Coming to Town: Fuzz/CCR Headcleaner @ Red 7 10/4

Just a scant two months after performing one of his best shows behind his Sleeper album, Ty Segall is already making his mighty return to Austin. This time, however, he won't be doing it alone, instead bring his new band Fuzz along. Fuzz for those who don't know, make loud, speaker rattling hard rock, rooted in a real "classic" sound, the result of Segall and his bandmates going full throttle into their love of Black Sabbath and King Crimson. The end result though, is some heavy, crunchy, & sludgy rock, far less cliché than the usual crop of bands who worship at the alter of those bands. It's from the mind of Ty Segall after all.

(mp3) Fuzz-What's in My Head

Joining Fuzz will be CCR Headcleaner, a trio who craft a wonderful mix of noise and garage rock, that is just has heavy and thunderous as it is catchy. They just put out their debut LP, and it is chock full of wonderfully blistering tunes like "Steal the Light".

Single Review: Fuzz-"Sleigh Ride b/w You Won't See Me" 7"

How does Ty Segall do it? I know I am more than likely not even close to being the first person to ask this, but how it that Segall is able to create so much music, so constantly, and nearly all of it is top quality rock music of the highest order? I guess it’s fitting that his newest project Fuzz feels more like a true band effort then most of what he’s done in recent time. It feels at time removed from Segall’s usual garage rock blitz, which here is a very good thing.

Their second single in four months, here Fuzz has already begun to start figuring out how to expand and define what their sound is truly is. Not that the pure “Black Sabbath love channeled through a basement band” of their last single was a bad thing in anyway. Here though, the band has realized how to take that style and shape it into their own. A-side “Sleigh Ride” is a great testament to this; the song is still a cross between early metal, sludge, and garage rock, all second long guitar noodling and Segall's John Dwyer like vocals. However, the song's constant tempo shifts give the song an off-balance feel and the sense that it could fall apart & spin-off at any second. "You Won't See Me" has a much more steady and heavy feel to it, from the still drum work that opens the track before Charlie Moonhart's guitar bursts the proverbial dam. And yet the track is not as nearly flat as it appears, starting and stopping on a dime to convey a certain sense of tension before bursting again with the song's final, masterfully crafted old school solo.

In an alternate dimension, Fuzz might have been the root Segalls music might have taken. Both his past scrappiness is present, with the simple lyrics there almost just to fill the space between the noise, and his modern form, with Fuzz's understated complexity ever present in the twist and turns these songs take. Fuzz may be the result of Segall and co. having gotten to such a much more mature place with their music that they must sound a recourse in the form of channeling their old idols. If that is the case then so be it because the result is more great rock music from a man who has been making just that for the past six years.



Links:

Buy the "Sleigh Ride b/w You Won't See Me" 7" here, from In the Red Records

Single Review: Fuzz-This Time I Got A Reason b/w Fuzz's Fourth Dream

Let's get this out of the way. Yes, Fuzz is a brand new project by Ty Segall, on drums and vocals, with bandmate Charlie Moonheart contributing his guitar expertise to the project too. However, their is nothing "reduced" or "lite" to Fuzz or their debut single. Instead, what Segall and Moonheart have crafted here is taken from the vein of Black Sabbath love they expressed on Slaughterhouse, particularly the stoner-garage sludge of "Wave Goodbye".

Not that Fuzz's tunes should be seen as if they were just demos that the duo decided to throw haphazardly on record. No, these two tracks are distinct Ty Segall songs, ones that may be simple in creation and sound, but don't lack an ounce of the energy or intensity he invests in his all his songs. A-Side "This Time I Got a Reason" all exemplifies this, built around Segall's slowed down but still frantic drumming and Moonheart's well...thick, fuzzed out guitar playing that manages to serve the duel nature of giving the song a driving guitar force while also being the track's sludgy, bass backbone. The '70s stoner vibe the band makes is even stronger in B-Side "Fuzz's Fourth Dream", which does sounds like a lo-fi take on "Iron Eye", though the solos Moonheart strategically places through out the track lets the song rise up above generic garage band ripoff to feeling like a lost track from the era. The mini-freakout that helps end the track particularly cements the awesomeness of Fuzz. The fact that Segall isn't lending his distinct guitar playing to this band helps give Fuzz such a distinct sound from his other projects. There's barely any garage influence to Fuzz's sound, instead pulling from a darker, more murky spectrum that gives the project a unquige feel from Segall's other bands. It's awesome that the aggression and energy Segall and co. created on Slaughterhouse was not a one time deal, and has now found its home within Fuzz.



Links:

Buy the Fuzz 7" here, from Trouble in Mind Records