The Witzard

Wampire are a newly augmented Indie Rock band hailing from "Hipsterville, USA" Portland, Oregon ; founding members Eric Phipps and Rocky Tinder have been actively performing together since about 2001 playing dance-friendly Electronic music at local house parties. While it doesn't exactly specifically mention musicians names or which instruments have been added, a recent Stereogum post notes that " Wampire are a quintet now — a "real band," if you will." Although WAMPIRE 's Facebook page seems to have been recently updated to feature their mysterious new band mates' names: Cole Browning, Owen Thompson , and Thomas Hoganson ... but still lacks respective instrument specifications. Judging by "Wizard Staff," the lead single from their forthcoming second album Bazaar , Wampire are seemingly taking their fledgling music career(s) a little more seriously than the former half jokey Horror-Punk roll-out behind Curiosity (2013),...

James Blake is basically the "Iggy Pop" of imported First Wave Dubstep , before it got all sugar-coated and mainstream [corny]. While it's a little unclear as to when it was originally stripped down and mixed together, "Confidence Boost" is a James Blake Harmonimix of a track that was first released back on Soulfood, Vol. 2: Lyriks (2007). Blake has brutally remixed Grime emcee Trim 's hard-hitting composition into something completely different... Skrillex could definitely learn a few things! Although, Pitchfork went on to point out that this isn't just a mere remix, it's a newly-recorded, suped-up version. Let's just call it "Confidence Boost (2.0)," for argument's sake and man, this is a CRAZY/cool breed of Hip-Hop that's in a category all of it's own! James Blake is quite arguably the most Soulful white dude in contemporary music since Hall & Oates made their ever-lasting mark on Soft Rock back in the...

I must admit that I've kept in contact with Topher Mohr since our last featured article (2010)... he's parted ways with Mayer Hawthorne & The County , recorded a second full-length album, and is currently shopping new material around to major labels. I was lucky enough to get an advanced copy of said album, Phlotilla and I must admit: What a varied, cleanly-produced piece of work we have here! 4 of it's 11 tracks previously appeared on Topher Mohr 's self-released Ruthless EP in slightly altered form(s). As a whole, I think it'd be safe to categorize Phlotilla as "Soft Rock;" Sonically reminiscent of Steely Dan, Hall & Oates , and The Beach Boys with touches of Reggae and Funk-Soul . Friends and frequent collaborators: Quentin Joseph, Alex Elena , and Quincy McCrary added unique musical flourishes [backing] to the record's 11 original compositions. "Forever Yours" -- one of the newly-penned, unreleased tracks of the bunch --...