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- Summary: Cleveland-based Joe Williams' debut album was recorded in Ohio, New York, and California.
- Record Label: Tigerbeat6
- Genre(s): Indie, Rock
- More Details and Credits »
Score distribution:
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Positive: 10 out of 19
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Mixed: 8 out of 19
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Negative: 1 out of 19
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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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Under The RadarSmoke is his first off-center classic. [Fall 2007, p.77]
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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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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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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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Q MagazineWilliams should inject more urgency to his sound. [June 2008, p.148]
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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]
Score distribution:
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Positive: 1 out of 1
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Mixed: 0 out of 1
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Negative: 0 out of 1
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JoeH.Dec 11, 2007
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