The handmade pillow case that comes with this one won’t help you become as good as Paul White but the CD itself will keep you awake. We’ve been fans of Paul White since the single ‘For You And For Me/We Want It All’ and his Natural Self remix (now on Shapes 09:01) this talented library producer (with BBC and Channel 4 credits to his name) clearly loves his musical history with the ear of a create digger. So Paul White knows what he’s doing but do the rest of us?

To be honest, the White has produced a strange and incredible collection of 21 tracks for this album! In the modus operandi of Prefuse 73, Madlib, Flying Lotus and the like, he’s produced something extraordinary and quite simple all at the same time.

Perfectly demonstrated by ‘Alien Nature’, it’s the most catchy (and the second longest) track on the album at 2:47! Hardly an extended remix but it does include the ‘Fast And Bulbous’ snippet from Captain Beefheart’s Trout Mask Replica (possibly, the greatest album ever in MHO).

So what’s going on? It’s like a old John Peel Fest as there’s King Crimson, Beefheart and loads more that I just can’t put my finger on; I’m thinking, “What next? The Undertones?” Thankfully not as the second half of the album is more DJ Shadow sound sulpture-esque, particularly, and perhaps inevitably, ‘Waiting For Time’ that turns in as the longest track (at 3:19!); pure beats but a bit soul, funk and jazz.

DJ friendly tracks to drop are ‘Looking Out To See’ (did you see what he did there?), the mixed up ‘homage’ of ‘Surfing Off The Coast Of Mexico’, ‘The Punch Drummer’, ‘Sleep Clapping’, ‘Let Your Imagination Go’ and the closing track, ‘Can’t Sleep Make Music’.

You get the feeling Mr. White’s debut album could have been a 100 track triple album (prog rock stylee) if he’d wanted as his strange dreams are many. But for us normal folk, we’re more than happy with this 21 track version. Sweet dreams Dr. Sardonicus.

20th June 2009: London album launch night at Plastic People

Reviewed: Paul White - The Strange Dreams Of Paul White (One-Handed Music) Cat. No: HANDCD001 Release date: 1st June 2009
Tracklisting:
1 Cheese Special & A Draw (1:45)
2 Flying Across Tokyo (1:44)
3 The Uprising Of The Insane (1:16)
4 Time Wars (1:43)
5 City Bright Lights (1:57)
6 Alien Nature (2:47)
7 One Eye Open (1:24)
8 The Composers’ Comeback (1:35)
9 Burnt By The Sun (2:16)
10 Waiting For Time (3:19)
11 Sugar Free Airlines (1:33)
12 Floating Free (1:49)
13 Looking Out To See (1:50)
14 Surfing Off The Coast Of Mexico (2:05)
15 The Magic Tunetop (0:54)
16 Road Rage (1:27)
17 Sea Life (1:20)
18 The Punch Drummer (2:14)
19 Sleep Clapping (2:13)
20 Let Your Imagination Go (1:01)
21 Can’t Sleep Make Music (1:38)

Links:
www.myspace.com/paulmw
www.myspace.com/onehanded
http://paulwhite.bandcamp.com
FACT mix 43: Paul White
www.onehandedmusic.com
www.safeandsoundrecording.net
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_Dreams_of_Dr._Sardonicus