Tame Impala - Lonerism

fridmann has destroyed this record

Well I don't think it sounds like the Beatles actually. I like to think it's the recording of jam sessions Lennon did with some members of pink Floyd, during late night/early morning LSD marathons, between the end of 66 and mid 67 !

the sound is too clean and modern to be recorded at 67

imo the swirling rhythmic stuff they do really elevates what in any other context might be a boring set of songs

really into this record anyway

Yah I like that there is almost an Escher-like approach to songwriting. I may be wrong about that though.

I’m really digging this at the moment. I ordered the vinyl yesterday so I’ll be giving it more time soon. I’m kinda surprised because I remember listening to a bit of their debut and not enjoying it at all, finding it too saccharine I think. I’m sure this one isn’t much different in terms of its palate but I chucked it on in the background last week while doing some chores and found myself stopping a few times being wow-ed. Usually I’m on the fence when it comes to anything Dave Fridmann produces (with a few notable exceptions) and this does bear many of his signature sounds but it seems to work here. I just hope it’s not one of these flash in the pan albums that I listen to obsessively for a week then never touch again.

Is it me or the vocals are too low in the mix ? sometimes you can barely hear them (and most of the times I have absolutely no idea what he's saying !)

it's part of the charm i think.
great record.

yeah, it's good and it's not a big problem but I think it would have been better if the vocals had been mixed a tiny bit higher. for instance, in the "elephant" remix above, the vocals are clearer and it makes me like the song more than the original !

it's retromania, but fuck this is really good.

just bought this. 2nd "indie" album I've bought in 15 years!

anyone have any opinions on the Melody's Echo Chamber album, which I guess was produced by Parker...?

Re-listening to it on headphones to prepare for their show tomorrow in Chicago. The album did take me a few weeks to get into, but I dig it. I was worried about Fridmann's heavy-handed clipped drum sound, but I think he was relatively restrained and did not do the same old thing. The Amazing with members of Dungen are opening.

The drum sound is a major reason why it caught my attention. Flaming Lips are one of the few other post 2000 rock acts I've liked. Most "modern" rock I've heard put aside heavy drums and bass, god only knows why.

anyone have any opinions on the Melody's Echo Chamber album,

it's vastly better than tame impala

Hmm, sounds like a must hear then, considering how much I love the Tame Impala.

love this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wycjnCCgUes

yeah that's great

MEC = cross between Tame Impala and Lush to my ears, w maybe hints of Best Coast in there, but I haven't listened to it all the way through yet or anything. I don't think you'd hate it jvc to be honest

Tweet from Michael Azzerad: "I've been going to rock concerts for 40 years, and last night's Tame Impala show was the first time I've ever seen applause for a drum solo."

so far, I find MEC a bit meh.
there's tame impala's production and all the arrangements and tricks but it's a bit... shallow. I don't really like the voice and no song has grabbed me yet.
maybe it will grow...

I do like the voice, so maybe that's part of the reason

after several spinning:
Nothing That Has Happened So Far Has Been Anything We Could Control
and
Be Above It
are the best songs on the record imo

regarding MEC : I don't particularly like her voice, I don't particularly like the songs... and I hate the kids/french/silly stuffs (the lyrics in french are unbearable) !

as for Lonerism, "nothing that has happened" is great (but the instrumental jam is a bit long), also "apocalypse" and "keep on lying"... and of course, "feels".

arew Tame Impala and The Scientists the most popular indie acts that came out of Perth?

Bon Scott grew up in Freo iirc

in other words, probably

The Waifs are from Perth. If they still exist, I think they may be more popular than Tame Impala.

"The Waifs are from Perth"

not according to this thing called "the internet"

Eh, they come from Albany, which is a few hundred miles south of Perth, which in Australian terms, particularly western Australian terms, might as well be Perth.

Suburbs of Perth!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/Western_Australia_location_map.svg/270px-Western_Australia_location_map.svg.png

lol
i surrender..

john butler is from freo, which is almost perth

i understand your in chicago, but not from chicago?(maybe australia?!)
xpost

I totally think almost Perth should count. Even my Australian relatives have never been to Perth.

I keep hearing about these people and mentally filing them with Beach House under 'bands who I never need to actually hear a note from.'

Which I realize is unfair but the NME No. 1 album of the year list isn't HELPING, you see.

lol. I probably should give the new Beach House a spin now that you mention it.

I've only had this one for two weeks and I can safely say it's one of the best records I've heard this year.

Maybe it helps you get interested, Ned, or... maybe it does exactly the opposite but one of the first things I heard from them is their cover of Blueboy's 'Remember Me' (which in turn samples Marlena Shaw's Woman of the Ghetto). They sound way fuzzier and trippier nowadays but it's as good an introduction as any other:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27RYzoZLR7w

I feel like this band is special enough to recommend them to people who are unsure. Why not?

1) NME
2) people are talking about it

If both of these apply to an album, you need not check it out.

I tend to do the same.. I held off listening to tame impala for a while. i don't know why 2) is so accurate but it is

i heard them, ned! just the other day. and beach house too! what a day that was...

You are the cutting edge!

as part of my top 50 countdown on ilm. i learned a lot. i learned how to love.

first off i was like heres some dudes sounding like the sixties again then i was like WOAH

opening track of lonerism in particular

Okay I just gave a couple of tracks a listen and I kinda sense I don't need to hear any more. Just very fussily polite trippiness.

m@tt's comment about them being a rock version of Caribou is by far the best description of them/argument for their existence that I have come across yet

eh, I think about this album now and then because I work right in front of the garden on the cover !

IFLWOGB and Elephant still pop up on shuffle now and again and I always enjoy them. Don't much care for the rest though.

update !

https://www.flickr.com/photos/127354883@N08/15328528021/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/127354883@N08/15328528021/lightbox/

I was listening to some songs again (while taking the pictures) and IFLWOGB is still great.
I can't shake the impression of hearing Lennon, though.
His lost jam session with Pink floyd circa 1967 !

Nowhere near as sonically inventive or as expansive as '67 Floyd. I like them a lot, though. So glad they've eschewed the gigantic Fender reverb on the vox that so many bands use to mitigate lame singing these days. #getoffmylawn

i hate that effect. just sounds so lazy.

the new pond record 'man it feels like space again' is very entertaining. (the TA offshoot, not the pond from portland.)

new single is amazing. a big step up imo

I attempted to get a thread going here: Tame Impala - Forthcoming 3rd LP

I feel bad about taking a dump in your thread. The last third of the new track is actually pretty okay.

Wasn't sure where to post this, but how was that Melody's Echo Chamber EP so slept on this year? It's gorgeous.

more than The Beatles, the album reminds me of Todd Rundgren, esp. the wizard, true star record

― nostormo, Friday, October 19, 2012 6:05 PM (five years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^this. the one-man studio jams to the drum sound to the warmly layered analog keys & synths & vocals in places). the instrumentation/arrangements/production makes me think of "Tic Tic Tic, It Wears Off" or the psych-soul of "When the Shit Hits the Fan/Sunset Boulevard". the bass playing is real cool and it really nails that 70s studio aesthetic. none of the songs stick out too much except "Elephant. kind of a horror glam rock song, more like T-Rex. it's incredible but sounds like it's from a totally different album lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6CZTDCb7g4

I am relistening to this today and Keep On Lying really stood out before Elephant. I agree with the person who said that the fuzzy synths are the best thing about this album. Whatever the exact combination of influences is, the sound is great.