Music Review: Ty Segall, Ty Segall

By Less Lee Moore

Now I see clear and have no fear / I know what I must do
—Ty Segall, “Warm Hands (Freedom Returned)”

There’s no such thing as a typical Ty Segall release. The singer/songwriter/musician extraordinaire has often explained that every time he tackles a new album, he does so from a totally different starting point than the previous one. This would explain why 2014’s Manipulator sounds very different from last year’s Emotional Mugger, or how Sleeper was probably not the follow up to Twins that everyone expected.
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Less Lee Moore: Best Of 2016

By Less Lee Moore

The year began with the death of David Bowie and then just got worse. Prince died in April, and throughout the rest of the year, dozens of other well-loved, talented, influential artists continued to leave this earthly plane. December continued the onslaught of pop culture deaths, with George Michael, Carrie Fisher, Richard Adams (Watership Down), and Debbie Reynolds dying within days of each other.

Still, there was a lot of amazing pop culture in 2016, which definitely helped ease the pain of these sad passings, as well as the foreboding political climate of the US (not to mention countries around the world; too numerous to mention). Here’s hoping 2017 is less traumatic for all of us.
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Music Review: Ty Segall, Emotional Mugger

By Less Lee Moore

American nightmare, guilty generation / fingers on the pulse of their parents’ alienation / from the history, histories of Western civilization
–Ty Segall, “California Hills”

There was a 1987 SPIN magazine cover story on David Bowie called “What Next, Put Together Man?” and while I can’t recall the article’s content exactly, that question has lingered in my brain ever since. At the time I was only just beginning to grasp the depth and breadth of Bowie’s shape-shifting abilities, and it took me years to fully understand the significance of that particular query.

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Concert Review: Fuzz at The Hoxton

By Less Lee Moore

November 18, 2015
Toronto, ON

Last night’s Fuzz show at The Hoxton was full of surreal, sweaty shenanigans.

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Music Review: Fuzz, II

By Less Lee Moore

The first album from Fuzz (review) was a stoner rock delight, all guitar solos and epic jams. The latest, the succinctly titled II, is more of the same, but bigger, better, and more bodacious. Since then, member Ty Segall has released his most accomplished album yet (2014’s Manipulator) and the effects of an astonishing improvement in songcraft shows on this album. If you like epic jams or if you want some serious hooks mixed with your stoner rock, Fuzz is just what you’ve been waiting for.

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Music Review: Ty Segall and King Tuff, Live At Pickathon

By Less Lee Moore

Pickathon aims to answer the question, “What does it take to be the best weekend festival of the year for music lovers?” 2015 marks the fifteenth year of this unique festival, known for scheduling a diverse blend of musical acts.

Easy Sound has just released a vinyl only split 12″ of Ty Segall and King Tuff performing at the 2013 festival, which seems appropriate considering the history of Pickathon. Segall takes the first half, with six songs that are fairly stripped down, considering his reputation as a shredder.

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Music Review: Ty Segall, $ingle$ 2

By Less Lee Moore

Every time I hear someone complaining that rock and roll is dead, I cringe. This proclamation is usually accompanied by a rant against Miley Cyrus or whatever Top 40 artist is being hyped at the moment. Which leads me to wonder: is the concern that rock and roll is dead, or that it’s no longer at the top of the Billboard charts?

Any handwringing over the fate of rock and roll quickly falls apart in the presence of Ty Segall. For one thing, he’s clearly beholden to his forebears while still sounding vital and original. He also puts out a lot of music on a frequent basis. And he releases honest to goodness singles. Granted, a lot of bands release singles these days, especially via iTunes, but what makes Ty Segall’s singles special is that they come with B-sides, which, if we’re going the traditional route, is way more rock and roll because it evokes the format in which rock music ascended the charts: the vinyl 45.

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Music Review: Ty Segall, Manipulator

By Less Lee Moore

Pick yourself up, walk down the street
Feel the freaks that you shall meet
They are your family now. . .
—Ty Segall, “The Feels”

Singing old Pat Benatar songs at a karaoke party this spring revealed to me something that I hadn’t realized: most popular songs today don’t have guitar solos, which makes for some slightly awkward, “let’s skip to the Taylor Swift track” moments when you’re waiting to belt out that last Pat Benatar chorus. It doesn’t make those songs any less singalong-able, it just means that a lot of younger (ahem) music fans seem to get bored if a song isn’t wall-to-wall vocals.

But no one could be bored by Ty Segall. It’s true, the man does have a penchant for shredding, but he can sing like a mofo and doesn’t noodle or show off, unless you call displaying his prodigious talents “showing off.” Spawning dozens of releases at a breakneck pace for the last six years or so (plus constant touring) means he’s had plenty of opportunities to hone his craft and Manipulator is the epitome of that craft thus far.

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Music Review: Fuzz, Fuzz

By Less Lee Moore

Ty Segall gets a lot of—admittedly deserved—attention. But what of his constant cohorts? Segall’s latest project, Fuzz, includes two of them and it’s killer. Fuzz is comprised of Roland Cosio (drummer for Epsilons) on bass and Charles Moothart on guitar (The Moonhearts and live guitarist for Segall) and what’s this? Ty Segall on drums and vocals. Aw yeah.

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Music Review: Ty Segall, Sleeper

By Less Lee Moore

Ty Segall‘s music frequently shreds, so one wonders what the contingent of stage divers at his shows must think of his newest release Sleeper. Perhaps it’s the sonic antithesis to Fuzz, the upcoming project from Segall, guitarist Charlie Moothart, and bassist Roland Cosio, whose name describes the band accurately. Sleeper is mostly acoustic, but “Ty Segall Unplugged” it is not. There are amps and distortion, although both are kept to a minimum.

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