Wavves - King of the Beach

After my review of Best Coast's Crazy For You earlier in the week, it only seems fair that I give Wavves' new release a chance as well. Wavves, aka Nathan Williams and Best Coast's Bethany Cosentino are the indie sweethearts of 2010, enjoying a very public, and very loved up, relationship. They also both had albums released this week, going head-to-head in the charts. And as I mentioned in the last review, Crazy For You is winning that little contest with ease.

I've never been one to place much importance on record sales though, selling a million records is hardly a reliable measure of an album's value after all. So Wavves' King Of The Beach gets a fair crack of the whip from me, and a chance to get one over on the missus by beating her Popsiculture score of 60%. Yeah, that will make up for disappointing sales, right?

High Points

King of the Beach impresses from the start with a scorching first few tracks, the title-track King of the Beach is a great opener, catchy hooks and a real infectious energy wash over the listener and set the tone for the record. Then Super Soaker blusters in for two and a half frenetic minutes of punky guitars and synth noise.

Track three Idiot may be the best thing on King of the Beach though. Starting out with a clip of Williams' manic laugh, it could mutate into Dick Dale's Wipeout, but instead turns in to a kind of surfy power-pop anthem that demands to be played loud.

The Verdict

The album does kind of lose it's way after that great start, but not dramatically so. The weird off-kilter Convertible Balloon, for example, sounds like it could be a Beck album track, and shows Williams isn't just a one trick pony. Like Best Coast's debut, this is an album that captures the spirit of summer 2010, but King of the Beach will live longer in the memory I think.

Congratulations Nathan, you beat Bethany in my eyes at least.

Final Score: 68%