King Of The Beach
I just got a hold of King of the Beach, the third studio album from San Diego noise rockers Wavves. I’ll admit that previous material from Wavves was not particularly my cup of tea; I found a good deal of their music to be too harsh and unpolished for me to actually enjoy. However, on this their third album, Wavves has managed to merge their unique brand of in-your-face noise with a more widely appealing pop sensibility. The first track, ‘King of the Beach’ sets the tone for the album by immediately engrossing the listener with its simple yet undeniably catchy power chord riff. This melody, combined with Nathan Williams’ unapologetic, brash and piercing vocals recalls a great deal of punk influences, both in the tone of the music and in the singer’s “I don’t give a shit” attitude.
The rest of the lyrics on King of the Beach perpetuate the defiant and maladjusted aesthetic set by the album’s title track. The rest of the songs on this album express a great deal of frustration and palpable teen angst, specifically on the track ‘Take on the World’. In this song Williams sings: “I hate my writing, it’s all the same” and muses “I hate myself, but who’s to blame?” This self-deprecating look at his own music gives this angst-filled album a sense of authenticity, and while Williams may come across as a whiny twit at some points, he still manages to make a connection with the listener because you can identify with his pain.
It’s hard not to recall your own awkward teen years while listening to this album, and for that reason it’s music that most all of us can relate to. It’s simple, it’s harsh and it’s repetitive at points, but overall this album has some great songs to contribute to your summer soundtrack. Here are a few of my favorites, enjoy.
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F… you!
king of the beitch
[...] added a good deal of surf rock to the list, (a majority of it from Wavves’ most recent album King of the Beach) but I just picked up another album full of great summer jams: Best Coast’s Crazy For You. [...]