Wavvves

WavvesWavvvesI like kids, but hey, I’ve learned the pain of leaving youth behind. Seeing things change for the worse - especially when things artistic are concerned - hurts. Realizing that a good number of today’s young ears are finding music not through record store clerks, radio deejays or music critics, but through video games like Rock Band and websites like MySpace, for example, gets me down. Way down. Knowing that most everyone in the generation before mind has taken to stealing all their music weeks before it has even been released burns me up. One music-related aspect about today’s younger set I do enjoy is their penchant for self-recording. San Diego’s Nathan “Wavves” Williams, armed with his sophomore record, Wavvves, seems to have suddenly become the poster boy for this trend.

Much has already been made of Wavves and his supposed “boombox” recordings. Talking to a friend, I compared Wavves’ sound to early EP-era Pavement and the first Royal Trux releases. And sure, it shares the crunch, static and “whatever” attitude of that stuff, but I’m not buying it. Not all the way. For one, early Royal Trux and Pavement sounded sloppy and lo-fi because those guys were, in fact, sloppy and lo-fi. These were broke garage rockers who really did record on boomboxes, Dr. Samples and other primitive equipment. Not Wavves, not even if you beg me to believe I - this dude uses a computer. These tunes sound almost as if they’ve been put through some sort of lo-fi processor - regular songs made to sound like amateur recordings. Even if Williams did record in a primitive fashion, his overly lo-fi sound comes off as a bit too self aware and convoluted.

But there are good tunes, and, to ears that can handle loud, messy rock (think recent acts like No Age and Times New Viking), Wavvves is a worthwhile listen. It’s not as creative as early Pavement and not as spirited as Royal Trux, but Williams does manage to be much more accessible with his noise-as-art approach. These are pop songs drowned in hipster feedback and fuzz - made to sound timelessly carefree and hard edged. Tracks like “So Bored” and “No Hope Kids” paint the picture of a New Slacker Youth, one that - we can only hope - is aware of the fickle “Right Now!” culture of it’s maker’s generation. “Sun Opens My Eyes” and “Beach Demon” also stand out as moments that could be excitedly taken in even by less … err … progressive ears. Much of the rest of this record, however, is blatantly rough cut and raw - maybe even to a fault. Jagged riffs layered everywhere. There are blasts of noise and blown-out guitars around every corner; the vocals are often impossible to make out; the layer of static can become a little much to take after a few songs.

Buy hey, I like the kids. Especially the self-recorded, can’t-be-bothered ones who know how to make gutter rock for older Slay Track-lovin’ grumps like myself. In fact, I kind of love this Williams kid, even if his style is a little over done and contrived. He brings to mind the awesomely awkward - and oh-so-dangerous - feelings I had when I first heard Lou Barlow’s lo-fi explosion, this back when Barlow’s Folk Implosion was setting the mood for Larry Clark and Harmoney Korine’s Kids. Like many of the songs on that soundtrack, Wavvves grows with time, revealing itself as a tasty pop effort with, as they say, style for miles. “So much style that it’s wasted” - whatever that means.   7/10

Written by G. William Locke