Wavves/Mazes/Spectrals@ Deaf Institute 25/11/09

First up tonight are the bobbly hated Spectrals and despite a curious short instrumental warm up they offer up some choice tunes. All jingly post-grunge slacker folk pop rock with just about a nod to everything hip and happening in the world of good music. ‘It’s Ok not to be Ok’ starts off and mixes the classic Phil Spector drum beat with Joe Meek guitar twangs; a cocktail few would refuse. It then spirals into a sixties sounding version of the Bunnymen, which again, is ticking boxes on all levels. They lose a little bit of momentum by faffing between songs but the richness of their tunage belies their fresh faces. Keep them peeled for this colourful bunch.


Mazes are all laconic stage presence and slacker cool vibes. They begin with a drawling guitar riff that builds into a rough ass punk gemstone. ‘Bowie Knives’ sees frontman Jack Cooper try his hand at a Malkmus style falsetto and pulls it of rather nicely. The bass keeps dropping in and out of the mix which sort of spoils the first few songs. However, their set seems to fly by, the songs are short sharp casually vicious side swipes at everything and nothing, capturing the boredom and wisdom of early Pavement, speeding it up and playing it louder. The end of each song has Cooper yell a “yeah” and a “whoo” in mock appreciation of his bands own skills. He’s right to get excited they were stealthily stealing the show.




To be honest I’m struggling with this West Coast no-fi noise scuzz pop scene. No Age and Wavves haven’t really connected via the aural preceptors for me yet, but seeing No Age a few weeks ago was a jaw dropping experience and challenged me to reinvestigate the previously discarded recordings. With this in mind I had high hopes for Wavves especially with the excellent appetisers already witnessed this evening. Regular drummer Zac Hill was out injured but had been replaced by Jay Reatards rhythm section, so all was well or so I thought. Even from the very first song I felt I was missing something. The songs, gloriously loose and raw, didn’t seem to contain any magic, fury or charm that I could relate to. Everything felt a little too sloppy, a little too rushed. They were certainly some young lads down the front having a bit of a dance but the whole set never seemed to kick into gear. I can’t really put into words why this wasn’t working, there was just an absence of charm and tune. By the time they played “So Bored” I was lost in a sea of casual thoughts thinking “Hmm you’re bored!” and sarcasm never helps anybody does it. The speed with which they disappeared, without encore, from the stage perhaps suggested I wasn’t the only one preoccupied. Overall an opportunity missed all around.