The scrappy and overdriven drum sound on the opening of “All Star Goth,” the new single from Wavves, is sort of the sonic equivalent of a raised middle finger. It’s not belligerent exactly. It’s just very much in the I-don’t-care-if-you-can’t-relate zone.
You kind of have to love the not-out-to-please-you aesthetic though. On Twitter, the So-Cal-based Wavves, the project of frontman Nathan Williams, has recently ripped (maybe that’s putting it too strongly) into drunk fans who come and try to pat band members on their heads, and recent arrivals to L.A. who dis the city.
Not digging the state of America of late, last year Williams basically told Trump supporters not to come to his shows — not a very risky career move, perhaps, but indicative of his temperament. If there’s still room in your heart for free-flowing low-level disgruntlement and noisey nihilist lo-fi indie psych-garage-pop, the Wavves members are your boys.
Williams generally works with a band to add a muscular weight to things. Guitar tones tend to sound melted and squiggly, and vocals often sound as if they’re delivered with a cultivated slouch. Except the music has way more drive than any slacker could pull off. “We’re dancing while the world is burning down,” sings Williams on the twitchy “Exercise,” off of the 2017 record “You’re Welcome.” The band has a perfect song, “King of the Beach,” the title track from its 2010 record. It’s an ideal marriage of energy and attitude.
Wavves and Beach Fossils play together at College Street Music Hall, 238 College St., New Haven, on Oct. 27 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $22 to $25. collegestreetmusichall.com.