Wavves - Wavvves

As one man bands go, Wavves is up there with the loudest. San Diego slacker Nathan Williams’ almost-eponymously titled (check the extra 'v') sophomore LP may hold no allure for those of sensitive eardrums, but for everyone else it’s half an hour of rapacious, temple-pounding sonics. By swilling together fuzzy clutters of guitar and percussion with swooshing melody, Williams annexes depth and dimension to Times New Viking's 2-D blueprint of N-O-I-S-E; adding sensitive, humane flushes to the trash-punk decibels and skeletal riffs of Get In The Sun and So Bored. Record highlight is the chronic dirtbox scuzz of No Hope Kids, yet more chasmal cuts like the coruscating Killr Punx, Scary Dem or the drum-fest that is Sun Opens My Eyes suggest Williams has both the scope and range to escalate beyond these myopic throes. Not quite a masterpiece then, but pretty soon these Wavves will come crashing in. [Billy Hamilton]