We continue our "Best of NYC Countdown", covering every day one of the artists that made our Year End Best of NYC list (a chart compiled by a jury comprised of local bloggers, music writers, promoters, record store personnel and DJs).
Few people in the city can call themselves native New Yorkers. Nine times out of 10, this rare specimen has stories to tell and a lot to say (note: not an actual statistic). William Johnson is one of the select individuals who can proudly brandish the title he was born in Brooklyn, grew up in the Bronx and returned back to Brooklyn, where he currently resides. He uses the name Gordon Voidwell to tell his tales of love, race and class to funky, fat synths laid over soulful, beat-laden pop melodies. An immediate comparison can be made to Prince for the ability to successfully fuse funk, R&B, pop and soul in a palatable form for mass consumption. So far, the songwriter/producer/recorder/sound engineer has released the digital EP “Ivy League Circus” and a 26-song mixtape for hip-hop site OkayPlayer, featuring original songs by Johnson and remixes for Das Racist and Boy Crisis. – Read Nancy Chow’s interview with Gordon Voidwell here.