WAVVES vs NODZZZ...

Wavves - Wavves (Woodsist Records; released September 30th, 2008)














Nodzzz - Nodzzz (What's Your Rupture? Records; released November 18th, 2008)















Disclaimer: The numbers within the parentheses are indeed footnotes; I went kinda crazy with them.

The author is asking you if you can remember back to the beginning of this century when every garage-rock revival band that broke through was appointed that overwrought tag "the next big thing"? So whatever happened to The Mooney Suzuki?(1) Oh, they're out there somewhere, as are The Detroit Cobras and The Hives (both put out albums in '07, which is like a million fucking years ago in internet time) and Division Of Laura Lee (I got one of their albums on a whim years ago; I wish they were dead).(2) But Hot Snakes and The Libertines; who were actually listenable have sadly come and gone, and the vastly over-rated Kings Of Leon(3) still get to make records. Of course The White Stripes and The Strokes are still alive and richer than ever, but my tastes have bent away from them as they've outgrown their grittier sounding stuff and moved towards a more polished aesthetic. Plus, where do you draw the line between garage rock and garage punk? Where do Black Lips and Jay Reatard fall in here? Vivian Girls?

And oh yeah, I fucking hate Times New Viking(4).

Anyway, I digress- I try to steer clear of genre-specific shit anyway, it's better when it has a slash in it somewhere, like lo-fi/noise pop/garage punk.(5)

Enter Wavves; San Diego native Nathan Williams' bedroom recorded freak-fuzz project that references both goth and darkwave; re-writing the above triple-monikered genre's accepted influences and altering them as he sees fit. He's a one man band who draws from such far-ranging acts as The Beach Boys and Portland's Wipers, so think of him as a sort of sand-covered gutter punk, but only in sound. It's an absolute sonic mess that works for me, like an aurally-inspired toothache that I don't mind having; I'll get it taken care of whenever my health insurance kicks in...(6)

Stand-out tracks include Wavves, Side Yr On, Beach Goth and Teenage Super Party. Follow-up LP comes out February 3rd on Fat Possum Records and is ingeniously titled Wavvves (three V's this time...).

	Wavves - Wavves
	Found at skreemr.com

	Wavves - Side Yr On
	Found at skreemr.com

Heading up to Nor-Cal to the city of San Mateo(7) (situated between San Francisco and Palo Alto) we have (another) lo-fi/noise/garage act calling themselves Nodzzz. Not to be outdone in the consonant war, they also have consecutive consonants. Nodzzz, interestingly enough, would not be able to play their own name in a game of Scrabble. But these three endearingly nerdy dudes make really catchy, fun, four-tracked Tascam MKII garage-pop, ten songs in less than sixteen minutes, total fucking radness. Imagine Weezer having only like 30 bucks and one guitar to record their debut album- it's that sticky, it'll stick to your ears like used condoms stick to the insides of a drunken sorority girl's jeans.(8)

Is She There?, In The City (Contact High), Losing My Accent and I Can't Wait are the key tracks here.

	Nodzzz - Is She There
	Found at skreemr.com

	Nodzzz - In the City (Contact High)
	Found at skreemr.com

Footnotes:
(1) - How can you name your band after the first two singers of Can and still totally suck? I was in either Sam Goody or F.Y.E. about 8 years ago and they had those "listening booth" thingys where you can put headphones on and listen to it- anyway, The Mooney Suzuki fucking suck, mostly because of their name, it's like fucking blashphemy to a music geek. I was expecting some super-funky krautrock-type shit and it was this shitty guitar jerk-off of a mess. I was on a ton of drugs back then, too- I'm really surprised I didn't like it.
(2) - These guys were on Epitath and my room-mate at the time was into all their bands and always bought their sampler records and all that shit, we even had a Division Of Laura Lee sticker on our coffee table. If I ever meet a chick name Laura Lee, I'm going to spit in her face.
(3) - Some dude a little while ago tried to tell me that Kings Of Leon was the best band I've never heard of. I had to correct his obvious error (I've heard everything) with "they are the worst band I wish I've never heard of the most".
(4) - You can try to be lo-fi on purpose to hide the fact that you can't play or sing.
(5) - Worst genre combination ever: UK garage/grime/dub-step. And anyone who knows me knows how much I love dub reggae; I used to drunkenly request it to folkish singer-songwriter types at open mic sets. However; dub-step is a freaking abomination. I wish that fad would hurry up and pass- thanks a lot, Pitchfork.
(6) - I have health insurance, I'm just afraid of dentists.
(7) - I hear they have a good skatepark there!
(8) - I don't even know what this means.