Whitey - Mental Radio (2024)

Amazingly, it’s nearly twenty years since Nathan Joseph White, under the stage name of Whitey, released his debut album The Light At The End Of The Tunnel Is A Train. Since then, you may have unwittingly heard his music in all manner of popular modern culture, such as the highly regarded TV shows The Sopranos and Breaking Bad, as well as the huge selling game Grand Theft Auto. In short, Whitey is one of those artists who don’t seem well-known on surface level, but has almost certainly infiltrated your life at some point.

There’s something hugely appealing about Whitey, who has been compared to a whole plethora of legendary acts such as Pixies and Queens Of The Stone Age, amongst others, but on Mental Radio, his eight full length record, the overriding influence that shines through, to my ears at least, is Babybird. This is partly because of the wit displayed in titles like ‘Don’t Be A Can’t (All Your Life)‘ but also because of the beautifully constructed, often ludicrously catchy tunes that are the record’s make up. In fact, make that “Babybird if Stephen Jones had teamed up with the superb late Scottish industrial rocker Rico.“

I do get that QOTSA reference though, especially when you listen to ‘Let It Burn‘, with that menacing psyche of pulsating guitar and drums that bring the vocals to the forefront, but even then, there’s more than a slight air of a Roy Wood composition about it, along with several other tracks that feature here. I can’t fault that, as I believe Roy to be one of the greatest songwriters in our history.

More surprising is ‘It’s A Scream‘ which, to all intents and purposes, seems like the most successful Blur ballad that the Essex band never made. Well, I say ‘ballad’, but when you pay attention to the lyrics, it appears to be about those folk who get sucked down a conspiracy theory rabbit hole: “Hooded men in darkened rooms have conspired to seal our doom, and they’re in lead with all those weirdo kids who live right next to you.” It’s such a brilliant song, and, set there amongst all the ballsier stuff, its impact is maximised.

While sometimes Whitey’s music sounds a tad fucked up, there’s always a commercial appeal about everything he puts out, so even though ‘Cherryade‘ begins with an impatient sounding guitar buzz, the refrain itself is unashamedly catchy to the extent that a young child could sing it easily after a single listen. Then, later on, ‘Dear Universe‘ embodies the spirit of Deep Purple or Hawkwind, and ‘Bad Scenes At The Eyelid Cinema‘ is like LCD Soundsystem, or perhaps more accurately, like LSD Soundsystem!

Mental Radio has an impressive sixteen tracks that run for around an hour and a quarter and it’s a whole lot of fun throughout. You’ll love it, trust me. Well, unless you have cloths for ears, anyway.