There's a moment here on the new Ty Segall album, First Taste, out on Friday on Drag City, where it seems as if Ty is blatantly referencing, or sampling, "The Battle of Evermore", from Led Zeppelin, and somehow it makes "I Sing Them" even better, and not simply a cut that's just in debt to past legends for its power. Segall can do that sort of thing over, and over, and over again and it works. Other artists can't. Segall just has a knack from drawing heavily from the old stuff, only to make tunes that feel nearly entirely new.
"Taste" roars and purrs, this time with a faint Krautrock undercurrent under the familiar sort of Ty riff, while "Whatever" is a neat mix of T. Rex and any number of Zeppelin album tracks. These first two cuts here on First Taste suggest that Ty Segall is not going to take too many chances here on this one, at least not chances that are huge stylistic ones. Elsewhere, "The Arms" is a bit lovely, while "The Fall" is a churning morass of AOR tropes. Which is another way of saying that it's wonderful. And while "When I Met my Parents (Part 3)" is trippy, equal parts ELO and Blue Cheer, the bright "Radio" is one of the best, clearest distillations of Segall's songwriting strengths we've heard in ages. And while "Self Esteem", like "Taste", suggests that Segall has been listening to some Stereolab, First Taste is overall more or less what you'd expect from a Ty Segall record. And while Ty doesn't break a lot of new ground here -- nor does he need to -- this long-player is reliably solid all the way to the end. If you're already on the same wavelength as Segall, First Taste is a great ride.
First Taste is out on Friday via Drag City.
More details on Ty Segall via his official website, or his official Facebook page.
[Photo: Denée Segall]