The Witzard

Madlib & Four Tet at Ed Wilson's Brawn - CREDIT: Egon (@nowagain) Just this year alone, extremely prolific DJ, producer, emcee, and multi-instrumentalist Madlib has self-released Bandana Beats (an instrumental version of his 2019 album with Freddie Gibbs,) The Professionals/The Professionals Instrumentals with his brother, Oh No, a special Piñata '64 variant of his 2014 album with Gibbs, and Pardon My French as The Jahari Massamba Unit with Karriem Riggins. But somewhat unsurprisingly, Madlib isn't done just yet... yesterday afternoon, long-time friend, ex-Stones Throw general manager, Now-Again Records founder and president, and parter in Madlib Invazion Eothen "Egon" Alapatt (@nowagain) made a surprise announcement on Instagram. Within a lengthy post, Egon shared Madlib and like-minded beatsmith Four Tet had been working together on a collaborative release. "Sound Ancestors, arranged by Kieran Hebden, coming January 2021 on Madlib Invazion. First s...

CREDIT: Ivan Scruby/NOBL (@noblphotos) Total Nonstop Action by The M-Tet "Growth is a slippery slope for musicians. Once you've become established for a sound and style, the expectation to adhere to what put you where you are looms overhead at every writing session, rehearsal, and show. Purists for Meters-style Funk would, probably, scoff at a band suddenly rolling out Yamaha DX-7's and double-neck guitars, no matter how stank the groove. But, then, there's the musician's inner itch for exploration, experimentation, and expansion that keeps the process that much more exciting at a time where most of us won't reach higher tax brackets through music. The incentive to keep going is growth. But, perhaps, the most difficult feat is straddling the line—to grow and build upon a trademark sound while managing to not alienate a core audience. Bay Area Funk quartet, The M-Tet, manage to pull off the ever elusive Option C on their sophomore long-player, TOTAL NONSTOP A...

Broken Bells (@broken_bells) have been teasing something since about August with cryptic black-and-white in-studio Polaroid -esque photos , some dated as far back as 7/26/18. Broken Bells is, of course, the collaborative duo of James Mercer & Brian Burton . Mercer is the long-time frontman of The Shins/Flake Music and Burton is also, known as super-producer Danger Mouse ; who has worked with everyone from MF DOOM (DANGERDOOM) to The Black Keys , A$AP Rocky to Parquet Courts , and likely, most famously, as Gnarls Barkley with Cee-Lo . Since initially forming in 2008-09, Broken Bells have released two full-lengths, 2010's Broken Bells and 2014's After The Disco , as well as a 2011 EP dubbed Meyrin Fields and a number of non-album singles. Honestly, we, here at The Witzard , personally, favor Broken Bells' self-titled 2010 debut, but their entire cannon of music is phenomenal! Lest we forget, Broken Bells courted a then-relatively unknown Christina Hendricks (...

"This music makes me wanna make more children. It makes me feel like things are gonna be alright," Atmosphere emcee Slug once proclaimed concerning Minneapolis-based duo Bones & Beeker. Consisting of Anthony "Tony" Newes (vocals, guitar, keys, and other sounds) and Brendan Kelly AKA BK-One (production, drum programming, keys, glockenspiel, kalimba) Bones & Beeker released a self-titled 2015 album on Wax Poetics Records . While it's hard to peg Bones & Beeker's output as one distinct genre label, they draw influence from Jazz, Funk/Soul, Indie Pop, Hip-Hop, and a multitude of genre-eschewing sounds; however, the most fitting descriptions of Bones & Beeker's overall sound I've found comes directly from the band themselves—Tony describing it as "The Toys meet Hip-Hop" and BK-One likening their sound to "a sample-based Paul Simon"—during a 2015 video interview with THEOREMATIC . Bones & Beeker also features inst...

First and foremost, I have to readily admit, what you see below is a previously unpublished 2017 interview with Jay "J-Zone" Mumford & Pablo Martin of The Du-Rites conducted right around the release of their second collaborative album, Greasy Listening, or "2 albums - 1 CD Mo' Funk, Less $$." After conducting the initial emailed interview with both Jay & Pablo, my fiance and I purchased our first home together, the holidays came and went, and amidst constant preparations for our Fall 2018 wedding, I quite simply, and unfortunately, forgot to publish my second comprehensive Q&A with The Du-Rites. It actually, makes complete and total sense, in its own weird way, to publish this interview now, as Greasy Listening and almost all the separate projects from J-Zone & Pablo Martin mentioned within—aside from The Du-Rites' full "The Odyssey" (The Fizzy Wo-Magnificent Remix)—have been effectively released to the masses: THE ZONE IDENTITY...

"Bite It" b/w "Bocho's Groove" 7" Single by The Du-Rites "The inspiration was mostly the good reception that the first album [The Du-Rites] had and sonically, the reference plan for have something consistent with our sound, but further enough from it to not sound repetitive [compared to the first album]. As for the single for Greasy Listening , as a whole, the main inspiration was the four months we had to wait to get the single back from the [pressing] plant," The Du-Rites' guitar/bass guitar/synthesizer/ Fender Rhodes player Pablo Martin wrote within a recent emailed statement. "Sonically, it's dirtier and in general, it sounds like a smaller ensemble. Philosophically, it has to do with the transition of Jay moving on from the crap you have to deal [with being] an emcee and a Hip-Hop producer with the crap you have to deal with being a gigging drummer/musician and me having a good laugh, while witnessing that. The single is...

"Just some nasty instrumental Funk! It’s a niche market, but that’s always been where my heart is. I just never had the resources or the right mind and skill sets til now. When I first started playing drums, Pablo called me to sit in with his band, PABLO, because the drummer wasn’t showing up. They were patient with me as I learned my instrument and how to play with other musicians, instead of just jamming in my basement. I eventually became the drummer in that band, but for a moment, the rest of the band was busy with stuff and both Pablo and I had other side projects that were kind of dragging. The PABLO band is more like Rock, so Pablo and I decided to make a pure Funk project on our own. That became The Du-Rites and it’s ironic that it’s coming out before all the other projects and is actually getting really good feedback. It was initially inspired by restlessness and a desire to "Funk out,'" Jay "J-Zone" Mumford replied during our previous August 2016...

"$24 spent on what exactly?" I somewhat feverishly quipped, to which Lulu Lewis guitarist and co-founder Pablo Martin readily replied, "two skull masks and a party gun with a flag that says BANG!!!... the rest, Dylan [Hundley] did on an iPhone ... and iMovie , some public domain footage, and the rest, we did [with] the band at Bill Harvey 's place. We put a sheet and lights on the back and did shadows... pretty simple" via text. Let me back up and provide a little added context here: I've recently been in touch with J-Zone 's resident studio engineer and The Du-Rites bandmate Pablo Martin , who graciously agreed to let me premier his band, Lulu Lewis' latest video-single, "All Just Pretending" here at The Witzard . He attests, and I wholeheartedly believe him, but it's still a little hard to believe, that their self-shot black-and-white "All Just Pretending" video only cost a measly $24 to fund and produce! "I t...

Self-described husband, dad, crate-digger, beard cultivator, and Flea Market Funk founder DJ Prestige heroically recounted "Bug Juice" as "pure Funk with no option on Soundcloud for the Funk genre, this may be the record that makes them put Funk in there, seriously. This instrumental is heavy, and J-Zone's drum break towards the end solidifies this as one of our faves of 2016." J-Zone & Pablo Martin are currently holed up in the studio readying their "Bug JUice" 7-inch EP for September with a full-length album to likely follow as soon as October or November. J-Zone's own on-site govillaingo.com biography additionally notes that he's currently "also preparing for the roll out of SuperBlack," yet another super-group formed with the likes of legendary De La Soul-affiliated producer Prince Paul and American TV producer, filmmaker, writer, and The White Mandingos member Sacha Jenkins. "Um, I pretty much think of myself as like ...

" The Du-Rites finally drop a full song to check out. "Bug Juice" now on Soundcloud (who are a bunch of squares a bunch of squares and simps for not having a "Funk" option in their genre drop[-down] menu, but "Trap" is available). To hear: my website link in bio - newest post or soundcloud.com/thedurites . 7-inch single later next month; album late Fall," multi-instrumentalist and Hip-Hop producer Jay "J-Zone" Mumford wrote within a recent aptly-titled @jzonedontig Instagram post. Still hot on the heels of his latest solo album, Fish-n-Grits , which is made up of a gaggle of limited edition vinyl-only 7-inch releases dating as far back as 2014 and new material, J-Zone has readied "probably the closest to what [he] aspired to in my Funk-drenched 80's childhood" in the form of a newly-minted 2-man Funk band, fittingly titled The Du-Rites . J-Zone is currently preparing a 7-inch Funk instrumental EP with his lon...

" about the album... Proof that [there] is still sample-based Boom-Bap from Baltimore. When you get a chance, please check out the new album from Jumbled, called [I wish it was longer] . When Jumbled sent early demos to friends, many responded that they were disappointed with the brevity of the project. All songs are produced by Jumbled, in his home in Northeast Baltimore. As with most albums, this project took almost 2 years to complete, between working, making beats, and organizing collaborations with emcees. This album is meant to be a showcase of production, which is enhanced by guest vocals," read the introductory paragraph of a cold email submission sent by self-described "teacher, husband, beat-maker, [and] dish washer" John Bachman. Mr. Bachman, a high school engineering teacher, records sample and Bmore Club-based Hip-Hop as Jumbled during his nights and weekends off. I fostered quite a relationship with John online over the course of the past month, du...