By now you probably know the drill: Pitchfork endorses an album by a relative unknown, then that artists' net worth skyrockets. Today's lucky recipient is White Williams, whose debut record, Smoke, earned an 8.3 and a "recommended" nod from the site. In the coming weeks Williams will be showered in belated press coverage, but in the meantime, I should point out that he has a concert booked at Milwaukee's Cactus Club this coming Tuesday.
Smoke, by the way, is just about as great as Pitchfork says it is, a lustrous collection of '80s electro-glam styled after Gary Numan and David Bowie. My only problem with the disc is that Williams' tiny Casio and laptop compositions can't always muster enough horsepower to propel the songs to T. Rex-levels of splendor. Many tracks chug along slooooooowwwwwlyI'm talking like chopped and screwed slowbut I suppose that's part of the charm; Williams isn't in a rush to get anywhere.
