About two weeks ago, I entered to win of 500 copies of the new split 7-inch single from FADER/Southern Comfort, featuring new tracks from Wavves and Windsurf, respectively. I haven’t heard anything back, so I don’t think I won (probably racism/shipping costs, since I live in Canada. But it’s no biggie—the tracks are available here as a free download (newsletter signup required).
The A-side, “Friends Were Gone,” is pretty much exactly what you’d expect it to be, based on previous Wavves releases. Like this year’s Wavvves, it’s a an ultra lo-fi home recording, with pounding drums and punkish powerchord strumming. At first, it sounds cleaner and better produced than anything Nathan Williams has produced before, with reverb-y guitar licks that evoke classic ’60s surf—the Ventures, the Surfaris, etc. That is, until the vocals enter, double-tracked and so distorted that they’re scarcely recognizable as human. It isn’t likely to convert any skeptics, but fans of Wavves’ previous work (such as myself) are bound to be fans of this one.
As for the Windsurf song, I can only assume it was included to preserve the aquatic theme, since that’s the only thing the group has in common with Wavves. “Vapour Trails” is an easy listening funk-lite groove, with syrupy keyboard riffs and vaguely tropical percussion. It’s entirely instrumental, and sounds more suited to a Livelinks commercial than split single with a lo-fi fuzz pop artist such as Wavves.
Posted by Alex 
Chipped Hip has moved to www.chippedhip.com 