A minute into "Finger," the opening track on Melted, the fourth solo record by Ty Segall, an amplifier obliterates the song's initial mellowness with an ungodly squeal, and an enormous wall of distortion swallows everything whole. In headphones, it's a tinnitus-tempting tidal surge - both ears are flooded with riotous noise, but one can detect, through and within the track's blown-out badassery, a concerted attention to production value.

Who says roaring garage rock can't also be immaculately engineered?

For the 23-year-old Orange County native, production is every bit as important as songwriting.

"Without one, you can't really have the other fully function," Segall says. "A good song could be great with great production, and production can be great with a great song."

Unlike the indie world's surplus of lo-fi wannabes, Segall's songs crackle and blister with intelligent design.

"It's not just about sounding fuzzy - it's about trying to use production in a cool way. Some bands nowadays use (lo-fi) as a crutch, to hide blemishes and stuff. I like to use it as a way to emphasize things."

This sonic savviness may be the key to Segall's continued success (apart, of course, from his uncanny ear for hooks and ability to emulate - and mutate - genres like surf, blues, punk and glam). Segall played in scores of bands during his youth, and continues to flex his multi-instrumental muscle for acts like the Perverts, the Sic Alps and the Fresh & Onlys. It didn't take long for Segall to hook up with Goner Records, the Memphis imprint renowned for hawking treasures by gnarly acts like the King Khan & BBQ Show and the late Jay Reatard. Segall's first LP for Goner, Lemons, was a skuzzy gem that handily garnered the wide audience it deserved.

In the year since Lemons dropped, Segall's already released six singles and two collaborative records. He left his surfboard in storage and hit the road both to promote his own material and with buddies' acts. And he did this all while completing a Media Studies major at the University of San Francisco. Segall's commitment to academics challenges the assumption that most musicians - especially the really loud, really raucous ones - don't care about school, or drop out before they're handed a diploma.

"The best part about college was this it forced me to grow up a bunch, socially, scholarly, all these different ways." Segall says, "I like who I am after college a lot more than who I was before college. And also my teachers were so cool. (They) let me (take time off from school to) tour, which was really, really cool." (Such are the perks of being a Media Studies major and an actual maker of media simultaneously.)

In their own way, Segall's patchwork bangers reflect and comment on the state of modern media - his songs are blunt and sometimes brutal, always evocative and steeped in nostalgia and referential flourishes. Mental footnotes materialize during the absorption of songs like "Sad Fuzz" (see Bolan, Marc), but Segall's music is perfectly enjoyable even without a vast knowledge of rock ‘n‘ roll‘s greatest and grubbiest. Early in his career, Segall focused on trying to capture a vintage Link Wray-esque sound, but has since moved on to a more expansive, post-modern mix-and-match approach.

"Now I'm not trying to evoke a specific time, but use certain sounds from different eras and put ‘em together in one thing. I love Beatles vocals, the slapback stuff, Neil Young drums (and) really fat bass."

Using an arsenal of esoteric and antique equipment ('40s radio mics, tape echo, genuine '60s gear), Segall doesn't just suggest nostalgic sounds, he recontextualizes them in jangly, but never jarring, ways.

On the subject of finding inspiration in the temperate climes and positive vibes of his home state (he sings about "My Sunshine" on Melted, and has described Lemons as a "beachy" and "summery" album), he says, "I wouldn't get so inspired if I didn't leave, and (then) come back. Specifically in SF, it's such a la-la land - everything's so perfect there. It's so liberal, it's so small, you know everyone there, everyone's friendly, the music scene is great. What's so cool for me is that I get to go on tour, and I come home and I really appreciate California."

Perhaps Segall's keen, inclusive musical attitude stems from a sense of perspective. If nothing else, he's a grounded, totally authentic dude.

"I think what's so inspiring is gaining perspectives on things," the young rocker muses.

Ty Segall

with Monotonix, Zargent, Dub Narcotic Selectah
Wednesday, Oct. 13, 9 p.m., $6
The Brotherhood Lounge, 119 Capitol Way N., Olympia
360.352.4153