The Witzard

Mikey Erg with Jeff Rosenstock, Alex Clute & Lou Hanman (CREDIT: Emily McKern) "Mikey Erg continues to set the gold standard for hooky Punk love songs. Love At Leeds is him at the top of his song-writing game—just one finely tuned ear-worm after another," writer Dan Ozzi gushes within a press release. Love At Leeds is the realization of many dreams for Mikey Erg. A life-long music obsessive, growing up in the early 90's, there was one sound he'd always hoped to capture on his recordings: the sound of Steve Albini. Steve's credits include Pixies, Flogging Molly, Iggy & The Stooges, and, of course, Nirvana's iconic third album, In Utero, one of Mikey's absolute favorite records. Mikey had never in his 20-plus-year recording career ever been able to make a fully-analog recording. Love At Leeds was the perfect time to rectify all of that. Love At Leeds by Mikey Erg Utilizing the same group of musicians that helped him realize his debut solo alb...

It's a fairly simple, yet effective concept: "your favorite Punk, Hardcore & Ska albums, but with four fingers." That, in fact, is the mantra of Instagram page @simpsonsXcore (formerly @MillionsOfDeadSimpsons) whose creations can also, be found on Facebook & Twitter. sXc has tastefully re-designed both classic and contemporary Punk, Hardcore & Ska albums. The Witzard has been Following @MillionsOfDeadSimpsons/ @simpsonsXcore's Instagram since roughly September 2017 and to be completely honest, it's one of our favorite accounts! We recently had an opportunity to conduct a comprehensive interview with SimpsonsXcore, which has been lightly edited for general clarity. Make sure you Follow @simpsonsXcore's pages on Instagram, Twitter , and Facebook for regular updates and side-by-side comparisons. Additionally, SimpsonsXcore was kind enough to put together a last-minute 20-song Spotify playlist consisting of their favorite Punk/Hardcore selections ...

Stairway To Mar-a-Lago by United Nations "HUNGER BELOW US THE HEAVENS ARE DEAD BAFFLING REASON YOU WANTED CANDOR, NATIVISM, WHITE INDIFFERENCE, AND NO SHINING CITY TRAGIC PAPACY DIMWITTED BIGOT MISPLACING SYMPATHIES FROM ON YOUR CROSS TELL THEM WHO MATTERS POLICING CITIES IN RUIN..." And that's just the first gut-wrenching 46-second burst of United Nations' latest anti- Trump single, "Stairway to Mar-a-Lago," which is being sold at a Name-Your-Price fee at their Temporary Residence Bandcamp ; "an Inauguration Day transmission from United Nations . All proceeds will be donated to American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Planned Parenthood ." President Trump (what a cringe-worthy phrase!) has only been in The White House for just about a day now, but there have already been countless Rock Against Bush -evoking musical protests either announced or released: David Eggers' planned 30 Days, 30 Songs -esque 4-year-long 1,000 Days, ...

I guess I've been experiencing somewhat of a writer's block spell for the better part of this past week, maybe I'm just uninspired... or maybe the state of popular music as a whole has seen better days; all week long, I've just wanted to write two solid Punk Rock and Hip-Hop pieces, but nothing worth-while had really piqued my interest(s) thusfar. Although all that immediately changed once I read Noisey editor Dan Ozzi 's latest piece, titled "Kanye West and Crustpunk: Together at Last." It makes completely logical sense, considering Kanye 's recent genre-pulverizing Industrial-Rap monster of an album, Yeezus and I honestly feel that this is something he'd really enjoy listening to. Ozzi further describes the Jake Bowman -orchestrated mash-up album as "sort of an odd pairing, putting Kanye 's pompous rap verses over that crack rock-steady beat." He additionally notes that "most of Kanye 's fans probably wouldn't k...