TY SEGALL: SLAUGHTERHOUSE

GENRE | DO YOU LIKE GUITARS?!?!
VERDICT | I HOPE YOU SAID “YES”!!!
LABEL | IN THE RED
RELEASE | 6.26.12
TY-SEGALL.COM 

“This is fucking great! So is the Ty Segall Band,” the press release for their debut record Slaughterhouse states, an apt description for a band whose M.O. is to do everything in exclamation points. While the album clocks in at under 30 minutes (not counting the noisy, wordless 10-minute closer “Fuzz War”),

the songs are fast, furious and on the verge of self-immolation.

The absence of dynamic shifts in a few tracks can make the album occasionally feel one-noted, but that’s (mostly) counterbalanced by their infectious energy and clever twists on old rock and blues tropes.

“Tell Me What’s Inside Your Heart” has the band taking a classic-sounding rock chord progression and injecting it with just the right amount of snarling dissonance, while on “Diddy Wah Diddy”, a Bo Diddley cover and album highlight, they coat the original blues riff and lyrics in so much sweat and blood that it’s rendered nearly unrecognizable.

“Alright, here we go! Extra fast,” Segall instructs his cohorts, neatly encapsulating the band’s attitude:

if all else fails, don’t ever slow down.

Photo by Dimitri Kouri // Ty Segall at NXNE 2011