What do you have in your garage? Boxes of old music
magazines, nuts and bolts from old bikes and an overwhelming smell of petrol if
you’re anything like me. What prolific American rocker Ty Segall has in his
garage is at least half a dozen albums of squally rock n’ roll.
Opener ‘Death’ sets the scene on what is intended to be the
heaviest of three albums released by the singer/guitarist under various guises
this year. Similar to The Vines at their most abrasive, it feels a lot more
authentically DIY than wannabes like The Vaccines with vocals low in the mix,
shouty choruses, tub-thumping drums and thrashed power chords.
The title track is 1.31 of tortured vocals and raging
riffage that could have come straight off Nirvana’s ‘In Utero’ while ‘Tell Me
What’s Inside Your Heart’ finally tacks a substantial melody over the riotous
backing, with the power chords finally giving way to some surfy ‘whoo-ooh’s and
a squalling whirlpool of a guitar solo. The militaristic flourishes at the end
of ‘Wave Goodbye’ lead into a guitar blow-up that leaves amps shrieking with
feedback and Segall sweating and quivering. You can almost sense the band
bashing it out in their garage and indulging their fantasies of playing to
legions of adoring fans.
‘Muscle Man’ owes a debt to the Pixies, with a particularly sweet
vocal reminiscent of Kim Deal and harsh loud-louder dynamics. Some tracks like
‘That’s the Bag I’m In’ just feel like rants and Segall’s voice is thin and reedy
but as almost all the tracks could be first takes you’re inclined to forgive a
few rough edges. ‘Diddy Wah Diddy’ opens with the mastermind directing his trio
of cohorts to play faster and louder than ever before whilst final track ‘Fuzz
War’ is an epic Hawkwind-esque noise-rock meltdown that lasts almost three
times as long as any other track.
At first I was rather unsure about ‘Slaughterhouse’s DIY
punk revival but after a few listens it becomes clear that Segall is not just a
chancer aping his idols (Iggy Pop, The Replacements) but a songwriter playing
with the same freedom and love of noise, melody and self-expression that his
heroes did all those years before. Get in the garage and crank it up.
7.7
Max Sefton
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