1. Ty Segall - Melted (2010)
And we've made it to Numero Uno reigning as the King of Garage - Ty Segall. Were you surprised? Although he has released a handful of great records over the past three years under pseudonyms Ty Segall Band, Ty Segall + White Fence, and the most recent FUZZ, he does his best work when he's on his own.
Melted is Segall's fourth release and I have to include that it trumps 2011's Goodbye Bread, 2012's Twins and 2013's Sleeper, which really, is too acoustic and deep to befriend bratty Garage Rock on the playground this time. Though I might say that Segall's self-titled is one of my favourites, it was released in 2008 and cannot be included on the list (sad panda). Melted rides the wave of noised out fuzz, comes in plenty with garage-hooks and buckets of distortion. Segall's dedication to the genre is supported on so many levels by his 'no rules' attitude, yet Melted ticks off every item on the checklist of the Garage Rock aesthetic. Best of all, it shows a great amount of growth from his releases Horn The Unicorn and Lemons. Executing some of his best hits to date, Melted is packed full of chunky guitar solos, wailing vocals, restless reverb and dirty drums. Chugging along to a sauntering start, 'Bees' suffices for one of the top songs on the album at it's midway hook, entering into a splashy little yellow toned riff followed by "I'm on drugs, Lemmy from Motorhead gave them to me!" Quality. Dance-happy 'Girlfriend' is typical of Segall's motif while the album reaches for a more well-produced feeling than his self-titled, and still keeps itself raw in the clamour of title track 'Melted.' As I say, any Ty Segall album will help you get your kicks off, but this one keeps in tune with what I can say is the best of the best. This resurgence of Garage Rock over the last few years has kept many wide-eyed punks and psych poppers grounded. If you monitor the margins, Garage and all of its left-field offspring have started to make a name for themselves in the mainstream world - well, the bigger blogs and magazines that still matter. They'll still remain 'underground' in this writer's opinion, but thankfully they are being praised for their talent in some way or another. Let the good times roll Garage Rock, you've got a friend in me.