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!!
Some records are considered big. These are the ones that get all the hype, get the magazine covers, get the casual music fan interested. Three records of that ilk which have come out recently are the new ones from Muse, Green Day and The Killers. All three are bands I am fans of.
The Killers records is a par for the course with them. A few really good tracks ("Runaways" being the stand-out) and a good amount of filler. Which is a shame because they are a good sounding band and Brandon Flowers is a great front-man. The songs are not always up to snuff, though. Nevertheless, Jodi and I will be seeing them in December because this will always be one of my most favorite songs.
The Green Day record is the first of three the band is releasing in the next six months. It is...well....meh. I didn't really start liking Green Day until I got their RockBand game at the urging of my brother-in-law. After playing, and getting to really listen to the songs and I made my fingers hit the right buttons, I found their songs to be catchy and rather enjoyable, at least to fool around with in a video game. The new record is more of the same, but nothing on it really stands out.
The Muse record is simply dreadful. I have no idea what Kate Hudson is doing to Matt Bellamy but it isn't good. I loved Absolution, liked Black Holes and Revelations, but found The Resistance kind of meh. The new one, The 2nd Law is just not enjoyable. It seems they are trying to morph into Queen, which to me isn't a good thing. If ever there was a band that got more traction out of so few decent songs it's Queen. Muse were always over-top and bombastic, and when they took up the Radiohead mantle by remaking The Bends on their behalf I dug it. But the problem with this new direction is it's uninteresting. It feels like they want to follow the Radiohead map by getting away from their sound and carving out something new. But where Radiohead made something unique (and not always to my taste admittedly) Muse are churning out uninspired junk.
Whew! Sorry for the harshness. Let me mention a couple records that have come out the last month that DO deserve your attention. These are the "little records" referenced in the title. And most of the time, it's the little records you haven't heard of by bands and artists you might not know or have forgotten that are the ones that should be getting the Rolling Stone covers.
Lonerism by Tame Impala. An Australian band doing a very modern and, unlike Muse, interesting take on psychedelic rock. Vocally, it's very reminiscent of John Lennon (a good thing). Musically it has that late-60s vibe but with a modern take. I saw them tour behind their first record InnerSpeaker and they put on a great show. This record is a great next step from that record. Here's the lead single, "Elephant:"
Silver Age by Bob Mould. The former front-man of Hüsker Dü and Sugar is back doing what I like best: straight ahead loud power pop. Hanging out and guesting on the last Foo Fighters record seems to have gotten Bob's power-pop juices going again, and this album is a revelation. Man, I hope he tours. Here's Bob on Letterman.
Both these records are great great great and you should check them out. Both will be high on my favorites-of-2012 list.
