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Editorial Reviews
Joe Williams, the rowdy 23-year old behind White Williams, got his start playing piano at a young age, getting scolded by his mean German piano teacher for screwing around with the pedals making his own sounds without ever practicing. At 15 he moved onto his first project drumming for a noisy screaming band whose first show was opening for Black Dice and the Rapture in 1999. Playing in DIY venues exposed Joe Williams to a wild party lifestyle of fires, noise bands, art and performance. He had a growing interest in electronic music and wanted to take the noisy, screaming band in another direction, incorporating more electronics, sampling, triggered drums and machines. With no knowledge of studio recording or the basics of sound synthesis, he used the computer to recreate and evolve the sounds the band had been creating.
In 2001 he became close with Gregg Gillis, who had just started the Girl Talk project. Williams first electronic music project was called So Red, a part of a tiny scene of Gregg Gillis, Andrew Strasser (creator of WW's album art), Frank Musarra (Hearts of Darknesses/TreyTold Em), and Luca Venezia (Drop the Lime). Together they played and booked shows and parties featuring a variety of electronic music artists. After two tours with Girl Talk, Williams' project started incorporating vocals and he became less interested in the complexities of electronic sounds. He started gravitating toward pop music and became more interested in physical instruments.
Williams became enamored with learning about the studio situations of his favorite albums of the 70's and 80's, and was fascinated by the idea of recontextualizing how music could be made with the tools given. This shows up in Williams' album, Smoke, as many of the sounds are algorithmically generated. Guitars and vocals are repitched, copied and pasted, and heavily edited at times, or not edited at all when they should be, while Williams focuses on producing more of a live recorded sound that still uses modern techniques.
As a part of his graphic design education in Cincinnati, Williams moved from city to city for work. As a result, Smoke was recorded in Cleveland, Cincinnati, New York, and San Francisco over the last two years, using a laptop and small selection of studio equipment. He found himself subletting rooms, living with random people, waiting for everyone to leave so he could record, and losing things from moving so often.
Smoke, White Williams first album, is nostalgic colorful art pop, often loose, imperfect, and ambiguous. The album title describes the lyrics, which fade in and out of logic the same way that smoke diffuses into the air.
In 2001 he became close with Gregg Gillis, who had just started the Girl Talk project. Williams first electronic music project was called So Red, a part of a tiny scene of Gregg Gillis, Andrew Strasser (creator of WW's album art), Frank Musarra (Hearts of Darknesses/TreyTold Em), and Luca Venezia (Drop the Lime). Together they played and booked shows and parties featuring a variety of electronic music artists. After two tours with Girl Talk, Williams' project started incorporating vocals and he became less interested in the complexities of electronic sounds. He started gravitating toward pop music and became more interested in physical instruments.
Williams became enamored with learning about the studio situations of his favorite albums of the 70's and 80's, and was fascinated by the idea of recontextualizing how music could be made with the tools given. This shows up in Williams' album, Smoke, as many of the sounds are algorithmically generated. Guitars and vocals are repitched, copied and pasted, and heavily edited at times, or not edited at all when they should be, while Williams focuses on producing more of a live recorded sound that still uses modern techniques.
As a part of his graphic design education in Cincinnati, Williams moved from city to city for work. As a result, Smoke was recorded in Cleveland, Cincinnati, New York, and San Francisco over the last two years, using a laptop and small selection of studio equipment. He found himself subletting rooms, living with random people, waiting for everyone to leave so he could record, and losing things from moving so often.
Smoke, White Williams first album, is nostalgic colorful art pop, often loose, imperfect, and ambiguous. The album title describes the lyrics, which fade in and out of logic the same way that smoke diffuses into the air.
Customer Reviews
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Because the other review for this album is misleading . . .,
This review is from: Smoke (Audio CD)
I couldn't let this album stay on Amazon with one misleading (maybe even slightly misguided) review and only two stars to its name. White Williams debut is an outstanding collection of neon-colored neo psych pop songs that brings to mind not so much Beck and Girl Talk (whose main connections to White Williams are their shared interests in sound pastiche and, in Girl Talk's, case a tour with White Williams and Dan Deacon) but instead vintage glam and new wave, especially Roxy Music, Marc Bolan, and Berlin-era Bowie. While the lyrics remain artfully abstract and largely unimportant (a quality which may also be responsible for Beck comparisons), the production here is fantastic. While this is far from music that will appeal to people looking for emotional resonance and a clear-cut message, Smoke is an album that will make forward-thinking music fans think, "This is exactly what today's pop music should sound like."
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Comparisons and a Sentence Summary,
By Enoch J. (Lawrence, KS USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Smoke (Audio CD)
Smoke is a fun album composed of catchy electronic pop songs and interesting guitar sounds. Any comparisons to Girl Talk are completely unfounded. Tortoise and Hot Chip toured together, but any attempt at comparing these two bands would be completely nonsensical (Hot Chip totally outplays Tortoise, j/k).
When discussing White Williams' album, I have found it most helpful to reference Blur. White Williams has the British rock sound from the seventies and eighties. His sound experiments have the same feel as many moments on 13 (by Blur). Williams tends to be more danceable all around.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Album,
By
This review is from: Smoke [Vinyl] (Vinyl)
Same here, couldn't let this album sit here with bad reviews. I keep hoping this guy puts something out soon! This album may sound like it's from the 80's, but that doesn't mean it's not ahead of it's time.
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