Hartley C. White - "Let's Play Politics"


Hey, everyone! I hope you’re in a good mood today, because I’m going to introduce you to someone very interesting: Hartley C. White. This guy is a multi-instrumentalist, martial artist, poet, and songwriter that currently resides in Queens. He records a self-coined style of music called “Who-pa-zoo-tic Music,” which seems to emphasize extremely broken rhythms. While it all seems entirely new on the surface, most music nerds will probably draw similarities between Hartley and notables names in “outsider music“: R. Stevie Moore, Wesley Willis, Tonetta, Ariel Pink.

On “Let’s Play Politics,” Hartley’s melodies are rudimentary, but there’s something strange and unique about them as well. The odd rhythmic character of the song makes every note pronounced and sticky. Despite this song’s unorthodoxy, it’s incredibly catchy. On the lyrical side of things, Hartley doesn’t say anything he doesn’t mean, making every word count in this clever satire of today’s political landscape.

This track is from a forthcoming compilation of songs dropping via OSR, and features music off Hartley’s first four albums, which were all released between 1984 and 2009. Pre-order here.

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