Timeline of a Buzzband: WAVVES

The internet hype phenomenon has been going on for years now; but the evolution of how it works still hasn’t ceased to amaze me. The timelines (and attention spans) have shrunk and the buzz has intensified to such a dizzying point where, if you really take a step back and look – it’s fascinating. This “buzz” cycle happens all the time, sometimes for the best (Fleet Foxes, No Age, Vivian Girls) and sometimes for the worst (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Black Kids). Every time I see a new band swept up in the spiral, I’m interested to see what events led to the exposure, and how far it’ll take them.

Most times it fizzles out and only reaches the underground music seekers, but other times it can transcend independent culture and take bands farther than their wildest expectations (see: Fleet Foxes play SNL). Keep in mind: this is not meant to be a commentary on the merits of any particular artist, but more of an extremely nerdy examination into the trivial nature of web culture and highly valuable internet attention.

The cross section to examine is one of the latest acts to hit the blog circuit – San Diego’s lo-fi one man outfit WAVVES. I’ll spare you the details (needless to say, there are plenty of those already written elsewhere). This is a story of Nathan Williams, who went from selling a handful of cassettes in October to being featured on the front page of the Music Section in the New York Times in February. Sometimes (as in this case) all someone needs is quality material, and one important tastemaker to take notice; and the rest takes care of itself. This is how it happened:

10/2/08: Gorilla vs. Bear
This is the first mentionable write-up for WAVVES.  I’m not sure where Chris (who runs GvB) got a hold of the WAVVES LP but he mentions that it’s on sale through a couple different channels. Also, notice that even though multiple artists were posted, the majority of the user commentary is based on the WAVVES mp3 (one even going as far as to say it’s better than No Age.) …And an internet phenomenon is born!

10/15/08: Popsheep
In the middle of October, David at Popsheep blogs about Nathan Williams’ other band, Fantastic Magic. This is just a local San Diego blog entry showcasing a single mp3 link. Five days later, David mentions WAVVES in the same space (even pointing out the already-swelling internet buzz.) This post takes place the same day as:

10/20/08: Gorilla vs. Bear
Due to the positive feedback on his first WAVVES entry, Chris at GvB posted another song. This signaled to other bloggers that WAVVES were going to stick around, as well as giving readers a second chance to listen to the music. Also, we find out about the band’s future plans of upcoming releases and all the esteemed labels that Nathan’s working with. (Bonus: I’d love to be able to see the spikes in his daily MySpace plays compared to the week prior.)

10/21/08: CatBirdSeat
The very next day, CatBird mentions the Popsheep article from the day prior and reposts the same song in addition to two others for his readers to enjoy. I get the sense that a lot of underground bands who garner some blog attention never make it past this step. Midlevel blogs writing favorable reviews is pretty nice exposure, but they won’t always get you on SNL or in the pages of SPIN. This is where WAVVES make the jump that hard working and constant touring bands can only hope for:

12/1/08: GvB Top Albums of 2008
Gorilla vs. Bear names WAVVES’ self-titled LP it’s #7 album of 2008. Year end lists have really become the benchmarks for internet buzz, and every year blog commenters lament the countless amounts that come out during ‘list time.’ Being number seven on a respectable taste-maker site like GvB (without being on anyone else’s year end list) will definitely turn heads. And a week later it did:

12/8/08: Pitchfork’s On Repeat
On December 8^th, Pitchfork introduced WAVVES to a much larger audience than any of the previous online rags combined. (Side note: Mark Hogan laughably spends over 110 words on a brief autobiography before even mentioning the band he’s reviewing.) When he finally gets to the point he compares WAVVES to a mishmash of No Age, Black Lips and Times New Viking – pretty cool contemporaries in my opinion.

12/9/08: Stereogum’s Outsiders

The next day Stereogum has a huge feature about WAVVES in their Outsiders section. (Another side note: Has anyone else noticed that Stereogum and Pitchfork have melded into more or less the same website? Someone even points this out in the comment section!) Anyways, the write-up is otherwise impressive (much more imformative than Pitchfork’s – for the record) and importantly lifts WAVVES past the “No Age, Jr.” tag.

The Pitchfork and Stereogum articles on back to back days set the internet into a slight tizzy over WAAVES, and resulted in countless mentions. Here are the ones of note: Stereogum’s Best Outsiders Albums of 2008, an interview with Vice, a live review of the WAVVES show with No Age, Abe Vigoda, Mika Miko, and others at The Smell. After peaking with the strictly-online music publications, there’s really only one place to go: the mainstream media.

1/29/09: SPIN Hot New Band
On January, 29^th, SPIN magazine names WAVVES a Hot New Band in a nicely sized write-up. They do an adequate job of summarizing the band’s short history for their wider audience who don’t spend hours refreshing Stereogum. It’s quite an exciting time for anyone in a band (and a rewarding one for online writers) when historically revered publications like SPIN, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times will trot out a field reporter to DIY art spaces and galleries to report on the next big “blog” band – which is precisely what happened at the West Village’s Less Artists More Condos art space:

2/7/09: NY Times
It’s kind of crazy to think about my parents picking up the NY Times Arts section and reading about Nathan Williams’ bedroom 4-track side project. Where does WAVVES go from here? How does he avoid the inevitable backlash? For now, I know Williams’ has a pretty intense touring schedule ahead, complete with featured SXSW dates. One of the reasons I think he’ll be able to avoid the backlash (and one of the keys to his success in the first place) is that he has adopted an extremely nonchalant attitude. Sure, he’s featured in the New York Times – but he still lives with his mother.

Pretty crazy huh?