From St. Johnny to Grand Mal: 29 Theses on William Carlos Whitten

A singer of anthems to falling down and not getting up.[1] Good old adrenalized rock and roll played by impossibly skinny men.[2] A bit like Royal Trux with a bloke singing.[3] Like J.Mascis fronting Mott the Hoople.[4] Like Randy Newman and Keith Richards stranded in Laurel Canyon.”[5] Like an old-school street hustler: dangerous and outwardly confident, with a dash of fear and uncertainty swirling around.[6] Swaggering melodies, distorted guitars and the appropriate pose of hedonistic cynicism.[7] Black Crowes meet the Buzzcocks.[8] An erratic talent pushed reluctantly into the light.[9] The sound of regret, stale whiskey and fag-ash blues.[10] A style without a world-view.[11] Memorable, slow-paced, atmospheric and dripping with a palpable bitterness.[12] A little rough around the edges.[13] Every musical cue that informed Velvet Goldmine rolled into one.[14] Like the Flaming Lips playing scuzzy barroom rock.[15] Ageless, pretension-free rock and roll[16]. Strong songs, cool image and fuck-it-all attitude.[17] A cheap wine-and-ecstasy world of neon boys, broken androids and ‘feeling like Dracula’s teenage son’.[18] A flair for song craft, hooks and some of the most hummable melodies since Suede.[19] Nobody’s idea of the new rock and roll but it rings seductively true.[20] Like the Jesus and Mary Chain on a bottle of Valium.[21] Whitten takes up the mantle left by…Mark Linkous[22]Packs more gritty urban drama into five minutes than Dick Wolf can spew forth in an entire season of Law & Order spinoffs.[23] A drug groove band, equal parts Heartbreakers and Spacemen 3.[24] A kind of macho fatalism that sounds immediately familiar, though glam rock never sounded like this. But it should have.[25] Three parts Rolling Stones, one part Velvet Underground: rock with an unabashed swagger.[26] A majestic gait with buzzing guitars and thundering piano approximating a symphony.[27]  A terrific, wistful, piano-driven portrait of the down-and-out.[28] A driven, hard-bitten and prolific songwriter who’s weathered all the vices of rock’n’roll, several major label record deals, the accolades of NME etc. and somehow artfully dodged the success he deserves.[29]

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[1] NME

[2] Ibid

[3] Melody Maker

[4] CMJ

[5] Village Voice

[6] Rhapsody

[7] New York Times

[8] Everybody’s News

[9] NME

[10] Front Magazine

[11] Spin Magazine

[12] 50thirdand3rd

[13] Newsweek

[14] Q Magazine

[15] TimeOut NY

[16] UNCUT

[17] Creem Magazine

[18] Boston Phoenix

[19] Rolling Stone

[20] Mojo Magazine

[21] Alternative Press

[22] Ghettoblaster

[23] Pitchfork

[24] Velvet Underground to the Fall of CBGB:  New York Rock by Stephen Blush

[25] Unherd Music

[26] New York Times

[27] Allmusic.com

[28] Popmatters

[29] Mishka Shubaly, NY Press