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Best Of 2012, Black Lips, Lists, Music, The Barbaras, The Hussy, Ty Segall, Ty Segall Band, White Fence

My Top 5 LPs Released In 2012

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1. The Barbaras – 2006-2008 – The Barbaras exist in my music collection as a very revered band. I had been playing their fuzzy, sunshiny 7″ since October 2010. They were gone, of course, by then, off doing things like being in Magic Kids and Wavves. Then the news of this came along. About two years later I was able to hear some clearer renditions of tracks from that 7″ and even better…twelve new songs. The new ones (and the old ones) simply put are some of my favorite tracks ever. I can’t really even delve into specific favorites, because they all such hard hitters. Some are kind of wimpy (“Bluebirds”, “Only One”), while others (“Devour the Jungle Deer,” “Grief Touches Everyone”) are barn-burners from 0:00 ’til the last note. The Barbaras nailed the ‘pop’ part of garage pop in a way that is truly unlike any of the bands the Barbaras would eventually join. These are songs you listen to daily, that capture your attention from the very second they begin. There was something real special about this group from Memphis. They paid as much of a debt to their contemporaries like producer Jay Reatard while maintaining a keen appreciation for both the obscure and popular golden melodies of the ’50s and ’60s. I haven’t heard a modern band perfectly nail that down like the Barbaras. This is a record that I doubt will reach #1 status beyond us… the fanatics that run this website. That’s a shame, though, because a complete and thoughtful listen (yes, just one) makes a grand impact.


2. Ty Segall/White Fence – Hair – This is another record that I’m as excited to talk about now as I was when I first heard it many months ago. I think those early listening sessions included a good amount of bewilderment. Ty Segall and White Fence. One record. Two fantastic garage/psych songwriters coming together. I didn’t know much about White Fence back then and frankly I still do not really. Tim Presley can jam. Hair isn’t really a traditional “record” because – yes – it is brief (8 songs) and the songs range from extremely well done jams (“I Am Not A Game”, “Scissor People”) to the more straightforward (“Easy Ryder,” “Crybaby”)…thanks Ty! I remember hearing “Scissor People” maybe the second or third time and really starting to “get” it. The riffs. The shuffling of sounds. Damn, I thought. Rumors have it that there will be more from the Ty Segall/White Fence collaboration. That’s awesome, because they got it right the first time.


3. Black Lips – Live @ Third Man – Black Lips do many things well. Their entire discography is filled to the brim with killer track after killer track, killer album after killer album, killer single after killer single. Yeah, they are the best band. Them doing a follow-up live record after the outrageously special Los Valientes Del Mundo Nuevo might only seem natural given their talent in front of crowds. Of course, this is a fantastic record. This one was without question recorded at Third Man (ya, you know what I’m talking about) and the dudes have the stage banter to prove it. They mix the real old with the real new and throw in some material from in between. While this doesn’t flow as nicely as Los, it sure as hell proves why Black Lips have had IT for more than a decade. Keep it simple stupid and let the rock and roll do the talking. Listening to  “Fad” and “Modern Art” in the same set is something that  I had long wanted (and luckily got to experience), but now with this LP – that can happen any time. Good stuff. Thanks Black Lips.


4. Ty Segall – Twins – Surprise, surprise! Twins is crazy good. Ty’s been on a tear since Melted, at least in the sense that people from semi-mainstream media outlets are in on the awesomeness as much as we little dudes have been in for a much longer time. But a great songwriter is a great songwriter and Ty’s been there for some time now. This one sounds better than all of ’em. While Melted absolutely shredded and was extremely catchy at the same time, this one furthers Segall’s sonic exploration and crunches everything together oh so nicely. Up until now, we never really got the “You’re The Doctor” side of Ty, at least not this great. The straight fuzz package in “Ghost” is like what “Melted” accomplishes but without the wait. Pure immediacy. For long time listeners, Twins satisfies, and for newcomers, it surely must have you wondering you’ve been missing out on. It’s all right.


5. Ty Segall Band – Slaughterhouse – I know, I’m obsessed with this dude’s music. With a musician like Ty, you can go from listening to Lemons to Slaughterhouse and just nod in appreciation at how much more he has added to his arsenal. He had been doing the straight up old time rock and roll thing for a while, but with each release leading up to this, it seems as though he kept adding more and more weapons. For Slaughterhouse, Ty and band blasted full into heavier territory, leaving behind the two minute song for lengthy fuzzed out solos and pounding rhythms. The result is a wild success. While the Hair collaboration was a short and sweet affair through-and-through, Slaughterhouse is likewise full o’ goodies, but it beats out that album by containing Ty’s best song yet, “Wave Goodbye.” If the chorus doesn’t do it for you (why wouldn’t it?), there’s the “oooh-ooooh-oooh” part and duh…that solo. There aren’t any duds on this one and if the faster and more sinister stuff is more up your alley, I could easily understand why you’d rank this higher.

Honorable Mention


The Hussy – Weed Seizure – The Hussy have been impressing me with their studio output for a good while now and you guessed it – Weed Seizure is the pinnacle of their greatness so far. What the Hussy does so well is very much like what the bands above do so well: present you with a real strong melody and never have you looking back. The Hussy take their love of the beloved Jay Reatard and Segall, but cut out the loose ends and recorded some mighty quick numbers that definitely stack right up to the aforementioned. The whole album is unforgettable and sticky: the interestingly titled back-to-back  tunes “FUDje” and “SFB” are highlights, right up there with opener “Undefined” and the primal “Dog Said Yeah”. The Hussy have been on a roll, touring relentlessly and releasing a whole lot of quality material…the prospects are looking great for ’em and all the best. They are a lesser known band that you oughta know…now!

CD Review, Music, reviews, Ty Segall

LP Review: “Twins” (Ty Segall)

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Release Date: 10-9-2012
Label: Drag City

Comments: There are a few ways to examine Twins, which amounts to be Ty Segall’s sixth solo album. One approach would be to first make note that this is the third musical project of 2012 that has the Ty Segall name slapped on it in some form. The other approach would ignore those releases and treat this as the follow-up to 2011’s Goodbye Bread. The former approach seems to work best with Twins. Without having Ty Segall Band’s Slaughterhouse in mind, I am pretty sure several people (whose last Ty listening experience is Goodbye Bread) would be confused with Twins – whoa, Ty became 90% incapacitating guitar riffs? Sure, Goodbye Bread featured some real jams – “You Make The Sun Fry,” “My Head Explodes,” to name two, and 2010’s Melted is full o’ fuzz, but the difference is that Twins does a significantly more noticeable attempt at getting to the heart of the song – fast and with little left to spare. Slaughterhouse did this exceptionally well and it does seem like Ty had some similar ideas in mind in the crafting of Twins. There’s that fuzz pedal and that guitar solo – which we heard about well before this release.

“Thank God For Sinners” is an an affirmation that Ty is going full throttle again. Then there’s the fastest song on the record, “You’re The Doctor,” with increasingly dynamite fuzz, layers of solo, and some drumming that must have reminded Ty of his old days pounding on the “Skin” recording. Fans of older Ty (which is weird to say given the man’s youth) might be even more receptive to “Inside Your Heart,” which has some piano, but some mid-song jamming that is just three words away from Slaughterhouse “Tell Me What’s Inside Your Heart.” The thing that I love about Ty is that he is not quite recycling old riffs and song structures – he is innovative. Like having Brigid Dawson sing on “The Hill” while a rampage is going on in the background. Twins poppiest moments at this point come on “Would You Be My Love.” The bass-line is killer and the general sludge that probably doesn’t only have me thinking Nirvana. Only on “Ghost” does Ty restrain himself from the kind of electric indulgence that is apparent on the previous five tracks. The result is mixed, but that is hardly a knock. “They Told Me Too” is the opposite sounding – Ty feasts himself on his effects pedals. “Love Fuzz” is another pop oriented tune – it would not be out of place before or after a Black Keys number on the radio. The fuzz comes in the form of a repetitive rhythm section, bolstering the onslaught of the lead near the end. I got to give a shout out to “Handglams” for going the extra distance. Ty had done a similar thing vocally/stylistically with “I Am With You” from Goodbye, but here he really cranks things up and departs from that nicey nicey entrance, adding some good stuff in there that we just haven’t really heard from the man. Acoustic guitar and no drums make up “Gold On The Shore” before Ty finishes things with “There Is No Tomorrow,” a mid-tempo closer.

With Twins, there is not as much cohesion in sound here as on Hair, Slaughterhouse, or maybe even any Ty release post-Lemons. Ty has reached new levels of sonic exploration, though, and it is abundantly clear that he can really do the heavy almost pseudo-metal stuff just as well as the slower tempo output. There are several tunes on Twins that are the most ‘this’ or the most ‘that’ in the grand scheme of Ty Segall. As I have expected on more than one occasion this year, I expect a broader crowd to be turned onto Ty.  It’s not like the stuff he did before 2012 did not lend itself to more ears, but his music is proving he is not a mere ‘garage wunderkind’ – which seems to be a pretty damn awesome thing to be in itself! It seems fairly fitting that NME [9 out of 10] and the like are giving their high praise – maybe they have not seen a dude like this since Alex Turner (who has name dropped Ty as someone whose stuff he is really into). But Turner can’t say he has released three fantastic albums in a seven month span. Nor can too many musicians at all.