At first you hear just the samples. Then you hear what Andrew Caddick actually did with them. Is this chillwave? I feel like if there ever was a dictionary-defined band for chillwave, this would meet the criteria. Does it wax nostalgic using old samples? Check. Does it bring up images of laziness and the beach? Check. Is there distortion? Check.
Obviously distortion is a soft spot of mine. Not all musicians can pull it off, but Jean Wilder does a pretty good job of making the sounds expand into the stratosphere with “Blonde Beach”. If that doesn’t scream ‘summer fun’ at you, then I’m sorry but you’re an idiot.
The looped samples are not all treated the same. Sometimes they are extremely obvious, but he does throw them into the digital wood chipper, like for “Blanket Mountain” where the origin remains a bit more mysterious. Other tracks show off a sense of humor, like the clipped 50s vibe of “Sparkler”.
Finally, he shows (and this is important) good taste. Hearing the closer “Light Sleeper” made me so happy. It samples Bedhead’s “The Present” one of my all-time favorite songs. Andrew captures the mood of the original without simply repeating it.
Nice Trash grows on you. After a few listens, you get what he was aiming for. In case you like this, well, he’s doing what all the cool kids are doing: touring Europe. He needs your help though and roughly $2900 of your dollars. Apparently flying from California to Europe costs a bunch of money. Here’s him on the surprisingly successful website “Kickstarter”.