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Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Album / Upcoming Surf Party with the Traditional Fools

Posted by Kathy Fennessy on Tue, Jan 15, 2013 at 10:19 AM

In the Red

Traditional Fools
Traditional Fools
(In the Red)

Though Ty Segall records for Chicago's Drag City, So-Cal's In the Red is also getting into the Segall business—and with a musician so prolific, there's plenty of material to go around—with the reissue of two limited-edition recordings that originally appeared on smaller labels.

I wrote about Reverse Shark Attack, Segall's fine collaboration with Mikal Cronin, here. Traditional Fools, a trio with bassist Andrew Luttrell and drummer David Fox, were a more anarchic affair, and I'm sorry to say that their one-off album doesn't quite compare.

Unlike Shark Attack, Traditional Fools reveals more of a thrash influence. There are surf licks and garage covers—Redd Kross, Thee Headcoats, etc.—but everything is louder, faster, and sloppier. And the production is so lo-fi that the music and vocals struggle for supremacy. They've also included studio chatter such as, "I like that ending." In other words: it plays like a live record, which isn't a problem in and of itself. Not if the songs are there. Except they aren't.

In the Red
Naturally, Burger Records issued the cassette edition

Segall rarely lets me down, but I couldn't get into this (and I wasn't crazy about Slaughterhouse either). I'm glad In the Red reissued it, so I could get caught up, and completists should be pleased...but I've never been one of those.

After a few spins, it started to grow on me, as most organic matter tends to do—mold, kudzu, and the like—but this is still one of Segall's lesser efforts.