The Witzard

Not since Interpol frontman Paul Banks unleashed his semi-awkward Everybody On My D*ck Like They Supposed to Be have I heard a more un- Hip-Hop sounding mixtape; But with that said, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. uploaded their long-rumored PRODUCE (Vol. 1) mixtape mid-Wednesday afternoon. It's an oddly endearing juxtaposition of Weezer -indebted Indie Rock and Underground Hip-Hop with a little help from their friends, Asher Roth , Murs, Chuck Inglish , 112 crooner Slim, King Chip , Quelle Chris, and more. While it's actually a pretty legit-sounding Hip-Hop affair, there are still in fact flavors of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. 's deeply-ingrained Pop tendencies subtly inter-woven through out PRODUCE : a light-hearted Beach Boys/Biggie mash-up, a cover of Nina Simone covering Randy Newman , and even decades-old interpolated P aul Simon lyrics. The 16-track mixtape is flanked by two album tracks remixed by Absofacto and Jon Zott (Goldenboyz), brother of co-frontman Daniel ...

"We were working on samples to make a beat and we ended up sampling the Nina Simone version of Randy Newman 's "I Think It's Gonna Rain Today" (1968), Josh Epstein recently told Paste Magazine in an exclusive premier-interview, which contrary to popular belief, dos not in fact sample Super Mario Brothers . Epstein along with fellow Detroit musician Daniel Zott are 2-man Indie-Pop band Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. who just released their second album, The Speed of Things back in October. Simply based off it's attached Souncloud cover artwork, "I Think It's Gonna Rain Today" will seemingly appear on Jr. Jr. 's forthcoming mixtape, PRODUCE, Vol. 1 ; set to feature a wide array of acclaimed rapper-producers including Murs , Slim of 112, Chuck Inglish , Quelle Chris, Asher Roth , Tunde Olaniran, King Chip , Self Says, Goldenboyz , and more. It'll definitely be pretty interesting to hear what Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. 's Weezer -indeb...

Right off the bat, "Dark Water" vaguely reminds me of "Strawberry Fields Forever"' s droning Psych-Rock wail mixed with a strong 90's Weezer Pop sensibility and a Funky , white boy Dance -able groove. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. unleashed their latest release, Patterns EP last month on Record Store Day (April 20th) and now, it's conveniently available on iTunes for just $3.99. Joshua Epstein & Daniel Zott are 2 like-minded, working class Motor City natives whose Facebook Biography blatantly suggests, "The idea being, that if one can accept a band being named Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. , then you've already opened yourself up to listening to anything the band can come up with. You've already decided to leave expectations behind." For all intensive purposes, if you don't count newly-added members Mike Higgins (drums) and Jon Visger (keys), I don't think it'd be TOTALLY unreasonable to sonically compare Dale Earnhardt...

Throughout it's opening scenes, native Detroiters Daniel Zott & Joshua Epstein can be seen driving around familiar Motor City streets in a big green van while wearing Detroit Tigers jackets; Andrew Smart [director] then pans across various hard-working townspeople singing along with "We almost lost Detroit this time." Filmed over 3.5 days @ some 26 locations, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Jr. have skillfully morphed Gil Scott-Heron's vivid re-telling of near nuclear destruction (1977) into a story of "progress. About setting things right. Coming together as people and moving forward." Since including "We Almost Lost Detroit" on the tail-end of their debut album, It's a Corporate World , the track has almost become an anthem of sorts for both Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Jr. and working class America . Glimpses of quite a few popular Detroit "hot spots" can be seen within "We Almost Lost Detroit:" Burn Rubber, Supino Pizzeria , a...