Click for full cover w track listing
If you’ve read Bone in the Fan or The Meatist with any regularity, you know I’m a Ty Segall fan. I caught his live show in Austin during SXSW 2010, and, despite the fact that both Death and alt-press liplock recipients Surfer Blood were playing at the same venue, Segall’s set was by far the best of the night, and one of my favorite shows of the entire week.
The thing is, and perhaps this is a function of me being a bitter old man born in the 60s, an awful lot of bands I hear these days, particularly those that might be loosely termed “punk rock,” strike me as a bunch of pathetic, derivative poseurs that wouldn’t have lasted though one set in NYC or DC pre-’85. Sorry, Attack Attack!.
Ty Segall, on the other hand, is exactly what I wanted to hear. An authentic player who throws himself into the show, with no apparent planning for what might look cool, instead opting for doing what the fuck he wants to do, and with whom. Segall’s show wasn’t a copy of something he saw in a film about the old scene, it just happened to be as good and authentic as a set from back then. I even chased Segall and his chick drummer down after the show to tell them so, though I may have come across as a fawning, inebriated douche that longed for the old days (partly true, that) and somehow managed to cop backstage access (actually, I was an inebriated douche covering SXSW for legitimate press outlets).
It was just what I needed that night: a trip back in time to what could have easily been CBGB, Max’s Kansas City, Mudd Club or the 9:30 Club, venues in which I spent many a night in the late 70s and early 80s. So it seems fitting that he’ll be releasing an actual 12″ vinyl recording on Record Store Day, April 16, this year. The actual media I used to buy, from the stores I used to frequent.
The record has six T. Rex covers on it (“Ty Rex,” get it?), and it’s really, really good. I’m a big Marc Bolan fan, so it’s tough to think about T. Rex being covered any more has already been done, but Segall totally pulls it off. He brings the vibe, confidence and obvious love of playing that you’ll find at his live shows to the six song record, and it’s exactly the antidote I need for the plethora of computer quantized, auto-tuned, Las Vegas stage-showed horse shit that monolithic zeros like the Black Eyed Peas get paid to perform choreographed dances to instead of serving burgers and fries, which is what they’d be doing if there were musical justice in the world.
The clear vinyl record will be available at Segall’s live shows, as well as at Goner Records and other independent record stores on April 16th. After that date, any remaining stock, as well as (thankfully) the digital version, will be available from Goner directly, or from the usual digital music outlets.
Buy this. It’s totally worth it even if you don’t pine for NYC circa 1979. See for yourself with the opening track, “Fist Heart Mighty Dawn Dart:”
