NJ Whitey music Canned Laugther DJ Eletronic Rock Indie new experimental underground electro noise british artist live dim-mak records

Whitey – The British Electronic-Noise-Rock Underground Artist

by musicfordriving on September 4th, 2011

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Whitey is an ongoing solo project by N.J Whitey. He is a hard character to pin down- his genre-twisting songs swing wildly between styles, and his dismissive attitude towards the music industry means there are few shows, and even fewer interviews. He sings, programs, plays guitar, keys, bass and drums but has no formal qualifications and is totally self taught. His live shows are haphazard- some are an uplifting rhythmic experience, whilst some occur in deliberately darkened rooms and are hedonistic affairs drenched with chaotic walls of feedback and electronic noise.

Whitey – In 2004, he released an album named The Light at the End of the Tunnel is a Train. The album predated the electro rock movement by several years, and was greeted at the time as a critical triumph, going on to make numerous Best Of Year lists worldwide.

In the summer of 2007, an album named Great Shakes was leaked onto the internet. As a consequence of this leak, this album was never officially released,[3] and Whitey was dropped from his record label. On 9 October 2007, the Wrap It Up EP was released though Pure Groove Music/Universal Music. It consisted of three songs: Wrap It Up, Cigarette, and Head in the Corner.

Other appearances since then have been the track “Stay on the Outside” on Kitsuné Maison Compilation 4, the release of the limited edition Made of Night EP on Marquis Cha Cha records and the track “Wrap It Up” on the Grand Theft Auto 4 in-game soundtrack. Tracks by Whitey have also featured in episodes of The Sopranos, The O.C, Kyle XY, Entourage and CSI.

A full album named Stay On The Outside was planned for release in the later part of 2008, but this has been delayed. This album was planned to include a number of tracks from Great Shakes and a number of new tracks. A new album Canned Laughter was self-released by Whitey on April 1, 2010. A further collection of tracks, Canned Laughter Vol.2, was planned for released as a digital download on Sept 1st 2010 but was, according to Whitey’s official Myspace, “delayed indefinitely due to lack of funds, press, food and rent.

In a long time he has had no record deal, but have just signed for a second release of Canned Laugther with Dim Mak Records. Even without record deals has he released over 30 records under a variety of names.

Yet without any significant industry investment his distinctive sounds have broken through to mainstream daytime radio in the U.S and elsewhere, and for four straight years his music has been a fixture from rock clubs to fashion runways, from movie soundtracks to television, computer games to skate films. From Japan to Iceland, Moscow to Hollywood. From the Sopranos to Grand Theft Auto. Gradually this cult U.K artist has built a strange home in the shadowy ground between high fashion and mainstream entertainment, between pop radio and what little is left of the underground. An outsider who relishes this status, and celebrates this outsider ethos in his work.