Fuzz band – 7th Level Music

Review: Fuzz – III

Just in time to shake you out of your COVID-19 self-isolation funk, Fuzz (Charles Moothart, Ty Segall, and Chad Ubovich) are back with III – an album to make you look inward and shake you out of the trappings of everything outward.

“There is no greater sum than one,” Segall sings on opener “Returning” amid wild drum fills and enough, yes, guitar and bass fuzz to fill up an arena. A running theme throughout III is how unity often produces things greater than the individual can produce. Not that individual effort is worthless. Far from it. Sometimes individuals joined in a common cause (rock, in Fuzz‘s case) combine their powers for the greater good.

The funky and skronky “Nothing People” calls out rich elitists (“Nothing People have enough to eat, but they ain’t worth a dollar.”) with garage-metal swing. “Spit” has a bit of a Queens of the Stone Age feel to it with its strip club rhythm and gritty guitar. “Time Collapse” rolls along at a smoky pace and then drops doom metal riffs and lyrics (“Claim your throne in the black.”/ “You are forgotten by the one. After the light is gone, you are always alone. Your blood the only sun.”) on you.

“Mirror” calls out squares (“Freaks are breeding love in the gutter with another, burn the ceiling of house you live in with your mother.”) and slaps them with hyper-speed guitars and heavy drum fills. “Close Your Eyes” encourages us to let go of our illusions of there always being something better just over the next hill when we often have paradise in front of us. Segall sings, “You might think I’m crazy, and I don’t blame you, living like I don’t care. I just want you to come with me and see there’s nothing out there.” as the song drops into a sweet groove near the end.

“Blind to the Vines” starts off with space-rock guitars and then switches gears to almost southern-fried rock with its riffs. “End Returning” takes us down a rabbit hole that bores through psych and doom rock for almost eight minutes. It’s a trippy way to end a heavy record, but good psych and doom makes you do that (and the song doesn’t skimp on some punk madness either).

III is another solid record from Fuzz that shows three men operating at the height of their powers for one cause – to shred your speakers and awaken us out of our funks.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Pitch Perfect PR.]

FUZZ unleash new single, “Spit,” from upcoming album.

FUZZ, the raw power trio comprised of Los Angeles-based Ty Segall (drums, vocals), Charles Moothart (guitar, vocals), and Chad Ubovich (bass, vocals), will release their new album and first in five years, III, on October 23rd via In The Red. Today, FUZZ release a new single, “Spit,” and its mind-bending stop motion video. Following lead single “Returning,” an auditory meditation on the power of one and the different perspectives of one, “Spit” is fierce with buzzing guitar licks and pummeling percussion. Its video, made by Moothart, reflects this intensity, with nightmarish characters spun from wire and trippy collages.

“‘Spit’ was written early in the process of working on III. When Ty and I first started working on this song, we didn’t know if it was even going to be a FUZZ song or not,” says Moothart. “We wanted to make a song that felt straight forward, but had a subtle tweak that over time gets more obvious. The verse riff almost feels like you’re falling asleep at the wheel then the chorus opens up with a melodic, but sharp riff that adds to the punch-drunk feeling of the verse.”

Moothart elaborates on the video: “I started doing stop motion as a quarantine experiment. I wanted to make experimental animation that I could try to make sound design for, and I ended up just making a FUZZ video. It was an extremely fun project to take on in this time. It was especially fun to open up for feedback and ask for direction so that I had to challenge myself to complete something that felt cohesive. I was honored when it became more clear that I had actually created something that the band wanted to stand behind from an aesthetic standpoint.”

Watch FUZZ’s Video for “Spit”

The follow-up to 2015’s II, “an impressive double album made for headbanging and the cultivation of bad vibes” (NPR Music), III keeps the focus on the live sounds of the band. It was recorded and mixed at United Recording under the sonic lordship of Steve Albini, with minimal use of overdubs and studio tricks. Albini’s mastery in capturing sound gave FUZZ the ability to focus entirely on the playing while knowing the natural sounds would land. It takes the essential ingredients of “guitar based music” and “rock and roll power trio” and puts them right out on the chopping block. It was a much more honest approach for FUZZ — three humans getting primitive, staying primitive.

A pyramid of sonic destruction and psychic creation, all shades of color, truth and lies. III is the pillar of unity and singularity. Log out, drop thought, turn up.
Listen to “Returning”

Pre-order III

FUZZ Tour Dates:
Thu. Dec. 3 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom
Fri. Dec. 4 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom
Sat. Dec. 5 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom
Fri. Jan. 22 – Sat. Jan. 23 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
Mon. Jan. 25 – Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
Tue. Jan. 26 – Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre
Wed. Jan. 27 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune Theatre
Fri. Jan. 29 – Sacramento, CA @ Harlow’s
Sat. Jan. 30 – Felton, CA @ Felton Music Hall
Thu. Feb. 4 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
Fri. Feb. 5 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
Sat. Feb. 6 – Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall
Sun. Feb. 7 – Montreal, QC @ La Tulipe
Mon. Feb. 8 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
Wed. Feb. 10 – New York, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
Thu. Feb. 11 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
Fri. Feb. 12 – Baltimore, MD @ OttoBar
Sat. Feb. 13 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
Sun. Feb. 14 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre
Sat. March 13 – Istanbul, TR @ Zorlu Art Center
Tue. March 16 – Nimes, FR @ Paloma
Wed. March 17 – Barcelona, ES @ Upload
Thu. March 18 – Madrid, ES @ BUT
Sat. March 20 – Bilbao, ES @ Santana 27
Mon. March 22 – Biarritz, FR @ Atabal
Wed. March 24 – Paris, FR @ Trabendo
Thu. March 25 – Lille, FR @ Aeronef
Fri. March 26 – Köln, DE @ Gebaude 9
Sat. March 27 – Berlin, DE @ Columbian Theater
Tue. March 30 – Manchester, UK @ Gorilla
Wed. March 31 – London, UK @ Electric Ballroom

Keep your mind open.

[Head on over to the subscription box while you’re here.]

[Thanks to Jim at Pitch Perfect PR.]

FUZZ are “Returning” with new single.

FUZZ, the raw power trio comprised of Los Angeles-based Ty Segall (drums, vocals), Charles Moothart (guitar, vocals), and Chad Ubovich (bass, vocals), announce their first album in five years, III, out October 23rd on In The Red Recordings. It’s the follow-up to 2015’s II, “an impressive double album made for headbanging and the cultivation of bad vibes” (NPR Music). In conjunction with today’s announcement, the band present III’s lead single, “Returning.”

III was recorded and mixed at United Recording under the sonic lordship of Steve Albini. Keeping the focus on the live sounds of the band, the use of overdubs and studio tricks were kept to a minimum. Albini’s mastery in capturing sound gave FUZZ the ability to focus entirely on the playing while knowing the natural sounds would land. It takes the essential ingredients of “guitar based music” and “rock and roll power trio” and puts them right out on the chopping block. It was a much more honest approach for FUZZ — three humans getting primitive, staying primitive. The goal was never to reinvent the wheel. Sometimes it’s just about seeing how long you can hold on before you’re thrown off.

Album opener “Returning” serves as a sort of mission statement for the album. It’s an auditory meditation on the power of one and the different perspectives of one, whether it is the singular person looking inward, or a group of people coming together as a single unit. Not only is it an echo of the return of FUZZ, but also a broader return to form – raw and empowered through vulnerability.

A pyramid of sonic destruction and psychic creation, all shades of color, truth and lies. III is the pillar of unity and singularity. Log out, drop thought, turn up.
Listen to FUZZ’s “Returning”

Pre-order III

III Tracklist
1. Returning
2. Nothing People
3. Spit
4. Time Collapse
5. Mirror
6. Close Your Eyes
7. Blind to Vines
8. End Returning

FUZZ Tour Dates:
Thu. Dec. 3 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom
Fri. Dec. 4 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom
Sat. Dec. 5 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom
Fri. Jan. 22 – Sat. Jan. 23 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
Mon. Jan. 25 – Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
Tue. Jan. 26 – Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre
Wed. Jan. 27 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune Theatre
Fri. Jan. 29 – Sacramento, CA @ Harlow’s
Sat. Jan. 30 – Felton, CA @ Felton Music Hall
Thu. Feb. 4 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
Fri. Feb. 5 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
Sat. Feb. 6 – Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall
Sun. Feb. 7 – Montreal, QC @ La Tulipe
Mon. Feb. 8 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
Wed. Feb. 10 – New York, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
Thu. Feb. 11 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
Fri. Feb. 12 – Baltimore, MD @ OttoBar
Sat. Feb. 13 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
Sun. Feb. 14 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre
Sat. March 13 – Istanbul, TR @ Zorlu Art Center
Tue. March 16 – Nimes, FR @ Paloma
Wed. March 17 – Barcelona, ES @ Upload
Thu. March 18 – Madrid, ES @ BUT
Sat. March 20 – Bilbao, ES @ Santana 27
Mon. March 22 – Biarritz, FR @ Atabal
Wed. March 24 – Paris, FR @ Trabendo
Thu. March 25 – Lille, FR @ Aeronef
Fri. March 26 – Köln, DE @ Gebaude 9
Sat. March 27 – Berlin, DE @ Columbian Theater
Tue. March 30 – Manchester, UK @ Gorilla
Wed. March 31 – London, UK @ Electric Ballroom

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jessica at Pitch Perfect PR.]