he dont miss: Tame Impala
Hello! Welcome to a new series that I'm calling "He Don't Miss" where I review every album in an artist's discography that I believe have little to no misses. Todays artist is psych-rock/psych-pop band Tame Impala or rather Kevin Parker as he is the only member of the band that actually writes and records songs. Tame Impala has been hugely popular in the past decade propelling Kevin Parker to work with some of the biggest names and collect some of the highest-profile fans in the music industry. Kevin Parker has worked with Kanye West and Travis Scott (on Violent Crimes and Skeletons respectively), been shouted out by Tyler The Creator on multiple occasions, had one of his songs covered by Rihanna, headlined one of the biggest music festivals in the world in Coachella in 2019, was nominated for several Emmys, and most importantly: has become the favorite band of everyone's most pretentious friend. You don't become of the most popular bands in the world if your catalog is filled with misses. Now lets jump right into it; this review will consist of the 4 full studio albums. I will not review the 2 early EPs, the live albums, or the B-sides because that's a lot of work and I'm waaaaaay too lazy to write out more 5-6 more reviews. Anyway, lets get started!
InnerSpeaker
InnerSpeaker is the 2010 debut album for Kevin Parker and Tame Impala. Coming out of the Australian phych-rock scene this album is dripping with heavy guitar and reverb just like other bands coming out of that scene such as King Gizzard & The Lizzard Wizard, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets (yes that's their actual name), and Tame Impala's sister band Pond. It's got a pretty solid sound but is kind of mired in the tropes of the music scene it's coming out of. I still like the album its got some great tracks like Lucidity, It Is Not Meant To Be, Alter Ego, and my personal favorite Expectations. Also unrelated but pretty neat A$AP Rocky sampled Why Won't You Make Up Your Mind on his song Sundress. This album is a very solid begening with lush and vivid phych rock atmosphere that kind of act like a road map for where he goes next. Overall 8/10
Lonerism
Lonerism is a very good album. The follow up to InnerSpeaker improves and expands on it in almost everyway. It blends the best bits of the psych-rock on InnerSpeaker with a spacy and synthy lens that gives it this layered dense sound. One area of Lonerism that really sticks out is the druming. The drums are mixed extreamly cleanly in a way that cuts through the muddy and dense guitar and synths that hits just right. This album is the really the first album that puts Kevin Parker on a global stage. The two leading singles for the album, Elephant and It Feels Like We Only Go Backwards both charted in the United States and many other countrys. Lonerism while still being a psych rock record is so much more than that. The songs sound like the day dreams of a man struggeling and board with his day to day life like on the track Music To Walk Home By or the opening track Be Above It. There is also quite about of instramential varriations on these songs as Kevin drifts away from the guitar in favor of synths or the piano on songs like Why Won't They Talk To Me?, Keep On Lying, and my favorite song off the album: Apocalypse Dreams. Fun Fact: this was written and developed when Kevin was in France living and recording music for his at the time girlfriends project, Melody's Echo Chamber, which is something you can abosutly hear. This album is the perfect blend of dreamy spacy song writing with just the right amount of psych rock edge and a crisp clean sound. Overall 10/10 go listen to it right now
Currents
If you've heard of Tame Impala before now theres a good chance that you know about Currents. The 2015 album marks a major shift in the sound already previewed a little bit in Lonerism. While Lonerism is a psych rock album with bits of dream pop and psych rock incroporated Currents is a full blown psych pop. This marks Kevin parks shift away from using the guitar as the primary driver of the songs. The focus is now on the synth which is appernt from the first song Let It Happen. A near 8 minute BANGER of an opener that sets the mood for the rest of the album. The crisps drums are back and boy do they sound great. This album also has the most popular Tame Impala song by a long shot with The Less I Know The Better. The contrast on this album is exellent too. For every fast song theres a slower more mellow song like 'Cause I'm A Man. There's not a lot to say about this album other than it's a masterpiece with some of the best song writing of the decade. Some of my favorite songs are The Moment, Love/Paranoia, the three songs previously, and the closer New Person Same Old Mistakes, which if you'll recall was covered almost unchanged by Rihianna. Overall 10/10 great record. issa classic.
Kevin Parker plays a show. I don't know how he keeps his hair out of his face when he preforms.
The Slow Rush
After the abosulte smash that was Currents you'd think Kevin Parker would want to follow it up as soon as possible. YOUD BE WRONG BECAUSE IT TOOK 5 YEARS FOR THIS TO DROP! It's not really fair to complain about the realase time because we could have gotten nothing as the album was almost lost to the california wild fires a couple years back so at this point I'm greatful we even got something. As for the actual music itself it sees Kevin Parker trying to expand into dream pop but unfortunately it kinds sounds like he make Currents 2. It yeilds some good results but overall its still pretty cluttered and unorganized despite being in the works for 5 years. Still though it some great moments like on Instant Destiny and Breath Deeper which do the best job at capturing the Currents vibe with there psychedelic dreamy sounds. The album really finds its own sound on tracks like Posthumous Forgiveness and Lost In Yesterday as they are the most well writen songs on the album by MILES. Posthumous Forgiveness in perticular is exeptional with its lyrics and story of Kevin coming to terms with his late father. Other favorites from this album include Borderline, Tomorrows Dust, Is It True, and the closer One More Hour. This album is pretty good and has some neat sounds with some songs even giving off a strong disco vibe. I'm not saying it's a disco album by Borderline deffiently has some disco influence. These sounds arn't really ground breaking or new like the past 2 album but still a good listen non the less. Overall 8/10 solid.
InnerSpeaker: 8/10
Currents: 10/10
The Slow Rush: 8/10
Average: 9/10
Verdict: HE DONT MISS
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