This is my final Click Hear of 2008 before I dig into my 20 favourite tracks of the year. I'm pleased that I've managed to squeeze San Diego's WAVVES into the column and I couldn't have picked a better time, as my favourite MP3 resource, RCRD LBL, has just upped three brand new tracks from this one-man band.
WAVVES is Nathan Williams, a self-proclaimed "Seinfeld-loving, skateboard-obsessed San Diegan" who makes the best muddy lo-fi punk since you first put on that copy of No Age's Weirdo Rippers - more on No Age, WAVVES and muddy lo-fi in my forthcoming year-end thoughts. Perhaps even more so than L.A.'s favourite lo-fi, Smell loiterers, Wavves uses hooks as destructively as the feedback and bargain bin recording.
Releasing his extremely rad self-titled debut CD/LP on Woodsist (and a completely limited, completely sold-out cassette on sister label Fuckittapes) just recently, Williams is quite the workhorse having already prepped his next full-length, WAVVVES (note the extra 'v') for release on February 3 via De Stijl. You can hear a brand new track from that one now called "So Bored." Before that drops, however, there's this new seven-inch titled Beach Demon/Weed Demon.
Already sold out because it was limited to only 300 copies, the first 100 of which come with fuckin' grip tape (how cool is that?). the A-side, "Beach Demon," is a totally sludged up neck-breaker that sounds like he wrote it while attempting some mean railslides; it has that spontaneous, ignore-your-conscience adrenaline pumping through its veins. It's also a great example of the kind of pop chops this guy has, of course hiding it underneath all of that blown-amp noise. On the flipside is "Weed Demon," a much tamer, gooier cut that as RCRD LBL so accurately points out, "smacks sweetly of the Pumpkins' 'Soma'," mostly in the chords, which I kinda hope was deliberate.
And just to be nice, Williams also gave the site his "saltwatered manifesto," which just so happens to be titled "WAVVES," of all things. It's a fair representation of his overall vision: a blizzard of scuzzy guitars, muffled drums and barely decipherable lyrics awash in tasty melodies and featuring no production budget whatsoever.
Download WAVVES' Beach Demon/Weed Demon + "WAVVES"
WAVVES is Nathan Williams, a self-proclaimed "Seinfeld-loving, skateboard-obsessed San Diegan" who makes the best muddy lo-fi punk since you first put on that copy of No Age's Weirdo Rippers - more on No Age, WAVVES and muddy lo-fi in my forthcoming year-end thoughts. Perhaps even more so than L.A.'s favourite lo-fi, Smell loiterers, Wavves uses hooks as destructively as the feedback and bargain bin recording.
Releasing his extremely rad self-titled debut CD/LP on Woodsist (and a completely limited, completely sold-out cassette on sister label Fuckittapes) just recently, Williams is quite the workhorse having already prepped his next full-length, WAVVVES (note the extra 'v') for release on February 3 via De Stijl. You can hear a brand new track from that one now called "So Bored." Before that drops, however, there's this new seven-inch titled Beach Demon/Weed Demon.
Already sold out because it was limited to only 300 copies, the first 100 of which come with fuckin' grip tape (how cool is that?). the A-side, "Beach Demon," is a totally sludged up neck-breaker that sounds like he wrote it while attempting some mean railslides; it has that spontaneous, ignore-your-conscience adrenaline pumping through its veins. It's also a great example of the kind of pop chops this guy has, of course hiding it underneath all of that blown-amp noise. On the flipside is "Weed Demon," a much tamer, gooier cut that as RCRD LBL so accurately points out, "smacks sweetly of the Pumpkins' 'Soma'," mostly in the chords, which I kinda hope was deliberate.
And just to be nice, Williams also gave the site his "saltwatered manifesto," which just so happens to be titled "WAVVES," of all things. It's a fair representation of his overall vision: a blizzard of scuzzy guitars, muffled drums and barely decipherable lyrics awash in tasty melodies and featuring no production budget whatsoever.
Download WAVVES' Beach Demon/Weed Demon + "WAVVES"