Favorite Albums of 2012 - Number 9

I'd like to visit Perth Australia one day. I was marveling at a map of Australia the other day. I like to go online and follow along with roads that are winding through the middle of nowhere. Perth is on the far western side of Australia and seems to be a real oasis in the middle of nowhere. One of the cool things about Google Maps is the street view, which was even working along a highway in bum-frak nowhere. It was cool to see the emptiness, the expanses, the small little hick Australia towns. It was kind of amazing and over-whelming in a way. I found myself oddly nervous looking at these pictures, like I was an invader.

Tame Impala - Lonerism

Perth is the home of Kevin Parker, who is the mastermind behind Tame Impala. It is strange though maybe it shouldn't be that a place like Perth gives birth to a band like Tame Impala. Maybe music like this has to come from a place that seems so isolated.

Tame Impala are kind of psychedelic, spacey rock. They remind me of an old school Pink Floyd, like Saucerful of Secrets Pink Floyd, but better and more sure of themselves. Lonerism is their second full record, the first being InnerSpeaker, and I think it is almost as good. That is not a bad thing at all. To me the first record was such a strange sounding thing, and Lonerism is expanding on that. It is inventive, always interesting, and weird in lots of places. It's very sonic, lots of stuff going on in it, but not so much it detracts from the experience. It is a great record for headphones, for dark listening, for drifting away in a space capsule.

Looking at my list, it really shows the strength of this year's crop of records that one this good is number 9 (number 9....number 9....number 9....number 9). Maybe a year from now I could find myself wondering how it was ranked so low.

Here's "Apocalypse Dreams," a perfect example from this great great great record. I love this band.

Next up...even the French can make a great record!!