Ty Segall: Melted

Label: Goner

Ty Segall is shaping up to be one of those fractured-genius sorta rockers, in the style of his buddy Johnny Dwyer (of the Oh Sees). After dropping a debut slice of garage-brilliance, Lemons, last year on the great Goner imprint of Memphis, he promptly released an equally good (vinyl-only) duo album with pal Mikal Cronin called Reverse Shark Attack, as well as a few seven-inches and at least one split-cassette. He's a regular Bert Campaneris of music formats. More important, he's also already got his second full-length effort for Goner, Melted, and it's an immediate candidate for album of the year. While it uses his familiar raw and reverby garage sound as a foundation, it's clear that Segall's ambitions are only bounded by the number of releases he can pump out. Lead-off track "Finger" begins softly before erupting into a slow, almost glammy march of menace. The following cut, "Caesar," practically skips along in comparison, using a flicked acoustic guitar and a wryly disaffected vocal to strangely recall early-70s Stones. All of Melted goes like this: expertly played garage-fuzz with Segall's awesome songwriting elevating every number out of style and into substance. Get to know this Bay Area kid, now! (James)