The Witzard

"[a] beach boys meets ty$ kinda vibe," @diplo Tweeted early Thursday afternoon, attempting to best describe his latest Soundcloud upload, "LONG WAY HOME;" a quasi-remix, or more so a loose cover, of Ty Dollar $ign 's non-album single, "Stand For" re-recorded with Grizzly Bear/Vampire Weekend members Ed Droste & Rostam . "its about time that indie rock acts started to co-opt rap beats," Diplo lamented in the track's short-lived Soundcloud description, which Pitchfork points out, was imminently deleted. I was just telling my beautiful girlfriend, in terms of sheer line-blurring concept, "LONG WAY HOME" vaguely reminds me of Vampire Weekend 's middle-of-the-road Indie Rock/Hip-Hop hybrid track, "Step (Wintertime Remix)" featuring appended verses from Danny Brown , Heems, and Despot . "Stand For," the structural basis for "LONG WAY HOME," was actually co-produced by Diplo ...

"It's our summer jam, so we figured we should put it out, cuz I am very bored of waiting to finish my album [before] releasing new music haha," Grimes (real name Claire Boucher ) said in a recent press release. Last winter, Boucher signed what some might call a mildly head-scratching management deal with Jay Z 's own Roc-Nation off-shoot company — alongside previous signees HAIM , M.I.A. Santigold , Mark Ronson, Shakira , Wale, and The Ting Tings . Grimes and her fellow Canadian comrade/frequent collaborator Blood Diamonds were reportedly commissioned by Roc-Nation to produce and original track for R&B super-star Rihanna . While it was ultimately rejected by the Roc-Nation team, Grimes & Blood Diamonds recently recorded their own version of the track, now re-titled "Go." Blood Diamonds' 2010-12 reminiscent Dubstep/Electro -leaning production work seems to have been influenced by Grimes' former Full Flex Express touring mates, ...

"Their musical anarchy and constant attitude to disregard rules and forge their own path was inspirational to me. [The Clash] meant death to genres, music, and message above everything," Diplo lamented about collaborators Mick Jones & Paul Simonon in a pre-release statement. Following the track's initial announcement this past Friday, "HERO" was unleashed early Monday morning as part of Converse 's annual Three Artists, One Song collaborative campaign. It was presumably produced by Mad Decent founder Diplo and was one of five tracks recorded recently between London , Hawaii, and Los Angeles ; Basic tracks for "HERO" were recorded at Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn 's Studio 13 , whom Jones and Simonon had previously worked with on Plastic Beach (2010). Fans of the newly-forged super-group's past works with recognize familiar elements of Hip-Hop -infused R&B , 1980's Punk Rock , and Reggae-Fusion , but I wouldn't ...

While I was away for the weekend, gallivanting around Lancaster County with my beautiful girlfriend, it looks like West Coast Hip-Hop purists Snoop Dogg & Madlib have unexpectedly teamed up for a collaborative track. Whether or not they actually recorded "Cadillacs" together in one studio, Snoop[zilla] and Madlib 's recent collaboration was more than likely kick-started by 7 Days of Funk producer and fellow Stones Throw labelmate, Dâm-Funk . It's a smooth 1990's reminiscent G-Funk -laden Hip-Hop BANGER that was quietly leaked over the weekend, just mere hours ahead of Snoop Dogg & DJ Drama 's latest That's My Work (3) mixtape series installment; tech-savvy Hip-Hop heads might recognize the beat from Detroit R&B-Funk band One Way 's 1982-released eventual breakbeat classic, "Cutie Pie." While little else is known about the track or any possible future collaborations, judging by Snoop's recently adopted producer/...

"WOOOOOO PARTTTTTYYYYY SUPPPPLLIIEESSS. "@ILLROOTS: CAM'RON & A-TRAK - HUMPHREY..." exclaimed Queens emcee Action Bronson in 140 characters or less; his Blue Chips 2 partner-in-crime and current tour-mate Party Supplies jointly co-produced the premier track from label-boss A-Trak and Cam'ron . What could quite arguably be labelled the Dipset general's long sought-after comeback, Federal Reserve EP is reportedly due out sometime this spring and will additionally feature Juelz Santana , Jim Jones, Just Blaze (drum programming), and executive producer Dame Dash . While the greater Hip-Hop-trolling corner of The Internet initially believed that Cam'ron 's opening bars, "Dame said I'm 'bout it cuz I wanna fight B-Hop . I said I'll f*ck him up after 2 months of detox - true. Besides that, 8 mill from Reebok , I take him to the bar, pa. That's 33 shots..." was a lyrical jab at Jay-Z 's cousin and Roc-Nation -aff...

Fool's Gold Records co-founder and sometimes club-ready DJ Nick Catchdubs recently took it upon himself to conjure up a Danny Brown/Sleigh Bells mash-up couplet, dubbed Brown Bells . It's in honor of the slightly odd pairing's 2 upcoming gigs at Terminal 5 (New York), November 22-23rd. While I'm not really the biggest mash-up champion, unless it's either Girl Talk of Danger Mouse , Catchdubs did it right; releasing a 2-track EP complete with cleverly-titled "Diggin' Demons" & "Grown Up Rivals," which sound more like a tried-and-true in-studio collaboration! Nick Catchdubs of course left in plenty of recognizable fragments from "Dip/Demons" (Diplo Remix) and "Grown Up/Bitter Rivals." When you consider Danny Brown 's guest-list of fairly unexpected collaborations on his recently-released OLD album (ie: Purity Ring , Charli XCX, BADBADNOTGOOD , etc.), an anthemic full-fledged Sleigh Bells team-up doesn...

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...

While last week's "new track" turned out to be a fraudulent remix, Action Bronson has since teamed up with beat-maker Beautiful Lou and Twitter persona/rapper RiFF RAFF ; "Long Pinky" is the final track in Adult Swim 's summer-long singles series, which will be re-upped online for FREE come Monday. RiFF RAFF recently described himself in 140 characters or less, of course, as: "AN ALL-AMERiCAN ALL-STAR... iF U DONT LiKE HiM, THEN U WiLL BE FORCED iNTO EXiLE iN GUAM & EAT EXPiRED GOAT MiLK FOREVER." Action Bronson & RiFF RAFF previously traded bars on the Harry Fraud -produced "Bird On a Wire" (2012) and RiFF RAFF had a brief cameo appearance in Bronson's blistering VICE Records -backed "Strictly 4 My Jeeps" video-single. While this time around, it was kitty [pryde] 's former collaborator Beautiful Lou who reunited the 2 rapping friends, they'll be appearing together on Diplo 's upcoming Re...

While it's title could easily be a reference to Toni Braxton 's similarly-titled 1996 smash-hit, M.I.A. 's latest [controlled] leak, "UNBREAK My Mixtape" almost seamlessly samples Blur , Carly Simon, Karen Dalton , and Fresh 4 in just under 5 minutes! After nearly a year of 2's-worth of delays and a single threatening Tweet , M.I.A. 's long-awaited fourth studio album Matangi is finally slated for a firm November 5th release. "UNBREAK My Mixtape" might just be The Internet 's fifth taste of Matangi , succeeded by "Only 1 U," "Come Walk with Me," "atTENTion," and possibly even "Bad Girls" (2012). M.I.A. effortlessly floats in-between the rapidly-changing beat(s); lamenting about a lost love and a broken mixtape, "Here's a mixtape that I made, let's take a break... While I get my life sorted, here's a mixtape... What did I do for you to call me crazy?" M.I.A. seems pretty ...

While Terry Crews has lent his broad-spanning acting talents to everything from The Expendables 1-2 to a recent Old Spice campaign, I think I personally enjoyed his portrayal of a teen-aged Chris Rock 's relentlessly hard-working father on Everybody Hates Chris (2005-09) the best. Major Lazer , the lone robo-soldier of the zombie apocalypse and the brainchild of one Thomas Wesley "Diplo" Pentz , has been long-overdue for a righteous live-action mini-movie adaption. Crews stars alongside a very colorful cast of characters: Lauren London , Blake Anderson, Nick Kroll , and a menacing super-villain named General Rubbish. During his premier performance as Major Lazer , Terry Crews inflicts plenty of bloodshed, campy action, gun-arm violence, and general AWESOMENESS under Brandon Dermer 's direction. Now, the actual track showcased in the music video, "Scare Me" features Peaches & Timberlee and appears on Diplo 's second album released under his ...

Here we have the second Major Lazer post of the day; Yeah, I guess I could've augmented that Macklemore piece [below] to include it, but I really think "Bubble Butt" deserves it's own post. I can almost picture it now: Diplo and Eric Wareheim hanging out, watching TV and drinking beer, seeing the old school "Baby Got Back" video, and wondering how they could re-create it for 2013 A.D. It's more or less a companion set of visuals meant to go along with last week's "Bubble Butt" (Remix), which features Bruno Mars, 2 Chainz, Tyga , and Mystic - None of whom actually appear in the booty-licious Wareheim-directed video ha. I'd personally like to think that when he's not jet-setting back and forth across the free world, Diplo hangs out with the infamous Tim & Eric cult-hero, who's had a hand in creating the twisted bionic soldier of the zombie apocalypse Major Lazer mythology. "Bubble Butt" chronicles the...

Diplo has been a very busy man lately; a full-length with Snoop Lion , that new Major Lazer record, produced a track for Mac Miller , formed an audio-video channel with Skrillex & A-Trak , etc. Sometimes it's pretty easy to forget that Thomas Wesley "Diplo" Pentz is a former Philly teacher who just so happened to single-handedly pioneer Hip-Hop/Dancehall/Moombahton/Dubstep . Fully employing his Major Lazer alter-ego, Diplo 's latest creation is a remix of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' recent mega-hit single, "Can't Hold Us." Diplo then recruited 1st Klase to re-work to Hip-Pop beat into an Island riddim, which Trinidad -based rapper Swappi 4D proceeds to lyrically shred to pieces! Essentially, all that remains from the original are that Microsoft Outlook piano lick and Ray Dalton 's smooth "Can we go back, this is the moment. Tonight is the night" central hook. Macklemore 's verses seem a little haphazardly sprea...

Rising Brooklyn producer-of-the-moment Harry Fraud wrangled up a crazy/awesome posse of Internet -friendly rappers for his upcoming High Tide EP ; It'll feature frequent collaborator like Action Bronson , French Montana, and Chinx Drugz across 5 contained tracks. Lead single "Yacht Lash" positions JODY HiGHROLLER (RiFF RAFF) alongside Odd Future 's returning prince, Earl Sweatshirt . Harry Fraud successfully melds together a DIRTY Psych-Rock -drenched Hip-Hop beat, which leaves plenty of room for 32+ bars worth of swagged out bravado. Earl Sweatshirt effectively slays the first 1/2 of this track, only his 10-12th recorded appearance since returning home from juvie in Samoa (Feb. 2012). Sweatshirt laments about his triumphant return to prominence, "Nothin' much to my ethics / Bitch, I'm joggin' like I already won the election / Fuck it, shunning protection... Rest assured, I keep the label embarrassed." RiFF RAFF on the other hand...

While he's arguably years past his heyday, Marshall "Eminem" Mathers really set the stage for white-bred rappers and seems to have inspired a whole new generation's-worth of angry young white men: Atmosphere , Macklemore, RiFF RAFF , Asher Roth , Mac Miller, Action Bronson , etc. Mac Miller just never really seemed interesting enough for me to wanna check out. But it looks like he's starting to align himself with a slew of genuinely skilled rappers/producers that includes Earl Sweatshirt , Ab-Soul, Freddie Gibbs , Hodgy Beats, ScHoolboy Q , Thundercat, Pharrell , and executive producer Diplo. Mac Miller 's become a lot more interesting since he started releasing material under his assorted Larry Fisherman , Larry Dollaz, and Larry Lovestein & The Velvet Revival aliases, too. We're talkin' about beautiful Bright Eyes and Elliott Smith covers, hard-hitting Hip-Hop beats, a 5-track Jazz EP, and an instrumental mixtape called Run-on Sentences (...

For argument's sake, I guess I've always been an Usher fan... or @ least an admirer of Mr. Raymond's sheer talent and work ethic. I can vaguely remember nervously asking a few P.Y.T.'s to dance to "U Got It Bad" (2001) @ those painfully cheese-tastic 7-8th grade dances. Paraphrasing Pitchfork staff writer Ryan Dombal , it was an oddly-matched collaboration that no one expected, let alone asked for. But somehow still managed to greatly surpass everyone's non-existent expectations: Friday night @ FADER Fort (SXSW) , Usher wandered on-stage with The Afghan Whigs mid-way through their "Climax" cover. Frontman Greg Dulli & Usher then launched into spirited, guitar-driver renditions of both artists' more well-known tracks, "Somethin' Hot" and scorching set-closer, "OMG." Former- Yeasayer member and solo artist Sinkane (Ahmed Gallab) came on stage to perform a super- Funky version of his own single, ...

I first discovered Brooklyn 's premier Indie Rock experimentalists , Dirty Projectors , quite a few years ago; Right around the same time that frontman Dave Longstreth decided to re-record an entire Black Flag record from memory (2007). The band's line-up seems to morph/permeate a little bit with each album and has previously included cats like Angel Deradoorian , Ezra Koenig, Rostam Batmanglij (Vampire Weekend), Adam Forkner, and former-drummer Brian McOmber . Dirty Projectors-13 's latest line-up consists of Longstreth, Nat Baldwin, Michael Johnson , and the sultry 3-part harmonies of Amber Coffman/Haley Dekle/ Jenn Wasner Olga Bell . I guess I'd almost describe their overall sound as some sort of post- Destiny's Child R&B crooning. Case in point: "Stillness Is The Move," which Beyoncé 's little sister Solange just so happened to cover, too. I just ordered used copies of Rise Above, Bitte Orca , and Swing Lo Magellan from Amazon and s...

The Police were a 1970-80's Reggae -tinged Classic Rock band, who would in turn inspire Hawaiian Blue-Eyed Soul singer, Bruno Mars some 35 years later; an influence that's especially noticeable on his latest single, "Locked Out of Heaven," which was recently remixed by zombie-slaying Dancehall king, Major Lazer . Between recording/releasing Doo-Wops & Hooligans (2010) and it's proper follow-up Unorthodox Jukebox , Mars got slapped with coke possession and slowly started straying away from his "cookie-cutter" image. Sound-wise, Unorthodox Jukebox is a little more edgy and Experimental... cause Bruno Mars & The Smeezingtons [production team] linked up with a bunch of A-List producers: Jeff Bhasker , Mark Ronson, Benny Blanco , Supa Dups, and Paul Epworth . If we're excluding his stripclub anthem - "Money Make Her Smile" (Diplo), "Show Me" is quite arguably one of the album's most interesting tracks. It's...