Ty Segall @ Oxford Art Factory

Prolific songwriter Ty Segall has spent seven years churning out frenetic, lo-fi rock that sounds like an audible smoothie. It’s thick and there are flavours that you can’t always distinguish, but the end result is a satisfying blend of garage rock and whatever genre Segall is fixated on at the moment. This musical mixture is on full display as Segall pours his concoctions through a Death By Audio Fuzz War pedal into the Oxford Art Factory main room.

Opening band Ruined Fortune perform their set with all the enthusiasm of teenagers at a recital. The strains of noise-rock echo from the speakers as the group slinks offstage as innocuously as it arrived. Next up, Dead Farmers shout a grimy repertoire of barely audible lyrics over fuzzy guitar riffs. Occasionally a wailing guitar solo will ride the wave of sound and they crash their way through to an impressively vigorous finale.

Ty Segall walks on to check his gear and before anyone realises what’s happening he starts shredding his guitar while his group pounds away beside him. The crowd erupts in a frenzy and beers are hurled into the air as those at the front abandon their beverages in favour of the mosh pit. The chaos dies down and Segall seems genuinely appreciative. “It’s an honour to be here,” he says, and begins the languid psychedelic jam of ‘Finger’, a distorted tune from his 2010 album Melted.

Shifting between songs and genres, Segall’s charisma is captivating in a low-key sort of way. We journey through the full range of his albums with seemingly little curation, experiencing a fusion of sounds that are held together by the ubiquitous fuzz of the band. It is music to get lost in.

As the concert builds to a climax and the music becomes faster and heavier, the psychedelia is infused with surf rock riffs and the grunge is augmented with ’70s metal. Segall incites his audience to carry a crowd-surfer to high-five the sound guy, take a shot from the bar and return to the stage. Security is powerless to stop it. When the band plays ‘Caesar’ for its finale the crowd starts leaping from the barriers and the set is brought to a whirling, tumultuous close.