A new Ty Segall album is a thing to celebrate. Nobody else is making rock music with this much elemental ferocity, this much bulging craft, this much technical prowess, this much creative passion. Ty Segall’s not so keen on traditional measurements of success (money, fame, awards…), he’s just doing what comes naturally so if he’s not a household name already, that’s only because he has no interest in being one. Anyway, we’re long past the days when money, fame and awards are the measurements of anything that matters.

So luckily, between his own stuff and his many side projects, Segall seems to have couple new records out every year. Keeping those celebrations going for all us battlers, laying it down for the people who care about a fuzzy guitar riff over some bombastic percussion.

His latest is out now and it is a 19-track, 75-minute barnstormer called Freedom’s Goblin in which Ty lets loose on all his many whims. There’s a belting rocker about his dog named Fanny, some mid-tempo glam jams in My Lady’s On Fire and Alta, Despoiler of Cadaver is a funky chugger and there’s even a cover of the old disco number Every 1’s A Winner with some thumping percussion and slashing guitar. Mate, and we’re not even half way through the record with these particular choice cuts.

Although he lives in LA these days, Ty Segall’s very much of the San Francisco school of garage rock revivalism. All those bands that followed in the immaculate footsteps of John Dwyer and Thee Oh Sees, pretty much. That punk influenced throwback sound, with glammy hooks and surfy vibes. Perhaps a dash of metal and classic rock in there as well – definitely in Ty’s case. Guys like Mikal Cronin and Tim Presley, bands like Meatbodies and Wand. All very much of that same scene. And you can tell because they’re always playing together on each other’s stuff.

Thing is, Ty Segall may only recently have turned 30 but his back catalogue’s kinda daunting to the uninitiated. Freedom’s Goblin is his tenth album under his own name and that doesn’t include side projects like the Ty Segall Band, Fuzz or GØGGS. Or his duet albums with Mikal Cronin and White Fence. Plus a steady line of singles, a live album or two, his compilation of T-Rex covers, several EPs… he’s a busy lad, alright.

Then there’s the way in which he swings from sound to sound on different records seemingly at a whim. This new one picks up on all sorts, as did the grab bad that was last year’s self-titled effort (a “song album”, rather than a concept album, as he put it). But that’s a concept in itself, just as Manipulator was a glam-rock epic in the mould of a T-Rex thing, or Emotional Mugger was this psychotic crunch of a Beefheart-On-A-Bad-Trip thing. Slaughterhouse, released as Ty Segall Band, is a charging proto-metal effort while Twins is a slice of edgy grunge with slick-ass choruses throughout and Goodbye Bread indulges some more pop tendencies (pop as in Kinks/T-Rex/Beatles, rather than, you know, top 40).

Yes, that is a lot of information. A lot of songs to get through as well if you’ve never previously indulged in Ty Segall’s mastery. Good thing then that your friendly neighbourhood Wildcard happens to be something of a Segall Tragic.

You can read this as a blueprint for the newcomer or a top albums list for the intimately familiar and whatever lies in between. His five best albums, in my mind, as well as five more that I reckon are worth a listen to get the full vision of what Ty Segall does. Then, to finish this bad boy, ten individual tunes that are personal favourites of mine.

These are by no means the complete summation of what Segall and Friends have to offer. It doesn’t include his T-Rex tribute EPs, for example. Those two (collected in 2015 as a single reissue: Ty Rex) are completely awesome. Love those things. Neither of his self-titled albums are here either, although they’re both very good. But let’s not go crazy here, you’ll get to those ones in your own time.

THE ESSENTIALS

Manipulator (2014)

This is the real deal, the best Marc Bolan album since Marc Bolan died. It’s Ty Segall doing the glam rock thing over the course of a double album, resplendent with pulsating hooks and fiery energy. With so much space to work in, Ty gets to spread his wings yet he still manages to churn out banger after banger of rock and roll glory. There are shades of Ziggy Stardust, shades of 13th Elevators, even shades of Brian Wilson’s wilder side. Segall’s always ridden with his influences on his sleeve, never tried to hide them. Instead he celebrates them and revels in them, turning them into something fresh and exciting rather than rebelling against them.

Twins (2012)

This might be his most perfect album. Nothing too experimental here, just 12 wonderful tracks of hard rocking glory, beginning with the crunch of Thank God For The Sinners and ending with the weary drone of There Is No Tomorrow. In between you’ve got all sorts and it’d be rude to go singling tracks out when there isn’t a false step among them. Tweaks of punk and psych and glitter and doom. Kinda dark but also utterly irrepressible.

Slaughterhouse (2012)

It’s the bass riff on Wave Goodbye that gets me like nothing else. Mikal Cronin supplies that slice of magic before Emily Rose Epstein’s drums come thumping in with Ty and Charles Moothart’s guitars. This is the sixth track on the Ty Segall Band’s only album so far, featuring most of Ty’s touring band and allowing them all room to thrive. This one is heavy, this is some early Black Sabbath. There’s a Bo Diddley cover like you’ve never heard Bo Diddley done before. The opening track is called Death. It’s a headbanger.

Melted (2010)

This is where Ty started to branch out into trippy pop tunes, though he still embraces plenty of guitar fuzz. Even his seemingly throw-away tracks are injected with a swagger and heart that takes them beyond. Girlfriend and My Sunshine remain two of his classic tracks. It’s another short-running record that he crams his whole soul into and that immersion is always infectious. The psychedelic tinges play heavy, the riffs rock hard, the grooves stay steady. When the chorus drops on the opening track the speakers can barely contain it. From this point on he was an artist to be reckoned with.

Freedom’s Goblin (2018)

Yeah, mate. The new one. I dunno, I just reckon it’s one of the best things he’s ever done. His 2017 self-titled effort was also meant to be a representation of him in all his many hats but while that was a good album, this is a great one. He recorded this with different people in different places, embracing different sounds and ideas and somehow none of it feels out of place. I’ve already talked about a lot of it so just know that after more than an hour of marvel, he launches into 5ft Tall, one of his best ever rockers, before closing on a ten minute jam that evolves into an electric version of Sleeper which will melt your brain. This thing is 75 minutes long and as soon as it’s over you wanna hear it all over again.

DIGGING DEEPER

Lemons (2009)

One of his earliest releases, a modest record of less than 27 minutes but a proper indie thing that shows the dude in his nascent stages. The songs are simple, short and sharp. A bit more punk to the mix given that he’s working in some lo-fi boundaries and there’s not a song longer than three minutes. Lemons is a joy. Segall plays almost every instrument. You get a glimpse of how far he’s grown since here but you also get a glimpse of how natural his songwriting has always been. Some folks just have the gift.

Sleeper (2013)

One of the more conceptual ones, as Segall sculpts a largely acoustic affair with catchy tunes and sweet, dreamy grooves. Even on his conceptual stuff he rarely follows through on a theme as consistently as he does here, channelling some of that late-60s folkish rock and proving in the process what we already knew which is that his songs stand up without the distorted accoutrements. Not that Sleeper doesn’t find a psychedelic line either. Plus it’s a great spotlight for his voice, that wonderfully Bolan/Davies-esque whine of his.

Fuzz II (2015)

Fuzz is one of his side projects, formed to go deep on a kinda Sabbath/Deep Purple/Hawkwind early hard rock sound, which features Charlie Moothart and Roland Cosio as well as Segall embracing his first instrument: the drums. The first record was a solid recreation of that but the second, with Chad Ubovich added to the team, really got at something of its own. It was a collaborative effort which seemed to teem with druid menace. She’s a shredder, this one.

Emotional Mugger (2016)

Call it tech punk, maybe. This is as in-depth as Ty Segall gets. For Emotional Muggers, he renamed his band Ty Segall and the Muggers and toured wearing a terrifying baby mask and calling himself Sloppo. He threw lollies into the crowd on talkshow appearances. There was a short film. Super method. And the album itself lived up to the show, channelling a 21st century paranoia about an infantile culture appeased with instant gratification into an abrasive set of stomping songs. Definitely an album that’s been divisive but either way it shows Ty at his most experimental.

$INGLE$ 1 & 2 (2012)

A few of his albums play like top notch compilations, these two really are compilations. The first collects his many non-LP tracks from the years 2007-2010 and the other picks up where that one left off until 2013. They work better when played on shuffle but you get a full taster of some of his weirder and wilder impulses. Plus, of course, a few badass covers of the likes of The Gories, Velvet Underground and GG Allin. Don’t expect carefully cultivated material here, Segall’s notoriously (and wonderfully) prolific. Here’s his muse at its most unhinged.

TEN TUNES

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