The Witzard

Jerry Williams, Jr. has been consistently been recording and releasing music since 1962 under his given name, as well as Little Jerry , The Detroit Magnificents, and most notably, Swamp Dogg . The Guardian once went as far as to lamented that " Swamp Dogg [was] the Soul genius that time forgot" within a 2006 feature. Swamp Dogg has since cemented himself as an "Outsider" Soul/Funk and has released at least 26 original albums. Swamp received a bit of a career resurgence with his 2018 album, Love, Loss & Auto-Tune was was produced by Indie/Electronic Rock mastermind, Ryan Olson . Olson is, in fact, an affiliate of Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon and has played in a number of critically-acclaimed bands, including, but not limited to GAYNGS , Marijuana Deathsquads, Mel Gibson & The Pants , Poliça, and Jason Feathers with Vernon himself. Love, Loss & Auto-Tune , as its title suggests, found Swamp Dogg embracing modern Auto-Tune technology, as well a...

Paradice 1 by OQ Late last month, I received a mysterious cold-sent email from a man named Liam O'Brien simply titled "Hi From Wisconsin." I've since learned O'Brien has previously played and released music with Holy Sheboygan! , Moon Ruin, and his namesake, Liam O'Brien's Faithless Followers . For his latest endeavor, Liam has joined forces with fellow Wisconsinite and multi-instrumentalist Cole Quamme ("qua-mee") of The Fatty Acids ; " OQ is Liam O'Brien & Cole Quamme in collaboration with an array of Midwestern, US -based contributors," reads their "short" press release. While amidst the earliest stages of recording in 2016, Cole Quamme reached out to his fellow Milwaukee Folk/Bluegrass peers to see what they could, potentially, do with his unique style of "Bubu" -leaning beats. Quamme was, eventually, connected with Liam O'Brien , who morphed his inter-locking rhythms into full-fledged comp...

"So proud of my brother James Blake dropping the bigness tonight... Also, so proud of our song ["I Need a] Forest Fire" came from wonderful accidents and good friendship... James , or Jim as I call him when I'm upset with him, is such a powerful musician; to be like Aaron Neville , AND Aphex [Twin] ?" Bon Iver frontman and frequent James Blake collaborator Justin Vernon (@blobtower) exuberantly Tweeted on the eve of The Colour In Anything . Vernon and Blake previously collaborated on "Fall Creek Boys Choir" from mid-album Enough Thunder EP , although likely first rubbed shoulders due to this singular candid statement: "He's James Blake . Just go listen to his music and say, "hey, that's Kanye 's favorite artist." Justin Vernon contributed crooned backing vocals assists to "MONSTER" and the majority of Kanye 's sprawling magnum opus, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy , as well as a number of fractured ...

It all started about two months ago now, when I received a rather intriguing cold sent email from James Barker at London-based PR company Mystic Sons, which read, "First Listen – New Album from Australia's [Answer to] Bon Iver – Hayden Calnin, Cut Love Pt. 1;" described as a "fantastic artist" whose debut single, "Cut Love," at the time, already garnered 40,000 digi-spins at Hype Machine and had received stylistic comparisons to the likes of Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), M83, Dawn Golden, Beach House, and whom, I, myself, immediately likened to Electro-Soul crooner James Blake. "'Cut Love Pt. 1" the album is a testament to Hayden's creative abilities, demonstrating that each track can resemble a new chapter. It is experimental to say the least, but an experiment that certainly works. It's exhilarating, truthful, and vicariously touching," Mystic Sons befittingly wrote within their initial emailed press release. Leading up to Cu...

" Cut Love Pt. 1 is a conceptual bunch of songs, which should be taken on as a journey. This is not a pop record, so don't expect bangerzzz or much adhering to standard song structure. It's weird, but I like weird. I wanted to make something that was 100% me and the result is something I am really proud of. I recorded [Cut Love] Pt. 1 all at home in my studio and it's taken me a lot of time to get it finished, and I'm so excited to share it with you all. I have so many people to thank, but above all, this record wouldn't have been possible without all of your support and believing in what I create. So, thank you! I'll be posting some more on it tonight to give you a little more insight, but I really just wanted to let everyone know that I've put everything I have into this record, and to not go into listening to it with any expectations, and just let it translate to you as it does naturally. Some of you may love it, others may hate it, but all in all...

Internet -spun legend had to that Chief Keef discovered Polish beat-maker Young Ravisu (Radoslaw Sobieraj) himself in later 2012-13 while perusing YouTube for " Finally Rich -type beats;" after some additional mixing, paperwork, and legal mumbo-jumbo, Young Ravisu 's instrumental slowly morphed into "Citgo." The 2 like-minded 18-year-olds' collaboration eventually ended up appearing as a bonus track on Chief Keef 's commercial debut, Finally Rich . Before this piece goes too far, let me just say that I'm far from a Chief Keef expert/super-fan: I'm really only familiar with him through his Kanye -affiliated tracks, "I Don't Like" (Remix) and more recently, "Hold My Liquor" with Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) . Now, nearly 8+ months after it's initial release, "Citgo" has been re-hashed as a proper video-single, more or less. A mere coincidence or not, GBE Ent. also unleashed a 16-track mixtape, Bang P...

What kind of madman would spend the better part of a year recording and re-recording an anti-commercial mainstream Hip-Hop album (if that's even a thing ha) all while his celebutante girlfriend is carrying their unborn baby and steadily nearing her dude date, only to have mega-producer Rick Rubin come in and re-work the entire 10-track collection mere hours before it's deadline!? - Unsurprisingly, Kanye West . It's almost mind boggling how much steam Yeezus has garnered without a proper single or music video, aside from "New Slaves"' building-side projections across the world, and virtually no album track leakage until the Friday before it's Tuesday June 18th release! Aside from all that, Kanye decided to boldly stray away from any sort of legitimate-looking album artwork/packaging, instead opting for the ghetto bootleg CD-R look: no cover or booklet, empty jewel CD case, sparse tracklist on the reverse side, and only a Yeezus -marked piece of red ta...

It looks like a Four Tet (Kieran Hebden) remix is most likely the closest Justin Timberlake 's ever gonna get to Indie Rock super-stardom; Besides that time he played Bon Iver on "The Prince Show" alongside in-house SNL Beyoncé & Jay-Z impersonators. The former N'SYNC crooner seems to be focusing on music full force yet again, after a 6+ year-long absence from the music industry. Justin Timberlake hosted/performed on SNL this past Saturday (joining The 5-Timers Club ) and he's guesting on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon all week, shows airing March 11-15th. In what appears to be another act of cleverly-planned promotional, Four Tet 's label-sanctioned "Suit & Tie" remix was mysteriously leaked to The Internet late Sunday night, coincidentally followed up by a superior quality version the next day. UPDATE: It's been brought to my attention that The 20/20 Experience 's complete 70-minute tracklist is now streaming on iTunes...

While they've already managed to make a pretty seamless transition from Hardcore Punk to throwback "Jersey Shore Sound," The Gaslight Anthem are slightly lesser well-know for their spot on, jaw-dropping cover re-arrangements. Spanning between 2006-12, they've successfully executed spirited takes on everyone from The Rolling Stones to Kelly Clarkson , either in the studio or a live setting. Frontman Brian Fallon was recently "across the pond" promoting Gaslight Anthem 's fourth and undoubtedly sing-a-long-able Mercury record, Handwritten ; Looks like he made a quick pit-stop @ BBC Radio 1 in his travels... playing a gut-wrenching, stripped down acoustic take on The Colour & The Shape hit-single, "Everlong" (1997). It doesn't really even matter that Foo Fighters released "Everlong" roughly 15 years ago now, Fallon still manages to breathe new life into Dave Grohl 's Modern Rock staple. Brian Fallon unleashe...

Bon Iver head honcho, Justin Vernon has somehow managed to become quite the "enigma" in the world of Popular music over the past couple years: An independent, New Age Folk artist who's been able to bridge the gap between Indie Rock and Hip-Hop _ commercial obscurity and "mainstream success." On the heels of his feverishly-awaited 2011 "comeback" album - Bon Iver, Bon Iver , Vernon laid down some studio time in Hawaii with Kanye & Friends (Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj, Jay-Z, John Legend) , which eventually ended up on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy . Following generally wide-spread fan and critical acclaim alike, Bon Iver, Bon Iver was nominated for a set of 4 Grammy awards near the close of 2011. Shortly after the announcement, a slightly dated and previously unpublished Justin Vernon interview (The New Yorker) was issued; Included within it's pages were a handful of not-so kind words for the people behind The Grammy's . Vernon w...

"[ Bon Iver 's] a fucking genius! I'd never seen nor heard of him in my life, and I looked up, and I was in a fucking 5 x 5 room with a white guy, smoking weed... and his voice is like something I've never heard, and he's using words that are far from common. Within 20 minutes, I realized why Kanye had him there." - Rick Ross (Billboard) Justin Vernon probably never imagined that his high-pitched primary band, Bon Iver would ever garner so much widespread acclaim, let alone 4 Grammy nominations. 2011 was quite arguably The Year of Bon Iver ; Over the course of the year, Vernon somehow managed to strike up a lucrative friendship with Kayne & Jay-Z , harmonize alongside Nicki Minaj , appear on Gayngs' remix album - "Affiliyated," collaborate with The National and Dub Master James Blake , and hawking Bushmills whiskey. On top of all that, his long-awaited follow-up album (Bon Iver, Bon Iver) was released on Jagjaguwar . That very album ...

The final scenes of "Swim Good" feature a mysterious panda-masked man, limousine explosion, blood by the ocean... and do little-nothing to help clear up the amassed sense of confusion. Syncopated along with Tricky Stewart 's drumbeat, Frank Ocean does his best to stay true to the overall lyrical theme of said track. Behind the wheel of a vibrant orange Lincoln limo and under the direction of NABIL , Frank Ocean manages to get roped up in a number of hi-jinx. Those including but not limited to: forest-surrounded crusin', ninja sword tricks, passionate love-making [murder?], ocean crest stock footage, a pair of Air Jordans , and FIRE! " Kanye 's 808's & Heartbreak album is more influential than we think... It helped to free other hip hop artists to experiment. Visually speaking, Kanye and André 3000 are the most influential to this generation, whether we want to admit it or not. I don't think it will stop with wearing saggy "jeggings...