Breaking the Wavves

It's been a long, strange year for Wavves' guitarist-singer-songwriter Nathan Williams, who has gone from complete unknown to cult hero to notorious, Kanye West-style public embarrassment all in the span of about eight months. For this reason, any live performance is a must, if only to marvel at the spectacle of a dwindling mini-phenomenon as it lunges (or plunges) after renewed glory.

Back in March, I saw Wavves perform at Toronto's beloved, wonderfully grungy Sneaky Dee's. It was an exciting night, partly because these guys were at peak buzz levels and partly because so little was known about them. Musically, the main impression left by this show was that Wavves benefits more than most from indecently loud volume. Tracks that seemed slight and interchangeable on disc found new urgency when blasted forcefully in a cramped live environment. This show was also mercifully short, offering a tantalizing glimpse of the band's emerging stage persona, rather than a complete overview of their modest body-of-work. In other words, it left room for discovery.

The intervening six months have revealed a lot more about Nathan Williams, but the enigma continues to grow. There have been a few ups and many downs, most notoriously an epic onstage meltdown/break-up at Barcelona's Primavera Sound Festival in May.

If you haven't already jumped ship for the next indie flavor-of-the-month, chances are you're anxious to see what happens next in the ongoing saga of Wavves as they return to Toronto tonight to make some noise at El Mocambo. Also of note is opener Ganglians, whose ghostly, increasingly Beach Boys/Panda Bear-sounding lo-fi art rock (sample "Make It Up" from their recent 7" at MySpace) gives reason to believe this might be a memorable double bill. Keep an eye on Twitter tonight for updates. -- Jonathan Doyle