What’s in a track title, anyway?

Maybe a lot if you’ve dubbed your song “Chill Wave.” Appearing on a split cassette released by the inimitable Stunned Records, “Chill Wave” is a cosmically-concerned bit of dub-tronica from Edibles, the solo venture of Portlandite Dewey Mahood (Eternal Tapestry). Edibles dominates the split’s runtime, but Jakartan artist Gonzo/Duck Dive fills the remainder with a sprawling, eighteen-minute synth odyssey that has a strong groove-itational pull.

To name your song “Chill Wave” is, at the least, a gesture of humor—a proverbial elbow in the ribs of bloggers and weary hipsters everywhere. But the possibilities—for implied sonic commentary, for homage, investigation, and even mockery—are pretty wide open, and there are always going to be folks (like myself) who’re going to want to read a lot into a title like that. So just how does “Chill Wave” sound?

It begins with some wah-wahed bass slithering up like the fade-in intro to a gritty vintage cop drama—1981 Stallone/Dee Williams/Hauer joint Nighthawks, maybe (though that movie’s actual score is kind of nuts). But not only does “Chill Wave” evoke visions of a suave, heat-packing Stallone, it also recalls Stallones, as in Stallones-comma-Cameron, the practiced, jammy visionary behind Magic Lantern and Sun Araw. As with many Magic Lantern and Sun Araw cuts, the thickly-effected guitar is the star of the show here. In fact, “Chill Wave” almost sounds like ML’s “Moon Lagoon Platoon” pared-down and decelerated. It’s dubbed-out and epically chill, but it’s over almost as soon as it begins and ultimately the song’s gristle and tissue do little to make good on the implications of the song’s title (imagined though they may be). Ironically, it’s Duck Dive’s “Equatopia” that closes with the tranquil sound of waves lapping against a shoreline.

We’ve already discussed what happens when shoegaze isn’t shoegaze. Now we have chillwave that isn’t chillwave.

Incidentally, the Duck Dive/Edibles tape is very solid, but unfortunately sold out of its first-and-only run of 111 copies. Bummer, dudes!