Essential summer tunes: Wavves – King Of The Beach

Wavves, the San Diego surf punk band, released their 3rd album in August of last year.  While there have been rumors of a new album coming out sometime soon, the time is now to start listening to Wavves and their outstanding album King Of The Beach.  With some of the best coastal punk riffs and some properly placed hard-hitting bass jams, their 2010 album stands out as a pool and beach party-starter.  Check out the album and a video after the jump.

We got to catch Wavves at a small secret performance in Venice at Townhouse last month.  The show was 21 and up, perfect to keep out the surfer kiddies and allow for some good fun with alcohol.  While some people were definitely turned off by the pompous punk attitude of singer and guitarist Nathan Williams, it worked perfectly well for the material- you can’t be surf punk if you are not punk.  While Wavves has a few albums out there for you to digest, King Of The Beach is the most accessible for new listeners.  The first five songs of the album (minus “When Will You Come”) are sing along screamers that come out with the vivacity of an early twenties punk band recording in their garage.  Check out the title track and video here:

If you got the bass in your car to make it work, “Convertible Balloon” will make your trunk rattle with white-boy rock.  Fuck ya!  Perfect for those awesome/awkward moments at a red light in Los Angeles.  “Green Eyes” is another track that starts slow as an almost ballad, but changes quickly with the line “my own friends hate me, but I don’t give a shit”.

The dudes from Wavves have been getting a lot of media attention over the last year, and at first it kept us skeptical.  But after their Venice show and spending some quality time with King Of The Beach, we give it a stamp of approval!  Rock it this summer because its good and makes you think of sitting on the beach drinking beers with nothing to care about.

Check out the album on Spotify if you are hip to it: Wavves – King Of The Beach