Despite touring with Girl Talk and Dan Deacon, Cleveland-based Joe Williams’ solo project White Williams has many things which these two lack – most importantly, taste (though you would never guess by the album art).  Though his songs feature all the laptop twits and glitches and cartoon voices of his tourmates, Williams offers them in tastefully small doses, and balances such off-kilter ingredients with languorous vocals, classic-rock guitars, and not-too-predictable song structure, creating interesting rock-pop songs full of contrasting influences. 

The slow, slinky “In The Club” is an excellent example, facing off Marc Bolan and Dan Deacon, with T. Rex guitars and vocals that are modernized by synth-beats and Deacon-style chipmunk backings.  “Headlines” has 80s synths and a backing men’s group which could be straight from a Cyndi Lauper song, but also incorporates some more modern laptop touches. “Smoke” opens with a candy 70s-pop Jackson beat, only to be disrupted by off-key electronic musings and Williams’ lazy lounging vocals, creating a combination which easily could have gone sour, but instead yields an enjoyable juxtaposition of old, new, and classic.

“Danger” begins as an electro-mess, out of which rises an echo-y groove, and finally morphs into a warped sunny summer tune, while Williams repeats the song’s only lyric, “danger,” with slightly inappropriate enthusiasm.  “Route to Palm” features luau guitars and percussion, augmented by thick electronic chords and off-key echoes which enhance, rather than disrupt.  

Grade: B

Reviewed by Amelia Rhodewalt