• Reviews

• All
• Music
• DVDs
• Live
• Cinema
• TV
• Books
• Comic Books
• Video Games

Oct 03, 2013 FUZZ By J. Pace

Here’s a toast to Tony McPhee. It seems like “Raise” on FUZZ’s self-titled debut could be an unabashed tribute to McPhee’s group The Groundhogs, one of those old-guy bands that some fangeezer will insist you give a chance—listen to them if you haven’t already; they’re right. Or listen to Ty Segall here—he of the almost-inhuman productivity stats, cranking out yet another project/album. This one features Segall behind the drum kit and on vocals, and it happens to be named after the world’s admittedly greatest thing, the fuzz pedal—bless every last model of those things ever made, from the Fuzz Tone to the Fuzz Face to the Big Muff to the FZ-5 and everything in between; from the most primitive circuit to the most VCR-circuit-board-like monstrosity. Self-oscillating, perhaps? An octave up? A pure square wave exploding an amplifier? We’re digressing, yes, but so are Segall and crew here, fully indulging in the fuzz end of the spectrum, and fully realizing/manifesting those hints of proto-metal/hard rock that showed themselves on

Slaughterhouse in all their vintage chromatic glory. FUZZ go all in here, surrendering to the riff, lacing it with Segall’s trademark snotty, echo-cloaked vocals (that somehow always scream vintage Pink Floyd), driving it home with sufficient grace and respect for the proto-metal fangeezer elders keen to kick these kids off their lawn. Thing is, they just can’t bring themselves do it. Maybe it’s the drum solo on “Loose Sutures” giving way to a rambunctious wah-filter attack, or perhaps it’s the big riffing of “Earthen Gate,” which sounds precisely how a song with that title should. Maybe it’s just the pentatonic shredding, wicked vibrato, and riffs-for-days fingers of guitarist Charlie Moothart. No. No, one finally concludes—it’s that furry space demon/angel/Neverending Story monster gracing the head-damaged Camaro-driving Vincent Van Gogh album art. It flat-out reeks of authenticity, and if you don’t know what authenticity smells like, it’s only because FUZZ is still holding in the smoke. (www.intheredrecords.com)

Author rating: 7/10