Ty Segall & Mikal Cronin: Reverse Shark Attack 2012

 

TY SEGALL

                              

Ty Garrett Segall (born June 8, 1987) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter and

record producer. He is best known for his solo career, during which he has released fifteen studio albums alongside various EPs, singles, and collaborative albums. Segall is also a member of the bands Fuzz, Broken Bat, the CIA, GØGGS, and Wasted Shirt. He is a former member of the Traditional Fools, Epsilons, Party Fowl, Sic Alps, and the Perverts.
                 

Working as a solo act and in a number of bands and side projects, Ty Segall has released dozens of albums that have helped to define and establish the parameters of garage punk for his generation. Not

content to stick to one specific style or sound, he's also ventured into hard rock, folk-rock, and heavy metal, used instruments ranging from synthesizers to xylophones, and made solo records played on acoustic guitars. No matter the sonic setting, Segall's strong melodic frameworks, creative restlessness, and the infectious intensity of his songs and performances are the constants in his ever-evolving discography.
              

MIKAL CRONIN

                  

Michael "Mikal" Patrick Cronin (born December 26, 1985) is an American musician and songwriter.

He has released four solo albums and several singles. Cronin was a member of the bands Okie Dokie, The Oh Sees, Epsilons, Party Fowl and Moonhearts, and is a regular and longtime member of Ty Segall's live band, contributing bass guitar, backing vocals and saxophone; he has also released an album and a single in collaboration with Segall. Cronin earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in music from California Institute of the Arts.
                 

Singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Mikal Cronin cut his musical teeth playing bass in garage punk bands and became a trusted and long-running member of Ty Segall's band; on his own he crafted

music that was garage rock-inspired while also leaning toward power pop with a bit of folk-rock added for good measure. After two albums that honed this sound into something hooky and sleek, he looked to classic rock for inspiration on 2015's MCIII, and by the time of 2019's slickly produced and intricately arranged Seeker, Cronin was making music that sounded huge and mature, with almost no garage rock in its DNA.  

                       

REVERSE SHARK ATTACK 2012

                       

Rust never sleeps and neither does Ty Segall. The Bay Area garage sensation has been known for his prolific nature, constantly releasing several albums a year under his own name, along with endless collaborative side projects and one-offs. Reverse Shark Attack originally materialized in 2009, a short

eight-song team-up between Segall and one of his longtime friends and co-musicians, Mikal Cronin. Though the album's brief running time is well under half an hour, it's a strangely arranged and distributed track listing. Six incredibly trashy garage rockers speed by in a matter of minutes, all drenched in fuzz with a malfunctioning analog delay unit going berserk on processed vocals. The sound is more that of a four-track in a practice space with all the knobs turned to ten than any subtleties of a recording studio.
                      

The songs are spontaneous, fiery, and fun. While nothing reaches the heights of inspiration of Segall's more widely known solo albums, unhinged tracks like "High School" and "Doctor Doctor" are enjoyable blasts of blown-out garage punk merriment. The album takes a strange turn near the end with a surprisingly precise cover of the early Pink Floyd track "Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk,"

followed by the ten-minute title track, a distorted collage of kitschy psyche, low-lit acoustic folk moments, and surfy noise. Reverse Shark Attack is a loose, carefree collection of insane sounds. You get the sense that it was a lot of fun to make and there probably weren't a lot of second takes or arguments in the studio about getting a perfect guitar tone. Equal parts tossed-off riffs and bizarre experimentation, the album sounds like two friends having a blast and letting us look in on the process.
(By Fred Thomas)
                       

Ty Segall & Mikal Cronin – Reverse Shark Attack
Label: In The Red Recordings – ITR229
Format: CD, Album
Country: US
Released: 2012
Genre: Rock
Style: Garage Rock
                                   

TRAXS

                

01. I Wear Black
02. Drop Dead Baby
03. High School
04. Ramona
05. Doctor Doctor
06. Bikini Babes
07. Take Up Thy Stethescope And Walk (Written-By – Pink Floyd)
08. Reverse Shark Attack

NOTES

Written-By – Mikal Cronin (tracks: 1 to 6, 8), Ty Segall (tracks: 1 to 6, 8)

Flac Size: 189 MB