Wild Wild Wets’ Time Mutations (August 22nd) is an album that thrives on tension between grit and dream by offering a sonic world both unpredictable and sharply defined. Recorded live at Earthling Studios in El Cajon and produced by the band themselves, the record captures the group in a fully self-directed state, with Mike Kamoo’s engineering amplifying its raw intensity and sprawling vision.
The album works because it commits to invention without losing cohesion. “High Rider” is its most striking example. A warped psych-funk piece where synths, trumpet, and percussion tangle into something both hypnotic and menacing. It’s a daring turn that broadens the band’s palette while never feeling detached from their roots. The rhythm section of Dave Mead’s drumming and Albert Sanchez’s bass anchors the chaos, while Jason Crane’s contributions on congas and trumpet inject a restless unpredictability.
Frontman Mike Turi, who also designed the artwork, frames the record as a journey through a strange parallel society, citing “Dr. Moreau meets Ziggy Stardust” as inspiration. That narrative thread holds the set together by giving songs like “When Your Ghost Becomes an Island” and “Evolver” a theatrical edge. Instead of drifting into abstraction, the band ties surreal concepts to arrangements that feel immediate and purposeful.
Wild Wild Wets have always thrived on unpredictability, but Time Mutations sharpens that instinct into their strongest work yet. It’s an album that sounds like a world unto itself.
