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Mar 26, 2013Afraid Of Heights sounds bigger and more ambitious than anything Nathan Williams’ former backyard solo project has ever recorded.
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Mar 26, 2013Frequent Nirvana echoes flirt with overkill. But no one has ever channeled that band's bubblegum nihilism better.
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Mar 26, 2013With Wavves, you know what you're getting, and while Afraid of Heights offers no major surprises, it may be their finest hour yet.
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Mar 22, 2013With Afraid of Heights, Williams has achieved a rare type of punk rock maximalism, crafting a massive, buzzy record on his terms.
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Alternative PressMar 19, 2013It's a comforting, fuzzy listen. [Apr 2013, p.92]
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Mar 19, 2013Afraid Of Heights is a far stronger and much more accomplished effort, sounding more like an apposite album than any of Wavves' back catalogue.
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Mar 26, 2013On balance, it’s what you’d expect from a Wavves record, hardly revelatory and moderately inconsistent, but packed full of reckless exuberance and fun, hyperkinetic jams to thrash around to that take only a couple of listens tops to get lodged firmly in your head.
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Mar 26, 2013Afraid of Heights is the first Wavves album longer than 40-minutes and sometimes it drags.... Still, Afraid of Heights provides plenty of bummed-out pleasures and Williams' obvious talent is easy to take for granted.
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Mar 26, 2013The album is split up between the predictable pop-punk energizers that made 2010’s King of the Beach a pleasure, and a new avenue of slower, resolute tracks that lean on their lyrics. Williams, though, is not exactly a belletrist, nor does he try to be, and the words do function, proving to be revealing, dark and honest.
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Mar 25, 2013The nonchalant attitude Wavves approaches music-making with provides a cap to the height it can reach in terms of producing something truly excellent or groundbreaking. However, that’s kind of the whole point.
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Mar 25, 2013So endlessly California that it sunburns, Afraid is derivative when it’s idling and full of vigor when it’s not.
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Jul 10, 2013With Afraid of Heights, a record that, for the most part, is the sound of a band treading water. It’s perfectly lovely water, all the same; there’s a slew of songs more than worthy of the record’s predecessor.
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Jul 9, 2013Their kings of the beach crown may have slipped a little nowadays, but Wavves still offer plenty of no-frills fun.
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Apr 4, 2013Waaves offer some addictively catchy tunes that, while somewhat empty and lacking in substance, are still good, hazy fun.
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Apr 3, 2013Williams seems to have mostly left behind the beach motif and the surf vibes for straight 90s alt-rock, and more often than not it works for him, but a few songs here (“Dog,” “Everything Is My Fault,” “I Can’t Dream”) fall flat on their face.
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UncutMar 29, 2013There's only one possible word for this: rad. [May 2013, p.79]
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Mar 26, 2013Williams’ angst hangs with you as long as the hooks stick in your head, for better or for worse.
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Mar 26, 2013Afraid Of Heights takes the formula he toyed with there and beats it into something more coherent, focusing on decorating his punk with this new sonic tinsel.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 26 out of 31
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Mixed: 4 out of 31
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Negative: 1 out of 31
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Jun 16, 2013
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May 19, 2013
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Mar 28, 2013Nirvana echoes? please this another indie rock band that pro tools the out of everything. These people don't deserve to be in the music business.