Ty Segall & The Muggers - “Live” “At” “The” “BBC”

January, 2016. The times: scary. Tomorrow: kiss it goodbye. This was the headspace for ‘Emotional Mugger’’s necksnapping sketch when it dropped that very month those ten fateful years ago. Off the back of 2014’s expansive ‘Manipulator’ and the months of touring that followed, Ty Segall was down to party with whatever extreme, flipped-
script scene came welling up through him. ‘Emotional Mugger’, its forked tongue stuffed in deep cheek, featuring eleven of the most rancid and monstrous cuts in the Segall catalogue, sequenced, as ever, with an almost mystic third eye / ear predilection for the
immaculate distribution of album gravity.

The fun didn’t stop there. Ty had played most of the parts on the album, excepting some key drop-ins from close associates, including Wand’s Cory Hanson and Evan Burrows, The Cairo Gang’s Emmett Kelly, Mikal Cronin and King Tuff himself, Kyle Thomas. The vibes were so right with this crew, he dubbed them The Muggers, stretched a rubber baby mask over his head (with extra space sliced out for his mouth to scream through), and they all hit the road a few weeks in front of the album, rolling over the US through the end of March, then heading to Europe for some more.

They were cutting thru the UK, four shows in five days, with just enough time for a Mark Riley session for the BBC. Fifty shows into it, The Muggers were in full-on road mode, their five-headed monstrosity fully backing Ty - who, for perhaps the only time in all his years of
touring, carried only a mic, to focus all his energy on singing. Here, he leads the charge, his pipes deeply tanned, but otherwise unfettered from their nightly regimen.

Hammering out a nineteen-minute slice of their regular show, he and The Muggers’ free spirits can be heard, with special weirdness coming whenever Cory, Emmett, Mikal and Kyle all chip in on backing vocals. The room feels like barely enough to contain all their shit as they smash through four choice ‘Emotional Mugger’ cuts and one ostensible finger-in-the-eye, their telescoped take-out of The Doors’ ‘L.A. Woman’.

Undeniably hot stuff. What took so long to get this out? Who knows, maybe the etching? That’s right, one side has all the music, the other side’s got a rendering of the babyman mask that’s haunted so many punters over long nights of the soul since then. Relive the trauma, and you’re sure to dig ‘“LIVE” “AT” “THE” “BBC”’.

Available to independent retailers on 12” vinyl with etched Side Two.

Tracklist:

Squealer
Breakfast Eggs
Emotional Mugger
Candy Sam
L.A. Woman