Bad on purpose

Tomorrow night at the Hawthorne Theater is a collection of some serious shoegaze rock that should attract all kinds of indie enthusiasts. Known for quickly rising in popularity, this mix of so-cal/Canadian rock groups are sure to be putting on quite a spectacle. The bands playing are the ever-so-hip Best Coast, noise pop’s darling Wavves, and the two lovely ladies that make up No Joy—all conveniently arriving here this weekend on their tour through North America.

If you have yet to hear of Best Coast, then you must be terribly out of the cosmic musical loop. The group originated in Los Angeles in 2009. Sparking from desires to be back home on the west coast, the group’s founder and vocalist/guitarist Bethany Cosentino couldn’t deny the incredible attributes that the West had to offer while attending Eugene Lang College in New York City.

The group also consists of bassist/drummer Bob Bruno and summer 2010’s addition Ali Koehler, formerly of Vivian Girls, who joined as a drummer. Their debut album “Crazy for You,” which was released on Mexican Summer Records, received an incredible response and reached No. 37 on Billboard’s Top 100. Best Coast’s singer/songwriter Cosentino’s surf-pop music has obviously catapulted them into quick recognition, providing their listeners with familiar tastes of Beach Boys bass lines and lyrics that embody stereotypical California giddiness.

Not following any specific order, the next band to discuss is No Joy. They’re said to have been “brought into the world” by Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino by mentioning on her Twitter page that they are “the best band ever.” Following her Twitter remark, No Joy was signed to Best Coast’s label in 2009 after getting tons of attention through the Internet.

Besides carrying an immense buzz on the web, the group had started by pulling a Postal Service move and collaborating back and forth from Los Angeles to Montreal where the two band members were located at the time. The two ladies that make up this guitar and vocal duo are Jasmine White-Glutz in Los Angeles and guitarist and vocalist Laura Lloyd, who lives in Montreal. After White-Glutz moved to Montreal, the group started playing shows and building prestige, especially after their influential first show where the group met Best Coast.

Now, let’s talk Wavves. This actually isn’t so much of a group as it is a one-man show. Nathan Williams hails from San Diego and is another one of those musicians that has gained fame through the ever-present power of the Internet. He released his self-titled LP in 2008 and has since been gaining popularity through media outlets such as Pitchfork Media and, surprisingly, ABC News.

After signing with Fat Possum Records in 2009, Wavves has released an album each year, the eponymous “Wavvves” in 2009 and “The Beach King” in 2010. On his most recent LP he collaborated with Stephen Pope and Billy Hayes, the drummer and bassist of the late Jay Reatard’s touring band. While talking to Pitchfork about his most recent album, he mentioned that he has decided to take a newer approach to his music: “The last thing I wanted to do was record the same record again. A lot of bands kind of get comfortable with something like that; once they know they’ve got something that some people like, they’ll just go and try and recreate that. I just feel like that would’ve been so fucking boring to do. I wanted to just do something completely different. That was the beginning of the whole thing. But once I got into it, it wasn’t even about recording a different record, necessarily. I was just trying to make the best record that I could, and I think that’s what we did.”

That is surely what he did. By recreating his work and using less of his lo-fi punk shenanigans, he has accomplished what few musicians dare to attempt.