"I've been selling Crueletta for ten years now which is testament to it's popularity! The illustrations are eye-catching and the design is striking. These independent publications also make perfect gifts!" HOLLY BURROWS - THE CARTOON MUSEUM
"What a charming little book of illustrated poetry. Tania picked this up a while back at the House of Illustration and I am glad she did. The poems are short but make you smile as you learn about Crueletta and her sisters. 4 stars!"
ADRIAN HENDRIK
KEITH LEVENE on "POPTONES" "by THE TROPICS OF CANCER: "Very nice..like the vocals-interesting version..I'm flattered.."
"This is sooo cuuute!"
EARTHA KITT
AISHA KHAN
"Parisian friends of the bizarre and avant-garde, curious about musical and iconoclastic sound assemblies, if you want a multi dimensional show that goes out of the ordinary and scene/public conventions, then come and meet on Sunday afternoon the immense (he must be 1m90) and talented (fans of The Flaming Stars Can't imagine all the instruments this man masters)"CATHI MINI - PERSONA
Joe Whitney is an all-round friggin genius. The One Man Cinema Band has to be seen to be believed."
PETER THOMAS - EXPLODING CINEMA
"Your set was magic! Very energetic and clever" JOWE HEAD
SCRATCHY SOUNDS
STEPHANIE IPANEMA
"…our very special guest, the wunnerful Joe Le Tropic Whitney, renaissance man of artnik design, mischievous mudlarkin music and sophisticated auteur film mekin....a pop art polymath and a true hipster, cupcakes take note. Enjoy this then, a jazztronomically inclined prole art rock and roll trip to Whitney's moon....all the while maintaining a cool demeanour like the lovely Joe. Yo…"
BUGBEAR RADIO
YVAN SERRANO-FONTOVA
GREG FOAT
ELLA GURU
DAVID PIPER
HIGHTOWN CROWS
SURI SUMATRA
DAMIEN McCOMB
SADIE MURDOCH
MAKIKO WATANABE - FUTURE SHORTS FILM FESTIVAL Tokyo
SARAH GROCHALA - HEADLONG DIGITAL ARTIST AWARD
"For a man who is one of London's finest drummers, you play a striking gut scraper as well""London's finest drummer"
PHIL STAINES - THEE HYPNOTICS
on "COLD FEET RUN FAST" by JF WHITNEY- "Really rather marvellous"on TRICOTEUSE EP: "Cor, that's a cracking set of tunes!"on "BRIDGE ST BOARDERS" by JF WHITNEY- "Multi-Talented multi instrumentalist"
Whisperinandhollerin
"A perfect wheeze" CAMDEN NEW JOURNAL
RECORD COLLECTOR Sept 1997 JOE WHITNEY"Klo-Dean"/Sister Flora" Unusually for a solo record by a drummer (think of Ringo, Charlie or Moon), "Klo-Dean" is virtually all drumming. Whitney is the sticksman with the dashingly cool Flaming Stars, but it's not all skins-and-rims: there are some wild acoustic guitars here, too. But what makes this a killer 7" is "Sister Flora"- a frenzy of percussion punctuated by an easy-listening chorus reminiscent of the Pearl & Dean theme. Check out the handmade sleeves and the very limited pressing too."
A remake of PIL's classic "Poptones" – and done on a funky 45 label, too! The track is a lot trippier than most of the rest of the Stark Reality catalog – with a slow hypnotic groove that's very much in keeping with PIL's original, but also more of a fuzzy psych approach to the cut – one that takes it into some mighty nice spaced out territory! "Sylvia's Gate" starts with a catchy piano riff – grooving along at a bubbling pace, kind of madly skipping as some wordless female vocals come into the track and scat along – sounding almost like a mad number by Doris or Karin Krog, but even weirder overall!" DUSTY GROOVE AMERICA, INC.
Under The Covers – The Tropics of Cancer featuring She Rocola (RIM CD 18)
PENNY RIMBAUD
LEE MCFADDEN
The vampish Ms Rocola has been prowling the capital's garage rock underground these past few years, bringing more than a touch of sultry sophistication to the party, whether fronting Joe Whitney's trash-exotica project The Tropics of Cancer or the swing-jazz ensemble Lady And The Tramps. The Tropics' Under The Covers, as the title suggests, throws together originals like the bewitching Sylvia's Gate with class takes on such classics as Cry Me A River, plus a take on The Buzzcocks' Get On Our Own that's pure Wicker Man in execution.
HUGH GULLAND - VIVE LE PUNK
EVERETT TRUE - VILLAGE VOICE 27/10/07
STU GIBSON - MAVERICK, April 2008
CLUB HELL
"UPSIDE DOWN" by THE TROPICS OF CANCER :SCI-FI LO-FI (ANDREW WEATHERALL COMPILATION - SOMA RECORDS)
TIM CHESTER - NME
CULTUREDELUXE.COM
STYLUS MAGAZINE
An excerpt from "Medicine" Stu Gibson's "Rumour" review in "Sleazegrinder"....."Fittingly for such a master-class in midnight mores our first sip is a surreal shiver through 'Upside Down'...yarse, Ms Ross' disco diva classic magicked into an exquisite mambo jive, hot under the collar vocals whispered like incantations and curses by a private eye straight outta Chandler as the indigenous poison administered by his lap-dancing Laotian goddess takes full effect...."
THE TROPICS OF CANCER: INTRODUCTION TO A RUMOUR (Rim Records)
"The Tropics are Flaming Star Joe Whitney and a gathering of London's kitsch cats and gangster chic underground gutter hounds (including Jake Vegas, Urbane Voodoo Machine P.R. Angel and brother Flamer Huck). This here is a collection of recordings from various speakeasies, cellar casinos and upstairs back-rooms of east-end back-alley boozers from 1992 to 2004. A low-key affair conducted appropriately at street ends so dark everyday folk are wary and speak only hearsay about what goes in the house on the corner...if it's occupied at all. Restlessly inventive...intoxicatingly hypnotic...a sultry stew flambé-ing the Flaming Stars further into flamenco flavoured Latino bordellos and sweaty oriental opium dens (the rather wondrous and beautifully sung 'Ue O Muite Aruko' which sounds like Geisha girls dancing on rose petals while levitating on flute and xylophone mists)...rounds of cards played, deals shook...suckers shook down in experimental folk lounges of Eno ethereal swinging rags and raging voodoo vibes.Fittingly for such a master-class in midnight mores our first sip is a surreal shiver through 'Upside Down'...yarse, Ms Ross' disco diva classic magicked into an exquisite mambo jive, hot under the collar vocals whispered like incantations and curses by a private eye straight outta Chandler as the indigenous poison administered by his lap-dancing Laotian goddess takes full effect and heaves-ho the anchor on his hallucinogenic express taking in coconut growing hip-hop from Middle Eastern bazoukis ('The Ghost Of Baghdad'), Schnapps soused Germans grimacing in shell-shocked delirium between murderous mortar blasts and nightmare nursery rhymes from a flatlining Brothers Grimm ('Trollmors Vuggesang'), sassily sardonic put-down 'Balls To Call' .. surface sweet as Rosemary Clooney singing a 1950's TV ad for domestic products whilst delivering an earthy riposte to her handsome chap for not calling .. and myriad mordant folk tunes plucked from hillsides, vineyards and decaying farmhouses. Oh, and Bauhaus' 'Honeymoon Croon' spit-roasting (in the traditional tribal sense) Alien Sex Fiend on 'Angie!'Moreso than the Stars this is evocative, unceasingly creative and cinematic soundscapery that'd perfectly accompany arthouse noir, Spillane style slick dickery and nocturnal 'Nosferatu' wanderings (see the twitching 'Tricoteuse'). Highly and heartily recommended."
STU GIBSON - SLEAZEGRINDER
"Absolutely crazed but beautiful" - THE VILLAGE VOICE
"Sultry, seductive and entrancing" - MAVERICK
"Ace" - NME
"Slinky and sophisticated" -BIZARRE"
Beatnick surf guitar, jazz punk and solid solid grooves. Cool vibes and never the same line up twice." - ENTS 24
"Ultra cool surf blues rock and roll n swing" STRANGER THAN PARADISE
"Wild theatrical rock and roll"
CORSICA STUDIOS
"The last time Joe Whitney & She Rocola's crazy Camden collective played Gypsy Hotel their set varied from glam rock, Beethoven, jazz, Japanese traditional music and Norwegian lullabies – we're very curious to see what they'll cook up this time!" GYPSY HOTEL
"Fuses garage punk and spaghetti western twang with a bit of Tom Waits thrown in for good measure – a mix which has gained them a sizeable cult following both at home and in Europe."
MUSIC WEEK
"The singer gives the impression of being drunk"
ISAAC HAYES - guest singles reviewer - TIME OUT
"But it's rascally drummer Joe Whitney who flexes his democratic muscles most demonstratively with "Baby Steps" and "The Long Walk Home" – which both sound like rather fine outtakes from the Get Carter soundtrack, albeit played by a drunken jazz band falling down a spiral staircase."
ADRIAN P. - DOA 18/11/02
"Drummer Joe Whitney, a vital member of the band's sound, produces a series of fascinating rhythms throughout, barely pausing for breath. Hulked over his drum kit, like a wolf protecting her young, he lays the foundations on which Décharné's keyboard solos explode, punctuating each song with meticulous timing and execution."
BBC TYNE 02/06/05"Drummer Joe Whitney has always been on the verge of seizure behind the drumkit; with this number he proves that his passionate mania hasn't abated in the slightest." WILL LERNER on "Only Tonight" ALLMUSIC.COM
"Pipe & Slippers Man went down a storm with both Slim and Joe Whitney stage front really working the crowd into a frenzy."Simonovitch WHISPERINANDHOLLERIN.COM
The multi-tasking artist, musician and photographer launches his month-long show at the gallery/salon with a party tonightNow this is a good one. The legendary Kentish Town gallery-cum-salon have a major exhibition kicking off for a month from tonight, with a show entitled 50/50 by Joe Whitney.Whitney is an artist, musician and photographer with work published, performed and exhibited across the globe. "My artwork (drawn, painted or digitally rendered) is entirely inspired by fleeting random ideas," he says, perhaps not entirely helpfully. But we forgive him.And he's a busy bee too, with recent shows across the capital everywhere from Hackney Picturehouse to Proud. Check out his website for a full display of his Renaissance-man style multi-tasking (a roll call of everything from movie soundtracks to magazine photography).And – of course – no-one needs an excuse to swing by Michael Ptootch's iconic second Thursday-of-the-month soirées, with cocktail bar, secret garden, live music and eclectic K-Town crowd. And if that's not enough, there'll be a performance from – who else – Whitney's band The Flaming Stars, too.50/50 runs at Flaxon Ptootch, 237 Kentish Town Road, until October 9. Launch party tonight from 7pm.KENTISHTOWNER 12/09/13
FILM"Some of the films in the festival are more nakedly surrealistic. Joe Whitney's "Pas Catholique," a witty meditation on Catholicism, repression, and sadomasochism, draws on the 1920s French surrealist tradition; its dominant motif is the disembodied head of a man (Cyril Roy) who may or may not be a monk." Graham Fuller - New York Film Critics Circle - theculturetrip.comPas Catholique: "Expressionist look at religion somewhere between Ingmar Bergman and Jean-Luc Godard." Chuck Foster - Film Threat, Los Angeles "Fucking Brilliant!" John Cooper Clarke on "I'm Hurting/The Bitter Cup"
"Rollicking folk self-evisceration from Billy Childish" Exploding Cinema on "I'm Hurting/The Bitter Cup""Love the style...these films are perfect content for the festival" (Al Carretta - Nightpiece Film Festival, Edinburgh Fringe)
"Unique strong cool visuals with humour" Makiko Watanabe - Future Shorts Film Festival, Tokyo"I'm not sure who should be most insulted!" Billy Childish on "Crueletta-The Musical Chair""Absolutely superb!" Cathi Unsworth on "My Dog""Great film!" Jamie McLaren (Run-Riot) on "My Dog""This is the work of a pure genius!" Amanda Rodgers (Stranger Than Paradise) on "The Magic Hatchet""It's really beautiful. Congrats on that it's really great quite extraordinary and very funny too"Caroline Catz on "Heaven From Pennies"Fantastic. Playful, creepy... Brilliantly weird" Lois Pryce on "Waltz of the Winter Companions""Fabulous!" Suzy Prince on "Waltz of the Winter Companions""The Roger Corman Of Camden" She RocolaDRUMS"Drummer Joe Whitney, a vital member of the band's sound, produces a series of fascinating rhythms throughout, barely pausing for breath. Hulked over his drum kit, like a wolf protecting her young, he lays the foundations on which Décharné's keyboard solos explode, punctuating each song with meticulous timing and execution." (BBC TYNE)
"Joe the drummer's outstanding abilities become apparent on ingeniously constructed songs" (DAVE JENNINGS - MELODY MAKER)
"A jazz drummer with the energy and attitude of a rock animal" (NGAIRE-RUTH - MELODY MAKER)
"A wild man in a suit playing skew-whiff jazz rhythms on his drums" (NME)
"Produces rhythms which are powerful, compelling and committed" (OSCAR ISSUE 4 - NEWCASTLE)
"Drummer Joe Whitney has always been on the verge of seizure behind the drumkit; with this number he proves that his passionate mania hasn't abated in the slightest." (WILL LERNER - ALLMUSIC.COM)
"One of my fav artist and drummer in London" (YVAN SERRANO-FONTOVA)
"The Keith Moon of skiffle" (JEB PAGE - HIGHTOWN CROWS)
"The Eric Ambler of the drums" (JAKE VEGAS)
"The Dapper Duke of Drums and Daguerrotypery" (STEPHEN PRINCE - AFTERHOURS SLEAZE AND DIGNITY)
"Quite remarkable drumming that teeters on the edge of control." (RETRO MAN)
"Sounds as if Keith Moon is risen" (UNDERGROUND)DJ"Joe Le Tropic span some great tunes" Puss Johnson"Great set. You were brilliant!" Vinyl Secretary