Upon this tidal rave of young blood comes a blistering jolt from the past, one not steeped in rehashed retro sounds or formulaic resurrections but one that arches a sonic lineage to a cherished but short-lived era crystallized by its own ambition and limitation.
Boston trio Endless Wave chips away at the past and makes their pill debut this week, taking an energized approach to shoegaze’s extended wall of reverb sound and juxtaposing it against a backdrop of pitch-perfect pop brilliance. In a concise aural bullet where elements of early Smashing Pumpkins and Catherine Wheel are splashed across the front-page praise for early ‘90s UK heaven-stormers such as Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine and Ride (the last eyed as a potential Endless Wave subject for the pill’s 8th annual Halloween Show this fall).
But where the previous millennium’s shoegazers hopelessly looked down, Endless Wave stares forward and launches past the restrictions of its forefathers. Call it evolutionary exercise.
Said the Boston Phoenix in its five Bands To Watch 2010 preview: “Imagine if the Verve, Slowdive or My Bloody Valentine went jogging on a regular basis… There’s a bit more rock thrust to these songs than is often found up the nu-gaze tree, and it’s a welcome alternative to the increasingly overcrowded raft of NyQuill-core.”
Led by the brilliant musical mind of Matters & Dunaway’s “Mad Andre” Obin on dream-pop vocals and seismic bass; the swirling, towering guitar downpour of Tim Ryan; and the paced attack rhythm of drummer Tucker Dawson, the ever-yearning sound of Endless Wave is crafted without the aid of synthesizers, keyboards or computers (we leave that to Obin’s “Soviet bloc techno” solo project).
Before the “City Walls” EP drops next month and aims to redefine the sound of a city’s non-electronic underground, join us Friday at Great Scott as Endless Wave crashes down in a live pill debut set for the ages.
We’ve been playing Endless Wave tracks each night early on at the pill since Mad Andre first passed along their demos, but you can get properly acquainted with one of Boston’s finest new acts at myspace.com/endlesswavemusic. Before and after the band, DJ Ken & Michael V spin the best in Britpop, Modern Indie & Beyond. Look sharp. xo the pill
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