9:30 VIDEO: Tame Impala
Kevin and Dom of Tame Impala were nice enough to answer our questions, and your fan questions, backstage before their sold out show at 9:30 Club! Check it out!
LIVE REVIEW: Tame Impala
With the amount of buzz perpetuated by Tame Impala’s big mark on the 2012 year-end-lists, it was no surprise that 9:30 was feeling like a scorching summer night. The lead singer for The Growl was bundled up in a big overcoat and looked like he walked in from outside in the cold on to the stage. Over the course of The Growl’s, down on your luck down under bluesy-rock set, he shed three layers of clothing.
The sound was amazing and Tame Impala’s music lives up to all the hype. With his dazed lyrics and the psych-rock washes, I felt like all the movement was going on between people’s ears. Not only did they perform their songs damn near perfectly, but they jammed out too. By the end of the evening my vision was like a bad tracer-line filled photo. Face. Melted.
-Ian Signore
Full photo set courtesy of Julia Lofstrand can be seen on our Facebook page.
VOTD: Tame Impala - ‘Mind Mischief’
Tame Impala these days is synonymous with dreamscape. In this video ‘Mind Mischief’ we get to experience one of the biggest daydreams— getting high and getting it on with a hot teacher (in a sweet car no less). This all seems like a crazy dream until we find out what dreams are really made of. There is a morph and all of a sudden the world has melted into a spacey star world. If you thought the first video, ‘Feels Like We Only Go Backwards’, off their new album, was trippy with its clay-mation space face, get ready to get flicked out into a whole new galaxy.
-Ian Signore
Tame Impala will be melting faces into other faces on 2/20: Sold Out!
Top Shelf (pres. by SpeakeasyDC) showcasing live storytelling around the city throughout the year, Top Shelf will bring the cream of the crop in autobiographical storytellers to show you sometimes truth is even more remarkable than fiction!
Thievery Corporation you know well enough at this point to not sleep on these tickets, right? A famously fun show, that famously sells out fast.
Reel Big Fish probably one of the most positive experiences we had a show last year, RBF come again to bring the crazy high energy (and crazy high amounts of smiling crowd surfers, probably). Don’t miss out on all the sweaty fun!
Desaperacidos nope, you didn’t read this wrong. This is happening. Conor and the boys are embarking on a headlining tour and reviving the post-hardcore Saddle Creek supergroup much to our delight!
Tame Impala ultra-buzzed about Australian psych-pop group are FINALLY back in D.C., and damnitt it has been too long. Go listen to their latest, Lonerism, but not before setting your alarm for the onsale.
Jonathan Richman the ever elusive and mysterious Mr. Richman always puts on a super intimate and extremely engaging performance, for those who are hip enough to his tunes. Don’t get left out!
Railroad Earth bluegrass, rock, celtic, Americana, jazz, rootsy folk - all tied into a lovely package for you. Done deal.
Dropkick Murphys the whiskey floweth and fists pumpeth high into the air. Are you ready for two nights on our stage this March? (the only answer: HELL YES)
Tame Impala, Lonerism
Modular Recordings
Though Innerspeaker is a tough debut album to follow, Tame Impala delivered a stellar sophomore effort in the form of Lonerism.
The Australian rockers burst onto the music scene in 2010 with spacey, psychedelic rock’n’roll ripped right out of the late 1960s. That brand of rock has been replicated by tons of artists, but Tame Impala latched onto it, perfected it, then amplified it. Each song on Lonerism is carefully crafted by lead singer and producer Kevin Parker, aided by a mind-blowing amount of guitar solos, pedal work and drum fills.
Lonerism still maintains that trippy groove that fans loved about Innerspeaker. But in a way, it’s simultaneously more experimental, and yet as close to pop as they might ever get. It’s this combination of accessible rock with bursts of catchy pop hooks (a la “Why Won’t They Talk to Me?”) that make this album a whirlwind of sonic joy.
Album opener “Be Above It” prepares listeners for the trip about to ensue and reinforces the fact that the band is still going to keep things weird. The song is held together by a quick, simple drum beat, as hazy riffs float overhead, piling on top of one another.
“Mind Mischief” and “Nothing That Has Happened So Far Has Been Anything We Could Control” both have that beachy, alien-rock vibe, but have traces of pop that make the tracks melodic and smooth, like a psychedelic interpretation of the Beach Boys.
“Apocalypse Dreams” is sonically explosive, from the layered chimes of a piano, to Parker’s high-pitched vocals slowly drifting above it all. “Endors Toi” has that classic Tame Impala feel, but breaks away in the end for a crunchy, effects-heavy guitar solo, injecting a wild spurt of energy into the album’s otherwise chill wavelengths.
Stream Lonerism here (via Soundcloud).
-Yohana Desta
New Track: Tame Impala - Elephant
They’re back (!!) and with a sexy driving beat and loose psychedelia that makes you want to sway aggressively, head banging and limbs flailing with abandon. The added synth brings a new dimension to a song that sounds decidedly vintage on the forefront, like a little bit of musical time travel mid-way through the track!
We’re also a sucker for a dropp-off ending that leaves us anxious for a repeat listen.
Tame Impala’s new album, Lonerism, is due out in the US on October 9th. Jump on the pre-order here.
