David E. Williams - Get Me a Ladder... Get Me a Ladder.

 

David E. Williams – Get Me A Ladder… Get Me A Ladder – CD – Self Released DEWed001 – 2022.

https://davidewilliams.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/people/David-E-Williams/1129773203/

1.    The Well-Tempered Actuary.

2.    Get Me A Ladder.

3.    Plane Crash People.

4.    Body Parts In Birdbaths.

5.    Gangrenous Nebula.

6.    The Man Who Invented Ketchup.

7.    Girl, Go Forth!

8.    A Seed Is Scurrilous.

9.    Hats Off to William Frawley.

10.  We the Ill are Not So Well.

11.  Testosterone Is Poison.

12.  Throat Wound.

13.  Eucharist V. Leukemia.

14.  This Is My Play’s Last Scene (John Donne).

15.  Things.

Image from artist's Bandcamp.

The work Of David E. Williams goes right back to 1987 when the Pseudo Erotica 12” was originally released on Red Dog Records. Williams is the most prolific artist to have come from the label. Across 5 decades, there have been many solo albums and collaborations released on labels like Old Europa Café, Storm, Tesco USA and Cthulhu. In that time Williams has collaborated with artists such as Deathpile and Rozz Williams. Williams has played many shows around the world and is part of the projects: Destroying Angel and the Muskets. William’s soundtrack work to Norman Macera’s Strike Zone in 2001 is impressive. The tribute album to William’s work, The Appeal of Discarded Orthodoxy was released by Old Europa Café in 2007 and featured a range of artists covering William’s work. This was a work of art within itself, well worthy of purchase. Adding to this, in 2018, Tesco USA released Women Sing Williams, Songs of David E. Williams in the Female Voice.

Ahead of reviewing Get Me a Ladder and reflecting on the artist’s impressive discography it is hard to believe that this album won’t be brilliant. This self-released album comes in digipack with a booklet.

The Impressive Discography, collection of the reviewer. 

Keyboards and sampled dialogue serve as The Well-Tempered Actuary. The odd, dark, dungeon  pop that Williams has perfected over the decades is evident on the title track, creepy vocals play off each other throughout the track. The screwiness of the title track follows through to Plane Crash People, which is brilliantly odd, combining, keyboard drones, melodies, heartfelt vocals and excellent guitar work by Erin Martz. Sinister keyboard skills and harmonies are the sinister Body Parts in Birdbaths, a sinister America is always depicted in Williams albums. Lloyd James of Naevus features on this track. Gangrenous Nebula demonstrates what an excellent pianist Williams is.

The work comes out of the dungeon and embraces quirky pop for The Man Who Invented Ketchup, it is jolly and upbeat in comparison to earlier to earlier tracks. I like how the track goes of into an ambient passage of sound through different synthesizer effects. The happiness doesn’t last as Girl, Go Forth is dark and mournful. This progresses to sinister on A Seed is Scurrilous which is bleak balladry. The mood comes down further on Hats off to William Frawley, the darkness continues We the Ill Are Not So Well, black humour flows from each song.

Testosterone is poison begins as a song, the tempo is more upbeat, Erin Martz provides some amazing guitar work. The track then morphs into experimental sonics, the guitar makes glitchy chat as drone shoot everywhere. I realise that it is Williams’ old collaborator Jonathan Canady of Deathpile playing here, he continues Throat Wound. I like the breakdown of the album into ambient terror that happens here. The familiar bleak balladry returns for Eucharist v. Leukemia, this is dramatic and funny. Experimental instrumentation returns on This Is My Play’s Last Scene. Song returns for Things, William’s laments change and brings the album to a beautiful end.

Another solid addition to the discography, great work.

Choppy Noodles 2023.

David E. Williams – Banana Peel Slips on Itself

David E. Williams – Banana Peel Slips on Itself – CD/Download – Old Europa Café – 2020.

https://davidewilliams.bandcamp.com/

http://www.davidewilliams.com/

https://www.oldeuropacafe.com/

The work of Philadelphia based artist David E. Williams was always good but seemed to rise to another level after the 2009 album Every Missing Duck is a Duck Missed. Recordings since then have been consistently great, it is as if they seem determined to consistently improve on the last. Williams has also been involved in recordings with Rozz Williams and Deathpile as well as scoring soundtracks and playing in Blood Axis, the Urge Within and The Muskets; this is his eighth album, Banana Peel Slips on Itself.

Williams is often accompanied by Jerome Deppe who appears on One Meatball, Erin Martz plays guitar on ‘Marquis DeSade was a Sadist.’

Feet are the subject of opener ‘Song About Being A Foot’, after hearing this I am determined to treat mine a lot better. The humorous Williams darkness is clear and reassuring that this album will be good. Marquis DeSade was a Sadist, has a Bad Goth track rhythm pattern, that is so raw it is excellent. I feel the clarity of the song, the (very) dark humour are in full flow as well as the prog -rock keyboard solos. Williams combines such unfashionable styles and makes them great again, he always seems to fix things a lot.  Three Brown liquids demonstrates Williams piano/keyboard skills to strong effect. Margaret Sanger Lives in Heaven demonstrates further piano skill into an amazing dark ballad about the famed Birth Control advocate and sex educator.  Each song demonstrates Williams’ skilled and inventive storytelling, the subjects are absurd and bleak, yet never unoriginal or boring.

Sun Cracks Through Black Cotton seems to evoke Howard Shores soundtrack to the David Cronenberg film Crash; it is unnerving, and the vocal is crashing and aggressive. Chiropractor Arrives by Helicopter is doom laden, slow, and hilarious. The absurdity of the subject matter is a comedic observation, was it something he read, saw, or invented? Dark Keyboards form the melody of Unworthy of Love, the lyrics are even darker, being able to read the lyrics on Bandcamp while I play the album is great, I never usually bother, but now realise how lyrically sharp Williams is. I dreamed I Caught a Cold really references the even darker sound of early work like Pseudo Erotica, it is a great mid album throwback. I May Be a Rat is humorous yet emotive, I still do not know where the keyboard sounds even came from, they are odd yet amazing.

Pets Will Eat Their Owners has a line I will never forget as long as I live – ‘ My Foreskin Melts Like Butter’, however it has the best tempo change I have heard in age. The great Jerome Deppe steps up to sing on One Meatball as further keyboard quirkiness comes from unknown depths. Lou Gehrig is excellent balladry, dark and slow as Williams reflects on the life of the legendary Baseball player. As the lyrics end, piano and keyboard instrumentation follows. The finale Somber Sombrero is the best ballad on the album, the vocal is smooth, a case of saving the best until last.

David E. Williams is a one-off maverick talent who will never be popular, he will never be cool, but his work demonstrates pure clarity and radiates a brilliance that never seems to faulter. This album continues his long run of brilliance.

Dorkus Maximus 2020.