As 2013 began, Ty Segall quietly released a 7"-- "This Time I Got a Reason" came out on Trouble in Mind under the band name Fuzz. It's his sludgy stoner metal studio project with his friend and frequent collaborator Charles Mootheart, and while the song isn't exactly deep, it's a wholly satisfying nugget of 1970s hard rock. Aside from being yet another notch in his famous prolific streak, it's a natural step for Segall to start the year with a new project. As he explained to Spin, he thrives in the studio. "I've been on tour for three years straight, basically. It's not my favorite thing; recording is. It's so fun," he said, adding, "You can get weird." And throughout his recording career, he's gotten weird time and time again with a revolving door of collaborators: Thee Oh Sees, Sic Alps, White Fence, and most frequently, his old friend Mikal Cronin.
Around 2006, Segall and Cronin started the Laguna Beach garage punk band Epsilons, and since then, they've worked together several times. The duo were both in the short-lived hardcore band Party Fowl, and Cronin has been a member of Segall's touring band for quite a while. Most recently, Cronin's harmonies and bass were an essential contribution to Slaughterhouse. And unsurprisingly, Segall was in the studio to help with Cronin's excellent self-titled debut LP. But as one man comes off his 2012 three-album hot streak while the other just signed to Merge for his second solo record, the weirdness of their 2009 collaborative album Reverse Shark Attack doesn't hold up.
The album's first six tracks are garage songs washed in acid-soaked sonics, and they're ultimately unremarkable when stacked next to the rest of either man's discography. Throughout the album, Segall and Cronin tap into John Dwyer-ian psychedelics, and with pitched-down throaty vocals, the effects feel like a gimmick and cheapens the material. Their more straightforward readings of "I Wear Black", for example, are immediately more interesting than the markedly slower studio version. (Evidence: the Daytrotter version.) But when they stick the landing on their more psychedelic tendencies, the results are extremely satisfying. Easily, the best tracks on the album are the final two: Their muddy-but-faithful cover of Pink Floyd's Piper at the Gates of Dawn cut "Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk" and their 10-minute opus "Reverse Shark Attack". The title track switches gears several times, incorporating bubbly psych pop, soft acoustic guitars, a Dick Dale fast-surf outro, and the same sort of slow-burning melodrama you could hear in the Pallbearer album. For a song that jumps around to a few different melodic devices, they're strung together beautifully.
Reverse Shark Attack is a fine example of the downsides to getting weird in the studio. Sometimes, you strike gold. Sometimes, veering into psychedelic territory makes your songs sound unnecessarily cheap. It stands in contrast to Ty's work with the Traditional Fools, who shy away from additional effects and stick to drunken, lo-fi budget rock. In 2008, the trio-- Segall, David Fox, and Andrew Luttrell-- bashed out a series of trashy surf punk songs, four of which are just over one minute long. (That proved to be a troglodyte year for Segall-- he also released his raucous one-man-band debut solo album on Castle Face.) And really, if the sunglasses-clad cheeseburgers on the cover don't already give you a sense of the album's overall vibe, the track titles should: "Snot Rag", "Shredstick", "Get Off My Back", "Party at My House".
But here's the thing-- while it's not an ambitious album, every song is solid. Their intention was to create a rock'n'roll party album (from "Party at My House": "Parents comin' home,/ Won't you get the fuck out?"), and with that mission in their sights, they recorded 12 earworm-laden tracks that wouldn't sound out of place at a deranged Frankie and Annette beach party. There's a sped up version of Billy Childish's Thee Headcoats song "Davey Crockett" and a fuzzed out version of Redd Kross' "Kill Someone You Hate". With speed, volume, great riffs, and a sloppy delivery, they breathe punk rock life into surf.
These two albums are an interesting pair to release at the same time. One's a collection of dumb-but-fun rock'n'roll, the other's a spotty series of tracks that owe more to Beefheart than garage*.* On their own, these albums could imply that Segall's strengths rest in the loud and fast material. As Hair, Goodbye Bread, and Twins have all proved, that's not the case at all-- he can slow jam with the best of 'em. But early on, he was a master of trash rock, and The Traditional Fools is 20 minutes of some of his most fun material to date.
