Photo © Annabel Mehran because I wouldn’t have been able to snap a photo of the band live without a ladder.
Toronto ON
February 6, 2013
I’m a bit of a Ty Segall n00b, having only become a fan with the release of 2011’s Slaughterhouse, so this was my first chance to see him live. Like Segall’s music, the show was a bit of a sprawling, riotous orgy, with three opening acts.
The second of two Ty Segall reissues, Reverse Shark Attack features Segall and his current touring bassist Mikal Cronin (who has quite a few releases with and apart from Segall). While just as dirty sounding as The Traditional Fools (review), these tunes are less garage rock and way more psychedelic, with brain-asplodin’ feedback that seems to lurch forth physically from the speakers.
It’s patently obvious that I’m going to be biased towards a song called “I Wear Black,” but it also happens to be good, snatching the heavy beat from “Wild Thing” and inserting a growling chorus of the song’s title.
The prolific and talented Ty Segall has another album out today. It’s actually a reissue, but one that was previously only available on vinyl and has been out of print since its release. The Traditional Fools—comprised of Segall, Andrew Luttrell, and David Fox—put out only one album, but it’s killer. Its intensely dirty sound is more akin to Segall’s Slaughterhouse than Twins, but it is instantly loveable. It helps that despite the lo-fi recording, these guys were tight as hell.
The opening track, a cover of “Davey Crockett” by beloved legends Thee Headcoats, will either thrill or piss off fans of the original, but it’s obviously coming from a place of respect. It also sounds fantastic.
Noomi Rapace and Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander
2012 was the year of the woman. Women dominated the best of music, film, and TV.
The most significant figure for me in 2012 was Lisbeth Salander, the Steig Larsson-created character of the Millennium trilogy of novels, who also appears in the original Swedish film series and David Fincher’s newest film incarnation. Critics and fans may fight over who was better, Noomi Rapace or Rooney Mara, but both were outstanding at portraying my personal favorite female character of the last couple of decades. (Ms. Rapace had the added distinction of playing the more than worthy successor to Ellen Ripley when she inhabited the role of Dr. Elizabeth Shaw in Ridley Scott’s misunderstood but brilliant Prometheus.)
Despite being astonishingly prolific, I’ve only gotten wise to Ty Segall‘s musical output recently; my album intro was June’s Slaughterhouse, performed with Segall’s touring band (reviewed here). Hearing Twins, recorded almost entirely by Segall himself, has proved he’s not a one trick pony. Twins hits the sweet spot between heavy guitar fuzz and pretty melodies and is immediately, deliriously enjoyable.
That’s not to say Twins is full of disposable pop songs. In these post-post-ironic times, it’s not uncommon for music fans to feel distrustful of something they like immediately, concerned about being manipulated by both our nostalgia and the desire for something that’s not a rip-off.
If you haven’t yet heard of Ty Segall that will probably change very soon. The twentysomething California native has been exceptionally busy for the last seven years, recording and playing with a slew of bands like Epsilons, Party Fowl, The Traditional Fools, and The Perverts, not to mention stuff released under his own name as well as with White Fence. This prolific output, along with his age, garage-rock influences, and connection to Goner Records might remind you of another overachieving young musician.
When asked about being “the next Jay Reatard” in interviews, Segall admits he considers it a huge compliment. However, Slaughterhouse, the debut recording of Segall and his touring band, should firmly establish him as a musical force in his own right.