FUZZ Carefully Conjure Cacophony on 'III'

BY Safiya HopfePublished Oct 20, 2020

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Ty Segall's hard rock project FUZZ are back with their first album since 2015. Produced by Steve Albini, III is an anthemic exclamation of self-assuredness. Each song tackles sovereignty from a different angle, amplifying the message with searing guitar solos and Segall's incendiary drumming.

From the get-go, III is raw — the minimalistic production allows sharp edges to sing, and the album feels like it could be a live recording. "Returning" kicks things off with an explosive storm of drums and larger-than-life riffs. "Spit," which rattles rhythmically as though on the verge of falling apart, is followed by "Time Collapse," a meditation on wholeness in isolation that disintegrates into melodic chaos. On "Nothing People," we hear "I'm not telling you how to sing, I'm gonna do my thing," and that is exactly what the trio does for all eight tracks of the record. The result is playful, but never loses focus.

III is fuzzy, fast-paced and ferocious in all of the ways we would expect from FUZZ. Ty Segall, Charles Moothart, and Chad Ubovich have carefully conjured cacophony once again, in what might be at once their most spontaneous and their most down-to-earth record to date.
(In The Red)

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