The Witzard

"I'm writing all the time, but recently I got the bug back. When it comes, it comes, and I can't force it, but... I got it back with "Hotline Bling" and all the other things I've been experimenting with," Erykah Badu recently told Noisey concerning her five-year gap between New Amerykah Part 2 (Return of The Ankh) and just-released But You Caint Use My Phone ; a clever allusion to Badu's own widely-acclaimed 1997 Live single "Tyrone," in which she famously laments, "you need to call Tyrone... but ya can't use my phone." "HOT LINE BLING BUT U CAINT USE MY PHONE MIX" (now re-titled "Cell U Lar Device" ) was initially conceived as an impromptu birthday present for a friend of Erykah Badu 's with assistance from Dallas -area producer Zach Witness , better known locally as one White Chocolate . "When I thought about doing the "Hotline Bling" remix, I thought about him. And the same ...

"Once in a while, a pop songwriter is not a songwriter, but a discoverer – some kind of celestial [archaeologist], uncovering the bones of songs that already exist somewhere, perfectly. D.A. exhibits such exploration here, his discoveries beautifully intact in their sparest, most potent forms. Some daringly plain wizardry," Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes frontman Alex Ebert said in high praise of close friend D.A. Wallach's long-awaited Harvest Records debut, Time Machine . Along with former Chester French partner-in-crime Max Drummey, Wallach was initially discovered by Hip-Hop heavyweights Kanye West and Pharrell, while he was studying as an undergrad at Harvard. Chester French released three full-length albums during their brief tenure together and somehow, managed to ignite a three-way bidding war between Kanye, Pharrell, and Jermaine Dupri with their infectious debut single, "She Loves Everybody." On the heels of Chester French's final album, ...

"+ fyi - every song on this album is a completely different style, so ["flesh without blood"] isn't a 'representation' of everything, just a taste of a vibe," @Grimezsz recently revealed on Twitter following the unexpected premier of her first Art Angels double-singe, "Flesh Without Blood/Life In The Vivid Dream." Grimes' long-awaited and previously scrapped follow-up to her critically-acclaimed album Visions (2012) has rather interestingly been described by Claire Boucher herself as: "it's all "real instruments," half of the tracks are diss tracks, there's a Nu-Metal track with a Taiwanese rapper, the whole thing was inspired by Billy Joel , there's a song about a gender-fluid vampire Al Pacino ," of course, paraphrased and reinterpreted a bit by the good people over at Stereogum . On the heels of "Flesh Without Blood" & "Life In The Vivid Dream," Grimes called in BBC Ra...

Aside from his pseudo-brother-in-law Kanye West , I've never really heard tell of a rapper readily associating himself with Kardashian -bred entrepreneur Scott Disick ; until the red bearded charmer himself, Action Bronson effortlessly proclaimed, "Yo, it's the rap Scott Disick / Come through the f*ckin' block with some hot lizards." Bronson's long-time friend and Well Done collaborator Statik Selektah recruited him for the introductory verse on his latest single, "The Imperial." While it's only been out for a few days, AllHipHop has already dubbed Selektah's recent efforts "the unofficial Make-a-Wish foundation for dream rap collaborations," presumably for pairing Bronson up with Slaughterhouse member Royce Da 5'9" and veteran Roots emcee Black Thought . Now, try to stay with me here, but Action Bronson really seems to be the missing link between everyone involved here: he previously worked with Statik Selekt...

Miss Janelle Monáe is actually Big Boi 's former fun-loving muse, who's now signed to Diddy 's own micro-universe, Bad Boy Records and first appeared on Purple Ribbon All-Stars, Vol. II (2005). Anyways, she's supposedly hard @ work on her sophomore album, Electric Lady , which is coming soon. It's the long-awaited follow-up to Janelle Monáe 's critically-acclaimed 3-part Space Soul-Funk series, Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase) EP and The ArchAndroid (2010). Monáe recently told Billboard , "The album in general is more revealing. It's more personal. I'm taking a lot more risks on this album" in a pre- Coachella interview. Lead single, "Q.U.E.E.N." embodies Janelle Monáe whole androgynous 50's Greaser chic fashion sense, complete with pompadour. Director Alan Ferguson conjures up a living museum chock-full of frozen legendary rebels who are suspiciously brought to life by the neck-snapping groove. Janellle Monáe ...

My old college friend Dani was telling me about "Some Nights" a couple weekends ago @ the bar, vaguely describing it's overall style as "Afrobeat." I have to admit, right off the bat, I wasn't entirely convinced... But after a few repeated listens, I was soon convinced that fun. was much more than a mere One Hit Wonder ("We Are Young") . For fun. 's recent [second] album, they enlisted the help of Kanye -affiliated Hip-Hop producer, Jeff Bhasker . Fine-crafted over roughly 9 months, Some Nights was liberated to the masses way back on Feb. 14th; The experimental recording sessions were truly a first for both parties, who generally lean towards opposite ends of the Hip-Hop/Indie Rock spectrum. Currently signed to Fuel By Ramen , fun. 's intricate 3-part sound is made up of Nate Ruess, Andrew Dost , and Jack Antonoff . The band's first album, Aim & Ignite (2009) was highly revered by fans and critics alike. While it's es...

Earlier this year, 23-year-old Nutley, NJ native, Mike Volpe ("Clams Casino") released a mixtape chock-full of instrumental Hip-Hop beats - completely on a whim. Said mixtape, the aptly-titled "Instrumentals" was received with great praise far and wide! So, instead of making one of those cliché "Year-End Lists" like everyone and their brother, though I will admit that I briefly contemplated the idea... I'm just gonna go ahead and say it: Clams Casino - Instrumentals was hands down, the Mixtape Album of The Year ! And with that said, it's almost inappropriate to categorize this genre-jumping materpiece as solely "Hip-Hop." Soon after, Witch-House label, Tri Angle released a collection of original Volpe material: Rainforest EP (June 2011). For all intensive purposes, Clams Casino essentially created Lil B 's now infamous stream-of-consciousness #BASED musical stylings. One could further argue that Volpe also had a strong ha...