Imagine it’s a characteristically mundane morning around the house in a typical Chicago suburb. You’re enjoying your morning cup of coffee, maybe nibbling on a bagel or the like, and casually taking in the local WGN Morning News. You step away momentarily to check the mail or what have you, and when you return, you see a band of oddly dressed misfits fronted by a lead singer in a sinister baby mask crawling around, belly dancing, and manically screaming “Chicago! Chicago! Chicago!” over some twisted feedback-laden distortion played at a very high volume. If you were a fan of Ty Segall and The Muggers, it was no doubt the best morning ever (such was the case for this writer) but imagine being a part of the bemused masses that had no idea WTF was going on during this batshit performance (the lead anchor’s reaction is priceless, and really says it all).
Alas, this was the brilliantly menacing beauty of Ty Segall during his Emotional Mugger era, which captured Ty at the most creative, outlandish, and compelling period of his career. Whether it’s his best album is debatable (it would get my vote), but whatever the case, hard to argue it wasn’t his weirdest, as evidenced by this delightfully deranged performance.
