I found it surprisingly difficult to find much of any current information on White Williams as he hasn't done anything musically since the release of Smoke in 2007. White Williams is the creation of Cleveland born musician Joe Williams who, along with an assortment of instruments and a few fellow musicians, was able to create a fairly minimalistic yet intently groovy album. The group's sound is more indie electronic than noise or anything of that ilk. The songs are traditionally structured and essentially pop interlaced. I was lucky enough to see White Williams play in Cleveland a couple years ago, and was impressed by the energy (not in any sort of spastic sense) that the music carried despite being as minimal as noted. It appears that Joe Williams had done most of the writing for this album during the time while traveling and subsequently finishing college in Cincinnati, OH. Perhaps having finished college and moving on into his career path, White Williams may have been a brief sort of "one-and-done" sort of thing. It would be unfortunate if that was the case, as the music is quite enjoyable for me still to this day. Expect medium-short length songs leaning heavily on the percussion and bass to provide the aforementioned groove while electronics and keyboards have plenty of room to roam, and vocals are essentially regressed to neutral or controlled tone. Relaxing and moving at the same time (comfortably groovy?).
White Williams - "New Violence"
The thing that jumps out to me is how not overproduced the drum and bass lines are in this song (and in general). It's a subtle pressing beat holding serve through the song. While electronic keyboards are able to fill in and add unique runs up above. The vocals are sung in Williams' deadpan 80's electronica fashion, stretching the words through the chorus or hook. The sped up keyboard/electronic runs really stand out as my favorite part of the song apart from the solid riff that picks up intensity rhythmically introducing the chorus.
Smoke was released on Tigerbeat6 Records but I wasn't able to find this album listed. They however say that you can contact them directly and they will search within their vault of material and perhaps track it down. There are currently about 30 (new and used) copies through Amazon available from what I can tell. Smoke runs about 40 minutes long, split amongst eleven tracks (including a cover ofThe Strangeloves' "I Want Candy"). Move it or lose it sister.
Mostly for fun, I chose to listen to this album today randomly, and well write on it as well. Running by the moniker "Guerrilla Incendiary Sabotage Mutineer" for this album or perhaps "Gnostic Idiosyncracy Sonic Militant" which appears in the liner notes (though I think my favorite was the "God In the Schizoid Mind" which may have been around the M.A.N. album era, maybe earlier), G.I.S.M spewed out a collection of songs that fall somewhere between their earlier Detestation material and the Military Affairs Neurotic or M.A.N. stuff. The band is composed of Sakevi Yokoyama on vocals, Randy Uchida on guitar, Kiichi on bass, and Ironfist Tatsushima on drums. The songs on his album span a ten year period and sounds like the type of work that would have laid the bridgework between the aforementioned two albums. It's a much better produced than Detestation but keeps the same hardcore and violent sound of the band that had been somewhat abandoned for a pure metal sound on the M.A.N. album. If you are not familiar with the band or their cult-like rise since the years have passed, I will first refer you to the G.I.S.M. Punks is Hippies/Global Darkness site that does an excellent job of providing info while maintaining the proper mystique or feel for a concept that is always just out of reach.
G.I.S.M. was a Japanese hardcore-punk-metal band that existed as early as 1980, forming in Tokyo. The band broke up in 2001 following the death of guitarist Randy Uchida to cancer, not long after the release of SoniCRIME TheRapy. So this album represents the last works of the band. The music on this album as mentioned above, falls somewhere between their two earlier releases. There is definitely metal within the guitar writing, and the drumming carriers a heavy hardcore style with it. Lead singer, and possibly the most important member to the band in regard to creating their unique sound, Sakevi Yokoyama's vocals are at their best sounding, in part due to the better overall record production, but also in part to just shear intensity. The songs on this album mirror the M.A.N. album material in length and structure, not overly long, but four minutes is a minimum predominantly with a few songs going over five minutes in length. But apart from the length, it's also the repeated riffs, the variations, etc, that remind me of the M.A.N. album songwriting the most. I don't think this album is necessarily as solid from start to finish as either of the other two albums, but the "hits" are well worth the few "misses" that present themselves. And the Sakevi's collage artwork is perfect as usual.
G.I.S.M. - "KI-1"
With the exception of the first and last songs on the album, the remaining songs are named through a shorthand of who wrote the song (either guitarist RU for Randy Uchida, KI for bass player Kiichi, etc.). The guitars are loud, dry, and crunchy as hell. The vocals as always, are great, and sickly dark. The main riff in this song is repeated over and over, with Saveki's vocals moving within its own pace, slithering over the top and through the music. The guitar solo at 1:57 is reminiscent of the work on the M.A.N. album, but with the surrounding hardcore riffs, stands out in contrast and really adds variety. Upon first listen, it's kind of amazing how often Uchida runs away and then returns to that main riff, finally finishing up the song with a dart and some Saveki cackles. Above all, a good example of the violent sound that makes up G.I.S.M.
The album artwork as mentioned above is excellent. The cd comes with a fold-out booklet that opens up to a Sakevi collage work, while under the cd tray lies the picture that appears to the right here. The cd comes in a small box that also contains a band sticker (the anarchy "A" and machine gun picture) and is overall presented very well. Good luck finding this thing. I happened to catch it on ebay for a "decent" sum, and purchased it from one "dwid hellion" who happened to be selling it and I'm pretty sure is the dwid hellion of Integrity since he was selling it from Belgium at the time (where dwid was rumored to be living at the time). I haven't seen too many pop up on their since. Of course bootlegs are out there and many people would be lucky to have found any of those to grasp band's music (though I'm guessing nowadays you can probably find someone posting a torrent of this stuff). In any case, the search for any information on the band, the stories surrounding the violence that would happen at their shows, and god willing a piece of merchandise or original recording is part of the fun of appreciating this band.
Times New Viking's second official release, Present the Paisley Reich came out in 2007 on Siltbreeze Records before the band made the jump to Matador Records in the follow up release Rip It Off (2008). Times New Viking get's some attention form for the fact that they are from Columbus, Ohio, and happen to be pretty decent. The three piece band features dual male and female vocals and their recorded material is generally filled with hyper-fuzzed out and reverberated noise wrapped around exceptionally catchy (when they are at their best) and sometimes introspective (less often) songwriting that is driven by the guitar chords and vocal harmonies.
Times New Viking - "Devo & Wire"
The pace and tempo of this song gives a pretty accurate idea of what to expect from the majority of their material. Considering the brevity of their individual songs, which should be pointed out is a good thing, I've always had a negative reaction to bands who don't know how to be concise when it comes to writing a typical rock song, not everybody needs to be Deep Purple or Rush here...but, I digress back to my original point, it's as if the songs themselves evolve out of the catchy hook and simply run through a few versions of the riff or harmony and wrap itself up without becoming stale or dull.
CD, LP, mp3, and flac digital files can be purchased through the Matador Records Store if you are looking for their more recent material. This album is available through the Slitbreeze website. The band has their own website at Times New Viking, but the "store" section is still under construction as of now, you can always check their site out for touring details, as I actually prefer their live performance to their recorded material (the lo-fi is toned down when they are live, and honestly, they don't have to hide behind all that fuzz).
If you can't tell by the cover art already, Violator play a retro-80's trash metal, and they play it damn well. Picked up on them after reading this excellent review over at aversionline. Annihilation Process was released in 2010 on Kill Again Records. Expect fast guitars and bass and drumming that is equal to the task. Vocals have a more hardcore sound to them (not the burly kind, but rather the higher end type) a little different than I would have expected, but not by that much. It's also worth pointing out that the vocals don't come across as overdone or standing in the way of the general awesomeness of the music. The band is from Brazil, and because of this reason, probably don't get the same kind of a play that similar bands such as Municipal Waste have garnered. They nail the speed of the genre and more importantly, the precision. The music is tightly played and well produced on this album. The occasional guitar solo is welcomed and usually done in the short "one-off" sort of way as opposed to anything overly self-absorbed. The band has developed a mastery of tempo shifts, though they aren't chucking them all over the place or anything like that. I think it's the execution of the the style that may very well set them above others who do this type of music well, definitely digging it in any case.
Violator - "Poisoned by Ignorance"
Had a pretty hard time picking a single song to use here since they're isn't really a bad one in the whole bunch, so I finally gave up and went with the first track, "Poisoned by Ignorance". The song starts with a short intro of metallic sounds, not quite as menacing as I think they wanted, but whatever, it's short and once the guitars kick in it's auditory excellence (well if you love thrash anyways). The guitar and bass shred through the initial part of the song, all instrumental through the first minute. Drumming is tight with a general focus on running that beat out there and not throwing in too many fills or excess cymbal play. Perfectly content with hitting the accents. The song hits a driving groove at about the 2:20 mark, but none of the departures from the central theme last all that long. I think because of the unselfish play (really by all of the musicians) you have a fine song that with the exception of a short lived guitar solo near the end, stands on its songwriting alone and stands very well.
The band's myspace page has more songs you can check out for free and record label, Kill Again Records, is selling this CD through their site, but it seems that you can only get it if you live in Brazil through them. In the U.S., Hell's Headbangers has it thankfully through their site.
