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Williams' ostensible depthlessness, like that of his forebears, is itself only a façade, and Smoke offers plenty to discover across repeated listens--particularly the way in which he tweaks his own voice, melting and reshaping it like the models' Technicolor "tears" on the album cover.
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The world probably doesn't need a new Beck, but Smoke proves there's one floating around, just in case.
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Smoke never sounds dated or rehashed--instead, it's a fresh, consistently creative, and consistently listenable debut.
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Williams finds himself on the respected electronic label Tigerbeat6, raising expectations even higher. He more than meets them, navigating ably through sugary tracks tempered with a dark streak.
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Under The RadarSmoke is his first off-center classic. [Fall 2007, p.77]
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Smoke pulls off the neat trick of seeming weightless and disassociated but never slight, playful, yet neither inconsequential nor silly.
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On Smoke, his blog-buzzed debut, he offers a tuneful, mellow bedroom pastiche of trebly early-’80s punk funk, spirited, rhythm-rich worldbeat, and post-Beck white-guy R&B.
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As with most other first releases, though, it's a a bit inconsistent in places, but all in all, Smoke is a fun and sometimes great debut from a young artist.
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Alternative PressSmoke is a pleasant pastiche of David Bowie's "Berlin" period--with a lab-coated synth freakout at disc's end for all those Morton Subotnick fans out there. [Dec 2007, p.188]
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There’s wit and meticulous posturing in the hills: we’ll be waiting right here for tomorrow. After all, there are enough immediately delectable grooves in his eleven tracks today.
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As groups like Hot Chip and LCD Soundsystem are making analog programs ring clear as Marshall stacks, Williams makes them sound mysterious, creepy and sexy again--even when geeking out on a cover of Bow Wow Wow’s big hit, 'I Want Candy.'
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SpinFor all the squiggly melodies and bumpy computer beats, however, Smoke's strength is his spacey chameleon voice. [Dec 2007, p.126]
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There’s a few really strong tracks studded throughout, and an equal number of good ones, so the experience is better on the balance than not.
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Q MagazineWilliams should inject more urgency to his sound. [June 2008, p.148]
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UncutWilliams' voice is weakly anonymous, Verlaine minus the venom. But his obsessive recreation of his heroes' studio tricks compensates. [Aug 2008, p.113]
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FilterIt's shame, however, that the goofy aspects of the album distract from its sonic frame, as Wiliams is not only a talented producer but also has a keen ability to weave masterful pop instrumentation. [Winter 2007, p.94]
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While his contrived sonic and visual aesthetics do much to explain the thinness of Smoke, they do not justify it.
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As he runs out of ideas, he becomes progressively arch, as if trying to convince us that the demo-level standard of his work is deliberate, and thereby adding another level of mild irritation.
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Under The RadarWilliams' songs are extremely repetitive, relying on MAX/MSP texture for their variance but proceeding at such a pace that it's easy to zone out, a tendency exacerbated by Williams' apparent three-note vocal range. [Fall 2007, p.77]
User score distribution:
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Positive: 3 out of 4
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Mixed: 0 out of 4
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Negative: 1 out of 4
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JoeH.Dec 11, 2007