Tame Impala - Lonerism

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

I don't know... is it not kind of silly to fully ignore a band just because NME champions it?

This album suffered a bit for me after I listened to it after a load of 60s psych, and when you listen to that stuff it's really apparent that the conventions of rock music hadn't settled by that stuff, so all this really batshit stuff creeps in. There's so much more folk and music hall and other influences apparent melodically and harmonically as well, things that have bled out of most rock music over the intervening decades. That stuff doesn't come across in Tame Impala at all, although they've got the sonics and the voices and the recording effects down pat, their songwriting horizons feel limited by comparison. Still a nice enough record though.

The other way you could describe it 'slavish and cautious recreation of a sound that was never cautious in the first place' but that accounts for a lot of rock music nowadays.

I don't think that's quite fair, Matt. Compare it to the Allah-Las - that's a slavish recreation. Tame Impala have clearly heard those 60s records, but I'd say they're trying to copy the spirit rather than the songs.

kinda like the yang to Uncle Acid the Deadbeats yin, y'know?

(as in: weirdly Lennon-esque vocals taken in different emotional directions while an overall trippiness prevails)

I still don't get "Lonerism". I loved their other album, but I don't think this album is as good - so I'm confused by the NME's album of the year verdict. I still don't think adding synths helps, and I don't think the songs are as good. I may be in a minority of one there.

And having listened to psychedelia for years and years... Yes, you can't compare it to the original stuff (and I agree with Matt's point, the references are pretty narrow) but it does remind me of the first Sun Dial LP which was equally reverent to the style. Maybe I need to persevere with "Lonerism", but something about it doesn't really make me want to go back and listen to it.

I still don't think adding synths helps, and I don't think the songs are as good.

i agree w/ this completely. there's something naggingly annoying about this record that i never got from the first

That stuff doesn't come across in Tame Impala at all, although they've got the sonics and the voices and the recording effects down pat, their songwriting horizons feel limited by comparison.

I kind of feel like this is missing the point; obv there's no 'wtf' factor where it feels like any old sort of batshit thing can happen, but that's bcz dude kind of approaches writing songs the way, say, M.C. Escher approaches painting staircases (this is true of the first album also)

i think that might be giving them a little too much credit

eh maybe

perhaps I am confusing the potentiality of what I'm hearing with its actuality

Tame Impala have clearly heard those 60s records, but I'd say they're trying to copy the spirit rather than the songs

That's probably fair. They're definitely trying to copy the sound, and yeah probably the spirit too, but I'm not sure they're entirely successful in the latter. The album's enjoyable enough but short on surprises.

cleared from all the extras surrounding them - the essence of the melodies is very simple and repetitive.

and that's the problem of this otherwise fine album

"extras"

ok nm I think I understood your exact point

the question is do you agree?

I listened to this while drifting of on the train and dreamt it was actually a recording of my band playing. Weirdly I started getting annoyed because of all the mistakes. The one track that did hit the spot was Elephant, which had some neatly cryptic little flourishes but in the whole this is not remarkable music.

yeah, it's nice but the songwriting isn't very strong and the whole thing gets a bit boring after a while.
I still like "feels" a lot but I don't really listen to the rest anymore.

otm^

I wish they'd commit either going full-on psych or pop. As it stands, it's a bit unsatisfying. I do love a few of the tracks though.

I've only just heard this album, and this band, as of yesterday. It's still registering with me so who knows if I'll change my opinion in a few days/weeks/months. I like it. (Album of the year? No, but it's good.) It sort of scratches the same itch that Unknown Mortal Orchestra did last year. A lot of the comments above I would apply to them too.

Are these guys worth seeing live? They came through town a year or so back and I heard bad things. I could definitely see how they would be dodgy and not so good live. However, I'd be curious to see if they've stepped it up since they're getting more high profile. This stuff could be really interesting live if done right.

Saw them a couple of months ago and I thought it was fine. I was afraid of something like 2 hours of psychedelic nonsense. But yes not everyone liked it.

feels like we only go backwards is a jam

this reminds me of my youth. this is 70s prog-rock. i used to love that kind of stuff. but somehow i can't really take symphonic rock serious anymore.

A Tampa lime.

This has got me going from suspicion to "hmm maybe" to, wow this is really great. Elephant hooked me in - sort of a cross between T-Rex and Canned Heat. But 'Feels Like We Only Go Backwards' and the accompanying video has hooked me. There are little moments in that track, particularly the harmony where the guys sings 'Every part of me says go ahead' that I keep wanting to skip back to.

The more I hear these guys the more I feel like they're really a seventies power pop band buried under a bunch of modern psychedelic gloss. That's not a bad thing! But half the time when I hear them I think they're Shoes or something.

dog latin, I had a similar experience. I went from occasionally streaming it on Spotify to buying the album and listening to it at least once daily for the last three weeks. It's great. "Apocalypse Dreams" is my jam at the moment. "Elephant" is great too, and "Keep on Lying."

So, this is basically Olivia Tremor Control for people born after Nevermind came out, mixed with a healthy dollop of Dungen, right?

Not hating on the retromania (been diggin' Unknown Mortal Orchestra a ton, and, err, Uncle Acid), but...I dunno, guys. Gonna give it a second spin. They've certainly done their psychedelic homework, I'll give 'em that.

what's the link with "Nevermind" ?
anyway, I haven't listened to this in a long time... and I don't think I will anytime soon.
basically this album is: a good song + other tracks, for me now.

Two good songs at least - Elephant and FLWOGB. Yes it's retro. It does fit into some sort of continuum that includes Dungen, OTC, White Denim, maybe a bit of Ariel Pink without the cloyingness. I like them when they rock out a bit too. Any "tsk retro" dismissals are pretty lame IMO. I was very suspicious at first, but the guy knows his way around a song when he can be bothered. Pity Lonerism suffers from having far too many aimless drifty bits.

See also "Apocalypse Dreams" - great song.

I was using Nevermind as a barometer of age, as in the people who will dig this most are the people for whom indie music began with, I dunno, Beach House or something. No aesthetic connection implied.

I listened to this back to front the other day and, for the most part, it has held up really well. Fridmann's mixing saves it from being just another retro psych record and takes it to the next level.

I think this may be a case where this has crossed over to a more general public thus making some record nerds angry.

So, this is basically Olivia Tremor Control for people born after Nevermind came out, mixed with a healthy dollop of Dungen, right?

i can see the OTC connection (i'm a fan of OTC) for sure, but tame impala, especially on lonerism, dials down the longish/experimental passages between the poppier stuff.

THERE ALREADY WAS A BAND CALLED POND