White Williams - Smoke

This is the debut album from 24-year-old art school Baltimore boy, Joe Williams. Sounding like Marc Bolan had he lived long enough to mess around with a laptop, this is a patchy album at best. Opener ‘Headlines’ is the obvious highlight with a pleasant rhythmic, pulsating tune that buzzes along, while the closing track ‘Route To Palm’ is reminiscent of Sixties surf rock. However, everything in between is an irritating knob-twiddling attempt at art-pop with a Seventies and Eighties twist. A little bit pretentious and too insipid for the dance floor, which is a shame because with a little more fizz this could have been one of the albums of the summer. Charlotte Dryden

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DOWNLOAD: ‘HEADLINES’, ‘ROUTE TO PALM’.
FOR FANS OF: BECK, T-REX, RUSSIAN FUTURISTS.

Issue #52 - Very Bro-some

Featuring Panama Kings, ASIWYFA, an investigation into DIY touring, details of what over 25 of the finest NI bands are up to in 2009 and much more.