The Witzard

Rock "N" Roll and quite arguably, music as a whole lost one of its most charismatic, uniquely individual, and beloved figureheads when David Jones aka The Thin White Duke aka Ziggy Stardust , otherwise known as the one and only David Bowie unexpectedly passed away early Sunday morning, January 10th, amongst the company of dear family and friends following an 18-month battle with cancer. I'm not even going to attempt to write a fully fleshed-out obituary to Bowie, hands down one of my all-time favorite performers since I was about 12, but I figured I would at least assemble a few of my thoughts and feelings into an all-too-brief hand-written tribute; a proper David Bowie obituary can be viewed over at Stereogum , which was written by Tom Breihan and served as a loose structural basis for this very piece. Throughout the course of his storied and ever-developing 52-year career, Bowie released some 28 genre-blending studio albums, produced one of the most critically-ac...

"Dani's Blues (It Was Beyond Our Control)" is a fun introduction, with the chiming piano riff recalling early 70's AM Pop - think Paul McCartney 's initial solo releases, those early Elton John albums, or even ELO at their most creative," Clash Music poetically likened White Denim frontman James Petralli aka Bop English 's recent premier single to its predecessors/possible influences. After four tedious years-worth of studio tinkery, Petralli's "solo" debut, Constant Bop , is finally ready for a world-wide release on Blood and Biscuits /Downtown Records this upcoming April 13-14th; " Constant Bop is a widely collaborative project that features production from Jim Vollentine , 5th Street Studio's Ryan Joseph and Nick Joswick, as well as Matt Oliver of Big Orange Studios and the band TV Torso... White Denim 's drummer Josh Block , guitarist Austin Jenkins, and bass player Steve Terebecki , as well as former Shearwater...

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 "...

Purity Ring are a band that have easily been on my "radar" for a good for a good 6 or 8 months-1 year. I've simply been captivated ever since Chris @ Gorilla vs. Bear posted "Lofticries" up on his music news website. But with little band info, sheer musical content, or visual accompaniment, I had a hard time trying to figure out an angle for a [possible] Purity Ring -themed blog post... especially since Hulkshare banned me from uploading mp3's. Earlier this afternoon, Megan James & Cornin Roddick finally decided to drop a band-sanctioned music video for their genre-blending track, "Belispeak." Along with "Ungirthed" and new track "Obedear," it will appear within Purity Ring 's long-awaited debut record on Last Gang/4AD , Shrines (July 24th). While it's very difficult to describe the band's unique brand of music, here goes a shot @ some [descriptive] adjectives: Future Pop , glitched out, man-made, Hip-...

Claire Boucher seems to be flirting with the idea of becoming a "Hip-Hop producer," as of late. The Montreal -based Experimental artist who's alternatively known as "Grimes" is currently on a promotional jaunt for her third full-length and major label debut, Visions . It was liberated across North America just yesterday [Feb. 21st], self-recorded @ Claire Boucher 's apartment over a 3 week period, and then skillfully mixed/mastered along with her manager, Sebastian Cowan . Following a minor water-borne run in with the law (2009), Boucher's "street cred" was slightly boosted. Grimes' initial exploration into the world of Hip-Hop was released in conjunction with Visions : Cadence Weapon - "88." The 2 Canadian -bred artists struck up an Internet -based friendship a few months back and Claire Boucher willingly handed over a bare-bones beat version of "Eight." Cadence Weapon then morphed it into a tender ode to H...