It's not exactly a secret that Ty Segall has been allowing his inner popmeister to take the spotlight with greater frequency as his solo career has gained traction, and with 2014's Manipulator, he's delivered one of his most satisfying fusions of pop songcraft and rock & roll snazz. If that makes it seem all over the place, well, that’s what Segall does best, but there’s always a magical throughline that makes his songs feel like a collection of companions rather than disconnected strangers.
"Waxman" is '70s metal sludge cut through with blazing guitar, while "Play" sounds like it's borrowing (and deliciously warping) a guitar riff from Free. "Pictures" travels from freak-out to drone, with a breakdown of video game bloops in between. "Erased" is positively hypnotizing-a warning siren blaring, tattoo drums and a crazy-heavy undertow. (It's also not a mellow record like Goodbye Bread-no ballads allowed here.) There are echoes of Love's woozy-melody psychedelia on "Whisper," and Segall dips pretty faithfully into his garage-noise roots for "Feel Good," letting Denée take over vocals (she sings it like how some '60s futurist would have imagined a 21st-century robot sounding). While in the past Segall's been known to make the occasional acoustic turn (2013's Sleeper), this time it's cover-to-cover fuzz.
The slight lull hasn't really changed the direction of Segall, a stalwart of the modern California garage rock scene you can still hear his primary influences on Harmonizer: delightful Skip Spence folk weirdness, Marc Bolan's melodic strut, Syd Barrett's acid damage. collaboration with wife Denée, live albums, EPs, cover albums, his production work, the Harry Nilsson and T. Segall has released 13 records since his start in 2008, not counting ones from his side projects Fuzz and GØGGS, the C.I.A. It's been two years since the last Ty Segall record-which wouldn't be a big deal for anyone else, but we're talking about one of the most prolific musicians of this century (or any other time?).
0 kommentar(er)
