The Witzard

The Hanukkah Sessions - CREDIT: Lego Dave Grohl (@LegoDaveGrohl) Last year, Foo Fighters frontman and esteemed writer Dave Grohl and producer, multi-instrumentalist, and song-writer Greg Kurstin teamed up once more for The Hanukkah Sessions : a series of eight performance videos covering the likes of the Beastie Boys, Drake, Mountain, Peaches, Bob Dylan, Elastica, The Knack, and The Velvet Underground. Eight Jewish artists, one for each night of Hanukkah 2020. Sunday night, the first night of Hanukkah, Grohl & Kurstin re-emerged with Night One of The Hanukkah Sessions 2021. "Welcome back to the menorah, y'all. Let's kick it this year's Hanukkah Sessions with one of Dallas, Texas' favorite Jewish daughters. So, put on your coffee shop spectacles and your Betsey Johnson dress and HAVA listen to this... "Stay" by Lisa Loeb," read a video description uploaded along with Night One's festive candle-lit offering. Yes, Dave Grohl & Greg Ku...

So, as a record collector myself, I can safely say, one of the most sought-after records for most record collectors to "dig" up would be a coveted Bob Dylan & Johnny Cash bootleg. Said fabled bootleg has been released under numerous titles over the years, including The Dylan Cash Session , The Nashville Tapes, Nashville 1969 , and Partners on both unofficial LP's and CD's. A few years ago, I was, actually, lucky enough to unearth a copy of 2009's pseudo-yellowed The Nashville Tapes in a crate at a record/antique store up in Mullica Hill, NJ, I believe. Now, it appears as though those infamous 1969 Dylan/Cash sessions will finally be officially released in full on Bob Dylan (Featuring Johnny Cash) - Travelin' Thru, 1967-1969: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 15 . As seen within 2005 Joaquin Phoenix-starring biopic, Walk The Line, Johnny Cash & Bob Dylan were both, seemingly, long-time fans and mutual admirers of each other's work; then, suddenly, one fa...

Home Alone on Halloween by Titus Andronicus Alright, ladies & germs - now, first and foremost, I don't generally post press statements in full, but this one was, honestly, just too good to pass up: "With Home Alone on Halloween , noted Rock band Titus Andronicus celebrate the spookiest of the seasons by staring into the abyss and confronting the bone-chilling terror, which lies at the haunted heart of our human experience. Bearing the justly feared catalog number "MRG666," the 12-inch EP spans 31 minutes and features three tracks recorded concurrently with the group's most recent full-length, A Productive Cough , offering an Autumnal tableau of dread and decay to complement its LP companion's Springtime visions of re-birth and new possibilities." Essentially, beloved Brooklyn -based Alternative/Hardcore/Punk/Folk quintet, Titus Andronicus (or +@ for short) have returned with their latest seasonally-appropriate offering titled Home Alone On ...

Computer Rocker by Height Keech Height Keech is, in a lot of ways, if you really think about it, the "Bob Dylan" of Underground/Indie Hip-Hop ; an extremely talented and well-respected solo artist, who plays well in groups, but doesn't really NEED one, oftentimes, produces records for himself and his friends, fosters and champions young talent, ages like a hearty whiskey, isn't afraid to collaborate, tours at a never-ending pace, and continually puts out solid, progressive music at an in-humanly fast rate. Also, much like Robert Zimmerman , Dan Keech has amassed quite a few AKA's to his name: Height , Height with Friends, Height Keech , Shark Tank, Bow n' Height , ialive & Height Keech, Wounds , and "John" Height. After effectively re-launching his long-time CD/CD-R imprint, Cold Rhymes Records , Height issued or had a hand in a staggering number of 2017 releases including, but not limited to: his own MIND MOVES THE MOUNTAIN , STRANGE LOOKS...

"recorded in like, 2008 by mr. ski-mask on 1-inch analog tape at the electric pumpkin patch studio on the east side of buffalo . lindsey did guitar, i did drums, and me and ski-mask did synths. i wrote the song before i had a band in 2000," Jack Topht AKA Jack Toft AKA Jack Topht with The Vegetables AKA Little Cake n Jack Toft AKA Lindsey & Jack Toft AKA TEENWOLF AND JACK TOFT wrote within a recent email exchange regarding "Come On Nike." His rather unique style has been self-described as " Kool Keith meets Crass " and has often been labelled Awesome Rap , Folk-Rap, Americana Grime , Grunge-Funk, Grunge Rap Punk/Ska , "kooky, riveting Rap , wild freak Anti-Folk Noise/Free Jazz " ( Little Cake n Jack Toft ,) and "part rapper, part performance artist, part comedian/motivational speaker." Jack Topht 's largely genre-less style has been compared to the likes of Bob Dylan , Minutemen frontman D. Boon, Kool Keith , Le T...

"I recorded myself actually, [ "Tape a Twenty" is] one of the few songs that I recorded everything and mixed everything myself on ["STILL LIFE"] . And it was done in Amsterdam. It's kind of a love song about making the imperfect work; like there's nothing perfect, but everything is imperfect/perfect. The video, I made at at the beginning of last year at my school HKU (Utrecht University of The Arts) , where I'm doing a Masters in Music Design . It was the first two weeks of school—we just had this time to work on a project and I kind of decided I wanted to run around the school with a video camera and make a music video. It was funny 'cause I was in a music program, where I could do anything I wanted for the first time of my life, and I spent my time working with video. I built these kind of weird temporary sculptures out of junk and strapped a smartphone on the top to create these weird junk people." "I imagined a guy, like worki...

"'[PROJECT 2] is a concept mixtape that covers the themes of fame, isolation, Armageddon, suicide, immortality, dark magick, and Christian mysticism. "Glass Half Empty" is the mid-point of this story and deals primarily with the emotion of helplessness... How do you see the glass? Can you see it any other way? Will my visions ever change? [PROJECT 2] on the horizon," self-described Occult Hip-Hop emcee Mahatma Crowley wrote within recent Facebook and Soundcloud statements... Mahatma Crowley's ghoulish delivery vaguely reminds me of his grizzled barking predecessors DMX, Ja Rule, Rick Ross, Yeezus-era Kanye, and at times, even Death Grips' frenzied frontman MC Ride. "Upon first hearing Crowley & The Beholder's Trinity's latest single, "Glass Half Empty" this past moon-lit Saturday evening, I was instantly reminded of his fellow Horrorcore peers Flatbush Zombies—who recently, for whatever reasons, played The Tonight Show Starri...

"Don't sleep on Butch Bastard ," read a statement credited to Josh Tillman of Father John Misty and Fleet Foxes fame attached to a cold submitted message sent days after I posted my email address on Twitter , along with an open call for new music "not featured on Pitchfork ;" after reaching out to Poor Moon bassist and newly-christened Butch Bastard frontman Ian Murray himself, the Father John Misty -affiliated artist would go on to specify, "[ Josh is] my friend and I appreciate his endorsement, but I don't wish to be viewed as an appendage to his career." It would likely appear as though Butch Bastard was born when the singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, performer, producer, and director uprooted his life from Seattle to Los Angeles in 2014 and started recording tracks from the comfort of his bedroom. Murray's wonderfully titled forthcoming album, I Am Not a Man , which currently lacks a proper label or release date, showca...

"'Disaster" was the last song I wrote for Time Machine and it's one of my favorites. Noah Kistler directed the video, and I gave him full creative control in doing so; he imagined an 80's motion-graphics bonanza, and it was a lot of fun to shoot!" singer-songwriter D.A. Wallach wrote within an emailed statement exclusive to The Witzard , concerning his just-released Sci-Fi -leaning "Disaster" music video treatment. Wallach's post-Chester French Harvest Records debut, Time Machine was hands down one of my absolute favorite albums of 2015, however, it still has yet to see a proper physical CD-LP release, aside from digital download; although, D.A. told me as recently as Sunday that he's still "trying to work on something for vinyl though, at some point." I, myself, previously described Time Machine as "a phenomenal "debut" record delivered in the vein of a modern day Hip-Hop -influenced James Taylor or Bill...

"It started out as an attempt to write an early Bob Dylan kind of song, but as I wrote it, I heard Tom Waits in my head. It ended up sounding like a cover of Talking Heads covering Waits and Dylan, I think," Ray St. Ray somewhat unsurely wrote in a batch of exclusive emailed pull-quotes sent directly to The Witzard ; although, it's a rather bold, yet befitting description of The Singing Cab Driver 's zany Cabaret -leaning "WRONG SIDE OF ENOUGH." "Over the last 40 years, our future was stolen by corporate interests. Now, too many people are on the wrong side of enough. I feel strongly about this. It's what my concept album, FUTUREMAN vs. THE WRONG SIDE OF ENOUGH is about," Ray's email passionately continued. I initially heard about the infamous Singing Cab Driver a few months ago through my friend, crate-digger extraordinaire, and Now-Again Records founder, Egon . He spoke of one particularly interesting Madlib -accompanied late nig...

While tough-as-nails emcees Guilty Simpson & Danny Brown don't seemingly have much in common (aside from mutual collaborator Black Milk ), the two like-minded lyrical wordsmiths are surprisingly cut from the same battle-worn "cloth." Simpson & Brown both just so happen to have unleashed newly-minted material yesterday, August 3rd: "Animal" produced by Quakers beatsmith Katalyst and "Worth It" produced by Lil B affiliate, Clams Casino , respectively. Late Monday afternoon, I curiously Tweeted @guiltysimpson , whom I recently had the opportunity to interview for this very site , inquiring if he and Mr. Brown had ever worked together; to which he quickly replied with a video still of Elzhi 's "Fire" Remix featuring Black Milk , GUILTY SIMPSON, Fatt Father , DANNY BROWN, and Fat Ray . Lest we forget, Guilty & Danny additionally teamed up way back in 2010 on Quelle -produced Detroit State of Mind 4 mixtape cut, "Mu...

"This new batch of tunes came straight from the heart on all fronts. With everything that's going on today we wanted to make an album that speaks to peoples emotions and frustrations while also giving them a chance to dance and release some stress," lamented Lions producer, guitarist, and master-mind Dan Ubick. His LA-based 12-member+ Reggae revival group, The Lions, are gearing up to unleash their third genre-blending album, Soul Riot on Stones Throw this upcoming February 10th. While I previously conducted an in-depth interview with Ubick a couple years back to coincide with This Generation, I couldn't resist the opportunity to publish yet another all-inclusive 12-part Q&A. The Lions' 2LP Soul Riot album is currently available for pre-order over at the Stones Throw Store weeks ahead of its proper release; I must admit, I've been spinnin' an advance copy for a week or so now, and it's definitely something worth picking up for seasoned and new-fo...

Just mere hours after somewhat cryptically Tweeting, "BLUE CHIPS & BLUE CHIPS 2... RARE CHANDELIERS ON VINYL?" Action Bronson (aka Mr. BAKLAVA) premiered the first episode of his latest non-musical endeavor, F#ck, That's Delicious ; VICE 's newly-established online food network, Munchies has partnered up with the gourmet chef turned-rapper for a monthly updated web-series "dealing with the often rapped about dining habits of our favorite rapper, Action Bronson ." It was seemingly filmed during Bronson's string of New Zealand , South African, and Australian dates in support of Eminem 's recently wrapped Rapture Tour . What they've managed to capture within is Action Bronson 's New York homecoming from a world-wide tour that initially started back in January; while on his jet-setting journey (further detailed across Adventure Time ), he dove off the top of a giant sail boat/yacht, got seasick while amidst a gourmet dinner, jumped int...

While I wasn't exactly a fan of The Men until about two months ago, I had heard that they generally put out records at a Beatles -like pace, every year to two years tops; their most recent album, Tomorrow's Hits , the follow-up to their critically-acclaimed 2012 collection New Moon , is my first experience with The Men . It's an album I bought on the sheer strength of three of eight pre-release tracks, a vinyl package which came complete with a black-and-white numbered faux-review splattered cover, limited edition crimson red vinyl, giant fold-out poster, Tomorrow's Hits iron-on shirt decal, and more included goodies. Sound-wise, it's an interesting track-by-track trip through a wide variety of styles ranging from Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -like Blues-Rock boogie, feedback-drenched Electro-Punk , Bob Dylan reminiscent Country-Rock jams, a sparse piano & harmonica ballad, twangy hyper-speed Rock "N" Roll , righteous Post-Punk , etc...

In our web-industry, citing TMZ as a source is basically the real-world journalist equivalent of using Wikipedia as a source on a high school or college senior term paper; it's just something you're better off NOT doing, if possible because sites like these aren't generally the most reliable or accurate sources. But with that said, I think I'm about to commit blogger treason and cite TMZ within this very post (please forgive me!)... Back in late August, Pitchfork reported that Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach supposedly lost an interesting asset which court papers described as "Bob Dylan hair" amidst his bitter divorce from ex-wife Stephanie Gonis . While it was then "unclear how the hair was obtained, when it was obtained, [or] if the hair [contained] any product," an updated TMZ report uploaded Friday morning specifies that Auerbach was never actually in possession of Dylan's curly locks. Dan Auerbach himself recently told a guerrilla...

Pharrell has long surpassed anyone's expectations who previously pigeon-holed him as a Snoop Dogg & Jay-Z- affiliated Neptunes producer, on-and-off Funk-Rock N*E*R*D frontman, or mere smooth-voiced hookman; he single-handedly co-fronted 2 of the summer's biggest mega-hits, "Get Lucky" and "Blurred Lines" (but you already know that much). Pharrell has recently started flexing his original soundtrack/composer chops as well, working on the original Despicable Me , it's sequel Despicable Me 2 , and a rumored Amazing Spider-Man 2 super-score with composer Hans Zimmer , Mike Einzinger (Incubus), former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr , and Dave Stewart (Eurythmics). Fresh on the heels of Bob Dylan 's inter-active "Like a Rolling Stone" video, Pharrell and directing team We Are from LA unleashed the world's very first 24-hour music video for Despicable Me 2 single, "Happy" online Thursday-Friday. It reportedly feature...

Although it might seem like a pretty mis-matched pairing at first, Bob Dylan & Death Grips have more in common that you or they'd really like to admit. Dylan was the first Folkie to "go electric" and Death Grips have largely forged their own ground in their Proto-Rap sub-genre; Dylan never really adhered to generally-accepted social norms and the same could be said for deathgrips ; Both artists make the kind of music that you either love or hate, there's no middle-of-the-road fans. Uploaded late Wednesday afternoon without any prior notice, Government Plates is Death Grips' fourth overall album (counting Ex-military ) and the second self-released in such a guerrilla manner. Death Grips simultaneously uploaded 11 motion picture/music videos to YouTube , one for each album track, which may be part of drummer Zach Hill 's long-rumored short film. "You might think he loves you for your money but I know what he really loves you for, it's you...

Purchased on a whim and the sheer strength of two Southern -fried rockin' Blues-Funk teaser singles, White Denim 's recently released sixth album, Corsicana Lemonade is without a doubt one of this past year's late-blooming sleeper hits; While I've always seen White Denim 's name strewn across various Indie Rock -leaning blogs (especially Gorilla vs. Bear ), I'd never really given the Austin -based band a legitimate shot. It's just a solid, no frills 10-track Rock "N" Roll album that's equal parts Black Keys and Creedence (with some added Psych-Rock flavor). But in true Southern Rock fashion, White Denim recruited The Bottom Dollar String Band for "Pretty Green Mash," a reduced version of their lead Corsicana Lemonade single. From what I understand, the track's included on a "Pretty Green" online/tour-exclusive 10" EP, along with B-sides "Under mi Pretty Green" and rough album closer "...

Damn near the furthest thing from a pothead or Neo-Nazi , while being an avid music fan/vinyl-collecting "champion," Record Store Day is my kinda holiday; already in it's sixth annual year of festivities, I trucked up to my favourite record store, Tunes (Turnersville) around 10:30-11ish with 2 wish lists in hand. After assembling quite a few stacked, re-stacked, and un-stacked 45/LP piles, my final haul included: Mike Watt + The Black Gang , Surfer Blood, Pornography , G. Love, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. some J Dilla from the postman... Bob Dylan, Rob Zombie , and Dio/Killswitch Engage (for my buddy waiting tables @ Friendly's ). Based solely on Thom Yorke & Flea 's involvement, my co-pilot Mr. Moot bought a copy of Atoms for Peace - AMOK , which ended up being pure fucking garbage! Like anybody, if I had an endless cash-flow, I would've gotten a lot more. But I'm very happy with what I got an how they sound on wax. Needless to say, Mike Watt + Th...