Critical Voices: Wavves

On his second studio album, San Diegan skater punk Nathan Williams creates a cacophony reminiscent of The Jesus and Mary Chain’s 1985 noise-pop classic Pyschocandy. Yet even the weirder moments on Psychocandy, or on the Pixies’ famed Surfer Rosa, stop far short of the “no-fi,” distortion-laden experimentation that Williams employs throughout Wavvves—an album whose dirt-cheap fidelity could be reproduced on a cellular telephone.
If this does not help, say the word “Wavvves” out loud, making sure to extend the “v” phoneme for three to five seconds—or, for that matter, as long as you want. You are now quite familiar with the sound that oscillates between pitches on the album’s opening bit of nihilism, “Rainbow Everywhere,” and lasts until the final moments of “Surf Goths,” a closing track consisting of monotone vocal chants distorted to the point of unrecognizable reverb.
In between, Wavvves produces mixed results. On “Goth Girls,” Williams dabbles in psychedelia to produce something vaguely intriguing, while on “Weed Demon” he cuts back on the distortion to reveal an oddly comforting melody. Overall, however, Williams’s racket-filled sophomore effort suffers from a certain noise-orthodoxy and general aimlessness. The Kings of Clamor would shake their heads in disapproval.