Live: Ty Segall & The Freedom Band @ Gagarin 205 (Athens, June 16th, 2018)

The last stop of Ty Segall's latest European tour took place in Athens, four years since his last appearance here.

Four years is certainly a lot of time, even more so if you take into consideration Segall's unstoppable work rate, and it seems that the combination of the good word of mouth regarding his two previous gigs here in combination with his strong recording output all this time, has increased the number of his Greek fans who almost filled Gagarin 205, the largest venue he has played so far in Athens.

It was clear from the start that Ty Segall and his band, dubbed The Freedom Band, were determined to raise the noise levels to the red and drive their psych rock sound to the limit, playing each song with conviction and brutal force. The loudness of the band proved to be a challenge for the venue's overloaded speakers, but the passion of the performance helped us to overlook the sound problems and enjoy the band's powerful performance.

Ty Segall's latest album, the excellent "Freedom's Goblin", provided several of the gig's highlights, including the Hot Chocolate cover "Every 1's a Winner", the melodic "My Lady's on Fire" and, above all, the seismic rendition of "She" that led the encore to its climax. Of course, over the nearly 90 minutes of the performance we had the chance to enjoy several older favorites like "Candy Sam" or a sped up version of "Caesar" from the 2010 album "Melted" which you can check out below. 

Without a doubt Ty Segall & The Freedom Band provided a great opening of the summer 2018 live season in Athens despite the uncharacteristically rainy weather of this weekend.

The night opened with performances by two local acts, The Bonnie Nettles who we unfortunately missed, and Chickn who presented us songs from their new album "Wowsers!", proving to be a good warm up for the rock 'n' roll extravaganza that we were about to witness.

Chickn, live @ Gagarin 205 (June 16, 2018)

Ty Segall & The Freedom Band - My Lady's On Fire, live @ Gagarin 205 (June 16, 2018)

Ty Segall & The Freedom Band - Ceasar, live @ Gagarin 205 (June 16, 2018)

New Releases: May 2018

Round-up of the most interesting albums, singles and EP's released in May 2018:

Albums

COURTNEY BARNETT - Tell Me How You Really Feel
PARQUET COURTS - Wide Awake!
BEACH HOUSE - 7
STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS - Sparkle Hard
ELEANOR FRIEDBERGER - Rebound
ARCTIC MONKEYS - Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino
ICEAGE - Beyondless
WOODEN SHJIPS - V.
BELLY - Dove
LIZ PHAIR - Girly-Sound To Guyville
DAMIEN JURADO - The Horizon Just Laughed
RYLEY WALKER - Deafman Glance
WUSSY - What Heaven Is Like
WAX CHATTELS - Wax Chattels
PINKSHINYULTRABLAST - Miserable Miracles
TT - LoveLaws
ASH - Islands
GAZ COOMBES - World’s Strongest Man
CHVRCHES - Love Is Dead
PUSHA-T - Daytona
JON HOPKINS - Singularity
THE SEA AND CAKE - Any Day
MARK KOZELEK - Mark Kozelek
CARLA BOZULICH - Quieter
QUIET SLANG - Everything Matters But No One Is Listening
PEACE - Kindness Is The New Rock And Roll
THE MAGIC NUMBERS - Outsiders
TRACYANNE AND DANNY - Tracyanne and Danny
HOLLY GOLIGHTLY AND THE BROKEOFFS - Clippety Clop
LUKE HAINES - I Sometimes Dream Of Glue
AIDAN MOFFAT AND RM HUBBERT - Here Lies The Body
FRANK TURNER - Be More Kind
BLACK MOTH SUPER RAINBOW - Panic Blooms
LA LUZ - Floating Features
JOHNNY JEWEL - Themes for Television
RAY LAMONTAGNE - Part of the Light
MODERN STUDIES - Welcome Strangers
WAX IDOLS - Happy Ending
L.T.D. - Louder Than Death
HALF MAN HALF BISCUIT - No-One Cares About Your Creative Hub So Get Your Fuckin’ Hedge Cut

Singles & EPs

GOAT - Let it Burn
BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE - Hold That Thought
TESS PARKS AND ANTON NEWCOMBE - Right On EP
JENNY HVAL - The Long Sleep EP
THE LOVELY EGGS - Big Sea
KATIE VON SCHLEICHER - Glad To Be Here
JAMES - Better Than That EP
DOSE - Furniture
YE NUNS - I Don’t Want To Do This Again / Don’t Worry
THE HOMESICK - Gucci Gucci / The Best Part Of Being Young Is Falling In Love With Jesus

Goat – Let It Burn