Wavves – Wavvves Review
Wavves is the brainchild of Nathan Williams who’s out of San Diego California. I’m not sure why I picked it up, maybe because of the hype it got? Surely an 8.1/10 from Pitchfork will do that.
I think that score must be joke. Otherwise I don’t get it. Noise or lo-fi is an interesting genre. It relies on the intention to bring sounds that are rather annoying and making something of them. There are a lot of great lo-fi and noise artists out there but come on – this is hardly great.
Williams’ music is really just a pop song with the aesthetic of noise. It’s not great nor merely good. Without the noise, there isn’t much to begin with we’re just left with average pop songs. Reverb and static is added all over the place, perhaps to distort or “annoy” intentionally but why? It makes absolutely no sense that this should be considered better then many of the works out there.
Does Wavves have talent? I’m not even sure. He has some talent but it’s hidden behind the wall of sound that seems more like it covers up a mediocre artist rather then someone legitimately making a piece of art. I can’t for the life of me, endorse an album like this. By giving a good score, it’s saying this album is what artists should be working toward. WRONG.
He does take elements from The Ramones where it does sound gritty with a real measure of surf pop but with production that’s apparently worse then in the 70s. Personally, I like noise when it’s highly complex but these tracks have zero complexity when looking at what the music is first and foremost. It’s very dry and while he does have his moments with Get In the Sun or No Hope Kids (two decent pop songs I must say) – this album reverts back to being more of a nuisance with nothing to offer. On “So Bored” he sings “I’m Soooo Bored”, well so am I of this record.
Rating: 2 out of 5
Don’t buy into the hype. I do like noise pop at times but it has to be much more intricate. You can argue it’s “creative”. But I see it more as a step back then moving forward. Besides, creative works can suck too and this has major flaws that I won’t overlook.
Tags: album
saw him at the echo in los angeles last wednesday? my reaction to the record was the same as yours, but the live show is very tuneful, poppy- he plays with a live drummer a la no age and the show sold out, everyone was into it etc. but i did have the same reaction to the record, so you’re right about that.