King of the Beach was a quantum leap for Wavves, but not so much for Nathan Williams. In the context of the monochrome, fuck-all noise of Wavvves, it was easier to stomach an attitude that hovered somewhere between high, hungover, and hateful. What pissed off a lot of people was the way he could broaden his sonic palette and galvanize his songwriting without even the slightest attitude adjustment: The world would have to start taking him seriously, and it was abundantly clear he had no plans to return the favor. So do you think the tsk-tsking of some critics or Marnie Stern is gonna stop him? In case you missed the point of King of the Beach's opening salvo, here's Williams on "I Wanna Meet Dave Grohl": "You're still never gonna stop me." As such, his follow-up EP is titled Life Sux, it features some of his more famous friends cheering him on, and Williams treats the inaugural release on his Ghost Ramp label like a 24-year old's first apartment: Maybe you'd only want to spend 15 minutes tops in this ramshackle mess, but hey, he's enjoying his freedom.
At the very least, you know where you stand with Wavves: If you're not referenced by name or actually appear on Life Sux, there's a good shot you're a target of Williams' limitless disdain. So then, "Bug": He's cool with Dinosaur Jr., whether he's paying homage with some of his mostly instantly catchy fuzz guitar leads, or just pissing in the wind about the futility of relying on other people. Meanwhile, "I Wanna Meet Dave Grohl" follows in the grand tradition of Local H's "Eddie Vedder" (if not "I Had Mark Arm") in terms of grunge fan fiction fueled by overblown ego and non-existent self-esteem. He switches "meet" with "be" during the brainwash of a chorus, which brings out this strange humanizing quality even though the premise doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense: Whose life ambition is it to meet or even be Dave Grohl when he's quite possibly the squarest dude that qualifies as an actual rock star? Is it because "Krist Novoselic" has too many syllables and doesn't rhyme with anything?
Unfortunately, when his tributes to the Buzz Bin become less overt but no less pervasive, Side B of Life Sux, well, kinda sux: The title of "Poor Lenore" is the first time Williams has implied he's ever picked up a book in his life, but the turgid, 3rd-gen grunge suggests he found that Poe anthology right next to a used copy of Frogstomp. And though "Destroy" is a well-intentioned collaboration in the name of break-shit punk, once Pink Eyes' vocals give Williams the bum's rush, it ceases to have the ability to be heard as anything other than a lo-fi Fucked Up track. If you ever wondered if those dozens of guitar overdubs were really necessary on David Comes to Life, "Destroy" emphatically answers in the affirmative.
Despite its reduced scope, Life Sux is actually pretty versatile depending on where you stand with Wavves-- take it as further confirmation of his permanent immaturity, or a sign that rattling off rudimentary but undeniably hooky punk-pop comes fairly easy to him. Still, with an LP supposedly on its way by the end of the year, you don't have to wonder quite yet if using the brat factor as something of a crutch means that he already reached his ceiling and King of the Beach is the record he was put on this earth to make: one that Weezer couldn't make after they'd discovered branding, Blink-182 couldn't after they thought owning Cure albums meant they had to be taken seriously as artistes, and Green Day couldn't after Billie Joe picked up a copy of No Logo.
Unsurprisingly, the track that gets him out of the artistic cul-de-sac is by far the best thing here: Crazy for You and King of the Beach coyly flirted with addressing the real-life relationship of its creators, and Williams' collaboration with Best Coast's Bethany Cosentino on "Nodding Off" doesn't get much into detail either. Still, it threatens to make even the most jaded Hipster Runoff devotee actually root for them: think Best Coast with more power, Wavves with more pop, or just a more reckless, less cerebral New Pornographers. Of course, even if the heart of Life Sux is a gooey escape fantasy featuring his girlfriend, if he still wants to describe the EP as something you'll probably like "if you hate yourself and other people"... well, you're never gonna stop him.
