Installment #12 in Monolisticle's Ongoing Campaign Against the "Internet of Endless Listicles."
Photo: Tim da-Rin
If you were to combine all the members of the Doors, the Beach Boys, the Beatles, and the Zombies into one single person, and have that one single person be born in Australia in 1986, you might have Kevin Parker, the singular creative force behind Tame Impala.
In Parker, you get Jim Morrison’s hippie-wild good looks and charisma, combined with Lennon, McCartney, and Wilson’s reverence for melody (although certainly still a long way to go in terms of musical and cultural impact and significance), and Blunstone’s psychedelically swoon-inducing vocals.
You can also throw in all the other band members' musicality, because Kevin Parker also writes, produces and plays every instrument on all of his songs. And when he sings those songs, girls and boys swoon and eye him with jealousy (although tempered by the fact that they sincerely love his music—and not just because Tame Impala concerts are the #1 place in the world to run into beautiful and empowered 20-something neo-flower beauties).
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Standing on the shoulder of musical giants, artists like Parker have taken the foundations and characteristics of the great music genres of the past and given them a contemporary twist. And in the process, layering in bits of Michael Jackson and Britney and Gaga and all that crowd-pleasing hookiness people love about pop music. It’s that element of melody and pop playfulness that makes Parker’s music so irresistibly earwormy. Songs you want to listen to over and over and over again.
I never really considered myself a psychedelic rock person. Maybe because I’ve never taken psychedelic drugs. Although I do love Pink Floyd, The Zombies, and Jimi Hendrix, and that’s listening to them completely sober. Which is the true test of any psychedelic rock music—do you still enjoy it without the black lights, lava lamps, and mind-altering hallucinogenic drugs?
The answer, I can soberly say, is yes.
Kevin Parker is a festival darling. The quintessential Coachella, South By Southwest, and Glastonbury poster boy. It’s a shame that his gifts will go on a forced hiatus this summer as music festivals go on forced hiatus. And especially terrible timing given that he just came out with yet another killer album.
So, for people who don’t think they like psychedelic rock, and have let that preconceived notion keep them from experiencing the brilliance that is Tame Impala, here are my recommendations for dipping your toe into the water:
If you’re more of a pop person, start with “The Less I Know The Better” (almost a billion YouTubers can’t be wrong). If you’re more of a rock person, start with “Elephant,” the quintessential walkout swagger song. From there, listen to “Let It Happen, “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards,” and their newest single “Lost In Yesterday.”
If you don’t like any of those songs then you truly do not like neo-psychedelic rock (at least you can say you tried).
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