Ty Segall never seems to stop; releasing album after album and now arrives, Deforming Lobes, a live capturing of him and the Freedom Band from a 2018 tour stop at the Teragram Ballroom in Los Angeles, California.
This January night saw Segall and crew (Mikal Cronin, Charles Moothart, Emmett Kelly, and Ben Boye) rev up a career spanning set heavy on fuzzy guitars and brutal beating drums. The live album is bookended by two expansive rockers as the opening “Warm Hands” is a huge lumbering beast of overloaded sound, tempo changes and Black Sabbath/stoner rock influences; a huge and awesome way to kick start the record.
Closer “Love Fuzz” is more experimental with screechy guitars, yelped vocals and Stooges swagger. Both tracks find the band in their element; running long, rumbling from station to station and spewing chaotic energy through the speakers.
In-between things stay frantic, loud, heavy and aggressive with the Nirvana-ish “Squealer”, the dirty rhythm filled “Breakfast Eggs” and the false-starting-before-raging riff-fest of “The Crawler” whose slamming drums propel the group with power. Mid-set fan favorite “Finger” feels Ween inspired while, “They Told Me Too” is a showcase for fretboard fireworks over rumbling beats. The groove gets amped for the expansive “Cherry Red” which is yet another stretched out jam allowing Segall and Kelly to duel with their axes as Cronin’s bass rolls along.
Deforming Lobes is a full on analog effort as it was originally captured on two-inch tape and then mixed by Steve Albini producing a raw punch in the earhole live album. While those new to Segall and crew should start off with more varied efforts (see last year’s excellent Freedom’s Goblin) fans will enjoy this slice of the prolific artist’s career because by the time you have read this he has probably already moved on to a completely different vein of musical inspiration.
