Wood & Steel

As I had mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I was to be getting reviewed in the latest installment of Taylor Guitar’s Wood & Steel publication. Well, wait no longer. It’s here, and I’m posting it for you to read, right now. So here it is:

“A proud partisan of the double-ought Apple generation, Jody Whitesides is armed and dangerous with his Mac, his looping programs, a boatload of effects plug-ins, and music editing software. Together with his rock-star guitar chops and creative instincts, the abundance of talent and tools could easily spell trouble — think runaway vanity project. But Whitesides sounds like he´s moved beyond the kitchen sink recording approach on his sixth outing, Practical Insanity, aiming to craft sticky melodies rather than simply strutting his skills.

That isn´t to say he won´t reach into his bag of tricks to juice things up with a backwards guitar solo, as he does in the opening track, or string samples, or a dollop of space-fuzz guitar. But even when Whitesides occasionally drops the hint that he´s a closet shredder, he leashes his impulses in order to give his songs a fighting chance for radio play. The payoff is a 12-pack of smartly groomed, inventive power-pop, fueled by grooves that lodge in your head and emit enough sonic coolness to invite multiple listens.

Whitesides covers vocals, guitar, bass keys, and loop programming on the record. His voice has an edgy soulfulness, and he steers it fluidly, using it to graft emotion and urgency onto his lyrics. One can hear shades of heavier rock influences reminiscent of Living Colour and King´s X in there, but Whitesides tends to stick with more of a groove-laden singer-songwriter approach.

Drum loops and his 615ce lay the structure for most tracks, with live drums added, as well. Among the album´s catchiest tunes is the upbeat acoustic love song Falling In, flavored with a bouncy slap-and-pop guitar figure and a benignly soulful refrain.

Elsewhere, Whitesides shoots for a crunchier electric-pop sound. He´s good at tinkering with familiar song structures and adding interesting sonic twists like an offbeat chord change to draw in the listener. Toward the end, he drops in a rock instrumental, Tracking Motion, and sinks into a meaty funk groove on Say Goodbye to close out the record. Whitesides´ disciplined approach pays off, helping to bring his talent into hi-res focus.

— Jim Kirlin”

There ya have it.

If you didn’t read the last installment, I announced that I have distribution for Practical Insanity now! So with that in mind, bear with me that I repost a portion of the last news feature here:

I really need to find an investor. I’ve talked about it before, but it’s becoming even more crucial now. I have written a business plan/proposal and I’m now seeking people that have venture capital interests. If you are, or have a friend who is, interested in investing in a musician and riding the coat-tails to glory then I’m just the musician you need to invest in. I’ve got a kick ass CD, I’ve got the first of several kick ass videos for the CD, I’ve got a great band, I’ve got a tour bus that I already own (that runs on used veggie oil), I’ve even GOT THE DISTRIBUTION to get it into stores. But I need you the savvy investor to help share that goal.

Wanna see the business plan summary online?

Help a great musician out. Pass this on to any friend with the connections.

Jody

p.s. – now that you’ve read this: If you DON’T pass this along to at least 25 friends who have money to invest with in the next hour, you will stub the big toe on your right foot tomorrow morning. That will lead you to hobble around as it swells to the size of a golf ball. Because it will get so big you will trip and fall in front of the person that you’ve been fantasizing about all your life and that will make them never want to sleep with you. If you DO pass this along to any of them within the hour, you will suddenly find yourself backstage at any show of mine you wish to go to. You will be given the royal treatment. Rose petals will be your path whereever you walk. You will find peace, love, and good happiness in your life. In fact you’d be revered as a God for helping to make so many souls happy with the music you helped to spread.

p.p.s. – now that you’ve read that: If you DON’T have any friends with money, then you have to either buy my CD from the purchase CD link on my music page (through CD Baby) or click on one of the iTunes links and purchase at least two songs. If you do that in the next 15 minutes, you’ll start becoming extremely sexy to members of the opposite sex, and all the people you’ve ever been attracted to as well. In fact you’ll get so sexy that you’ll need to get a personal assistant to deal will all the love and attention you’ll get from buying my music. If you wait more than 15 minutes to buy it, then you’ll just get a thank you from me and your life will go on, but a little less fulfilled.

p.p.p.s – wouldn’t you rather be sexy? On second thought, wouldn’t you rather know people with money?

If you’ve made it this far THANK YOU. Hope you haven’t wasted too much of your day.