Tame Impala - The Modern Psych
Hi. Hey. Hello. Tame. Impala. I feel like I say it all the time over at Vibez about how much I adore the Australian singer multi-instrumentalist indie psychedelic pop rock synth neo-electronic modern icon, Tame Impala, a.k.a. Kevin Parker. The very artist that made me genuine and sincerely fell in love with music; it was one morning. I fell asleep in my kitchen, head on the kitchen counter, headphones on, crying myself after getting rejected hard in front of the whole school, playing my go-to depressive music, when my phone paused on this song, “The Less I Know the Better”, I don’t recognize it, I was idiotic and naive and young, I don’t know the song, just skip it, and everything changed, everything was as if in slow motion, as my thumb slowly motion towards the skip button on my music app’s UI, when I accidentally pressed “play” and my life was altered forever. This song was what I NEEDED and not only did it drive me to realize the power of music, how it doesn’t take us out of our current reality, yet rather look within, how music is the sound of our emotions, and yet it pushed me to really dive into the artists I love: Michael Jackson, Queen, among so many others, instead of having a playlist of the songs I adored from the radio drives and actually diving into a discography and it wasn’t just this song, it was then “Let It Happen” and then the original “Borderline” dropping on my birthday, April 12th, that everything had changed and before I realized, I had listened to everything Tame Impala had produced, and it came, Valentine’s Day, a holiday I was so confused about, a holiday that seems impossible to celebrate without a partner and my ugly ass never having someone to share anything with, listening to the newest record, “The Slow Rush” and falling hard for it, the way I would think someone would fall for another lovingly, and it turning this holiday I disliked, to becoming my second favorite holiday ever that I hold close...because nothing beats Halloween, and now, I’m just trying to live my life, to be a Tame Impala. Alright enough poeticism, yes, I clearly fuckin’ love Tame Impala, what is Tame Impala? The hell even is that a Tame and an Impala hold on. Huh. You learn something new every day. Yah, I love this band, or should I say, one man band, musically, Kevin Parker connected with me and matured me into who I am today, enough yap, you know what this is, the Tame Impala retrospective, let’s just start it.
Tame Impala (Kevin Parker)
HISTORY
Kevin Parker from Australia, a young teen who jammed out with his friend, Dominic Simper, the only fellow dude who felt the same about music the way he did. They bonded over their love of the psychedelic, of the 70s and 80s, and eventually they banded, The Dee Dee Dums, that name is fire, along with their pal, Luke Epstein. Kevin started moving around, filling in for another band, The Electric Blue Acid Dogs, front by Nick Allbrook, Pond. The Dee Dee Dums would get into a competition, a “Battle of the Bands”, who remembers those? And after some time, Tame Impala was born in 2007, a year after my sorry ass arrived, posting songs Kevin made himself in his home onto Myspace, DOES ANYONE REMEMBER THAT?!? And like all music, he would get noticed from all the labels and would get signed in July 2008, and the rest is history.
Self-Titled EP
TAME IMPALA
After signing with Modular Records, he released his debut EP, a self-title, only he didn’t get to mix it, instead Dave Fridmann of The Flaming Lips handled it all, and the play was successful. So, uh, I got very confused in my research, ya see, the first EP record (yes, I’m counting EPs and Singles because this is a mini-retrospective, different rules, anywho) is called “Tame Impala” and uh...erm...well...THERE’S TWO RECORDS CALLED “TAME IMPALA” and one is just that title, whilst the other is “Tame Impala Hits” and the release on Spotify and such has the tracklists all mixed up, and the “Hits” one which is basically the first record before the one just called “Tame Impala” is the ‘first one’ and yet it’s just 3 remixes of songs released on the radio that are then properly released on the EP just called “Tame Impala”, so I said fuck it, I listened to “Tame Impala” first before the ‘real’ debut of Tame Impala in “Tame Impala Hits” and yah, whatever, that’s what I did, just needed that clarification out of the way. Anyhow, the “Hits” album is boring, just giving my sincere criticism, it’s just remixes and I fell asleep...OKAY NOW, TAME IMPALA, is surprisingly very ambitious and great, for a batch of debut songs from a then up-and-coming Parker, it’s great. It’s not perfect, the mixing, dynamics are very muddled when it comes to Parker’s vocals that are great and echo-y, yet I can barely hear him half the time, yet besides those criticisms, this is truly a fantastic lookback at the core foundation for what comes afterwards, every track is generally really good and despite the amateur nature, I feel it adds to it, it’s very pure young psychedelic rock at its finest, and truly has passionate, playfulness, and the right vibe to it, it feels like Tame Impala at its core and is a great setup overall, each song is generally great, and all feel different and I feel the 3 out of 6 songs that kick this off are great, and then the last 3 have the hidden identity that is Tame Impala forming when you listen to it, and overall, as a brief overlook, I think, maybe it doesn’t fully hold up today, there’s no better way to see how things truly got started for Parker than in this debut EP that really makes a statement in the talent this man has and it’s very inspiring to look into it, and to see what’s to happen afterwards.
Sundown Syndrome (Single)
SUNDOWN SYNDROME
After the release of “Tame Impala”, the EP was successful, making many billboard records and the band at the time (Kevin Parker, Nick Allbrook, Jay Watson, Dominic Simper) going on tour with support of You Am I, The Black Keys, Yeasayer, and MGMT, and in 2009, a six-date “Skeleton Tour” (One of the tracks from Tame Impala) national headline tour and five-date UK tour. They also made an appearance on Australian radio station Triple J’s “Top 100” list in 2008 with “Half Full Glass of Wine” and a Hottest 100 compilation album listing. The band would go on to produce their debut single, “Sundown Syndrome”, with recording engineer, Liam Watson, down in the UK. This is a fantastic single and something I was looking forward to for a while, “Remember Me” is a stellar track that I really liked, and the remix for Syndrome is...ok..., yet the star of the show “Sundown Syndrome” is incredible and one of the first few songs I checked out when I was delving into the Impala, it’s just such a fun track, it gives me “Clint Eastwood” (Gorillaz) vibes of “This is who we are” in terms of how I see as this the definitive introductory song from Parker. The lyricism is memorable, the arrangement, dynamics, and production are more airtight than from the EP, it’s such a perfect summertime and psychedelic adventure in its sound and writing, it feels so youthful and not so innocent, it’s just so good man. The song was released and premiered on Triple J, as the band headlined “Rottofest” in 09, a festival off the coast of Australia, and “Remember Me” hitting No. 78 on Triple J’s Hottest 100 of the year, and now some of the songs being used in film and TV, and with all the publicity, we get into their debut LP.
Innerspeaker
Innerspeaker
I think this record is on its own level. Innerspeaker is the debut long-play of Tame Impala, and it truly is a marvel in its sound and ambition. Just after one single and one EP, already Parker has the spark. This record is just a full-on 53-minute trip down a rabbit hole of psychedelic psychosis memory-bending brain-dampening reality-altering drug-exposing fuckery and I love it, every song has its own feel, groove, and tone, and yet the entire track listing blends well together to make for one cohesive album, it’s as if every song is a pit stop that makes us fall further down the “Innerspeaker” in which I entitle “the human mind.” It’s so well played and the production is truly perfected onwards from Sundown Syndrome to this as it feels truly timeless and yet like a time capsule of 2010 effortlessly, the vocals that are Kevin Parker’s is really his own and adds such a ghostly echo-y John Lennon yet more hollow (in a good way) kind of voice that soothes you into the rush of madness that is this trip down to foreverness, and yet the songwriting in its lyricism is raw and lays out real human heartbreak and emotion, despite the incredible arrangement, melodies, and sound overall being so alien and warping in its nature that is addictive, sentimental, and most of all, engaging in its immersive attitude. “It Is Not Meant to Be” is such a dope opener that instantly as it goes “play”, traps your mind into a state of capture, with the straightforward delivery about this man’s reception that this woman and him are not meant to be, to a perfect placement of “Desire Be Desire Go” from the EP, “Alter Ego” which may just be my favorite song off the LP, its fast and steady melody and structure, with the explosive and subtle tone, and existential self-reflective writing, to the charm of “Lucidity” that makes me feel like I’m in a cartoon, flying upwards to the sky and having a fun jolly time only for the bubble to burst and fall the way down in its guitar crash out, “Why Won’t You Make Up Your Mind” being one of the more mellow songs with a much more harsh depressive energy that is so echoing in all of its sound, and the title itself saying it all as to why that is, “Solitude Is Bliss” being such a carefree song that indulges in the peace that is to be alone and the harshness that is the reality of never being alone crashing back in, “Jeremy’s Storm” being what I think is the best song overall in the LP that is just a 5 minutes and 30 second non-stop chase that builds and builds and builds and gets more crazy and crazy and insane as it keeps going and going, and then “Expectation” giving us a breather from that song to be a much more jam-heavy rock session that is so pleasing, “The Bold Arrow of Time” feeling like a song that fits in perfectly with Peaky Blinders, “Runaway Houses City Clouds” being 2 Jeremy 2 Storm: The Sequel in equal madness and mind busting, and then the closer “I Don’t Really Mind” being honestly the only real weak track, as a closer, not being as strong, and yet still this record is just incredible, in summary, just a perfect ambitious self-contained batch of cohesive, experimental, and an experience of psychedelic rock from such an awesome band. After the release of Innerspeaker, it received critical acclaim and was even recorded at the famous Wave House, which Kevin would go ahead and purchase, and after some more touring, which I must note, Innerspeaker was the album where Kevin decided that the project that is Tame Impala would be his fully dedicated solo work, as he would record and produce all of the music on his own, and the rest of the band (including him) would be there to perform them live, and Innerspeaker would go on to win Aussie “Album of the Year” from Triple J, and in an interview, revealing the next album was near completion.
Lonerism
Lonerism
Lonerism would release in October 2012, and all done by Parker, with some assistances from Jay Watson, with a theme of loneliness and more pop elements, and must I say, got to be one of the best album covers ever, it just perfectly emulates the feeling that is isolation, a photograph of everyday society, happy people on a happy day, only from the perspective of someone seeing it through bars, indicating the photo is from the perspective of someone separate from all of that, true loneliness, the angle, saturation, and everything about is truly art. I truly adore this album and think it’s almost close to a masterpiece, it really elevates and does something different with the musical sound of Parker and bringing it to a whole new level with neo-pop edge integrated, it feels so much like Innerspeaker, and yet also nothing like it at the same time. “Be Above It” is a very solid opener, the chorus is repetitious and works with Parker’s direct vocal rhythm, and it’s a nice tune to kick off what’s to come into “Endors Toi”, which is just a neo-psychedelic musical marathon of interdimensional sound, the production quality on this record really ramped itself up with more confidence, being way more wacky and abstract and bizarre and I love it so much, and “Apocalypse Dreams” would only go on to further that advancement feeling like a 5-minute drug trip that is on par with the concepts of InnerSpeaker only instead of it being a trip down to the inner-soul, it’s a trip STRAIGHT DOWN TO HELL and I love it, at first, a fun and lovely ride, until the carpet from under gets ripped right from under and down into the pits of an apocalyptic natatorium, and then “Mind Mischief” which I’ll be honestly is a track I jelled with, but never truly messed with until this listen, its first half feeling like a perfectly sound capture of a mundane ordinance with the chord progression and then naturally evolving into a trip to space and the outer sanctums of the galaxy in its mesmerizing mind-melting goodness, “Music To Walk Home By” being such a cheery walk down to street track that even Jake Gyllenhaal would dance off to in its central position to be very pop-heavy and the authentic rock style and heavy bashing of drums to present it, “Why Won’t They Talk To Me?” being such a downer of an incredible piece that feels so opposite and parallels “Music To Walk Home By” by being such a sadder walk on the street, the kind of song you would play like if it were the soundtrack to your life and the song instead enhances your involvement in reality by realizing just how lonely you are, and “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards” enhancing that feeling only in a less downer and more introspective edge of a realization in the moments where you focus on and acknowledge the broader sense of humanity, and it’s such a banger of a song that is truly a top of the discography. “Keep On Lying” is much more stripped back and like a Sunday morning lying down to the sun, as the world around you continue to evolve and you just lie there in place frozen, “Elephant” being the perfect badass entering the bar, looking tough, and going to kick someone’s ass, both envisioned for a man or woman, it’s the most rock-based track, regardless of the psychedelic or pop additions, it’s such a fun power mood track that truly is effective. “She Just Won’t Believe Me” is...a nice interlude, the sound is good, and it’s just a chorus, just very brief. “Nothing That Has Happened So Far Has Been Anything We Could Control” is such a confident, I would say moment in the record where after all the thinking and pitiful isolation, it’s the gripping of reality and firm stance of the album, the track where you’re not bitter to anyone or yourself for that matter, just a song where your reliving your place in the universe and that parallels the sound frame, it’s such a high-energy and yet perfectly stripped together neo anthem in its mixing, progression, and overall composition to be so powerful that it could easily end the album there, and thus we get “Sun’s Coming Up” instead as a very...I would say...solid, closer in the first half that is just Parker singing out his blissful realizations and acceptance of the isolation to a decent piano play, only to be hit with the second half that is just a pure synth-rock string vibration echoing out into a seeming environment, as if we are entering a new sphere. It’s such an incredible that spotlights all its grandeur elements and then knows when to fuse them into one epic rush of energy and sentimentality, and all the tracks are at most incredible or highly listenable, and after its release, it reached Platinum status in Australia, wins album of the year once again from Triple J, and even wins it from the Rolling Stone Awards and even got itself a Grammy nomination. And after all the praise, we got what may just be...their greatest work yet.
Currents
Currents
Parker was focused on many other musical projects after the release of Lonerism, talking about how there’s more to music than just “the next album” and being so inspired by the evolving technologies of the music world, until eventually it him on the ideas he wanted it for the next record, discussing it further in a Triple J interview. He was inspired by a Fleetwood Mac song, wanting the next LP to be a more streamlined project, and after an announcement, concerts, and subtle social media teasing and single releases, we got the third Tame Impala record in 2015 with Currents. I love this album, it’s a 10/10, a masterpiece, and an album I can re-visit anytime. This re-listen hit differently though as the album no longer felt like I was listening to an album, but rather...it just has become one with me, I think this is just a downright experience on another spiritual level and takes everything that Parker has created and elevated and converging into a perfect piece of music. “Let It Happen”, do I really have to say why this track is like a top 10 album opener of all TIME, like COME ON, it’s a 7-minute non-stop sound brain-altering reality-warping psychedelic falling of the sky slow building up and reverbed middle into a climatic soul-ascending musically anthem marathon telethon impala-a-thon taming-a-thon explosion of pure pop rock psychedelic ghostly echo vocal guitar riff so hard that it makes anyone cu—ear-bashing head-bashing perfectly in-tune melody that just makes you go on a dopamine sugar rush of spiritual madness that you’ll be alive and it will ascend you straight to heaven kind of a massacre-level insaneo maniaco crazyacko wacko yacko AND FUCKING DOT. “Nangs” is a nice smaller track to give us a breather after the rush that was “Let It Happen”. It’s got a nice mix and overall short complex enough tone to make it effective as intended. “The Moment” is such an underrated track, honestly it and the next two tracks are so like perfect as a mini trilogy of back-to-back standouts across the LP, but “The Moment” kicks off like a fun modern beach party slowed down kind of track in its bassline, tone, and overall progression and once that good chorus kicks in, it then transforms into almost a sense of dread in the higher mix and empowering melody to make it a pop hit. “Yes, I’m Changing” generally breaks my heart because it’s a more slow, steady timed down track that allows Parker to take centerstage, with the writing really headlining it in just its simplistically sad lyricism and still somehow he knows how to perfect time it down, slow it down, and yet the track still moves forward and is great in its composition, whilst allowing for a very introspective sadness to sit in, and that final section truly hits, feels like someone watch another he let go move on as they look back with glee. “Eventually” is such a goated song I re-visit every time I think of this record, it’s just such a unique ride, it’s so BRASH, and then it’s a calm warping tone and nice vocals and focused drums AND THEN BRASH ans thrn back to warp, vocals, and drums AND THEN BRASH and then it slows down and spotlights Kevin and the man is just singing, and then that final section is SO PERFECT, just UGHHHHHHHHHHHH. “Gossip” is a nice interlude, even bare bones, Tame Impala still got it. And then...we get “The Less I Know the Better”, without this, I wouldn’t be making this today. It was the perfect song I needed after I dealt with similar events in my own personal life that the song talks about, heartbreak and how you struggle with processing it, the lyricism is perfect, the rhythm, the chord progression, the composition, the melody, the tone, the dynamics, mixing, production, bass, guitars, vocals, drums, synths, pop flavor style, the structure, the emotions, THE ENDING CHORUS, it’s just a masterpiece. “Past Life” is a very solid bass-heavy high-dynamic ear and head-bashing track and I adore its simplicity and pure sound mega waves that truly hit, “Disciples” is probably the best of the shorter tracks among the list in its first half being a fun almost retro-sounding yearning and then the second half being the sound-on filter-removed clear and cut pop celebration jam. “Cause I’m A Man” is a track I thought was solid, but overtime and now especially with this re-listen, it stands out, it’s such a similar vibe to “Let It Happen” only more sexual and evocative in its nature and soul-bouncing in its melody. “Reality in Motion” I believe is the weakest song amongst the LP, I adore this one brief section where the music dials down and he says some raw shit, the rest of the track is of course great, just doesn’t bring much to the table for itself. “Love/Paranoia” may just be my personal favorite take away from the album, the best way I take it is it’s like those cheesy old school boy band love apology breakup songs that used to be a thing, but the “Tame Impala Edition” and unlike those tracks, this is sincere, compelling, and most of all...kind of beautiful, if I was a girl and a guy made a song like this for me, I’d be astonished in the best way, it’s so pure. And then of course, we have the closer, “New Person, Same Old Mistakes”...the top 3 of this album are Let It Happen, The Less I Know the Better, AND THIS, this is such a fantastic closing as it perfectly wraps up the album lyrically in its theme of love and reflection, whilst musically feeling like a perfect evolution of all the tones set up across every track and is an ethereal experience in of itself that is just amazing and pure and...it’s Currents, guys, you know the album is great and the rest of the world knew it too.
The Slow Rush
The Slow Rush
After the massive acclaim of Currents, Tame Impala was moving on up in the world, having a third appearance at Coachella, and as a headliner, and once again, he would tease a new album, with the release of “Patience” which ended up not being on the album, but for quick thoughts, I really like the song. In the time between Currents and The Slow Rush, he would involve himself in the wider world of music like appearing on Saturday Night Live to perform “Patience” and a new song, “Borderline” (which is on the album). He helped produced a track with many rappers “Skeletons” for Travis Scott’s “Astroworld”, teaming up with electronic artist ZHU for the single “My Life”, a collaboration single with rapper Theophilus London for “Theo Impala”, playing bass for Travis Scott on Saturday Night Live, and a concert at Desert Daze. After revealing the new record, The Slow Rush and dropping more singles, the 2020s were here, and Parker would get his much deserved praise with Josh Terry of Vice magazine entitling Tame Impala as “Artist of the Decade” of the 2010s and Triple J voting “The Less I Know the Better” as number 1 on their “Hottest 100 of the Decade” list, and finally after such a period of acclaim and musical collaborations, we would get...The Slow Rush. I remember, it was Valentine’s Day, a holiday I generally disliked growing up, out of jealousy? Lust? Yearning? Nah, cause it just seemed impossible to celebrate it without a romantic partner which is something I personally don’t desire, and yet it was the day that my goat was dropping a new album in years, first time in my life I looked forward to a new album dropping, since as I’ve said many times before, I never delved into music albums like that, and I remember the pure boredom and loneliness I felt that day, school ended, pretty solid day with friends, I went home, put my headphones on, and pressed play...and Valentine’s Day became my second favorite holiday...sorry, nothing’s beating Halloween. Parker goes for a more disco electronic push to the established psychedelic rock roots in this album, and I was all over it, my two favorite genres: electronic and rock. My two favorite subgenres: psychedelia and electronica. All blended together into...my personal favorite album of Parker’s discography, HOT TAKE, I LOVED IT WHEN IT DROPPED, AND I LOVE IT EVEN MORE. “One More Year” is a great opener that establishes the sound, production, writing, and overall soundscape of the record and what it’s going to explore also thematically, the idea of one more year of...life? Authenticity? Identity? It’s such a perfect ball of disco pop smooth progression rock bongo Jungo trippy sleekness into such a jam of a track. “Instant Destiny” gets more embracive, collective, and pop-heavy in its wavy composition, sphere-sounding melody and overall catchy groove tone, and the vocals are just so good, which I don’t think I’ve mentioned...Kevin Parker’s vocals are so perfect across all his work, to me, he’s not an Opera singer, he’s a real human who has an imperfect human voice and I feel he utilizes that to add to his music by portraying it as heavenly, echo-y, and spiritual and I love it so much and therefore it makes his vocal delivery in all his work perfect. “Borderline” which I believe to be the standout song that everyone adores from this album, and yah it’s great, the original single and the album version are different, and I do prefer the original, yet this version is also fantastic and adds more disco-electro elements and I love it heavenly, the chorus IS SO GOOD, the timing, the beat, the synths, the drums, and the delivery, IT’S JUST SUCH A PERFECT 10/10 song, easily top 3 of all his songs, I CAN SING IT ANYTIME OF THE WEEK, IT’S SO GOOD. “Posthumous Forgiveness” is a great song in its first half, a hypnotic trip of nonsensical brain matter madness...yet it's the final section that makes this my favorite off the LP, it’s a sincere heartfelt delivery from Kevin about his dad who passed away in 2009, and it just...gets me every time, I don’t have to explain it, just hear it, feel it. “Breathe Deeper” is another pop hit classic, I MEAN COME ON SING IT WITH ME, it’s such a Jambo jam keyboard bongo sunlight-driven FUNK man, it’s so CRUNCHY. “Tomorrow’s Dust” is the ultimate walk down the park high on drugs hippie psychedelia vibes, it’s just such a perfect song, I can hear this song playing over a retro-style 90s computer-edited flashy video or cartoon drawn by drug addicts on a Sunday morning by some 1970s-inspired joyriders. “On Track” is such a pure feelgood track, it’s so inspiring and the keys, the bass, the waves, and the pops, it’s just such a positive track, I fucking adore it. “Lost in Yesterday” is fun...a nice sort of looping track that progressively changes and the writing is quite fun, “Is It True” is another pop-coded track and it’s such a blast of kinetic energy and beating synths, “It Might Be Time” is such an amateur (in a good way) rock-focused head-basher that warps itself as it goes along, a lot of fun. “Glimmer” is an underrated, it’s such a dance-pop club disco-core track, I love its sublime clean colorful light melody, I adore it. “One More Hour” is the closer and I think fantastic, a perfect mirror to the opener and a track on the same level as Currents’ closer, it’s almost like an opera version of what Parker could do, it’s this great extended outro that once again takes all the elements built up across the album and lets it all out into a playful melody and progression of rock-pop-disco fusion madness that is such a high note to go out on and its final fleeing moments is such a beautifully reflective, sentimental, and positive closure of personal examination, so good, man, so good, I will defend this album forever.
Deadbeat
Deadbeat
After The Slow Rush, Parker would continue his endeavors from making an appearance on The Weeknd’s After Hours, winning trophies for the album, collaborating with The Wiggles...the Wiggles? Releasing a B-Side addition, making a track with DIANA ROSS for...The Minions Movie...yah, ok...and then a collaboration with GORILLAZ, OH MY GOD, I LOVE “NEW GOLD”, MY 2 GOATS MADE A SONG TOGETHER, YESSSSS. He honestly kept it up for a while, it’d be ages until a potential fifth album since he made a track for the soundtrack of a Dungeons & Dragons movie, collaborated with Thundercat, made a track for the Barbie film, collaborated with Justice not once but TWICE, co-wrote and produced Dua Lipa’s album Radical Optimism, he even performed with her, Sony Music purchased his entire catalogue, and after touring with Dua Lipa, he announced a fifth album was on the way after SUCH A LONG TIME, BRO HAS BEEN BUSY, and after dropping some singles and previewing songs at raves, the fifth album, Deadbeat, would release in October 2025...to POLARIZING REVIEWS AND I have yet to listen to it out of fear, cause this is my goat and I fear to listen to him not being best, fear of being biased and lying to myself for liking the record, and fear of being sincere and actually loving the album and being caught in a drive by for that opinion. So... The day has come, after re-listening to his legendary catalogue that has a big place in my heart and all the noise about this new record is not good...it’s time for me to listen to...Deadbeat. Now I have listened to it...what do I think? It’s...good. I don’t see the dislike, is it the weakest album? Yah. Is it still good? Yah. It’s not fantastic compared to the other records, yet it still’s good, solid even, I think what I love most about this record is that...it doesn’t feel Tame Impala at all, but yet...it feels so Kevin Parker, and is that not what Tame Impala is? Kevin Parker? The sound is completely different from any other project; it’s just a pure electronic dance LP that still has that psychedelia we all love. I was worried pressing play...but dude, “My Old Ways” is such a BANGER. I WAS LIKE, WAIT, HOLD UP, MAYBE PEOPLE ARE DUMB, THIS SONG IS SO DELICIOUS UGHHHH I LOVE IT, THE GROOVE, THE SYNTHS, THE DELIVERY, THE PAZZAS, THE AURA, THE CHARISMA, THE MELODY, THE BEAT, THE TONE, THE SHAKES, EVERYTHING, UGHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Also, that piano intro is so peak. “No Reply” grows on me, it’s very odd and bizarre in sound and I adore it, it’s a nice short outlash of sound, and that outro is beautiful. “Dracula” I’ve already listened to a million times before and I’m going to listen to a million times more, it’s such a fun Halloween-based tune that is so right in the mix, “Loser” is a track that has really grown on me, it’s probably the most rock-heavy track amongst the album, it’s such a nice mellow-heavy introspection-based song, “Oblivion” is a nice and sweet electronic pop almost akin to something Gorillaz would produce, it’s the first track I would say that proves to me this record is really the perfect setlist for rave-style songs and I think he excels in that direction. “Not My World” feels like...ok, so have you ever played the Roblox game, Flood Escape 2? Now that sounds like a diss, but...I say that as a compliment, THAT GAME HAS A BANGER SOUNDTRACK FOR NO REASON...anyhow this feels like a song that would play in one of the levels and I adore it. The next four tracks...didn’t really grab me, this album isn’t perfect, and I really enjoy the distinction and endeavors to bring something new, yet these next four don’t hit me personally but could grow on me. “Piece of Heaven” is an okay sort of heavenly synth-keyboard outcry, and that final section being brought back in from “No Reply” with further additions saves it for me, “Obsolete” sounds like a 2000s throwback in its wavy hop display, this song is begging to be sampled in an early 2000s hip hop track, “Ethereal Connection” is a full-blown EDM lights flashing out concert madness craze of a track and I like it, and “See You On Monday (You’re Lost)” has some charisma I adore it, yet...it feels confused in its direction and composition, it has good moments, yet leaves me, odd. “Afterthoughts” IS A 10/10, OH MY GOD, THIS SONG IS SO UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, IT’S JUST SO GOOD, I’VE BEEN DANCING TO IT FOR LIKE A FULL WEEK NOW, IT’S SO UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. If the last few tracks were Parker testing and experimenting with his dance abilities...then the last four built up to this being so perfect and I LOVE IT SO MUCH. And then we have “End of Summer”, the closer, which was the first single off the record which was a bold move and to be honest when I first listened to it...it didn’t hit, I thought it was kind of mediocre, and yet I remained hopeful...but after listening to the whole album and leading to this...IT’S GROWN ON ME, it fits so much better in the context of the record and feels like a natural evolution of everything before, it’s still “solid”, just now enjoyable for me, and though his weakest closer, I’ve grown to like it and I feel this how the album is going to be taken in retrospect...that people may dislike it now...but they’ll grow to adore it, the same way it happened for Currents and The Slow Rush, it’s not perfect, and as of now, his weakest in the catalogue, yet I really like it and can tell I will love it one day, as it feels so “not TAME IMPALA” and yet so “KEVIN PARKER” and I will always respect any artist of any kind to do something different and make what they want and be passionate, does it always result in the best work? Of course not, but for someone like me who goes into things unbiased despite my glaze and truly sees the passion where it is, regardless of my honest criticism, I will always cherish sincere passion than the soulless material, and this is anything...but soulless and therefore...I like it a lot.
Currents Artwork
Conclusion
Tame. Impala. Kevin Parker. My thoughts on his discography, and it reminded me why I love this artist so much, and this dude’s passion and talents and how he not only made me fall for music the same way the legends and other underrated goats made me feel it was how in all of his music, he created a place for loners like us, like him in his uprising, to reflect and look within and live in our minds and escape the world for abit, but for him to show that being independent is “okay” and even lovely, but to not stay trapped there, and to go explore the beauty of the human world as an independent awesome person and I can now confidently say...I’ve finally reached there and I hope you have, too. Tame Impala, a pure contradiction, the definition of dullness compared to a graceful antelope, the dullness of the real world and learning to be a graceful human who sees the beauty in it. It’s been Sonny and so long, farewell, and goodbye.
