50 Foot Wave
Country of origin:
U.S.
Type of music generally:
Alternative (indierock) rock
Status:
Most recent release, Bath White (EP, 2016)
See also:
50 Foot Wave siteThe Ectophiles' Guide's pages for Kristin Hersh and Throwing Muses
Comparisons:
An even louder, rockier version of Throwing Muses
Covers/own material:
Own
General comments:
50 Foot Wave is the new harder faster, more intense band led by Kristin Hersh along with Bernard George and someone else on drums (not David Narcizo). (iflin@speakeasy.net)Complex post-punk with a more altogether aggressive output from Hersh. (thecritics@earthlink.net)
the best description of 50 ft wave would be that this is what happens when you breed throwing muses with nirvana. (brni @ kappamaki . com)
I'm one of those people who really liked the Throwing Muses' album Limbo and 50 Ft. Wave reminds me of it (not suprisingly, since it's 2/3 of the Limbo lineup and Kristin is in her hard rock mode). I like the entire range of Kristin Hersh's songwriting, from folky acoustic to punk, but not everyone has such broad taste.
50 Ft. Wave still has Kristin Hersh's loopy lyrics, and Bernard Georges' aggressive bass. And Rob Ahlers is a remarkably athletic drummer (I saw them live last year and he's just as animated while playing as you'd expect). It may not be quite as complex as the old throwing muses stuff but they still put some hooks in my head. (stevev@hexadecimal.uoregon.edu)
Comments about live performance:
So has anyone besides me seen Kristin Hersh's new band 50 Foot Wave yet? They're much like the most recent incarnation of throwing muses from last year (with Bernard Georges returning as bassist and Rob Ahlers on drums), although I think somewhat catchier and crunchier; it's definitely Kristin in hard rock mode instead of folky mode. The show was a bit short, but at least also cheap. (4/20/04)
50 Foot Wave is out on the edge of Ecto territory; Kristin Hersh is operating well into punk rock territory, beyond even the tinfoil-=crunchy sound of the last, truly eponymous throwing muses album. Fortunately my tastes are capable of embracing the sound of 50 Foot Wave as easily as Kristin's distinctly folky solo albums. (9/19/06, stevev@hexadecimal.uoregon.edu)
Recommended first album:
Any
Recordings:
- 50 Foot Wave (ep, 2004)
- Live In Seattle (live, 2004)
- Golden Ocean (2005)
- Free Music (download, 2005)
- Power + Light (download and vinyl, 2009)
- With Love From The Men's Room (EP, 2012)
- Night Blooming (Works in Progress EP, 2015)
- Bath White (EP, 2016)
50 Foot Wave ep
Release info:
2004—ThrowingMusic/4AD—FFW 001
Availability:
Wide in U.S.
Ecto priority:
Highly recommended for fans of loud, hard, fast rock
Group members:
Kristin Hersh—guitar, vocals
Bernard Georges—bass
Rob Ahlers—drums, vocals
Produced by:
Ethan Allen
Comments:
i like all of the songs individually. the disk itself is basically an unremitting sonic assault on the brain, though, and the shortness of the disk, combined with overwhelming sound of it, leaves me with a bizarre sense that i've just had both way too much and way too little. simultaneously. in other words, i really like all the songs, but i don't find myself pulling the disk out to listen to it. (brni @ kappamaki . com)This is very much for fans of loud, driving, fast, rock. 50 Foot Wave do powerful rock stripped to its guitar-bass-drums-vocals roots. Yes, it's an assault. It's like Throwing Muses at their most driving. (Neile)
Golden Ocean
Release info:
2005—ThrowingMusic/4AD—FFW 002
Availability:
Wide in U.S.
Ecto priority:
Highly recommended for fans of loud, hard, fast rock
Group members:
Kristin Hersh—guitar, vocals
Bernard Georges—bass, vocals
Rob Ahlers—drums, vocals
Produced by:
Ethan Allen
Comments:
the full album is, in my opinion, significantly better [than the EP]. there's a lot more variation in the content. i find myself particularly liking the middle of the disk—"petal", "dog days", and "sally is a girl"—basically, the stuff that has a little more muse in it... :) the album reminds me a little bit of the, uh, innocence (for lack of a better word) of throwing muses' first album.
and that's not a bad thing.
but then again, i tend to like the work people do while they are still struggling to find their voice. i think one of the worst things about the music industry nowadays is that they try to fully "develop" an artist before releasing them into the wild. makes those wonderfully awkward, stumbling first albums much harder to come by. (brni @ kappamaki . com)It's noisy.
The cover is kinda sucky—upside-down white seagulls against a blue sky, or reflections of those seagulls. It reminds me of my parents' old copy of Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
I'm expecting to find a way in, but haven't yet. Any pointers? 50 Ft Wave isn't much like the Muses' tangled screaming delicacies, with their complex melodies that unravel when you pull or scratch. More straight-forward thunk-crunch-noise. Not a pile of knotted old lace and undyed wool, then; maybe a basket of dirty smelly band-logo t-shirts. (k_hester_k@yahoo.co.nz)
Free Music
Release info:
Download from Throwing Music
Availability:
See Throwing Music
Ecto priority:
Highly recommended for fans of loud, hard, fast rock
Group members:
Rob Ahlers—drums, backing vocals
Bernard Georges—bass
Kristin Hersh—guitar, vocals
Produced by:
Mudrock
Comments:
Part of Kristin Hersh's visceral, back-to-basics rock. Noise and feedback, rougher edges than Throwing Muses. This collection fits in nicely with the commercially produced discs, and I applaud Kristin Hersh's willingness to get her music out there to her fans. (jmgurley@drizzle.com)
Thanks to JoAnn Whetsell for work on this entry.
