There was just no doubt that something was bound to change for Fat Possum Records eventually. Over the last decade or so, many of the original Mississippi bluesmen that the label initially sought to promote (including Asie Payton, Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside) have passed on this world; leaving their roster desperately short of talent. Recently, Fat Possum has sought to remedy their situation by signing some reasonably fringe-identified indie rock backs (including Andrew Bird, The Fiery Furnaces and Entrance), but have failed to hit the same stride as the one it enjoyed in years passed.
Like it as not, Fat Possum is a niche-identified brand and trying to capitalize on an already well-exposed sub-genre seems foolhardy; they aren't the biggest kids on the block and certainly don't have money, so risking the possibility of becoming just another face in the crowd would be akin to the kiss of death or ruin.
Without meaning to overstate the point, Fat Possum has been in recent need of a new, under-exposed niche that it can champion, and the label may have found one now in surf-pop; a water they're testing now with the help of Wavves.
Now, it should be said that no one will ever mistake Wavves for being a genuine-article surf band. From the outset of the title track that opens the record, there is certainly a 'Beach Blanket Bingo' vibe that dominates King Of The Beach, but it's be no means a true, vintage one. In addition to riffs, vocal mannerisms as well-known as Jan & Dean and the Beach Boys, and an echoey, sort of tinny value (just like every classic, vintage surf record released around 1964), the band also factors in sounds and technology brought to prominence long after the surf wave crested and receded on songs like “Take On The World” and “Baseball Cards,” where the band treads awfully close to the sort of close-but-no-Cohiba genre playing that Ween is known for. Squirrelly synths that would have no place in any kind of surf tune dominate “Convertible Balloon” while obviously Indie-Rock-issued guitars characterize “Green Eyes.” Both angles still make for fine, acid-touched pop songs, but there's no case that could be made for revivalism here; the other sounds that populate the record (a bit of Brit-pop camp here, some oddball electronics there, a large helping of indie rock somewhere else) diffuse that possibility just enough that it forces the record to stand peerless and only on its' own merits. Happily, the album is able to do that and keeps listeners engaged as they wait with baited breath to see what surfaces on each successive song.
Artist:
www.ghostramp.blogspot.com/
www.myspace.com/wavves
Download:
Wavves – "Post Acid" – King Of The Beach
Album:
King Of The Beach comes out on August 3, 2010 via Fat Possum Records. Pre-order it here on Amazon .
