California Wives – if somebody told me back in the early 2000s that I would be a fan of ‘indie rock’, I would have just laughed in their faces and said, “Yeah, right.” Well, fast forward to early 2013 (or rewind back from the present date), Jason linked me a song to check out. It was a song called ‘Purple’ from a band called California Wives and from the opening guitar strums, I was hooked. I couldn’t explain the feeling that washed over me. All I knew was I enjoyed it.
California Wives – Purple
I looked up for information about the band and listened to their whole discography (it was only 1 EP + 1 album then). I burnt a CD for my car. Goddamn, their music was so good. I found a track which I could listen to on repeat*, ‘The Fisher King’, and that song was like the soundtrack to my whole year (I won’t go into details here but yeah, of course there was a girl, emotions were involved, I felt sad, bla bla bla).
But if there was one song I wish I wrote, it would be ‘The Fisher King’. Never mind that till today I still don’t know most of the words to the song (all the websites online seem to be copy pasting the same one which sounds wrong to me) – I’d rate it as my favorite California Wives track. Heck, it’s up there as one of my favorite songs of all time.
California Wives – The Fisher King
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xkRdxjBTsg
Other choice cuts from them include ‘Blood Red Youth’ (‘What if Asian Kung Fu Generation wrote a song with English lyrics?’ would best describe it, in my opinion), Tokyo, The New Process, and Los Angeles. Who am I kidding? Their whole debut album is amazing.
In addition to making amazing music, California Wives served as a gateway drug by introducing me to a genre I previously ignored. For that I am thankful for. Anyway, if you’re looking for something chilled, with sick bass lines, and ambiguous lyrics, give these guys a shot. In the meantime, I’m slowly sinking my teeth into their recently released ‘Heavy’ EP.
California Wives – Tokyo
California Wives – Blood Red Youth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J1kSno5b_M
California Wives – The New Process
California Wives – Los Angeles
California Wives – Over & Over
California Wives – Tokyo (Different Sleep Remix)
*my litmus test for music – if I can listen to a song on repeat for weeks or months (at work, in the car, and at home) and not get sick of it, it goes into my books as one of my all time favorite songs. I’ll post a list one day!