50 Foot Wave

50 Foot Wave is essentially Throwing Muses with a different drummer and a punkier, more direct approach. The band packs a raw, shredded-throat wallop on its full-length debut, Golden Ocean. No more sudden, artsy detours and swooping instrumentals — it’s bruise time. Years of touring solo and with the Muses have ground guitarist Kristin Hersh’s voice down to a grated, savory croak that suits her new band’s simpler structure and urgency. Riffs throb, beat themselves bloody and see double. Bernard Georges’ bass rumbles single-mindedly, and Hersh hurls herself into declarative, vivid lyrics that reduce all around them to furious framing devices and make Golden Ocean seem like her last stand.