RHUM

I’ve been writing myself notes with a pen that plays the French National Anthem. This pen features flashing lights and has a miniature Eiffel Tower floating in glitter water. Ordinarily this is not the kind of pen I prefer but I’m making an exception because my Dad bought it for me in Paris. He also gave me pyjamas, a sleep mask and a miniature tube of toothpaste he got for free on the plane. My Dad is not very good with souvenirs but he does have his good points.

The plethora of indie-folk releases saturating the musical landscape over the past few years has been overwhelming. For such a delicate genre the little bastard is proving quite resilient. 
Can’t we all just listen to Bon Iver's For Emma Forever Ago and go home? Now it seems the Belgian’s want a piece of the action too.

King of the Beach is the third album from San Diego’s Wavves, and offers a departure from the discordant noise pop of their two previous records with the embracing of a much more accessible sound. The fact that a band whose speciality is writing lazy stoner anthems have produced three albums in as many years might seem counter intuitive, but while their previous offerings were defined by lax experimentalisms (think Ariel Pink meets Metal Machine Music), with King of the Beach it appears Wavves really do take things seriously after all.

Before listening to this album, I was told its “Bloody Mary music”.  I took this to mean positive things - it'll pick me up when I'm feeling down, right?  So in the name of true journalistic integrity I got myself properly liquored up and as a consequence am six kinds of hungover.  I've always hated Bloody Marys but I do love this album, and yeah it’s kind of working.