These San Francisco area artists probably don’t need to be introduced to you in any way. I mean TY SEGALL is pretty much heralded as THE garage rock pop hero going these days, and sure why not? With records out on GONER, IN THE RED, BURGER RECORDS, TROUBLE IN MIND, CASTLE FACE, and more recently DRAG CITY(to name only the more well known labels) dude clearly gets around and is lauded by many of the great garage rock taste makers of the now. WHITE FENCE(Tim Presley) is a side project but to me by far the best thing Mr. Presley is involved with(he’s also in the STRANGE BOYS and DARKER MY LOVE). He hasn’t been quite as prolific as Segall, but WHITE FENCE has put out a lot of music in the couple of years, all of a very high quality lo-fi take on psych-pop. We recently discussed WHITE FENCE’s latest records, and no doubt we’ll be talking about Segall’s upcoming releases as long as he continues to maintain his outrageous awesomeness. Segall operates at an insanely prolific clip. It’s really hard to fathom how he keeps up the flow of releases that he does, especially as the quality remains high. Maybe he just knows how to stay motivated and energized. Perhaps part of his secret is working on interesting projects and collaborating with other songwriters and musicians who can match his musical wallop. And thus we have arrived at HAIR, this new collaborative record from Segall and Presley. You know this thing is going to be a mad mixture of psych-pop and garage rock. You know that hooks will be flying as will the guitar solos. You know this is going to be awesome. And it is. No let down here my friends. The whole thing starts with “Time” which gets going with some chanting and guitar crunch before giving way to one of the sweetest little guitar riffs in recent memory. And off we are on an early 70s Neil Young trip through mellow rock country. The scenery that unfolds features laid back bass and drums and vocals. Guitar solos. Here’s a song to play your classic rock loving friends who think that the rock of today can’t hold a candle to that of yesteryear. The end of the song is a little odd with a big rock riff coming out of nowhere and heading straight back to where it came from, but I can deal. And the record proceeds thus, shades of psych-pop and garage rock and more mellow Neil rock. “Time” is the jam of the summer I would say, and this is probably summertime record supreme in my quarters. May wind up on year end lists too. Who knows? I would sincerely hope that this is not the only time these two pop smiths choose to work together. HAIR is out on DRAG CITY.
