The Witzard

Happy New Year to all of our trusty readers! 2020 marks 10 consecutive years of The Witzard, which is a little hard to believe, even for me! It's been a great ride thus far and we greatly appreciate everyone that visits and supports our site on a regular basis! I'm hoping to do a full site re-design in 2020 (something I've wanted to do for a few years!) but my wife and I are expecting our first child this Summer... so, we'll just have to see what happens, honestly. Hope everyone had a happy and safe holidays season! Here's a selection of new singles that were released over the holidays; let's just call it a best of 2019 year-end/2020 kick-off singles feature. Truth be told, these are some of our favorite artists here at The Witzard and we're excited to see/hear what they have in store for 2020! Festive Beastie Boys artwork courtesy of Pollywog Crew (@pollywogcrew.) Sincerely, Matt "The Witzard" Horowitz It's A New Year, Wavy Baby! ...

Manikineter / God Root - The Dirt Will Reclaim All It Has Lost by Manikineter By now, most readers of The Witzard should know we're big fans and supporters of Carl Kavorkian 's new Noise-Rap-minded side-project/band, MANIKINETER , around these parts. Far from and Indie/Underground Hip-Hop newbie, Kavorkian has definitely been putting in some serious work these past few years, forging out a new identity for himself! I've always had a mutual affinity and appreciation for both Punk/Hardcore & Hip-Hop music and all of their adjacent sub-genres and quite honestly, MANIKINETER seems to seamlessly blend both genres into something new and original yet, vaguely familiar for die-hard fans. Since 2017, Carl Kavorkian has self-released three phenomenal "Aggro-Rap" EP's, as well as various singles and a split with TEETHCRACK on link2wales . I've heard Kavorkian's recently re-tooled live show set-up is really something else and the one time I attempted to g...

Manikineter Teethcrack by Manikineter Last we heard from Philly Noise -maker Carl Kavorkian , he was releasing his third EP as MANIKINETER , Not As They Do . Kavorkian has remained relatively quiet since we premiered his "Rockatansky Memoirs (The Big Nothing)" right here at The Witzard last year. Lest we forget, Carl , also, graciously curated a 22-track Halloween Playlist for TheWitzard.com featuring everyone from Gravediggaz to The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza . Although, Carl Kavorkian has now re-emerged with his first proper release of 2019: MANIKINETER/TEETH CRACK , a split EP on Wales -based imprint, Link2Wales Records . TEETH CRACK is the recording alias of James Barrington Cooper , who has been consistently recording and releasing " Heavy Electronic music since 2016." It appears as though MANIKINETER & TEETH CRACK first met back in 2016, when Carl Kavorkian played a show with James Cooper in Rhyl, North Wales , "a beach town," ...

"I go by the name King Ani Mal. I'm out of South Philly and originally from Gulf Port, Mississippi. SPP GSF AFFILIATE. I am currently working on a "so-far" untitled 5-track EP produced entirely by Look! It's Aidan AKA Aidan Douglas AKA A.I.D. (@look_itsaidan.) It should be out very soon! To keep up with my music and shows, Follow my Instagram, @turbocrunch . Also, check out my latest album, Skinny God out on EVERY streaming platform. Here's my Beat-maker Bedrock:" I. TV On The Radio - Dear Science (2008) "I think, Dear Science was one of the first albums that made me want to dip into production. I just remember thinking how good the album was and telling myself that if they could do it, so could I. Then, I downloaded LMMS (Linux MultiMedia Studio) and started playing around on my laptop. At the time, I was playing guitar in a Punk band and no one wanted to hear what I was making, except my homie Scress. I didn't rap or even plan on becomi...

Not as They Do by Manikineter As many of you may well know by now, MANIKINETER is the Noise-Rap side-project of Philly 's very own emcee, producer, graphic/web designer, Noise-maker, and frantic one-man band Carl Kavorkian . We here at The Witzard quite honestly, can't get enough of MANIKINETER's beautifully aggressive Punk/Hardcore/Hip-Hop -melding output and luckily for us, Not As They Do EP is Kavorkian's third MANIKINETER release in just two short years. While we're ecstatic to be premiering the music video for "Rockatansky Memoirs (The Big Nothing)" here at The Witzard ; however, a few especially tech-savvy fans might have already been able to piece together the clip's URL from a series of cryptic Instagram posts shared by MANIK|NETER (@manikineter) just this past weekend: "new 4ideo soon.... -," "n3w video soon... hidden," "new v1deo soon. cultmembermusic.com," "new video 5oon..... corridor," ...

Not as They Do by Manikineter Carl Kavorkian has returned with his third release as MANIKINETER in just two years; Not As They Do EP follows 2017's Missing & Mannequin Eater EP 's, as well as a stand-alone single entitled "Shoot The Chalice." Kavorkian self-describes his MANIKINETER output on Bandcamp as " experimental , hip-hop, industrial , electronic, noise , and punk," but I've generally, just described it simply as Noise-Rap since first hearing Mannequin Eater . I've always enjoyed Punk/Hardcore and Hip-Hop concurrently without finding many releases successfully able to blend the two (very similar) genres in a natural, organic way, aside from Mos Def & Black Jack Johnson 's 2004 magnum opus The New Danger , of course. It appears as though Carl Kavorkian had been toying with the idea of merging Hip-Hop , Punk/Hardcore, Industrial , and a multitude of genres on his releases prior to MANIKINETER 's Mannequin Eater EP ;...

Not as They Do by Manikineter It's a little tough to pinpoint all these years later, but I honestly think my first exposure to Hip-Hop was House of Pain 's "Jump Around" playing in one of the opening "party scenes" in Robin Williams' 1993 blockbuster hit, Mrs. Doubtfire , which would have made me about six. Although, a number of years later, my older cousin Josh gifted me a stack of CD's and a shoe box-full of cassettes containing Beastie Boys Anthology: The Sounds of Science (1999) 2-CD set, as well as the Beasties' 1986 debut, Licensed to Ill and its follow-up, Paul's Boutique (1989.) Around the same time, I was just starting to get into Punk/Hardcore and cut my teeth listening to Henry Rollins -era Black Flag , Minor Threat, Fugazi , The Misfits, Samhain , and a slew of additional staple 1980-90's Punk albums—soon, discovering two Punk -minded Beastie Boys releases: Some Old Bullsh*t and Aglio e Olio EP . Ever since, I...

DAGGERS by EU1OGY "PROGRESSIVE. Post-Violent, Hardcore Electronic Experimental . Aggro-lyrical tension like metal tentacles over a visceral palette of production. Primal screams, sentient machine bleeps, and heavy guitar," is how EU1OGY fittingly describes his musical output within his Bandcamp Bio . EU1OGY is the latest project from Baltimore emcee and multi-instrumentalist ISAAC.SHANE , which he formed between 2014-15. Prior to forming EU1OGY , Shane was part of a number of genre-blending bands including DEADABOVEGROUND (2003-05,) THE DEFECT (2007-09,) Letter Racer -signed NORMALLY IMPORTANT (2009-13,) A N M L AKA ANIMALHOUSE (2012-14,) and VYPER_ (2013-15.) EU1OGY 's latest project, and first proper full-length, DAGGERS was preceded by 2016 single "DOWNWARD / BACK HOME," FIGURE IT OUT EP, and FLAWLESS VICTORY EP . DAGGERS was mixed and recorded by frequent EU1OGY collaborator P.MORRIS with production work from SPRAY, M4NNY, YUNG GUTTED, RICHM...

"I am Carl Kavorkian: rapper/vocalist/producer and (currently, the sole) member of MANIKINETER. I'm originally from West Chester, Pennsylvania and have been involved with music since seventh grade. I started writing raps because I thought I could do it better than MC Hammer ; I started producing because I needed original stuff to rap on; I started screaming because it was fun as f**k. The idea of taking a canvas of complete silence and painting it with sound into whatever you want it to be or whatever it evolves into, is a liberating feeling. Here are three albums that had an impact on my production." - Carl Kavorkian (MANIKINETER) Missing by Manikineter I. Redman - Dare Iz a Darkside (1994) "If you close your eyes and listen to this, it really is like a journey through a f***ed up world. Even with the humor sprinkled throughout, it's a very moody album from front to finish. The skits tying the different stops together, the brooding, Funky basslines thr...

TBA by Manikineter Carl Kavorkian makes some of the most ferocious, experimental Noise-Rap music I've ever heard and (not) surprisingly, he's one of the nicest, most hospitable people I've ever met working in "the music industry." Case in point: my buddy Omarey and I went into South Philly one Friday night back in June for The Sh*thawks , Felipe Pupo, MANIK|NETER , Planet 88, and King Ani Mal 's show at The Pharmacy . We grabbed a pizza back in Jersey and were pretty much on time for the show, although, Felipe Pupo frontman and show organizer Erik "E." Grizzly was messaging me on the way in; Erik mentioned he thought the set times were running a bit earlier than expected and Carl Kavorkian 's MANIK|NETER was likely going on early. Now, while I was excited for all five bands on the bill, I was most excited to see MANIK|NETER and was looking forward to seeing his infamous executioner's mask-covered set! Once Omarey and I got into Sou...

"When you're a DIY musician/producer, you do everything; you write the songs, you record, you compose, produce, and mix. I look at production as a finished product, not just a beat to sell to an emcee. And really, I don't sell beats. I produce my own albums and EP's . It's so time-consuming that it's hard to do it for someone else, unless I'm a huge fan. But when I first started making music back when I was a wee-lad, I had these cliché ideas of how an album is produced. I was an emcee, so I needed beats and I started sampling. It was pretty simple stuff. Mostly, a couple samples chopped and Copied together as a few loops on Reason . Then, I would put a drum beat on it; either Reason drum sounds or drums I sampled, chopped, and Copied together. There's certain albums that helped change my whole perspective about production, though. These aren't my favorite albums, but they definitely influenced how I make music." Mannequin Eater by MANIK|NE...

Felipe Pupo by E. Grizzly " E. Grizzly is a progressive Hip-Hop artist from Philadelphia, PA specializing in a philosophical, poetic flow similar to Mos Def , Kendrick Lamar, Anderson.Paak , and Zach de la Rocha. The point of E. Grizzly 's brand of music is to share new perspectives and challenge social standards accepted by the majority of society," reads the intro to E. Grizzly 's press BIO fittingly titled, The Synth Calypso Punk Experiment . Now, many of you may recognize Erik "E." Grizzly 's name from a few recent posts published right here within the pages of The Witzard : he designed an impressive zombified Breakfast Club show flyer for The Punk Rap Show held on May 6th, which I used as artwork for a recent MANIK|NETER EP write-up (as well as my lock screen background!) E. Grizzly was also included within a photo of what's very recently been dubbed the "Philly Squad," which includes—in addition to Grizzly himself— Darko Th...

A C U R A (back in my bag) by ialive "I was feeling a little overwhelmed and burnt out with doing shows and being a wack promoter, so I decided to sit down at my funk machine and do a jam; this is the result. I did all of this in a few hours—beat, rhymes, record, and mix. It's all about the music and it always has been about the music. THANK YOU! kidDEAD and I leave for a short run of shows this Thursday," Philly beat-maker, emcee, Rap-singer /song-writer ialive wrote within a recent Facebook post. ialive is of course, one half of The Hell Hole Store with fellow rapper-producer buddy Darko The Super and his latest single, "A C U R A (back in my bag)" is his first since April 2016's The Jelly EP . ialive further details that he doesn't tour as much a some of his road dog friends, but steadily maintaining a 40-hour a week schedule at his day job, booking shows for his rapper friends throughout Philly , and upkeeping a somewhat regular existence,...

Mannequin Eater by MANIK|NETER "Loud. Abrasive. Mental. Music; a four word preface into the sound of MANIK|NETER , the side-project of Carl Kavorkian . Bringing together the essence of various adrenaline-inducing genres, this Noise-Rap project is described as an evolving experiment in crushing drums, heavy sounds, manipulated vocals, and translucent streams of consciousness. Lyrically, putting less emphasis on "bars" and more concentration on stirring emotions and simply rocking the f*ck out. Live cats to the front, wall flowers to the back when MANIK|NETER hits the stage," reads a fragmented chunk of Philly -based emcee, producer, engineer, and DJ Carl Kavorkian 's recent email blast. MANIK|NETER (pronounced: "Mannequin-Eater" ) is the new Noise-Rap -leaning side-project from Kavorkian, who described his latest Mannequin Eater EP as sonically reminiscent of Sleep Beggar or Noise Lock ; "the intensity of all those artists and all the new m...