Austin Psych Fest Artist Spotlight: Tame Impala
Written by Coog Radio on April 3, 2015
Do you want to listen to a band who has a really awesome psychedelic rock sound and the lead singer’s voice is scarily similar to John Lennon’s? If so, Tame Impala is the band for you! I first heard about them from Tyler, the Creator’s song “Bimmer” so out of curiosity I gave them a listen and I am unbelievably glad I did!
Tame Impala was formed in Perth, Australia in 1999 by Kevin Parker (lead singer and main guitarist) and Dominic Simper (bass) but they started to do actual recordings once Jay Watson (drums) joined the band in 2007. One extremely impressive thing about Tame Impala is that Kevin actually records about 99.999% of the albums by himself but the rest of the band is there for live performances! Pretty awesome, right?
You’ve probably heard their music without actually knowing it was them. The guitar riff from their song “The Bold Arrow of Time” is featured in the 1800 Tequila Commercial and another song, “Elephant,” was featured in this commercial for the BlackBerry Z10 a few years ago.
https://youtu.be/NEmK5bjNYYI
They have two studio albums: “Innerspeaker,” which was released in 2010, and “Lonerism,” released in 2012. If you’re into laid-back, chilling with friends, guitar heavy kind of music, you would probably prefer “Innerspeaker.” If you like synth-heavy and experimental sounding music, “Lonerism” is for you. They’re both excellent albums so listen to both and make your own opinion. Below is the music video for one of their most popular songs, “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards,” off of “Lonerism.”
Warning: The video is super trippy so get ready to be transported to another world.
They announced in January that they will be releasing their 3rd album later this year (!!!!). A few weeks ago, they released a new song off the new album called “Let It Happen” The song doesn’t have a driving guitar line but it’s still phenomenal with a super groovy sound and great vocals from Kevin. You can definitely hear the early 70s rock influence throughout the song which gets me really excited for the new album. Check it out below!
My personal faves: “Lucidity,” “It Is Not Meant to Be,” “Why Won’t You Make Up Your Mind?,” “Runway Houses City Clouds,” “Expectation,” “Mind Mischief,” “Apocalypse Dreams,” “Jeremy’s Storm”
If you’re really into psychedelic rock or you just want to go to a really cool, enjoyable music festival other than FPSF, I highly suggest going to Austin Psych Fest. Tame Impala will be performing at this festival on Friday, May 8th. I haven’t seen them live (yet!) but I’ve heard from many people that they are incredible. More information about the festival and tickets can be found here! Coog Radio will be giving away four pairs of passes so keep listening to the station and checking the website regularly to see how you can win!
By: Ayisha Mahama
