coming soon! NOTHING.COM

tee in pic courtesy of Threadless.com

How about a music site to satisfy the most elitist of the elite where basic e-snobbery is done with? The new 'site' can be called nothing.com. It will be no-fi, no-wave and where it's cool to listen to nothing but, even nothing is something so they'll have to be an anti-website which doesn't exist and only thought to be in existence somewhere at sometime but, if you know about it, you are already too mainstream.

(late) Review - Wavves - self-titled

"With lo-fi at his command, Wavves is your favorite summer album."


Certainly a refreshing listen, Wavves (Nathan Williams) has carved an interesting niche for himself. lo-fi enough for the hipsters, poppy enough for the older indie rock crowd (i.e. old Built to Spill fans and 'Avery Island' devotees) and fuzzed-out enough for the alt-heads.

Having some previous releases on No Age's Dean Spunt's label Post Present Medium, the fellow noise-popper now signed to the Fat Possum label, has put together a collection of tracks varying from an 8-bit, synth-chunk assault in the albums opener 'Rainbow Everywhere', twisted and mangled tribal, sister-track 'Sun Opens My Eyes' and bright, fuzzy, skate-punk anthems of the 'Teenage Daydream' variety like 'Get in the Sun'.

But, before you can get out your SYR bootlegs and washing-machine tees, the albums great layout mixes things up with 'More Fur' which sounds like a one-way conversation with Satan.

After the dark lord signs off, we get another woozy, Beach Boys jam with 'So Bored' and then a trifecta of goth-centric tracks - the highlight being 'Summer Goth 2', an acid-country jam with enough sustain to fill any space left in the EQ.

Final rating: 8.1/10
Key tracks: 'Get in the Sun', 'No Hope Kids', 'So Bored'

VIDEO: Wavves - 'So Bored' (live at Upset the Rhythm, from their YouTube channel)

sometimes, it’s easy to fall in love with pop.

Everyone has their guilty pleasures when it comes to things like food and music and that's okay. But, most always seem to lock away the latter in their soul-basement like a half-human, lizard monster named Gorath.



However, it's important to realize that most of the bands that would fall under the 'guilty pleasures' heading are products of a power-pop formula, no matter how chugging the guitars or prevalent the use of major-chords.

Since the days of early Motown Records and "Hitsville USA", that perfect equation of melodies and intro-verse-chorus-verse-bridge-chorus structure has lent itself to such pop perfection as The Temptations, The Beatles, Sonic Youth as well as Nirvana. The Shins have been able to achieve what I hear as a neo-50s/60s pop sound. A present day and adapted Beach Boys sound, if you will.



Granted, Sonic Youth isn't hard-wired to the basic pop-structure but, their understanding of it allows them to pretty much do whatever they want.

I have no shame in saying that Blink-182 is one of my favorite bands ever. Power-pop perfection. Everyone of those riffs hooked you within 10 seconds - and that's the dark beauty. Great pop is meant to hook you as you're switching the stations or mindlessly dredging through your presets. Kelly Clarkson's 'Since U Been Gone' is a prime example of effective power-chord progression, sound management and pop-understanding. That song is good. Too bad, right?

That is not to say that the main indie scene along with many a noise-pop band has not forged their own stake. My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless" is a sonic masterpiece. Kevin Shields ability to mold that wall of sound into that same colors on the records cover is the only true way to describe it.




















Now, with bands like Voxtrot, Rogue Wave - you have a reason to say 'I really dig a good pop song'. With the re-emergence of sub-pop and super-noise-pop bands such as Animal Collective and No Age, the whole 'pop' thing expands more. Pop sensibility has become accepted by more and I love to see it.

I hate labeling things by genre but, sometimes you have to.

This even applies to the heavier stuff.



Always keep your ears open and give things a chance but, still except songs for what they are and don't get a 'good genre pop-song' confused with 'I like this band'.

I'm a student of the art of pop - what else can I say?