Ever since Wavves aka Nathan Williams had a little mental breakdown on the Pitchfork-curated stage at the Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona a few weeks ago, the music site has taken a not-so-subtle negative stance towards Williams whenever it sees an opportunity. It began with the actual news story of Wavves bad Primavera show, which Pitchfork founder Ryan Schreiber himself began with this little cat scratch directed at the Best New Music-earning band…

Over the past six months, the San Diego no-fi outfit Wavves has notoriously made a better bedroom project than live band.

… and finished with a suggestion that Williams and drummer Ryan Ulsh might kill each other before they even made it to Pitchfork’s own music festival on July 18th. The latter bit of blood lust has proven itself to be untrue with the passage of time, but the former seems an odd assertion considering Schreiber is presumably the one who booked (or approved the booking of) Wavves at both Primavera and the Pitchfork Festival. We’ve also seen Wavves several times in venues both large and small and he’s never failed to be pretty awesome, if not more accessible than he is on record.

So what are we to make of Pitchfork’s recent Wavves-bashing editorial direction, which culminated today in a post that quotes Black Lips’ Jared Swilley talking wildly about Williams in a Norwegian radio interview, crescendos (yeah, blog posts crescendo) with “it should be noted that this is not the first time a band has talked shit about Wavves” (yes, clearly should be noted) and mentions both bands will be at Pitchfork’s festival and ends with “Feel the drama!” (really?)?

We’d like to hear what you think in the comments section. Has Wavves one bad show earned the ire of music’s biggest critic? Is Pitchfork just trying to pump up its festival’s ticket sales? Or is Pitchfork just being a dick? Let’s hear it.

First it was the meltdown in front of thousands of people. Then came the apology, which was focused on the level of stress Nathan Williams has endured since starting to tour extensively in February. Now comes the solution (or one solution we should say).
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As reported last Friday, Nathan Williams and drummer Ryan Ulsh stumbled their way through a cut-short Wavves set at the Primavera Sound Festival that included an intraband meltdown, shoe tossing, boos and passive aggressive audience taunting. Later that evening, Williams apologized via his Ghost Ramp, citing copious amounts of alcohol, sedatives and touring as the culprit.
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Pitchfork’s Ryan Schreiber posted his account this morning of last night’s Wavves debacle at the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona. According to the website’s founder, Nathan Williams and drummer Ryan Ulsh stumbled their way through a cut-short set that included an intraband meltdown, shoe tossing, boos and passive aggressive audience taunting.
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Keeping with our Crystal theme today, here’s the newest video from Brooklyn’s Crystal Stilts, who remain one of our favorite bands of the recent garage revival. Where some have gone for total punk, while others have gone psych, and we can’t forget the pop, the Stilts seamlessly can blend them all for a mixture you can still groove to without any of the guilt.
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