Fungus II

Does Ty Segall ever take a day off? Does he ever sleep? The prolific garage-rock poster boy is back with yet another project, this time with Brian Chippendale, drummer of experimental/noise duo Lightning Bolt. Conceived over a few days last summer in the furnace of Segall’s studio, Fungus II is quite close to Lightning Bolt’s noisy delirium, but with that unique Segall touch. Without anyone going completely out of their comfort zone (his own zones, as far as Segall is concerned), an interesting mix is taking place here. Chippendale’s wild and crazy drums blend with Segall’s biting bass and guitars that verge on the out-of-control, with a few melodic lines popping up here and there in this loud, gooey lo-fi maelstrom. That said, if the duo’s more or less spontaneous experiments bust our ears, they don’t attack our minds seriously enough. A solid sound charge, yes (and a great cover!), but it seems a bit sloppy and approximate in the end.