Characterizing Ty Segall as one of the most prolific musicians working today is easy. But he's also a shining example of versatility.
Segall's mostly acoustic Sleeper album—released last month—found the singer-guitarist stepping a bit away from the garage-punk realm he's known for, but on the debut record from Fuzz, Segall switches over to drums.
Though it's the first record for Fuzz, the band of Segall, guitarist Charles Moothart and bassist Roland Cosio have been jamming together for years, relishing in heavy rock music that draws more from the pre-metal blues riffing of the late 1960s than garage rock. The touchstones for Fuzz start with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, but the band surely finds more influence in a small stable of those legends' forgotten contemporaries.
A heavy mood guides the record, in music as well as lyrics, which are scant but tend to the realm of druggy paranoia: "Isolation, isolation / feel the sickness of isolation," the band sings on "Sleigh Ride," while the entirety of the sludgy, psychedelic "What's In My Head" is like an unwanted hallucination.
The real essence of Fuzz—what sets the band apart from not only Segall's other projects but also the thriving garage-punk scene of like-minded bands - is the eagerness to jam. Two of Fuzz's eight songs creep past six minutes, while another falls just shy. This is heavy rock to get lost in, dizzying in all the right ways.
