The Witzard

Coolie Ranx (photographer unknown / SOURCE: Facebook) Coolie Ranx (born Obi-Ajula Ugbomah) is well-known for his work within the New York City Ska scene and beyond. Starting in the very early 1990's, he was the frontman of New York City's own The Toasters, who were instrumental in getting Ska on the map in America. The Toasters, also, formed Moon Ska Records , which became the homebase for a multitude of the Ska bands that nurtured the 1990's Third Wave Ska revival. He departed The Toasters in 1997 and went on to start his own band, Pilfers. Through Pilfers, Coolie created an infectious and unique sound aptly named Raggacore, which seamlessly blended Pop, Reggae, Dub, Hardcore, Punk, and Ska in a rugged, hard-hitting energy. Coolie Ranx has continued to work within the scene as a collaborator and solo artist, well-known for his pinpoint precise chat skills, effortless genre-blending prowess, and soaring melodic vocal delivery. Coolie Ranx has appeared on releases along...

Steve Haney is a drummer and percussionist widely known for his expansive body of work with Latin & Funk/Soul ensemble Jungle Fire. Haney's recording and performance highlights include Stevie Wonder, performing for President Obama at The White House with Oscar-winner A.R. Rahman (Slumdog Millionaire composer,) The Oprah Winfrey Show, Greyboy Allstars, The M-Tet, Joe Bataan, Quantic, Ozomatli, Kelly Finnigan, and GRAMMY-winning vocalist Gregory Porter. However, in addition to his musical endeavors, Haney moonlights as visual artist VISIONS COLLAGE (@visionscollage) tranforming mixed media into paper-cut collages. We've, personally, been Following Steve Haney's various VISIONS COLLAGE & Jungle Fire social media pages for quite a few years now. Haney's collages are typically hand-cut, extremely vibrant, often primarily feature musicians, and are, sometimes, shared with various alternate renditions. While boasting a multitude of musicians and bands from across ...

2217 Mixtape by Children's City Dump I was just watching Part 1 of PUNK on EPIX , a new 4-part documentary series profiling a slew of early Punk/Hardcore bands, as well as the earliest aughts of the genre. PUNK Part 1 included segments focused on Iggy & The Stooges , MC5, New York Dolls , The Ramones, Blondie , Wayne/Jayne County & The Electric Chairs, PUNK Magazine , CBGB's, Hilly Kristal , and much, much more. One band of particular note were Garage Rock/Proto-Punk pioneers MC5 , who had a particularly gut-wrenching rise and fall before they ever really gained wide-spread success. Oddly enough, MC5 's politically-charged 1970 sophomore album, Back In The USA featured a song on Side B called "The Human Being Lawnmower;" this title, in particular, bears a striking resemblance to blood-curdling emcee Blastmaster Baker 's recent debut on we are the karma kids , Blastmaster Baker vs. The Human Being Lawn Mower . Now, I have yet to ask Blastmaste...

INTRODUCTION: Maybe, it's in the gray hairs that I've started finding in my thinning hair. Maybe, it's that dreaded third decade of life that seems to have been rearing it's ugly face around every corner. Maybe, it's a quarter life crisis, but something has been keeping me up at night. I sometimes, stay awake into the early hours of the morning spinning records and fumbling with CD jackets from high school, grasping hold of my youth for dear life. I search out elusive first presses of albums I'd somehow, lost to time, hoping that they'll somehow, tighten the thread leading from middle school to adulthood. To be clear, I'm not fishing my torn band T-shirts or bondage pants from the depths of my closet, but as I make the transition into my 30's, shedding roommates and getting oil changes at regularly scheduled intervals, I can't help ruminating on where these albums came from and how they've shaped me. I can't help begging the question,...

"I'm a huge Beasties fan and have been since I was a kid. Coming out of Hip-Hop and crate-digging culture, I'd always find records like The Moog Machine's Switched-On Rock (1969) and Led Zeppelin IV (1971) that The Beasties had sampled. As I was going through the BEASTIE BOYS BOOK , I noticed in a few chapters, they'd talk about the mixtapes that they'd make and trade with samples, skits, weird Jazz records, and stuff. I remember a great interview that Wax Poetics did with The Beasties years ago that mentioned these tapes, as well. I figured I could make a playlist equivalent. The early chapters of the book are fascinating to me, as well. They really capture this culturally-rich time in New York in the late 70's/early 80's when you had early Hip-Hop like DJ Jazzy Jay and The Zulu Nation playing at The Mudd Club, as well as No Wave/Post-Punk bands, like Sonic Youth and Arto Lindsay's DNA playing Punk clubs and art galleries. The mixtape aspect o...

Jason Furlow is a Brooklyn -based emcee, producer, and musician also known as Nature Boy Jim Kelly and Nosaj The Great . Although, Furlow is likely, best known as Nosaj , 1/3 of Psychedelic Hip-Hop/Rap-Rock group, New Kingdom . I, actually, only very recently learned about Nosaj & New Kingdom after publishing UK beat-maker/producer LongDistanceDan 's Beat-maker Bedrock column, which highlighted their 1993 debut, Heavy Load . Since New Kingdom 's 1996 disbandment, Jason Furlow has worked with everyone from Tricky to The Freak Brothers , David Byrne (Talking Heads) to Morcheeba , Lyricist Lounge to Bill Laswell/Material , Buckethead to CX KiDTRONiK , and more. Furlow released a limited edition 2-track cassingle last year under his government name called "Last Man Standing" B/W "Modern Man" on Canadian cassette/CD imprint Dub Ditch Picnic , which is still currently available to stream or download on the label's Bandcamp . In recent years, ...

Pure Disgust by Pure Disgust "The NWODCHC [New Wave of DC Hardcore] is so powerful and on the rise. It’s great to see young kids being in the center of it all as well. It’s even cooler to see that all my friends are [getting] on bigger labels, putting the name of DC back on the map. You've got Protester putting a record out on Triple-B Records , Stand Off putting one out on Youngblood , Red Death putting something out on Lockin' Out ... I love it all. My friends are what keep me here, and I love every single one of them and what they're doing," Pure Disgust frontman Rob Watson recently revealed to DC -based publication Bandwidth ; it's fitting that Washington, DC is currently experiencing a period of musical rebirth— nearly some 40 years after 1980's Hardcore founding fathers Bad Brains , Fugazi, Minor Threat , Dag Nasty, Black Flag frontman Henry Rollins , Scream, Rites of Spring , Embrace, etc. initially burst onto the scene. Watson formed...

The New Danger (2004), Mos Def 's STELLAR Hip-Hop/Blues Rock album recorded with Funky cats from Bad Brains, Living Colour , and a few other pioneering African-American Rock bands... has to be one of my favourite albums of ALL TIME! Dante Smith has always been a stylish, righteous, socially conscious rapper, ever since forming Black Star with like-minded friend-musician, Talib Kweli in the mid-90's. Mos Def recently pulled a "Cat Stevens," whole-heartedly converting to Islam , and changed his name to Yasiin Bey . "I Don't Like" is the third release that's been slow leaked from Top 40 Underdog , Bey's upcoming G.O.O.D. Music flip of Modern Radio staples. But don't get it twisted, this surely isn't Mos Def 's first rodeo; He managed to effortlessly re-work both Jay-Z/Kanye 's "The Takeover" and Grandmaster Flash 's "The Message" (1982) on The New Danger . Chief Keef, Lil' Wayne , and T...

For some odd reason, I just feel that a Das Racist -fried Lana del Rey remix really isn't going to need much "hard selling" 'round these parts of town [The Internet]. Das Racist are without a doubt one of my favourite Hip-Hop bands; I'm still not too sure exactly how I feel about Lizzy Grant I mean, May Jailer er, uh... Lana del Rey . Regardless, "National Anthem" (Das Racist Remix) should manage to pique the interest(s) of all sorts of music fans far and wide! Heems & Kool A.D. work their lyrical "magic" over a stripped down, nearly vocal-less re-worked beat. Frantically bragging about everything from money/rupees to Bruce Willis and somehow working in mentions of Lil B , Tyler The Creator, Bad Brains , Boy Crisis, Diplo , Oscar The Grouch, deadmau5 , and Amy Winehouse. * Shouts to Pedro (Daplib) @ Illuminati Zone for the "Private" Soundcloud link hook-up! Lately, it seems like Lana del Rey , who also recently linked u...

For all intensive purposes, writer/director Scott Crawford was roughly 12-years old during the height of "Reaganomics" (1981-89) and of course, the rise of Hardcore Punk forming adjacent to the nation's capitol: Washington, DC . D.I.Y. fanzine publisher, Crawford was a fairy instrumental player attached to DC Hardcore 's initial burst in popularity. Around the same time, young Hardcore bands like Misfits, The Ramones , and Beastie Boys were making waves on the nearby coasts of New York and New Jersey ... Now, some 30+ years later, he's piecing together an end-all-be-all documentary to properly tell the story of the genre and city that he knows best! Salad Days: The DC Punk Revolution is scheduled for a 2013 wide release and interviews are still being conducted, but we already have 2 short "teaser trailers" to help whet your appetite. In an earnest attempt to fully convey the passion-filled story of DC Punk , Scott Crawford is currently re-intervi...

"Diarrhea Planet" may very well be the most memorable, ambiguous juxtaposition of random phrases [band name] since "Foo Fighters" 1994 inception. Diarrhea Planet 's 4 lead guitarists ( Jordan Smith, Brent Toler, Evan Bird , and Emmett Miller ) without a doubt add depth to their already dense, Balls-to-the-Wall Rock "N" Roll sound. Drummer Casey J. Weissbuch and jungle-stompin' bassist, Mike Boyle round out the band's extensive 6-man team. Jordan Smith dually acts as "leadsinger," but all of the guys are able to contribute vocal riffs when needed. Diarrhea Planet was originally formed in 2009 as a 2-piece Noise band and with a few changes/additions, this current line-up was recently solidified on record. After self-releasing 2 EP's-worth of material and "endlessly" touring the Nashville area, Diarrhea Planet were signed to JEFF The Brotherhood's hometown label, Infinity Cat Recordings . Philly label, Evi...