Wave Machines

For your sake, my sake and their sake, let's not confuse Wave Machines with Wavves. In fact, whereas Wavves deals with fuck-all haircuts, scumbag thrift-store duds, and static that revels in its own fizz, Wave Machines are on the flip-- they wear clothes that look clean, their songs sound considered, and they need to think a bit before yelling. (Wave Machines are from Liverpool, btw.) Though the song is called "Punk Spirit", it's a trick-- don't worry, we're all in on it. "Where's my punk spirit when I need it?" goes the hook. It's a should-coulda anthem for post-man's-man drinking holes world round. Flight of the Conchords but less ha-ha-dumb; the Hold Steady without the myth-- Wave Machines are still taken with their own story.

The tale sounds good thus far. With a debut LP due in June, the scattered tracks drop Hot Chip hints, Beta Band bite, and even some Bee Gees falsetto. It's fun, but not too fun. It sticks. They're still looking for a way out-- see "I Go I Go I Go" and "The Greatest Escape We Ever Made". They're trying to leave another song title behind: "Dead Houses". And while "Punk Spirit" may focus on absence, by the end that hook defies itself. "Where's my punk spirit when I need it?!" it goes, again, with more fervor. These guys may be bored, but they're about to do something about it.

- Ryan Dombal - - Pitchfork

'Men In Masks With Subtle Pop Suss'.

They may not be as easy on the eye as La Roux, but when it comes to knocking out sublime pop, Wave Machines are up there with 2009's finest. Merseyside's latest masked music-makers have created
a gorgeous grower of a debut, a veritable Aladdin's cave of sounds and subject matter. Songs are inspired by everything from glow-in-the-dark ghost calendars to Cyndi Lauper and, um, overplayed Queen anthems. But it's precisely this combination of clever, unconventional lyrics and shimmering synths, falsetto vocals and disco bass that makes this album so alluring.

Wave Machines could look like mutant zombie spawn and NME would still go weak at the knees for them.

- Camilla Pia - - NME

Are Wave Machines the greatest band to come out of Liverpool since The La's? If the mad enthusiasm with which the sea of fans present tonight lapped up their exquisitely idiosyncratic brand of electro-pop is anything to judge by I don't think I would be alone in responding to this question with a resounding 'yes'.

Their recently released album, Wave If You're Really There, is a perfectly formed musical gem. Luxurious hooks, crisp beats, bouncy basslines and lyrics that are both refreshingly open and cuttingly clever, all made for a debut that was impossible to take out of the CD player. Yet, in a year when desperate second albums and precious pop princesses have been hogging the limelight, Wave Machines were forced to ply their trade along the wayside while your Auntie Flos and Jack Penates made off into the sunset with the big bucks clenched in their fists, positive reviews coming out their arses.

Not that the band themselves are bitter: Carl, the sweet natured slap-head on synth and guitar duty, is a firm believer in the long discredited long tail theory and off stage most of the band seem more interested in playing the fool than playing Glastonbury - which gives them an instant advantage over the aforementioned sickening success stories. Wave Machines are about playing the music and having a good time, all the rest is just flotsam and jetsam.

Taking to the stage in their trademark creep-o cardboard masks, they look more like a bunch of Thunderbirds turned horribly, horribly wrong than anything else. Opening with 'You Say The Stupidest Things', a lolloping hymn to hedonism ("the day is wasted if you're not wasted") which pretty much sums up the do nuthin' know nuthin' take everythin' ethos of our generation, the degree to which they've sharpened up their act in the last year is instantly apparent. This gig may be to celebrate the release of their new single, 'Punk Spirit', but every number is down so tight it almost hurts.

In spite of the unspeakably awful sound system in the Hoxton Bag, the frenetic intensity of the music has most of the audience dancing like tweaked out speed freaks, that special indie-Sindy twitch step that desperately wants to be Ian Curtis but comes off more electrode-up-your-anus. Tracks like 'I Go I Go I Go' and the truly sublime 'The Greatest Escape We Ever Made' take on a raw, desperate, punk-y urgency while the droopy-eyed disco of 'Keep The Lights On' allows the band to give rise to the proggy instincts that swirl beneath the surface of most of their work. Closing with a new track called 'Water Dries On Her Back', a high-pitched high-tempo number (think Tiny Tim meets Late of the Pier) they're nothing if not diverse. This electrifying show just goes to show that the tide is still rising for Wave Machines.

- Charlie Gilmour -
- Drowned In Sound

It may whisper. 'You can fucking die', but Punk Spirit is a slab of tender and life-affirming brilliance from a band whose blend of ideas, playful art-disco and penchant for theatrical mystique has made them the most devilishly alluring thing to come out of Liverpool in a long, long time.

- Stephen Kelly -
- Music Week

Like the finest pop alchemists, beavering away in their fuzzy lairs until mum shouts it's time for tea, the Wave Machines have a bespoke, home-made bent to their recordings. This is not to say that it's in any way lo-fi or rough around the edges (in fact, the production and instrumental complexities are very impressive), but simply that it feels warm, comforting and distinctly from these isles.

'Carry Me Back To My Home' burbles with the motorik intent of Saloon, but has the sophistication, crescendos and climaxes of Neil Hannon's most uplifting work. The title track, however, proves that they're by no means tempered by the limits of imagination, turning a Hot Chip-esque funk workout into a deft, lush and encompassing orchestral epic, resplendent with swelling strings and brimming with Carl Brown's soul-searching lyrics.

In short, Wave Machines prove with this excellent debut that they're as capable of having fun as they are of engendering sympathy. Consummate emotional songwriters, here is a band with the tools and sense to tickle the most embryonic musical ideas into kicking, crying life.

- Daniel Ross - - Artrocker Magazine

BIG STEREO on 'Keep The Lights On' (April 2009)

Wave Machines' 'Keep The Lights On' is the perfect track for right this second. Lofi nu-disco that sounds pulled straight from midnight radio to your headphones. This track could be the love child of Hot Chip and Hail Social, but it's done better. Love totes. Guarantee you'll be playing it on repeat until your sick of it, but no worries... Wave Machines' debut album will be ...full of new songs to play on repeat.

- Travis -
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NICKY DIGITAL on Debut album 'Wave If You're Really There' (Aug 2009)

'Where's my punk spirit / when I need it?' asks Wave Machines vocalist Tim Bruzon in the group's anthemic single, 'Punk Spirit'. Despite the song title, and despite the band's British pedigree, there are no snarling vocals or thrashing guitars. It's a straight-forward, beautiful tune stripped down to a soft guitar-riff and emotional melody. The real edge comes from the militaristic drumbeat that leads the track out.

Wave Machines is far from punk when (it) comes to defining the band's debut album, 'Wave If You're Really There'. Most reviewers and music lovers categorize them as 'electro-pop', which is accurate, given the fusion of classical instrumentation and programmed sounds. For every track like the heartfelt 'Punk Spirit', which is rooted in guitar and drums, there are songs like 'Keep The Lights On' or 'I Go I Go I Go' with digital flavor, dance-ready synths and disco-esque falsetto vocals.

Overall, Wave If You're Really There is an excellent, eclectic album that keeps things varied and interesting, track-by-track.

- Cornelia Rowe -
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COOL HUNTING on 'Wave If You're Really There' (May 2009)


Influenced by drinks, drugs and gravity, the foursome behind Brit band Wave Machines pump out eclectropop hits packed with psychedelic undertones and catchy beats that make you feel like you're floating on air.

But their debut album, Wave If You're Really There, isn't only full of frolicsome tunes. Songs like "Punk Spirit" and "You Say The Stupidest Things" slow it down, showing off their rock 'n' roll attitude that keeps to the background of the more dance-inspiring tracks like "I Go I Go I Go" and "Keep The Lights On."

...the album is a perfect match for the summer weather.

- Karen Day - - Big Stereo, Nicky Digital, Cool Hunting