Almost by accident, the shy introverted Cleveland-raised purveyor of nonchalant funk Joe "White" Williams produced one of the CDs of the year with his début album "Smoke".
Recorded by Williams in various bedrooms between Cincinnati (where he attended college), San Francisco and New York City (where he was a graphic designer), the songs were never intended to exist as an album. "Smoke" takes it cues from the sleazy glam of Transformer-era Lou Reed, 1970s funk and the motorik pulse of krautrock. W²'s vocal is constant highlight, a complex multi-layered white soul falsetto. He's lyrically astute too, flitting between surreal flights of fancy and social commentary, often in the same breath.
Recorded by Williams in various bedrooms between Cincinnati (where he attended college), San Francisco and New York City (where he was a graphic designer), the songs were never intended to exist as an album. "Smoke" takes it cues from the sleazy glam of Transformer-era Lou Reed, 1970s funk and the motorik pulse of krautrock. W²'s vocal is constant highlight, a complex multi-layered white soul falsetto. He's lyrically astute too, flitting between surreal flights of fancy and social commentary, often in the same breath.
His record label describes the album's sound as "unapologetic pop that flirts with the vacuous nostalgia of the American dream; engaging ambiguous and schizophrenic instruments with impressionistic lyrics, driven by a casually heterosexual backbeat". The album's cover art, featuring trannie night life celebrity Sophia Lamar, was inspired by a story White Williams heard about a girl from Cincinnati. The girl was upset and bawling over her relationship with her boyfriend. As she described in agonizing detail her predicament, she smoked a ganga bong.
White Williams has lived in Brooklyn's bohemian center, Williamsburg, in the last four years. Yet while his location has had its benefits, he pines after simpler times, when he was holed up in his room making the record. He plans to move to a quieter part of the neighborhood and lock himself away again for the sake of his sophomore album.
White Williams has lived in Brooklyn's bohemian center, Williamsburg, in the last four years. Yet while his location has had its benefits, he pines after simpler times, when he was holed up in his room making the record. He plans to move to a quieter part of the neighborhood and lock himself away again for the sake of his sophomore album.
