California Dreaming with Best Coast and Wavves [Show Preview]

Village Voice

Best Coast, Wavves, No Joy
Tuesday, January 25
Emos (603 Red River St)
$18, doors at 9pm
[info]

Bethany Cosentino and Nathan Williams are definitely in the running for consideration as 2010's indie power couple. Both released well-received, high-selling albums (Crazy for You and King of the Beach, respectively) in the middle of last year, with a fuzzed out lo-fi California sound that perfectly embodied the manic summer heat. So it was no surprise that the dating duo decided to start the new year off right with a joint tour, gracing Austin with a stopover on Tuesday night at Emo's.

While early reviews of the first couple shows are mixed, short sets from last November's Fun Fun Fun Fest Wavves and Best Coast left most of us wanting more. These bands are more than just their lead singers. Wavves' reincarnation for the latest album includes two musicians from the late Jay Reatard's band: bassist Stephen Pope and drummer Billy Hayes. The prolific Bobb Bruno crafts and performs much of Best Coast's actual instrumentation.

If you're looking for more Cali love though, Twitter-happy Bethany and Nathan regularly have entire entertaining conversations over tweets. They also write about things they like, including Beth's cat Snacks, and the opening band for their co-headlining sets: No Joy. Although No Joy hails from Montreal, their similarly scuzzy sound should be a perfect complement to the rest of the evening's tone. Get a free download from No Joy here.

While the low temperature for tonight's show is a frigid 33 degrees, the crowd at Emo's will be warmed by surf-pop lyrics layered over grunge-y effects. Doors are at 9pm.

Best Coast: [Website] [MySpace]
Wavves: [Website] [MySpace]
No Joy: [MySpace] [Daytrotter Sessions]