Contemporary Review: Emotional Mugger - Ty Segall
8.0/10, Worth Checking Out
Background: Ty Segall is a musician/bandleader/producer/songwriter from California, who has developed a reputation as the hardest working man in music, or at the least in garage rock. His solo discography is daunting on its own, not to mention the dozens of bands he has formed with other prominent musicians in order to kill whatever little free time this dude must have. Each year can expect at least one or two Ty Segall albums and then a half dozen pieces of work from his side bands. Unfortunately, not all of it is good. Not even most of it. Fairly often Segall will release something that sounds as if it was released as a joke or unfinished. However, for every few of those we get an album like the stellar Melted or the suffocatingly dark but brilliant Slaughterhouse. His music usually revolves around a heavy, fuzzed out garage rock sound that takes heavy influence from early pop groups like The Beatles and many of the early girl groups. Segall has a knack for writing strong melodies, but unfortunately many of them get buried underneath his walls of sound or his intentionally awful production.
Review: Well, this album is certainly a Ty Segall album. There is no doubting that. All of his trademarks are here. Yet, this is another level of Ty Segall. The normally fuzzy guitars have turned into buzzsaws, tearing away at the fabric holding the songs together. The drums border on free form, and are generally used to generate as much chaos as possible. The bass is also fuzzed out, keeping steady time in the midst of the hell around it. The vocals are unlike anything else Segall has ever done. Each song's lyrics and vocal performances feel as if Segall is attempting to set his personal record in weirdness. Somebody has certainly been listening to some Frank Zappa. This is Slaughterhouse era Ty Segall for certain, but evolved into something much more twisted and weird.
The production on this album is brutally loud, especially the guitar and drums. Both of these instruments are mixed to ear splitting volumes and its truly impressive how heavy both of them can be at times on this album. The bass, while understated, is also impressively played. Segall's vocals are mixed right in the upper middle of the album, so that they can be heard, but still sound as if they are behind the walls of sound created by the dozens of guitars throw into each song. Segall sings through a vocoder on most tracks, which is nothing new for the dude. Somehow, the production is actually surprisingly clear here. All the fuzz is deceiving, but when you actually listen to it each instrument can be heard playing its respective part and the compression doesn't completely sacrifice detail for loudness. Even my beloved Slaughterhouse suffers from a bit of underproduction, the hazard of creating a record so evil.
For all its sinister darkness, this album still maintains Segall's love for beach bum chic melodies. Many of these songs, melodically, sound like modern interpretations of surf songs. Unfortunately, a few songs here run through their melodies dozens of times without variation, and thus run them straight into the ground. On one hand, the maniacal repetition of lines delivered with the same smiling lunacy as the doll featured on the album cover is so disturbing that it is endearing (to somebody able to appreciate pure aggression), it usually does not make for a great casual listening song.
Overall, this is the type of album that will be entertaining for the next few weeks, and then will be relegated to a zone where it is only listened to in a certain mood. It is certainly a great album, but it will not have any influence. It will not sell well. It will not make any end of the year lists. Still, it is a great effort from Ty Segall and has me eagerly anticipating his next album. I just certainly hope he doesn't try to make a darker album than this one. Anything darker could probably extinguish the sun.
HIGHPOINTS: "Diversion" "Baby Big Man" "Candy Sam" "Mandy Cream"
LOWPOINTS: "W.U.O.T.U.S"
Recommended albums: Slaughterhouse - Ty Segall Band, Here and Nowhere Else - Cloud Nothings, Fun House - The Stooges, Damaged - Black Flag, Teenage Hate or Grown Up, F***ed Up - The Reatards
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