Dead Waves
Take Me Away EP
Self-Released
Street: 12.10
Dead Waves = Bleach-era Nirvana + Mudhoney
For their follow up to June’s Kill the Youth EP, this Queens-based trio fleshes out their penchant for abrasive melodies via six songs of fuzz-blasted caterwauling with a nod to early Pixies. Maybe it’s the latent, cooing vocals on “Big Fish” or the thrumming Kim Deal bass line on “Instead” and “Anomaly” (which sound essentially Pre-Nevermind with a psych-bent), but if filtering ’90s college rock through a dollop of fuzz tone was the band’s M.O., then mission accomplished. Though most enjoyable during its more tuneful passages (check the mid-section on “Planet of Tribes”), the album has a mite of no-wave, even hardcore in its veins, most evident on the discordant clamor of “Which Way.” Perhaps a little underdeveloped, Take Me Away may signal solid things to come on a full-length, and its great moments are undeniable. –Dylan Chadwick