If we all crucified Wavves...
» ...Would anyone care?
...Would anyone care?
A friend of mine and I were driving through the back roads of New England in a pickup truck a few weeks back. We got on the subject of perfect moments in music. Pushing aside pretension, we racked our brains trying to come up with songs that we believed would outlive the artists who produced them, and serve as lasting reminders for a specific time in music. For about fifteen minutes, we discussed several songs, until "1979" by The Smashing Pumpkins came up; the entire conversation then became focused on that one song.
What we both agreed on was that for us, two ex-Midwesterns in their late-20's, the song served as an anthem for our particular not-quite-Generation-X generation. No matter how badly we wanted to protest the unpunkness of Billy Corgan and crew, "1979" is one of those songs that I can't find anything wrong with, and I'm prepared to say it's because I have such an emotional attachment to it for reasons I won't bother getting into.
We began to wrap up the conversation, and I had to ask if there was a song out today that could have the same effect on the weirdo kids of 2010, as song 5, disc 2 off Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness had for us. My friend hesitated for a second -- I think it was due to the fact he was driving, not because he had to think about an answer -- and said "Weed Demon" by Wavves: not exactly the answer I was expecting. We ended the conversation not because his answer was awkward, but because we arrived at our destination, and I was left to ponder: "Where the fuck did this whole Wavves thing go wrong?" And/or: "Was it ever right?"
I thought about it over the next few days. About that weird moment last year where Nathan Williams had it; he had something, he was the fucking zeitgeist of the brave new world that music was moving into. He got some buzz, played a few shows, then shit the bed in the course of six months. It was a weird little ride, but it did yield a few little gems like "Weed Demon"; a perfect little slice of burnt out fuzz that made a few too many people think that they could do what Nathan Williams was doing, and led me to believe that we had the second coming of Lou Barlow on our hands.
Then things just got weird and bad, and then things got quiet as a new year of lackluster releases and "chillwave is the new shit-fi" became this weird banner we (the people who write about this stuff) became disgruntled about.
So now we have Wavves, 2010. New album is coming out during the dog days of summer, and after a few quick listens, it sounds like Williams is attempting to be the next Rivers Cuomo, but post-Pinkerton Rivers Cuomo.
That's a shame, because in a perfect world, Wavves could just fly under the radar and give us an album that is just one big "fuck off, I'm awesome and worth the hype", but instead we get him doing the least awesome thing I can think of: releasing his first single to the world via the music website of that soda that kills your sperm. Which is fine, I don't have any attachment to Williams or his music. I'm not going to find the guy and tell him he's a huge sellout because he's taking money from Mountain Dew. I'm not fifteen anymore, I've accepted the dark side of capitalism.
What does irk me? I find it weird and a little sacrilegious that Zach Hill (one of the greatest drummers I can think of) now gets to play solo shows as "member of Wavves." Despite what people at record labels who dealt with Williams pre-Pitchfork are legally binded to tell me, I'm willing to assume (sorry to perpetuate the shitty blog rumors) that he fucked over a few people to get to this somewhat awkward spot he's in; which is approximately between being Brad Pitt in True Romance and a guy who makes his career off licensing songs to commercials that attempt to package youthful rebellion in 30-second ads.
At this point I've written off Nathan Williams and his whole thing. I tried. I got philosophical. I looked deep inside myself to find meaning in an artist. I ended up writing nearly a thousand words on it, and now I'm just bummed.
Posted on June 08, 2010. More on: wavves, nathan williams, haterism, brooklyn hater, zach hill, spite
