The Witzard

Honestly, it doesn't even feel like there's a proper way to elegize an eccentric and extremely talented artist such as MF DOOM, who meant so much to so many of us for so many years for so many different reasons as truly unique as DOOM himself. So, what better way to pay tribute to The Man, The Myth, THE MASK himself than by speaking to those closest to him? With a heavy heart, I proudly present Shadows of Tomorrow; a new recurring column in tribute to DOOM in an effort to re-tell the tall tales, strange stories, and lesser-known tidbits of The Metal Face Villain himself. R.I.P. Daniel "MF DOOM" Dumile Thompson. "MF DOOM is easily the most inspirational act in Indie Hip-Hop. His voice, flow, production, character development, story-telling, and his ability to piece a cohesive album together were all extraordinary. Even in the early 90's in his KMD days, he was way ahead of his time. Going from a bright-eyed youth in his high school/KMD days—who wouldn...

Robert Smith has been the long-time smeared lipstick-wearing frontman of The Cure since 1978. Aside from his beloved body of work with The Cure, Smith has released a limited number of outer-band recordings on his own. Those including collaborations with, but not limited to, Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Glove, Cult Hero, Crystal Castles, The Twilight Sad, blink-182, The Stranglers, KoЯn, and Junkie XL. Robert Smith has, additionally, released a number of solo recordings including "Pictures of You" (Paul Mac Remix) from the One Perfect Day Soundtrack, a cover of Kathryn Beaumont's "Very Good Advice" from Almost Alice, a cover of John Martyn's "Small Hours" the Johnny Boy Would Love This tribute comp. and lastly, a cover of Frank Sinatra's "Witchcraft" from Frankenweenie Unleashed! (Music Inspired By The Motion Picture.) It was announced earlier this week Smith would be appearing alongside Gorillaz, the long-time "virtual...

For the past few months, Damon Albarn & Jamie Hewlett's long-running "cartoon" band, Gorillaz, singer 2-D, bassist Murdoc Niccals, guitarist Noodle, and drummer Russel Hobbs, have been trickling out new songs sporadically during Quarantine. As part of their ongoing Song Machine series, Gorillaz have released numerous "Episodes" (songs) and "Machine Bitez" including "Momentary Bliss" Feat. slowthai & Slaves, "Désolé" Feat. Fatoumata Diawara, "Aries" Feat. Peter Hook (Joy Division/New Order) & Georgia, and "Friday 13th" Feat. Octavian. Plus, Gorillaz shared another non-Song Machine song by way of "How Far?" Feat. Tony Allen & Skepta in tribute/homage to Damon Albarn's long-time friend and collaborator, Allen, who, unfortunately, passed away back in April at the age of 79. "Song Machine—the cartoon music contraption, which spits out brand new episodes fresh from the studio, as and...

Landfill Crew is a fictional animated Punk Rock band set during the mid-80's heyday of the formative East/West Coast Punk & Hardcore scenes. Landfill Crew AKA LFC 's self-titled debut 2x7-inch EP was originally recorded on March 12, 1987 in Bagga's Basement , although, it was just properly released earlier this week on Pirates Press & Hellcat Records . According to the record's inserts, Landfill Crew consists of frontman Anthony "Hux" Campbell , guitarist & vocalist Bagger "Bagga Bullets" Russell , drummer Jennifer "Jenny" Arellano , guitarist Cliff "Pakman" Esmond , and bassist Horace "Baby" Harringtton . Its reverse sleeve denotates the 2x7-inch EP was produced by Tim "Timebomb" Armstrong , with artwork & layout by J Bonner , and sends a very "special thanks to Clarence for bringing the donuts." However, much in the same vein as like-minded animated Alternative Rock/Hip-Hop b...

"My name is Charles Edison. I'm a beat-maker/producer/rapper from Essex originally, now based in South London. I started making beats roughly 10 years ago, but got semi-serious with it around five years ago. I use a mix of samples and synths in my beats and draw on quite a wide scope of influences, which I'll delve into a little bit with a couple of albums that really defined my approach to music..." Everything is Fine by Charles Edison I. MF DOOM & Madlib (MADVILLAIN) - MADVILLAINY (2004) "I know this will probably be on a lot of people's lists, if you ask them about influential or definitive Hip-Hop albums, but it's a great one for illustrating what can happen, when the right people are brought together. Madlib is well-known for finding great loops and not messing with them too much; just opening them up for someone like DOOM with that free-associative flow to just let loose on. To me, it's just the perfect example of a Hip-Hop record. The...

" SADEVILLAIN came about when I made two remixes back to back consisting of MF DOOM and Sade ( "Air" & "Silver Spoon" ). After posting it on the /r/MFDOOM subreddit, I got some pretty good feedback, and one user suggested I should make a full mixtape involving only MF DOOM and Sade , and I thought that was a great idea, so I laced some more samples with some of my production and went to work," mysterious 18-year-old British producer Sean Harrison aka Seanh2k11 wrote within an emailed conversation just two nights ago. Harrison quietly uploaded his 8-track SADEVILLAIN EP to DatPiff Monday afternoon with the intent to generate "maybe 1,000 views max," which quickly garnered critical acclaim from okayplayer , FACT, Highsnobiety , rapper Lupe Fiasco, and a number of additional online publications; in an attempt to distance and set myself apart from my peers, I reached out to Seanh2k11 via his YouTube channel in hopes to line up a SADE...

"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 ...

I wonder if [MF] DOOM ended up making an appearance @ The London Olympics a couple weeks ago... or could it have the fine doings of a skillfully-trained " DOOM-poster !?" Either way, DOOM has been living "across the pond" due to a scattered details exile since about 2010, which was when/where he originally linked up with Jneiro Jarel . KEY TO THE KUFFS is the resulting album that was slowly pieced together, recorded under the dual-moniker "JJ DOOM," and featuring guest verses from Damon Albarn, Khujo Goodie , Beth Gibbons, and Boston Fielder - members of Gorillaz , Goodie Mob , and Portishead aided fame (respectively). DOOM is a very left-field, mysterious [prolific] kind of guy and KEY TO THE KUFFS really seems like a fitting album to be released in his 25th year as a performer! Ninian Doff directed the highly- Experimental , split-screen music video for "Guv'nor" as part of Rizlab Project #4 , which was ultimately unveiled late W...

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...

I've been a hardcore music fan for about 10-15 years now; An admitted lover of all things Hip-Hop, Indie Rock , and Punk (Pop Culture). OutKast, Gorillaz , and LCD Soundsystem have been atop my list of favourite artists for some time and were quite arguably the 3 most eclectic musicians of the last decade! So, much to my delight it was pretty exciting to hear about Converse 's latest "3 Artists, 1 Song" installment: Damon Albarn , André 3000 , and James Murphy. "DoYaThing" premiered online earlier today, in conjunction with the release of 4 SPECIAL EDITION Jamie Hewlett -designed Gorillaz "Chucks." Pitchfork 's very own Ryan Dombal reports that while in the studio over 3 days back in September, the eclectic trio also recorded a Dirty 12-minute version of "DoYaThing" in addition to the [previously released] Radio Edit. Gorillaz are set to debut a companion music video and the long version online in the coming weeks. "DoYa...

Romy xx, Jamie xx & Oliver Sim are currently isolated - hard @ work on the untitled follow-up to their highly successful debut album, "xx" (2009). The xx plan to release the set ahead of a string of Summer 2012 festival appearances. Jamie xx has said that his production style is now inspired by Club music and is "party-motivated." Since bursting onto the UK music scene, Jamie xx has worked with [remixed] the likes of Florence + The Machine , Drake-Rihanna, Gil Scott-Heron, Adele ... Shakira, Kwes , and Gorillaz . Later on in 2009, second guitarist-keyboardist Baria Qureshi parted ways with The xx due to "personal differences;" Qureshi was one of the band's 4 founding members - All of whom met in 2005, while studying @ Elliott School (London) . The first demo from "xx2," "Open Eyes" was released over Christmas Holiday . A sparse, feedback-drenched piano/guitar-based piece, you can tell that "Open Eyes" is a...

Lana del Rey [Lizzy Grant] effectively became 2011's "It Girl" with the release of her phenomenal debut single, "Video Games" (Stranger) . Like many struggling singer-songwriters, Grant has been signed, dropped, and significantly changed her public image since bursting onto the scene (2009). With that said, it can be assumed that Lana del Rey has collected just as many "haters" as she has avid supporters. To be perfectly honest, the only other artist I can think of that made this much commotion... garnered so much wide-spread buzz/hate and critical acclaim -- right out of the gates -- with just one track is Britney Spears . And maybe in this post- Mike musical era, that's the true synthesis of Pop Culture: Britney Lynn Spears . After months of repeated teasing and speculation, Lana del Rey 's major label debut, Born 2 Die will [finally] be released this coming Jan. 30-31, 2012. Pitchfork reports that it will feature "Off to The Ra...

Much to the delight of zealous fans, Black Star are back for Round 2, after a 10-year [semi-]hiatus. Since issuing Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star (1998), the Boom Bap duo have stayed pretty silent; Excluding the occasional Mos Def feature, Talib Kweli Remix, or vice versa, of course. In honor of Black Friday #blackstarfriday 2011, Yasiin Bey & Talib Kweli released their latest single, "Fix Up" to iTunes' online data-base. Some of you may recall the fact that this very song was performed LIVE @ Colbert Report Studios a few mere weeks ago [Below]. Mind you, that was just Friday morning... Rounding off the day's nation-wide festive shopping excursions, Black Star liberated yet another new track: "You Already Knew" that very evening. Granted, this track isn't from Black Star 's long-rumored triumphant return - Although it will indefinitely appear within Black Star Aretha : a mixtape tribute crafted in honor of legendary songst...