Two rules were posted on the door outside the Rock N Roll Hotel last Saturday night. There were to be no stage dives and no crowd surfing. Unfortunately for the venue, both were broken, much to concertgoers’ delight. To blame were the members of the band headlining Saturday’s show: Wavves. Read More »
Back in 2009, a dude named Nathan Williams released some music under the moniker “Wavves” that he had recorded in his parents basement, forever polarizing the indie world on the subject of no-fi, shitgaze, scuzzy punk, and “lazy music”. Leading up to 2009, the indie world was still caught up in its post-Arcade Fire/Broken Social Scene high of “intelligent” indie rock that was marked by using abstract/exotic instruments, as many band members as possible, and trying to create stadium worthy anthems. Wavves represented something undeniably opposing.
I never understood the hype that Wavves generated with their last album. It sounded like fuzzy trash. I am pretty open to noise-oriented bands, but that was painful to my ears. I even smiled a bit when I heard Nathan Williams got his ass kicked by Jared Swilley from The Black Lips. As I was about to begin playing the album, I wasn’t particularly excited. I was expecting more of the same un-provoking, overrated, ‘chillwave.’
I was wrong.
