The Witzard

Forrest St. was "recorded over five days in Jersey City, NJ. Forrest St. shows the diverse music pallete of Brazilian-born, Sydney-based singer-songwriter, Fernando Aragones [Animal Ventura] . Produced by drummer/composer, Pat Van Dyke with the help of amazing NYC-based musicians. Animal Ventura 's Forrest St. EP, additionally, features contributions from aforementioned "amazing NYC-based musicians," such as bassist Jordan Scannella , keyboardist David Stolarz, pedal steel player Jonny Lam , vocalist Laura Stiit, melodica player Shannon Stitt , trumpet player Richard Polatchek, tenor sax player Jeff Hackworth , trombonist Peter Lin, and other talented players. As long-time supporters of fellow New Jersian, Pat Van Dyke AKA PVD , it's no secret, we were, also, big fans of Animal Ventura 's 2017 effort, Forrest St. Now, a little more than two years later, Animal Ventura & PVD have returned with a remix of Forrest St. opener "No Gravity....

Kiss The Sky - "Sugar Pie" b/w "Glory" by Kiss The Sky (Melinda Camille, John Robinson, and Pat Van Dyke) It's been quite the busy year (so far) for Jersey City -based drummer, producer, composer, band leader, and multi-instrumentalist Pat Van Dyke ; just this past May, PVD launched his own imprint, Stereo Vision Recordings , with an aptly-titled release called Stereo Vision Music Library, Vol. 1 , which was soon followed by a proper full-length, Hello, Summer , before the end of June. Since The Witzard first covered 2016's PVD Breaks, Vol. 1 & RE: Crates 001 —as well as Animal Ventura 's PVD -produced Forrest St. EP— Van Dyke has released a number of collections, including: Pat Van Dyke / DJ Spinna Limited Edition 7" Vinyl , PVD Breaks, Vol. II, Let The Horns Blow - Remixes , PVD Breaks, Vol. II 12" 45RPM Vinyl, and lastly, PVD Breaks, Vol 3​.​88 . Now, Pat Van Dyke has returned with a newly-minted Jazz/Hip-Hop trio dubbed Kiss T...

Nite Owl's Theme (feat. Ai-Que & Reef The Lost Cauze) by Rolled Gold I'm not entirely sure what's the best aspect about Philly -bred producer Harry Metz AKA Rolled Gold : that his name is an allusion to delicious pretzel company Rold Gold , his logo is an upside down cigar-smoking pretzel, or that he makes infectious Jazzy Blues/Soul -inflected Hip-Hop beats. While remaining largely silent throughout 2017, Rolled Gold has returned to dominate 2018 with his unique hard as nails sour dough brand of Hip-Hop . Barely two months into 2018, Harry Metz recently told The Witzard about a slew of beat-twisting projects he currently has in store for this year; already having properly re-released an abridged version of his 2016 SALTY EP re-titled SALTY (3P) and effectively, trimming it back to a concise 3-track collection. Now, not even a full week later, Rolled Gold has already re-surfaced to unleash a vocal-assisted version of his 2016 single, "Nite Owl's Them...

Forrest St. by Animal Ventura "Back in Summer of 2016, I got an email from Brazilian -born/ Australian -based song-writer Fernando [Aragones] (aka Animal Ventura) inquiring about having me produce his upcoming record. Last November, we did just that," Jersey City -based drummer and producer Pat Van Dyke wrote within a recent email. Van Dyke is of course, referring to an album he produced, recorded, mixed, and drummed throughout for Animal Ventura over a span of 10 days last November. What was birthed out of those five days of recording and five days-worth of Jersey City gigs between sessions will now forever be known as Forrest St ; an instantly timeless 8-track collection which blurs the genre lines between " Alternative , Electronica, Roots , Dub, Electro , Groove, Hip-Hop , Jazz, and pedal steel guitar," as listed on Bandcamp . Forrest St , to my moderately trained and traveled ear, sounds something like a mix between Pharrell , fellow Aussie Jonti, Jason ...

RE: Crates 001 by Pat Van Dyke "After the release of Technicolor HI-FI , the fellas from Open Crates approached me about recording some music to launch a series of 7-inch vinyl releases that would feature remixes, re-works, and edits of existing music... essentially, a series of "bootlegs" or "white labels." I'd been anxious to take a stab at recording re-interpretations of songs that had influenced me over the years, so I was keen to make it happen," self-described drummer, producer, and band leader Pat Van Dyke (PVD) wrote within a recently emailed statement. PVD has once again teamed up with his "It's Alright" collaborators Melinda Camille & David Stolarz , as well as bassist Josh David , DJ MentPlus, and horn players Bryan Beninghove, Ted Chubb & Peter Lin to collectively unveil Open Crates' premier edition of their RE: Crates 45 series. "A few months passed and we had a show at Brooklyn Museum performing ...

"The PVD Breaks [Vol. 1-2] project started as a way for me to hone my skills mixing live drums in my modest Jersey City studio. The goal was to achieve the sound of classic drum breaks using what I had at my disposal, recording different kits in different rooms, with a variety of mics and mic placements, and really taking it a step further during the mixing process to differentiate one breakbeat from the next," Redefinition Records -deemed "ultra-talented drummer, composer, producer, and bandleader" Pat Van Dyke wrote within a recent emailed statement sent to The Witzard . "I always wanted to release the [2010-12] project on vinyl so that producers, DJ's, turntablists, and beat-makers could really manipulate the music in a variety of ways... as they would an open drum break found in the context of an old record. When Redefinition Records hit me up, I was excited to work with a label who’s had such a long run of quality releases with artists like K-...