The Witzard

We've been eharing rumblings for quite some time now and this past weekend, Foo Fighters officially announced their tenth studio album, Medicine At Midnight. Leading up to their performance this past weekend on Saturday Night Live (SNL) Foo Fighters have been sending out weekly emails to their fan club breaking down/re-visiting their nine studio albums, labeled LPI-LPIX. Then, immediately prior to their SNL performance, Foo Fighters uploaded a number of myserious clips zoomed in our the band members' eyes, along with an unlabelled 30-second musical soundbite hashtagged "#LPX." During (actually, prior to) their first performance on SNL this past Saturday evening into Sunday morning, we recieved a press email concerning Foo Fighters' new single, "Shame Shame," and aforementioned LPX, now officially dubbed Medicine At Midnight. "Ladies and gentlemen, Foo Fighters..." host Dave Chappelle proclaimed, cool as a cucucumber, and Foo Fighters lau...

A Common Wonder - The Sixth Superstition by A Common Wonder " Stevie Wonder 's early use of synthesizers, drum machines, and samplers, in a lot of ways, paved the way for Hip-Hop and sampling. Part of my motivation for this project was to highlight those contributions," Nashville -based producer Amerigo Gazaway proclaimed within a recent press release. Gazaway is, of course, the genre-bending producer and remixer behind critically-acclaimed mash-up albums—are people still calling them "mash-ups?"—such as Yasiin Gaye: The Departure and The Return (Yasiin Bey FKA Mos Def & Marvin Gaye,) Fela Soul (Fela Kuti & De La Soul,) B​.​B. & The Underground Kingz: The Trill Is Gone (B.B. King & UGK,) Bizarre Tribe: A Quest to The Pharcyde , and more like-minded projects. It would appear as though Amerigo Gazaway is likely referring to Stevie Wonder 's beloved and world-renown string of seven "classic period" albums released between 197...

Aside from a series of pretty lackluster mismatched performances and Kanye 's attempted hi-jacking of Album of The Year winner Beck 's spotlight, the only legitimate stroke of "real artistry" at this year's GRAMMY Awards came from Ed Sheeran, John Mayer, Herbie Hancock, ?uestlove , and legendary bassist Adam Blackstone . Sheeran's GRAMMY -assembled super-group performed a spirited live rendition of his latest x single, "Thinking Out Loud;" making best use of recent Late Late Show hosts guitar playing-talents, The Roots drummer/bandleader's "chops," and the classically-trained Jazz pianist's gentle stroke of the ivory keys. It seems as though Ed Sheeran and John Mayer (both reported exes of Taylor Swift ) have put aside whatever differences they might have had, effectively becoming "the weirdest friends ever," to paraphrase Leslie Mann from The Other Woman . I, for one, would definitely not mind hearing a John Ma...

The Witzard was formed on three sonic pillars: Punk, Hip-Hop , and Indie Rock , which just so happen to be my personal go-to genres. And I guess you could say that I often times tend to favor Hip-Hop , but I really enjoy all three genres and it's always nice when they end up colliding organically. Case in point: Odd Future manager Christian Clancy initially introduced Tyler, The Creator to an Indie Rock band, who wishes to remain anonymous, after playing it for him on a plane a few months ago. Tyler liked the song so much, that he agreed to write and direct a video for the band's track "Glowing," under his Wolf Haley alias; "What people take from it is up to the viewer, I suppose," Clancy told NPR Monday night, "Controlling the narrative seems contradiction to the point. For me, it's a challenge to the assumption that ignorance is bliss, and that challenge is a timely as it's ever been." Even though it's an anti- Hip-Ho...

While Dave Chappelle is sadly nowhere to be found, "Breakfast Can Wait" features dancer/director/etc. Danielle Curiel masquerading as The Purple One . okayplayer really put it best... "When we put the teaser image (those lips, that eye!) out to our network and said "who's this girl impersonating Prince ?" the answer we got back (from some people who should know) was: That's Prince 's new girl!" It's seemingly a non-album online single, which marks Prince 's first widely-released, proper music video since "Musicology" (2004). Somewhat surprisingly, "Breakfast Can Wait" was partially inspired by Dave Chappelle's imgenious Prince -bashing Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories sketch; wherein Eddie Murphy 's brother and his friends got challenged, badly beaten, and schooled by Prince & The Revolution at a mid-80's pick-up basketball game. "Breakfast Can Wait" is one of seven ...

Leading up to it's 9pm/12 midnight (eastern) online debut Monday night, "Tamale" was being billed as "A VISUAL INTERPRETATION OF TYLER'S MIND." What ended up coming out is a pretty trippy music video, especially from a guy who's supposedly drug and alcohol free; once again, directed under Tyler The Creator 's oft-used Wolf Haley alias, "Tamale" features quick-strike cameos from Pharrell , Trash Talk frontman Lee Spielman , Shane Powers, and Odd Future affiliate Lucas Vercetti . Tyler The Creator was seemingly inspired by Diplo 's TWERK-friendly brand of Dubstep , "Bubble Butt" in particular. He's seen bouncing on model Bria Myles' butt like a trampoline in one brightly colored scene... we also see a real-life recreation of one of WOLF 's 2 alt. covers, some hi-jinx on a golf course, Tyler riding a giant kitty, underwater pool aerobics, Chappelle -reminiscent "white face," and blurred scenes that...

All I can think of when I hear something about R. Kelly anymore is "I wanna piss on you... Gimme that pee-pee. Gimme that poo-poo" thanks to Dave Chappelle's CLASSIC scandalous skit. But R. Kelly is actually a really talented, slightly zonked out musician and he's seemingly about to infiltrate a whole new market: Hipsters! Robert Kelly formed a new-found kinship with French Indie Rock band Phoenix at Coachella earlier this summer; performing a few unique mashed-up remixes for the unsuspecting concert-goers, "Ignition" (1901) and "Chloroform" (I'm a Flirt) . It's kinda like that time R. Kelly & Jay Z teamed up for a MASSIVE album and world tour -- Except it's more like if Jay Z was 4 scrawny French guys ha. But with that said, it's not a whole lot unlike Daft Punk & Pharrell 's recent mega-hit, "Get Lucky;" Just a little more Adult Contemporary and a little less Electro -fied. Ina recent inter...

Off in their own little [ Zef stylized] world, Die Antwoord somehow manage to take arguably out-dated, corny Pop Culture nuances and try to make them semi-"relevant" once again. So, with that said... maybe the almost instantly controversial full-body "blackface" paint might just be a twisted send-up to that one time Eddie Murphy or Dave Chappelle wore white face paint ha. Die Antwoord seem to be re-invigorating a long-forgotten feud with Lady GaGa in their newest music video for "FATTY BOOM BOOM," too. In typical Rap beef fashion, a tranny GaGa impersonator rocks a meat dress (no pun intended) and eventually becomes a lion's tasty dinner; Only after finding her way on foot to a South African gynecologist after her Big 5 "tour bus" breaks down, then birthing a small insect. Now, that's all inter-spliced against performance footage of Die Antwoord lacing up "FATTY BOOM BOOM" ... whilst wearing full-body costumed ...

A few things about Matthewdavid 's new EP are almost instantly alarming "right off the bat:" (1.) That call-to-arms of a title - Producers In 2012 Learn to Spread Love EP ! (2.) Submissive-looking Rick James flanked by 2 fucking 3-eyed tigers on the cover... vaguely reminiscent of a terribly AWESOME tattoo! (3.) The massive amount of "sound ground" that Matthewdavid somehow manages to cover over the course of 3 brief tracks: Soul , Dubstep, Chopped & Screwed , Hip-Hop, Pop, Dark R&B , etc. Matthewdavid's overall style is essentially an Ambient sort of Instrumental Hip-Hip , something largely popularized by guys like Clams Casino in recent years. Matthewdavid [McQueen]'s lengthy-titled EP comes on the heels of his Brainfeeder debut, Outmind (Feb. 2012) which was released in conjunction with his own label imprint, Leaving Records . They successfully self-released Matthewdavid 's most recent project, a mixtape called Jewelry EP ; It ...

Mos Def is not merely a rapper, he's a fucking lyrical assassin! Born Dante Smith (1973) and formerly known as "Pretty Flaco," the man now replies to Yasiin Bey . Take it as a mid-career re-invention, of sorts for the seasoned rapper who's worked with everyone from The Black Keys - Gorillaz . In late 2010, Mos Def signed a record deal with Kanye West 's very own G.O.O.D. Music , but an album for his new label has yet to fully materialize. Yasiin Bey is currently working on a number of assorted projects: 5th solo album ( G.O.O.D. debut), Black Star Aretha with Talib Kweli , and Kanye 's label comp. - "Cruel Summer." My personal favourite Mos Def album is The New Danger , which was released in 2004... right around the time that I was first getting into Hip-Hop and forming my own unique "musical ear." It's essentially a Blues -inspired Hip-Hop album that was recorded with African American Punk musicians, Black Jack Johnson . In...

In the wake of R&B/Pop songstress, Whitney Houston 's untimely death this past weekend, an a cappella version of "How Will I Know?" from her self-titled debut (1985) seems to have emerged. Now a batch of aspiring young Dance producers have already started transforming Houston's vocal into their own unique, buzz-worthy edits for 2012. The particular remix featured here @ "The Witzard" is in fact a mash-up from The Hood Internet; In addition, STV SLV also made good use of Chromeo 's infectious single, "When The Night Falls" [instrumental] from their 2010 Electro-Funk revival record, Business Casual . The Hood Internet 's not so cleverly dubbed bi-product, "When The Night Knows," which quite fittingly, now has an underlying air of "Ghetto Fabulous" -ness. Whitney Houston 's sudden death really is a shame because not only did she make great long-lasting Pop music, she was somebody's mother, ex-wife, ...

Full disclosure: This is like a "Dream Post" for us here @ The Witzard , as it includes 3 of my absolute favourite things... Indie Hip-Hop , voluptuous women [redheads], and cutting-edge sample sources. I really hope that all of my fellow Hip-Hop heads and crate-diggers , and of course our array of female fans thoroughly enjoy this assortment of tracks, too. The blending of Lana del Rey's sampled vocal riffs and go-to Hip-Hop stylings makes more sense than you might think... since Lana del Rey is in fact, a self-proclaimed Hip-Hop aficionado: "You're so fresh to death & sick as ca-cancer. You were sorta Punk Rock , I grew up on Hip-Hop ." I must admit that I'm really looking forward to seeing/hearing what this seductive songstress has in store next for the music industry! For starters, it should be noted that up-and-coming producer "Silky Johnson" is in fact named after Dave Chappelle 's infamous character of the same name, who ap...