The Witzard

The Roots 1994: B.R.O.THER ?, HUB, Malik B. & Black Thought (SOURCE: Hip Hop Nostalgia) As tight and insular a unit as The Roots can be, a great deal of their identity is rooted in their open and experimental approach to collaboration. Throughout the band's life, they've brought in a revolving cast of vocalists, poets, emcees, singers, and DJ's [who] laid down their own unique contributions to The Roots' sound. Like each of the band's albums that followed it, Do You Want More?!!!??! (DYM?!!!??!) is packed with outstanding performances from guests. Here are five great guest spots on Do You Want More?!!!??! Rufus Harley North Carolina-born bagpiper, Rufus Harley spent most of his life in Philadelphia's Germantown and North Philly sections. An unsung innovator, Harley would spend the 60's and 70's carving out a space for the bagpipes in Jazz with his delightful, Soul-Jazz records for the Atlantic label, as well as his highly spiritual Jazz cla...

As many of you may know, this past Friday was Bandcamp Friday, wherein Bandcamp decide to waive their artist fees, graciously giving artists 100% of their profits accrued over a 24-hour period. My wife and I had a baby appointment on Friday, but I posted a comprehensive Twitter THREAD containing noteworthy new releases. Plus, I personally supported nine different artists spending $40 in total on Friday alone. This was the second time Bandcamp has done such Bandcamp Fridays events amidst these uncertain time and I hear, there are already plans to do another one in June. So, even though this month's Bandcamp Friday has already passed, your favorite Indie/underground artists could still use you support! We've decided to run a couple features spotlighting some of our favorite artists, albums, EP's, mixtapes, genres, etc. right here on The Witzard! We're calling it Best of Bandcamp and this inaugural edition will spotlight Bandcamp-only beat tapes released in recent weeks...

John Morrison Diggin' for Records (CREDIT: D1L0) John "Liberator" Morrison is a self-proclaimed "Writer/DJ/Sample-flipper" hailing from Philly. Morrison is the host of Serious Rap Sh!t & Culture Cypher Radio and lists NPR Music , okayplayer, The Wire Magazine , and Bandcamp amongst his writing credits. John Morrison , additionally, functions as a Hip-Hop emcee and producer with remix credits on Lushlife 's MY IDOLS ARE DEAD + MY ENEMIES ARE IN POWER and Career Crooks' Thieving As Long As I'm Breathing . Morrison's debut full-length project, Southwest Psychedelphia was released on Deadverse Recordings in 2016 and there's currently a slew of remixes, flips, and non-album tracks uploaded to his Bandcamp page. However, in recent years, John Morrison has been on a bit of a hiatus/medical leave... as Morrison himself puts it, "on March 3, 2018, I was hospitalized with Flu-like symptoms and a searing headache. After nearly two weeks...

"Sweet Fall" is a song I've had in my possession for, at least, six months now, as I received it literally days before my wedding. It's been a bit delayed on my end, as most coverage has been for the last few months because... well, life! Although, honestly, it might have just worked out this time because the accompanying Bob Sweeney -directed music video for "Sweet Fall" is out, now, too. DEC 4 is the newly-enacted project of Philly -based musician, vocalist, and lyricist Justin Zugerman (@zuwear_.) It appears as though Zugerman is, in fact, a childhood friend of both John Morrison & Josh "Indi" Leidy of the Serious Rap Sh*t podcast. After going on an indefinite hiatus from his long-time Psychedelic/Experimental/Hip-Hop project with Chris Grau , Oxygen&Light , Morrison & Leidy introduced DEC 4 to their friend and fellow Philly -based producer and multi-instrumentalist, Harry Metz , whom most of you may well know as Rolled Gold...

"I'm a huge Beasties fan and have been since I was a kid. Coming out of Hip-Hop and crate-digging culture, I'd always find records like The Moog Machine's Switched-On Rock (1969) and Led Zeppelin IV (1971) that The Beasties had sampled. As I was going through the BEASTIE BOYS BOOK , I noticed in a few chapters, they'd talk about the mixtapes that they'd make and trade with samples, skits, weird Jazz records, and stuff. I remember a great interview that Wax Poetics did with The Beasties years ago that mentioned these tapes, as well. I figured I could make a playlist equivalent. The early chapters of the book are fascinating to me, as well. They really capture this culturally-rich time in New York in the late 70's/early 80's when you had early Hip-Hop like DJ Jazzy Jay and The Zulu Nation playing at The Mudd Club, as well as No Wave/Post-Punk bands, like Sonic Youth and Arto Lindsay's DNA playing Punk clubs and art galleries. The mixtape aspect o...