The Witzard

Just one day after posting it's looping 4-minute long trailer and mere hours after a collection of online remixes was released, Lana del Rey has unveiled the Anthony Mandler -directed music video short film for her track, "National Anthem." A pair of rising young stars each with a single album [mixtape] under their belt, I'm pretty sure that Lana del Rey & A$AP Rocky can relate to Jackie O. & JFK , the characters which they loosely portray throughout "National Anthem." Self-admitted fans of eachother's work(s), del Rey and Rocky first met over Winter 2011-12 while working together on a collaborative track. "Ridin'" was written/recorded along with The Kickdrums , hastily pulled from Follow The Leader , and appended onto A$AP Rocky 's upcoming Sept. 11th debut LP, LONGLIVEA$AP . Man, I can already tell that "National Anthem" is going to be one of those videos that everyone and their brother blogs bout, while no ...

In my eyes, John Mayer is pretty much a d*ck, who's last memorable body of work was Try! (2005). Man, I lost a lot of respect for him after that slur-laden Playboy interview detailing his supposed "escapades" with Jessica Simpson, Jennifer Aniston , black women, etc. Plus everything post- John Mayer Trio has been under-whelmingly lackluster and honestly, that's pretty damn sad for such a talented guitar player. But I digress... John Mayer has partially redeemed himself with this recently unveiled cover of "Video Games." Here, Mayer can be heard re-constructing a riff-heavy interpretation of Lana del Rey 's break-out hit. I guess John Mayer lost his voice [twice] and had to cancel some tour dates - Instant Karma! I, personally WILL NOT be picking up a copy of his new album, Born & Raised when it's released this upcoming May 22nd . "Video Games" however, appears on Lana del Rey 's major label debut, Born 2 Die , which is now...

Easily becoming one of the music industry's most widely loved/hated aspiring young star[letts], Lizzy "Lana del Rey" Grant released a lavish, new music video for "Blue Jeans" earlier this morning. Originally unveiled with a hand-made Grant video back in Sept. 2011, "Blue Jeans" (single) will see a major label re-release this coming April. Lana del Rey 's music is essentially manufactured, sugar-coated Pop perfect for Britney Spears' angst-filled tween 20-something fans. While I have yet to hear the complete Born 2 Die album, I must admit, that of the 8-10 tracks I have heard, "Blue Jeans" still remains my personal favourite. "Blue Jeans" 's re-loaded video is an eloquent black & white affair that shows off Lana del Rey 's best assets, as well as her blooming acting/modelling chops. "Blue Jeans" was directed by Yoann Lemoine (Woodkid) and co-stars model Bradley Soileau , who both previously wo...

Lana del Rey took the Indie blogosphere by storm in 2011. The mysterious singer's debut song, "Video Games" was a hipster hit, but equally buzzed about were Rey's spellbindingly gorgeous looks (and impossibly plump lips). Now, del Rey (25) is adding "model" to her resume after signing a contract with NEXT Model Management , Elle UK reports. Lana's had something of a nascent style career already: She's been dressed by Prabal Gurung and performed at parties sponsored by Mulberry , and "Video Games" was used as background music for Spring/Summer 2012 shows by Prabal, Christoper Kane and Emilio de la Morena . 2012 was already looking promising for Lana del Rey ; She's set to release her [debut] LP, Born 2 Die later this month. Perhaps she'll be adding a Prada campaign -- for real this time -- to her arsenal. And if del Rey becomes the next chanteuse-turned-fashion-muse, Florence Welch will have some friendly competition. If yo...

Yes yes, like the majority of Web 2.0 World , I have indeed fallen delightfully in "love" with one Lana del Rey ... and I'll be the first to admit that I've indeed posted my fair share of assorted tracks and remixes centered around the sultry songstress. But as a die-hard Indie Rock/D.I.Y. fan, this most recent BALAM ACAB -produced "Video Games" re-work is by far the most interesting, compelling, and buzz-worth take presented thus far. It was mysteriously uploaded to the artist's personal Facbook account sometime over the course of this past weekend. The man behind the "BALAM ACAB" moniker is in fact Alec Koone , a 20-year-old Pennsylvania native, who was partially responsible for the ever-rapid rise of "Witch-House" as a LEGIT[imate] musical genre. Since breaking onto the Indie music scene in 2008, Koone has released 2 EP-LP's worth of J Dilla -inspired Experimental tunes to widespread acclaim: See Birds EP and Wander/W...

Full disclosure: This is like a "Dream Post" for us here @ The Witzard , as it includes 3 of my absolute favourite things... Indie Hip-Hop , voluptuous women [redheads], and cutting-edge sample sources. I really hope that all of my fellow Hip-Hop heads and crate-diggers , and of course our array of female fans thoroughly enjoy this assortment of tracks, too. The blending of Lana del Rey's sampled vocal riffs and go-to Hip-Hop stylings makes more sense than you might think... since Lana del Rey is in fact, a self-proclaimed Hip-Hop aficionado: "You're so fresh to death & sick as ca-cancer. You were sorta Punk Rock , I grew up on Hip-Hop ." I must admit that I'm really looking forward to seeing/hearing what this seductive songstress has in store next for the music industry! For starters, it should be noted that up-and-coming producer "Silky Johnson" is in fact named after Dave Chappelle 's infamous character of the same name, who ap...

"[That's] what you do when it's time for your second record. I'd written everything I wanted to write. I'd liked what I'd done, I'd liked my first record; [Lizzy Grant] was autobiographical and beautiful. "Video Games" is a 5-minute ballad with no instruments... It was a downscale from what I'd been doing with a fucking live orchestra. It was synthetic harps and no drums. It was a perfect melody for me, I thought it matched me. When people liked it, it was my least commercial song, it wasn't even a song anyone wanted on the Internet . It was a baby." - Lana del Rey , speaking with Sean Fennessey (GQ) .

"Lana del Rey" is the recently-implemented stage name of one Lizzy Grant , a doe-eyed singer-songwriter from Brooklyn . After garnering lackluster responses as a solo artist, 24-year-old Grant went back to the drawing board... and along with her PR team, conceptualized the alter ego that is now better known as "Lana del Rey." There's even rumored to be an album named after the persona, which was released before the complete ["package"] concept was fully realized (2009-10); It seems as though the album has since been pulled from all major online retailers. Of the 5-6 Lana del Rey mp3 tracks that I've managed to locate... 3 seem to be fairly recent, noteworthy, and official: "Video Games," "Blue Jeans," and "Kinda Outta Luck." Having dubbed herself "The Gangster Nancy Sinatra," that illusive SWAGGER is eloquently plastered across the 3 above-stated del Rey tracks. Fans of these compositions, may also ...