The Witzard

"This album [expresses] the gathering of the band's journey across the past two years; a journey full of encounters, people, music, places, and coincidences. All [of these] adventures are permeated in the band's sound, like the memories of a tough hobo. There are hobos who ride trains [and] others ride roads. The HOBO-FI rides Rock "N" Roll from a Blues train to all the lonely Punk ways," self-described " GARAGE / LO-FI / power BLUES " Ancona, Italy -based band Gentlemens (sometimes, referred to as "The Gentlemens" ) wrote within a brief, albeit perfectly descriptive, emailed statement. I first spoke with Gentlemens pseudo-frontman Giordano Baldoni about a year ago, June 2015, after either I discovered them or they discovered me via Twitter ; his initial email included this interesting little tidbit, "We are a little and unsigned band from Ancona (Italy) , we like to play live, and our main favorite bands are the Garage band...

"My interpretation [of "Blank Space" ] from the classic Ryan Adams album "1989,"' former Fleet Foxes drummer and semi-ironic, self-loathing Indie-Pop superstar Josh Tillman aka @fatherjohnmisty Tweeted Monday evening on the heels of Ryan Adams' just-released Taylor Swift 1989 covers album. Tillman was seemingly riffing on Adams' 1989 re-imagined in the style of Bruce Springsteen 's Darkness On The Edge of Town meets The Smiths' Meat Is Murder , sloppily crooning Swift's chart-topping "Blank Space" and "Welcome to New York" in the style of Velvet Underground frontman Lou Reed . "In the studio working on a [song-for-song] reinterpretation of Ryan Adams "1989," gonna be great! Ryan's amazing," Father John Misty sarcastically wrote in a since-deleted "so psyched"-hashtagged Tweet. While Tillman's rendition of "Blank Space" is, to say the very least, a litt...

Garrett "G. Love" Dutton is a Philly-based musician who's been making Blues -infused Hip-Hop for the better part of the past 20+ years. If you ask me, close friend/frequent collaborator Jack Johnson basically aped his whole " Funky [acoustic] surfer dude" style, ran with it, and got commercially successful. But maybe G. Love belongs in the underground music scene; I personally have damn near 100 G. Love & Special Sauce tracks in my iTunes library and 2011's Fixin' to Die was his 12-13th studio album. For those of you who are un-familar with G. Love (WAKE UP!), I'd say he's equal parts rapper and singer-songwriter; almost like a Beastie-Boys -meets- Johnny-Cash kinda guy. Bloodshot & Blue , a 10" EP limited to 2,000 copies, was released this past Saturday for Record Store Day ... and I was lucky enough to score a copy on wax! G. Love recently described the sheer genesis of the EP's creation to Rolling Stone , ...

Sean Price is a former member of 90's Underground Rap crews, Heltah Skeltah/Boot Camp Clik (who supposedly worked on 2pac 's last project ). My old Shop Rite buddy, Jarrad Jenkins first turned me onto Sean Price around like 2005-06, who had only released Monkey Barz and Donkey Sean, Jr. [mixtape] @ that point. Price's third solo album, Mic Tyson has been in-the-works since 2009 and after numerous delays and pushed back dates, Duck Down finally unleashed the album back in October '12. Evidence & DJ Babu produced the latest video-single pulled from Mic Tyson 's 15-song tracklist, "BBQ Sauce." It does a pretty damn great job @ showcasing the Brownsville, BKLYN native's criminally under-rated sharp tongue, un-matched cadence, and witty rhyme schemes. Pharoahe Monch co-stars in it's companion Todd Angkasuwan -directed music video, which super-imposes Sean Mandela into a number of historical events, TV shows, school sports, etc: ...

Yeah, I basically drafted up a few terms and then coined one, "Neo-Classical Psych Rock," to help better describe SPACIN' s particularly unique, noisy sound. It's members all hailing from Philly , the band's sound seems like a by-product of Hardcore Punk and Noise/Garage Rock . SPACIN' is fronted by Jason Killinger and it's kinda a side project of his old band, Birds of Maya ; In the studio, he's joined by Paul Sukeena , Sean Hamilton , and his wife Eva on guitar/bass/drums (respectively) on their righteous Richie Records debut, Deep Thuds EP... I think it'd be safe to assume that SPACIN' are influenced by guys like Iggy & The Stooges , Velvet Underground, Black Sabbath , Ty Segall, and Pixies . While they've only unleashed roughly 8-10 tracks, SPACIN' really managed to effectively display a colorful, wide variety of styles on Deep Thuds : Psychedelic Rock, Noise Rock , riff-heavy Rock "N" Roll, Power Pop , Post-...

Like most young people my age, I'd say I first got into Classic Rock @ roughly 12-15 because my older cousin Josh gave me a 4-CD Led Zeppelin box set and my parents passed down their Billy Joel , Fleetwood Mac, and Michael Jackson LP's. I guess The Rolling Stones were one of the first bands I really "discovered" on my own - Hearing about them based off their sheer Rock [mega]star-dom and insane hi-jinx. All these years later, The Stones are really the only Classic Rock band still in my regular rotation... Some Girls and Exile On Main Street are 2 of my favourite albums (plus all the hits, of course)! I'm pretty sure that Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts & Ronnie Wood are damn proud that they've never really pulled an "Aerosmith" [sold out] over the course of their 50-year career ; Honestly, they have nothing to prove, they don't give a fuck, and that's TOTALLY fine. The Stones booked a few tour dates in honor of the...

Rock "N" Roll is an expressive art form: Whether it makes you want to passionately sing, dance, play, or even write. Blak & Blu is such a BIG, comprehensive album that'll undoubtedly get a lot of coverage. Sometimes I tend to stray away from potential "big ticket" pieces of that level. But fuck it - Blak & Blu is such a great collection that it honesty deserves every damn ounce of coverage it's getting! While a handful of critics have already started raggin' on Gary Clark Jr. for supposedly "selling out," abandoning his Austin Blues Rock roots, and making an eclectic [slightly "commercial"] album ... I feel like it's a pretty smart move right outta the gates; This way Clark won't get labelled a one-trick, guitar-playing pony. Plus, if he played grandiose guitar solos on nearly every track, people would call him a dick anyways. "Bright Lights" is a guitar feedback-soaked middle finger aimed @ Clark...

While they've already managed to make a pretty seamless transition from Hardcore Punk to throwback "Jersey Shore Sound," The Gaslight Anthem are slightly lesser well-know for their spot on, jaw-dropping cover re-arrangements. Spanning between 2006-12, they've successfully executed spirited takes on everyone from The Rolling Stones to Kelly Clarkson , either in the studio or a live setting. Frontman Brian Fallon was recently "across the pond" promoting Gaslight Anthem 's fourth and undoubtedly sing-a-long-able Mercury record, Handwritten ; Looks like he made a quick pit-stop @ BBC Radio 1 in his travels... playing a gut-wrenching, stripped down acoustic take on The Colour & The Shape hit-single, "Everlong" (1997). It doesn't really even matter that Foo Fighters released "Everlong" roughly 15 years ago now, Fallon still manages to breathe new life into Dave Grohl 's Modern Rock staple. Brian Fallon unleashe...

I guess it's pretty safe to say that The Streets & The Music were 2 of the BIGGEST British Rock bands to break on "this side of the pond" [America] since The Beatles/Rolling Stones' 1960-70's Classic Rock heyday; After 10+ years of well-received hits, Mike Skinner recently dissolved The Streets (2011) and around the same time, The Music decided to call it quits, too. Skinner has since teamed up with The Music frontman, Rob Harvey , and now they're producing new music under the group name "The D.O.T." Following the online pre-release of a few rough demo singles, it seems as though The D.O.T. are ready to unveil the debut full-length, And That (Oct. 22-23rd). Man, I can literally remember it like it was yesterday... when I first heard The Streets' witty, back-handed rhymes on "Fit But You Know It," which was released on some random Rolling Stone/Budweiser comp. ha. While Mike Skinner & Rob Harvey have self-rele...

A few things about Matthewdavid 's new EP are almost instantly alarming "right off the bat:" (1.) That call-to-arms of a title - Producers In 2012 Learn to Spread Love EP ! (2.) Submissive-looking Rick James flanked by 2 fucking 3-eyed tigers on the cover... vaguely reminiscent of a terribly AWESOME tattoo! (3.) The massive amount of "sound ground" that Matthewdavid somehow manages to cover over the course of 3 brief tracks: Soul , Dubstep, Chopped & Screwed , Hip-Hop, Pop, Dark R&B , etc. Matthewdavid's overall style is essentially an Ambient sort of Instrumental Hip-Hip , something largely popularized by guys like Clams Casino in recent years. Matthewdavid [McQueen]'s lengthy-titled EP comes on the heels of his Brainfeeder debut, Outmind (Feb. 2012) which was released in conjunction with his own label imprint, Leaving Records . They successfully self-released Matthewdavid 's most recent project, a mixtape called Jewelry EP ; It ...

Amy Winehouse was not unlike the late-great Ol' Dirty Bastard : Wildly talented, mildly deranged - A genuinely tortured soul. Winehouse's last known batch of proper recordings was recently collected and released as Lioness: Hidden Treasures . The Jolly Boys consists of 3 laid-back 70-something gentlemen: Albert Minott, Derrick "Johnny" Henry , and Joseph "Powder" Bennett . Utilizing sparse instrumentation -- acoustic guitar, 'rumba box [bass sub.] and maracas -- The Jolly Boys create a distinct brand of "Mento" music... a centuries-old style of Jamaican Folk not generally known outside of the island region. Legend has it that The Jolly Boys' up-beat riddims were the soundtrack to many of [actor] Errol Flynn 's infamous "never-ending" yacht parties. "Powder" & "Johnny" were 2 of The Jolly Boys founding members, upon it's formation back in The Roaring 50's. Albert Minott seems to be the ...