis" from It's Always Sunny . Leading up to it's Tuesday afternoon release, @HAIMtheband's long-rumored "My Song 5" video was subtly teased with cleverly edited 90's screen-grabs from Sally Jessy Ra...

Just mere minutes before the stroke of 12 midnight New Year's Eve 2013-14, @vampireweekend Tweeted out a pretty self-explanatory mini-message: " wintertime remix of "Step" featuring Danny Brown, Heems & Despot . Happy New Years from Vampire Weekend ," along with a smarturl hyper-link. It's the kinda thing that probably shouldn't work anywhere near as well as it actually does, and I'd guess that this is your typical Pitchfork staff writer's ideal wet-dream collabo scenario ha. "Step" (Wintertime Remix) builds off frontman Ezra Koenig 's original, penned for Modern Vampires of The City and acts as the B-side to lead single, "Diane Young" [see below]. When juxtaposed against Koenig's past relationship reminiscing lyrics, Danny Brown, Heems & Despot manage to fit in surprisingly well with "Step"' s running theme. While the track's supposedly based off an unreleased and re-purposed Sou...

Following a largely un-fullfilled search for a copy of Modern Vampires of The City that aimlessly led me across Cumberland County , I realized that aside from 2-3 well-executed lyric videos, Vampire Weekend have yet to release a proper music video in support of their new album; Whilst still grabbing headlines by torching a couple Saab 900's and hanging out with "distant second cousin" Steve Buscemi , the New York -based band finally unleashed a "Diane Young" video Monday morning. Continuing a long-standing trend that started with "Giving Up The Gun" (2010), director Primo Kahn somehow managed to recruit a very interesting cast of characters: Chromeo , Dave Longstreth (Dirty Projectors), Sky Ferreira , Despot , Santigold, Hamilton Leithauser (The Walkmen), and a ski-masked man that just might be cameraman Kahn himself. What starts out looking mysteriously like a modern-day Last Supper slowly morphs into a righteous "dinner party where g...

Jah artist formerly know as Snoop Dogg has finally decided to unveil that he has plans to release a Reggae record, sometime within the next few months. Diplo & "Snoop Lion" somehow managed to record a batch of 18 tracks for the long-rumored album, which has now been dubbed Reincarnated , over @ Major Lazer's TOP SECRET Jamaican headquarters/studio. Ariel Rechtshaid also assisted in producing the first single, "La La La," which dually showcases a pretty solid Roots Rock Reggae sound and Jovi Rockwell on backing vocals. It's all actually built around a simple Ken Boothe riddim [sample] that Diplo pulled from "Artibella;" Mad Decent and Vice Records plan to co-release Snoop Lion 's album in a few months' time. Below the break is a nifty little quote from Diplo (MTV) about recording with Snoop... along with Snoop Dogg / Diplo & Kid Cudi 's previous Weed Rap -tinged collaborative track, "That Tree" (2010). ...

Charli XCX is a young, 19-20 year old British songstress who's slowly gaining notoriety and managing to niche out her own unique genre: Goth [Dark] Pop . She has a semi-androgynous style that can be easily likened to that of Ziggy Stardust era David Bowie ... and her fashion icons include Spice Girls , Wednesday Addams , and Winona Ryder from "Beetlejuice" (1988). Although she essentially self-released a full album back @ 14, Charli XCX has been garnering a lot of blog-love for her recent batch of singles and a proper 2012 debut is soon expected. "I'll Never Know" was released just yesterday, in conjunction with the kick-off of London Fashion Week ; Recently written and recorded @ Red Bull Studios , Charli XCX 's tune was re-appropriated as the soundtrack to Fred Butler's "Tank Top-Ranking, Tongue-Tied & Twisted" runway show. Soundcloud is making Charli XCX 's Tropical- tinged romp, "I'll Never Know" avai...