Snotty and self-loathing as ever, even after catching a huge updraft of success,
Wavves
' 2010 outing finds indie rock's
Edward Furlong
, aka
Nathan Williams
, in an actual hi-fi studio. Teamed with
Counting Crow
/
Modest Mouse
producer
Dennis Herring
, who approached
Williams
after a show,
King of the Beach
finds the overnight blog sensation in a cleaned-up setting. With more recording toys at his disposal, he takes more risks, showing a new dimension to his stoned mind as he breaks away from muddy skate punk and tries his hand at some dense psychedelia. The sunny
"Take on the World"
takes a
Beulah
approach, and
"Baseball Cards"
finds
experimenting with
chillwave
, complete with weird
Ween
Quebec
-era synths. Of course,
is at his best when he's rocking to the beat of his punk heroes
the Descendents
or
Adolescents
, and with
Jay Reatard'
s former bandmates
Billy Hayes
and
Stephen Pope
by his side,
"Super Soaker,"
"Idiot,"
"Post Acid"
are among
Wavves'
thrashin' best. In this glossy well-mixed setting, the songs are more penetrable than the ones on the 2009 homemade outings
Wavvves
.
"I'm so Bored,"
despite being fantastic, was leveled out by so much tape distortion that it took a dedicated ear to cut through the muck and find the melody.
is less abrasive, but it's still a wildly messy pastiche.
sometimes gets carried away --
"Neon Balloon"
and its sea of synth gurgles and helium vocals is near silly -- but when
finds his stride and carves the tube of punky psych sonics, the results are totally awesome. ~ Jason Lymangrover