Nathan Williams and his new tour mates made quite the splash this past weekend at the Northside Festival, pleasantly surprising many of the concert goers with his newly redefined sound and approach to his live act. After Williams’ complete meltdown overseas last year, and his open dispute with Black Lips lead singer Jared Swilley, it looked as though the lo-fi bedroom rocker was on his way out the blogosphere’s door.
And then he released “Post Acid” on Mountain Dew’s Green Label Sound, a song which garnered as much backlash as it did attention. My favorite description might have been the person who said it sounded like a Blink 182 demo on a bad boombox. And yet after all this hate, and lord knows the blogs can hate, Wavves have managed to escape unscathed, new album in one hand and tons of hype in the other. King of the Beach will be released digitally today on iTunes and other digital outlines on the 13th. The physical release is set for August 3rd, and you can pre-order the vinyl from Fat Possum. I can say that King of the Beach has caught me by surprise, and that after getting past his new “studio” sound that I really love the album. I highly recommend the Animal Collective-influenced “Baseball Cards” whenever you get the chance.
Jump over to the Wavves website to stream the entire album and check out the newly announced tour dates to find a show near you:
07-15 Cologne, Germany – Sonic Ballroom
07-16 Berlin, Germany – White Trash
07-17 Münster, Germany – Gleis 22
07-18 Hamburg, Germany – Astratube
07-20 Ravenna, Italy – Beach Mini Festival
07-21 Paris, France – Fleche d’Or
07-23 London, England – Cargo
07-24 London, England – 1234 Festival
07-25 Amsterdam, Netherlands – Paradiso
07-26 Leipzig, Germany – Sweat Club Leipzig
07-28 Copenhagen, Denmark – The Gun Club
07-29 Emmaboda, Sweden – Emmaboda Festival
07-31 Trondeim, Norway – Brukbar
08-06 Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle *
08-07 Chicago, IL – Lollapalooza
08-12 San Diego, CA – Museum of Contemporary Art
08-13 Pomona, CA – The Glass House
08-14 Portland, OR – Berbati’s Pan ^
08-16 Santa Barbara, CA – Soho
08-17 Santa Cruz, CA – Crepe Place
08-18 San Francisco, CA – Rickshaw Stop
08-25 Seattle, WA – Neumos
08-26 Vancouver, British Columbia – Biltmore
08-27 Victoria, British Columbia – Sugar
08-30 Sacramento, CA – Sol Collective
08-31 Visalia, CA – Howie and Sons Pizza
* with Harlem, Fergus and Geronimo
^ with the Cool Kids
