Wavves - 'Wavvves' (De Stijl) Released 02/02/09

The storm's been brooding for some time. Now it arrives. When No Age stepped on the punk scene, hailing from The Smell, a throbbing live venue home to not just the LA two-piece but fellow neighbours; Mika Miko, Abe Vigoda and HEALTH, they, along with their contemporaries, gave us something new. The dreadful stench of under-production and raw attitude filled up the music industry and continues to do so. Whilst the new age of punk isn't a sure-fire way of selling lots of records, it's beginning to spread, forming something rather special. So far it's made its way from one district of California to another, LA to San Diego. It's sitting with Nathan Williams, aka. Wavves, who right now, is creating one of the most ferocious sounds that's ever hit his home state.

His second album comes at a time of heavy blogosphere attention, endless amounts of it. Anticipated for many months now, this pretty-much self-titled follow-up is a sign of intent, an indication of where Williams can go. At first he indicates little nothing but ambience in opener 'Intro Goth'. A stumbling loop, akin to something you'd find on Ratatat's sampler, lulls you into a false sense of comfort and ease, before all hell breaks loose before you. 'California Goth' merges an unhealthy Hellish groove with a contrasting summery atmosphere, one that repeats itself throughout the record. Hearts beat at illegal speed, guitars brave it out for another minute, higher in energy than before. Alongside this is a self-titled track, equally as ambitious and equally as narrow in the conventional Wavves sound of fierce bass, fierce feedback, fierce production all whilst a distinctive "wa-o-waa-o" melody is yelped out to add a human element that the track would've lacked.

Sport-spanning track after the other, it's far too easy to jump into the album when it speeds past. The mystical side we got used to during the record's opener is repeated during 'Space Raider', which is basically used as a tool to break the ferocity of the album's majority in two, as breathing space is no doubt required after the peak of intensity during 'Lover', a song short of dominant melody but buzzing like no time before. A summertime spirit is outlined further on, most notably during 'Side Yr On' and it's more mid-tempo follower, 'Beath Goth', a track that opens with glorious guitar delay and craftily pounded drums. When pace is varied, ideas progress and the album sounds more capable of achieving brilliance. 'The Boys Will Love Us' comes at a convenient time, moving onwards from an uncensored outburst of energy to a more sensible approach towards the grungy punk sound.

And when Williams adjusts his output, the results get finer. A consistently-deployed wave of punk goes from nonsense to nostalgic, reminding you of the finer previous summers, all through a simple change in sound through the tracklisting. 'Wavvves' never falters. Neither do you, infact. Once immersed into the album, punk, a genre renowned for its simplicity, suddenly becomes an intellectual being, all thanks to one guy on a skateboard.