Hello October! A ridiculous amount of music is set to release today and I couldn’t be any happier to be blogging once again. My first listen of the month (and school year) is the long-awaited self-titled album from Ty Segall‘s new outfit, Fuzz. Since the announcement of the album last May and last month’s single, “Sunderberry Dream”, I have been anxious for Fuzz to enter my eardrums.
If you haven’t already heard it, September’s break out garage hit is embedded below:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgejqXZVKGs[/youtube]
Using the single as a guide, I set quite a few expectations for Fuzz. The album itself blew them all out of the water. While “Sunderberry Dream” focused on rhythm and harmonies to drive the song from beginning to end, Fuzz approaches its structure in a different fashion. Repetition of thematic elements seems to be much more important than moving from a simple start to a complex finish.
The band continually uses iconic riffs and melodies similar to the great Black Sabbath and Black Flag (whose influence can be heard throughout Ty Segall’s musical career). To avoid simplicity and a chance of boring the audience, these thematic focal points are re-imagined throughout the album with differing dynamics and meanings. For instance, in “Preacher”, a heavy approach to noise is present among familiar vocals. In stark contrast, a similar melody appears in the standout track, “Raise”, which cleverly adds harmonies over an ever-fluctuating guitar.
Although not a giant leap forward for Segall as an artist, the steps made towards continuity in a garage-rock album make the genre much more relevant in today’s circle of popular music. Fuzz is an excellent introduction to garage if a listener has found themselves constantly searching for consistency in this notoriously eclectic form of expression.
The album is available on iTunes, Amazon, and in your favorite record store.