Psychedelic Australian rock band Tame Impala had a huge critical hit last year with it's second album, Lonerism. I asked Paul his thoughts and he implied that he was pondering a leadership position in the Tame Impala is Overrated Backlash Brigade. Curious, I thought, because bands that sound like the Beatles (as Tame Impala does) is PRECISELY where Paul houses his wheels.
I asked Sir Paul to expand on his thoughts and the following spirited debate ensued...
Be Above It
Brendan: Right from the start, Tame Impala's lead singer Kevin Parker's (who plays everything on the album and basically IS Tame Impala like Trent Reznor IS Nine Inch Nails) intent for the album is clear. He wants you to put on your Beats by Dre headphones and really take a trip and space out with the music.
We might as well get this out of the way at the top, but after the whispering chant of "Gotta be above it" when his voice comes in with, "And you know I've gotta be above it now", if I didn't know better, I would have said that it was John Lennon sample. The dude sounds EXACTLY like John Lennon. It sounds like some John Lennon software was downloaded into Pro Tools and he just typed in new lyrics.
As an expert on the Beatles and bands that sorta- sounds like the Beatles, how does this make you feel? Especially when you throw in that Lonerism seems to be a real attempt to make Revolver for the 21st century. I say that knowing that almost no album is as good as Revolver, even Revolver isn't as good as Revolver.
And I'll throw in one more comment for you to chew on: I think that Lonerism, warts and all, is fascinating because I think that if the Beatles were starting right now and they locked themselves in a bedroom with MacBooks to make Revolver and kicked out George Martin this is probably what it would sound like (assuming they only used John's vocal tracks). Overlong, and little messy, sure.
Paul: Every time my music snob friends ask me my opinion on Tame Impala and I say, “It’s alright, I guess, but I don’t really like it,” I get this look from them like I might as well have said, “I’m having a baby. And it’s yours.” Just this sheer inability to comprehend mixed with mild, but discernible panic. I’ll admit that part of my wariness of the band has to do with this blanket “They’re awesome and there’s nothing more to debate” praise they get, but since you bring up Revolver and the issue of “overlong,” here’s the difference: Revolver has 14 songs and clocks in at about 35 minutes. Lonerism has 12 songs and clocks in at about 52 minutes. The difference is wasted space. The Beatles didn’t really waste space on Revolver (I’m prepared to defend Yellow Submarine if I have to), aside from maybe the sitar intro to “Love You To.”
Every time Kevin Parker and the guys land on some bass line or vocal melody or other such idea that absolutely enchants me (and there are plenty on Lonerism and there were on Innerspeaker), they flit away from it a minute later to continue building this abstract sonic painting. I’m more interested in songs than I am sounds.
Endors Toi
Paul: What I said before about sounds and songs. This is just sounds to me. There’s some good drumming in there, and I know there’s singing, but it might as well be in Mandarin, because everything just gets so washed under this flange effect. George Martin wouldn’t have marred a Beatles song like this. Even if he was 23 and in his parents basement with his MacBook Air. I don’t think Giles Martin would do this. However, I wouldn’t put it past Lennon to do something like this. And maybe that’s the point
Brendan: Listening to this in the car it does kind wash over you, but I think the track is greatly improved when listened to on headphones, especially simultaneously reading up on what "flanging" means. Here's the pretty interesting Wikipedia entry for readers out there: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flanging. Interesting reference since George Martin and Lennon are credited with inventing the "flange effect" (think "Tomorrow Never Knows").
Apocalypse Dreams
Brendan: I think of the first three songs as a part of an unofficial suite, culminating in this pretty epic song that I already know drives you a little crazy and is probably ground zero in terms of running time, bloat, overproduction, and some pretty great-sounding music. The first three minutes of the song is a really cool northern soul-type song with some mild spacey effects. Great momentum and a lot of fun. I would have been happy with another few minutes of this, but the second clearly-defined half is straight Planetarium light show "rock" muzak. Ones reaction to this is probably in direct proportion to how much weed you smoked while listening and if you happen to be sitting on a beanbag chair in a college dorm room in front of a black light poster with empty boxes of Gumby's Pokey Sticks strewn about.
I'll cede the rest of my time to you to fire your big artillery on this track...
Paul: This defines everything great and awful about Tame Impala for me. The first 3 minutes are solid. There is absolutely no reason to have anything on this track beyond the 3-minute mark. Even without horns, that bassline and piano movement is enough to make it the best Northern Soul song in years, but instead of just deciding “Too much of a good thing is bad,” they do that idea one better by tacking on “…so here’s some masturbatory noodling because we like turning the little knobs on the mixing desk. A lot. So kiss our collective ass, Paul Snyder.” They can land on something genius, but they never stick to it. I don’t know if it’s an insurmountable fear of being considered too commercial or just a disinterest in simple pop hooks, but it’s just a great track wasted. Maybe there’s a single edit that cuts at 3 minutes. I could just get that and put it on the ol’ iPod.
Mind Mischief Watch the Video NSFW
Paul: This was a single right? If I listen to this song on its own, it’s tolerable. I actually like the riff, and again it’s good drumming. Although it’s more of a constant fill than a regular backbeat, and in that, it incessantly feels like it’s building to some big grand chorus. We get to the big falsetto at 2:23, but doesn’t it feel like it takes a lot longer to get there? If I listen to it in the context of the album, I’m so still pissed off by the second half of “Apocalypse Dreams” that I can’t really get into it. And again we get the big flange to wash out the last minute of the song. It kind of reminds me of how that story of the first time Robby Krieger played “Moonlight Drive” with his bottleneck slide. And Jim Morrison freaked out and goes “We have to use that on EVERY track.” Thankfully they didn’t—those kind of effects are cooler if they’re used sparingly. Sparingly, Kevin. Sparingly.
Brendan: I think at this point, Tame Impala is like, "What's up, mate. Don't you like these Harrison riffs? Our triple-tracked Liverpool vocals? Ringo drumming? Our mid 60's tape effects? This should be right up your alley? This is your alley, mate!"
You mention the drumming, and I think it's a big strength on the album since I think the incessant and dryly-recorded drums really grounds the songs and keeps them from potentially floating out there into the ether of magical psychedelic land. That said, I will give you that the "big flange wash out" is a great slam and I can't help but hear it every time I listen to the album. Well played.
Music To Walk Home By
Brendan: I think Kevin Parker's been working to get the "Tomorrow Never Knows" vibe and effect through all the tracks of the album so far, and I think this track finally gets the prog-rock Beatles mix just right.
This is a fun sunny track, and I think in general, despite all the heavy production and navel gazing, in general, the music itself is fun and sunny.
Paul: Yes, this is a sunny track and would be nice to walk home by. Would be nicer if the lyrics were a little more discernible. I’ll go with you that the drumming is a strength on this album. I like it a lot on this track too. But again, there’s no need for this track to push the 5 minutes mark. It doesn’t feature the complete change of direction that Kevin figured was appropriate for “Apocalypse Dreams,” so that’s something. At least it’s hanging on to a core groove. Nevertheless, I’d say at least the last minute here is completely superfluous. This whole album is begging for a Lonerism: The Paul Snyder Single Mixes reissue.
Why Won’t They Talk To Me?
Paul: It sounds like more 1980s than 1960s to me. But I doubt John Hughes would’ve even touched it for one of his Brat Pack movie soundtracks. Sounds just a little too self-indulgently sad. Also, basically from 1:40 on, it’s almost exclusively repeating, “Ah, why won’t they talk to me?” If it was a 2 or 3 minute song, that’s one thing, but it’s a 4:47 song! That’s 3 minutes of just repeating the same thing over and over. I got mad when I listened to this in the car. I wish I could say I screamed “BECAUSE YOU’VE GOT NOTHING INTERESTING TO SAY!” to no one as it played, but I only just thought of that. And he does have some interesting things to say. Just not on this track. This track still makes me angry.
Brendan: For an album titled Lonerism you could say that Parker repeating "Why won't they talk to me?" over and over might be a tad "on the nose", but I think it's actually the nose itself. He does sing "but I don't really care anyway" which I think is really funny in it's disingenuousness.
Good or bad, I find this song a serious earworm. At some point during the four hundred times he sings, "Why won't they talk to me?" I notice I've been singing along the whole time. I look at my watch and 16 hours have gone by. A series of lap dissolves. White clouds race across a blue sky. My pupils dilate. A flock of birds fly out of a leafless tree. I'm lying on a beach. I see an old music box. I open it. I hear, "Why won't they talk to me? Why won't they talk to me. Why won't they talk to me." I wake up. The track is finally over.
Feels Like We Only Go Backwards Watch the Video
Brendan: This is the first track I heard by Tame Impala (and I don't think I'm alone in this) but it was one of those tire screech moments where you go, "Who is that?" And you look it up online and you find out it's something called Tame Impala and you discover that all the music snobs have already hailed both of their albums and they're in the backlash phase already and you go, "Where have I been?"
I remember having a similar reaction when I heard "It's Not the End of the World?" by the Super Furry Animals. It's also a similar sort of song. Very dreamy and beautiful. While not my favorite track per se, I think this is probably the song that you'd play for someone who wanted to know what Tame Impala sounds like. Also probably the one who'd put on a mix tape.
Paul: It’s easily the standout track. It’s contained to the length of a perfect pop single, it doesn’t wander anywhere off its track in an infuriating fit of A.D.D. and the bassline is absolutely wonderful too. And yes, the Tame Impala fans are rather persnickety if you say you like this track, but I suppose I can forgive them, cos I would get the same way with people who used to say, “Oh, Oasis? Yeah I like ‘Wonderwall.’”
What caught me offguard was a couple months ago my oldest friend and I were having a conversation about this whole album, and he’s just blown away by it. Really smitten. “Kevin Parker, this production, it’s the future, no one else is doing it …” Putting aside my need to talk about pretty much every underground psychedelic single release between 1967 and 1969 and say this is basically just a 2012 update in the way the Chemical Brothers’ “Setting Sun” was a 1996 update of “Tomorrow Never Knows,” he went on to say, “Oh ‘Feels Like We Only Go Backwards’ is probably my least favorite song on the album. I’m surprised it’s your favorite.” I repeat: this dude is my oldest friend. He knows my preference for good hooks and hummable melodies. Has for many years. But thought I would prefer one of the aimless, overflanged 6-minute escapades to this. There’s nothing wrong with being conventional. You just can’t do it all the time. Just like it’s annoying to be unconventional all the time.
Keep on Lying
Paul: Oh, hooray another 6-minute odyssey and they’re courteous enough to let us join in the middle of the actual “song” part. As a result, we get about 1:46 of a song (Not a bad song-length mind, you. Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs’ “Stay” doesn’t even touch 1:40 and look how we remember it), but instead of just cutting tape and having done, we get 4 more minutes of ambient cocktail party noise so we can noodle on this riff a little more. I mean a lot more. If I’m sitting on my La-Z Boy, under the influence of something and content to just let music play on underneath whatever weird game of Tetris my mind conjures up (high ... I think I'm doing it wrong), that’s fine, but if I’m putting on music to be entertained, the original recording of “Witch Doctor” is going to lap this quickly. This is just masturbatory. Least favorite on the album. And it makes me suspicious of anyone who calls Lonerism classic.
Brendan: I can't tell you how happy I am to see that it was your turn when this track came up. It's like the hanging curveball you've been waiting for all game. Everything you said is probably right. It's like Parker (and producer Dave Fridman) knew that they had their Revolver bases covered and decided to check off their Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon bonafides just to give rock critics a little something extra to help their reviews along. I believe referencing Dark Side is F6 on rock critic's keyboards.
I also want to point out (and start a false rumor) that if you sync up the third "Gotta be above it" from the first track on the album to the company logo in the opening credits of Donnie Darko, Lonersim plays as a perfect soundtrack. Don't believe me? Try it for yourself college-age millennial stoners!
Paul: To perpetuate the rumor, that’s another reason for me to hate (hate, HATE) Donnie Darko.
Elephant Watch the Video
Brendan: This is my favorite track on the album. After finally tiring of fiddling with all the software add-ons on his Pro Tools, Parker decides to put the laptop down, pick up the guitar, and rock the fuck out.
I love the fuzzy lumbering guitar, the drum rolls, the cymbal crashes. Lots of good old fashioned big dick rock star swagger. I even love the Ray Manzerek "Light My Fire"-esque (our second Doors reference in this blog) meets ? & the Mysterians keyboard interlude in the middle. Then Parker comes back strong with my favorite lyric on the album, "He pulled the mirrors off his Cadillac (YEAH)/'Cause he doesn't like it looking like he looks back."
This song WILL for better or worse at some point show up in car (maybe not Cadillac) or Nike or cell phone commercials (paging Vanessa Mackey) and maybe in twenty years it will take over from the White Stripes "Seven Nation Army" as the the go-to stadium rock song ("Seven Nation Army" finally taking the mantle after a long runs by Gary Glitter and Queen).
It also probably is something best left unsaid, but I will say it anyway because I know you want to hear it: "Elephant" led off my running mix this summer.
Paul: I was waiting to hear your justification for that passing mention about using this album to soundtrack your runs. I get using “Elephant,” though. It’s a good track. I don’t think it’s as melodic or thoroughly gorgeous as “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards,” but it’s coming from a different place, and lord knows I can appreciate a bit of big-dick rock star swagger now and again. I don’t think there’s any way for me to say that without sounding questionable. Dammit. It is a good lyric and is just as applicable for a good night out as it is for a SportsCenter “Top Plays” montage. When you can bridge those two circumstances, you’ve got it, friend. Good keyboard break in the middle, doesn’t stray off path as some of their other interludes do. Oh and look at that. 3:30! I swear to God, I have a point with this “Keep it focused and under 4 minutes” mantra I keep hammering home here. Even the cut ending! They literally stopped tape. And it’s a brilliant ending for the song. When that Lonerism: The Paul Snyder Single Mixes release comes as a bonus disc on the 10th anniversary reissue of this, “Elephant” will be left as is.
She Just Won’t Believe Me
Paul: And then to taunt my “Keep it focused and under 4 minutes” mantra, they give me this. So fuck them.
Here’s a story for you. When I was in third or fourth grade, I decided to “make an album” with my friend (this is the same friend I mentioned earlier—the one who’s least favorite track on the album is “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards”). If I was in third or fourth grade, he’d have been in first or second. We just started making up words and melodies and singing them into a little one-speaker tape player while banging on a toy drum and strumming open strings on a guitar. This was making an album at that time. But here’s the thing: We had a Maxell 60-minute blank tape. And all the tapes of albums we bought at that time were cut to fit the length of the album, right? So 30 minutes a side … I can’t imagine we had more than 14 “songs” that probably (mercifully) topped out at 2 minutes apiece. So we’d have this lump of 15 minutes or more of blank tape at the end of each side. So we found weird sound effects on this big 1980s synthesizer and just hit keys at random for 15 minutes. Neither of us could play a damn thing. Now he can play anything, and I can play some things. But at the time, a synthesizer was no more than “Wow, that’s a lot of buttons. Let’s just press them for 15 minutes. That’ll be fun to listen to.” I must have been 9 years old. And when we played it back, I thought “This is not fun to listen to.” And I haven’t listened to it since.
But now I kind of want to dig it out of whatever box it’s in (I can’t imagine I threw it out), because I’m sure that somewhere in those 15 minutes, we stumbled upon “She Just Won’t Believe Me.” And Kevin Parker can expect a call from my lawyer, because writing isn’t making me a crazy amount of money. This is a worthless track. But at least it’s under 1 minute.
Brendan: With all this talk about running times, I suspect you're not excited about the new Arcade Fire album, Reflektor. It runs one track more and is TWENTY minutes longer than Lonerism. You can just smell the fat sizzling. You probably should call up Win Butler and offers your remix services.
To be honest, after the clipped ending of "Elephant" I would have been perfectly satisfied with the album ending right there but ... wait, I'm totally burying the lead here, you and your buddy used to make two-sided albums when you were seven years old????
Once you dig that up, let's review that track-by-track next!
Sample Criticism: There's way too much treble on the Speak & Spell in this track. And sure, "write what you know" is always prudent advice, but do we really need three straight songs about boogers? I liked the "Hot Cross Buns" played-on-the-recorder outro, but I'm still missing the hummable melodies... "Sally's Got Cooties" is the "Positively 4th Street" of broken elementary school engagement songs.
Paul: I was 9. He was 7. So I brought a level of maturity to the record that might otherwise have been lacking. Of course, now that I think about it, “Sally’s Got Cooties” has been dormant way too long. Time to break that out of mothballs and turn it into a single.
Nothing That Has Happened So Far Has Anything Has Been Anything We Could Control
Brendan: ... Is what the rest of the non-Kevin Parker Tame Impala band members said during the recording sessions.
I suspect this track is one that your friend likes a lot instead of the more immediate "Elephant" or “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards.” The production is really interesting. It's like the drums and vocals are trying to punch through deep fog vocal effects and invisible parabolas of audio trickery. It kind of reminded me of something off of the Avalanches Since I Met You, which is kind of a weird comparison to make.
Paul: I’m going to back to what you said about ending the album after “Elephant,” because I think there’s a cogent point to be made for that. Not only does it shave about 13 minutes of running time off, but it keeps the whole thing marginally more focused. I’ve listened to this song at least 10 times since first hearing the album and even now as I have to write these comments about it, and I promise you that in 5 minutes, I’ll forget how this goes. Even with bad or mediocre albums, you can hear a forgettable track and go, “Oh right, the sad acoustic one,” or “Oh right, the one that’s kind of like ‘Beat on the Brat,’” but there’s no distinguishing factor here. “The spacey one.” “The one washed in reverb.” I mean, Christ, even if you say, “The one with talking in the middle,” it could be that cocktail party song from earlier. And again, this is 6 minutes of … what? Which one is this one? Every time I listen to this album, my patience has long since run out by this point. I don’t know if this is one of my buddy’s favorites, but if it is, I might just have to pull out that “album” we made when we were 9 and 7 respectively and remind him what memorable music is.
Sun’s Coming Up
Paul: Is it supposed to steal the Zombies’ “A Rose For Emily”? I’m sure it is. Had they cut it at 2:40 it probably would’ve been an OK closer. Not as good as leaving the whole thing done after “Elephant,” but the piano outro song is a tried and true method when it comes to making an LP. Appropriately for them, we get one last hit of A.D.D. and some weird guitar noodling while a horse wanders through some old west town. It’s a propos of nothing, it’s not really all that interesting, in fact it’s a little jarring after what had been at least a mildly interesting ripoff of a Zombies song and it’s more than a little infuriating to me.
Brendan: I think this song is interesting because it reveals something that we've been circling the whole time: would the album have been better without all the audio production doodads, and the songs were left alone unvarnished? This track (minus the end debris) is probably the least "produced" on the album and the vocals are the least processed. And it's not great or even that interesting. This is the sort of upright piano song that John or Paul or even Thom Yorke of Radiohead would knock out of the ballpark. It's crucial that a lead singer/wanna-be-genius who uses a lot of sonic trickery in their albums show that they can still knock out the simple piano ballad.
As for the end bit, it's like producer Dave Fridmann told Parker at then end of their last mastering day that he still had some odds n' ends from when he produced Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots for the Flaming Lips and Parker said, "Whatever, dude. Just throw it on at the end."
Overall
Paul: After our Beady Eye review and some loose talk about giving some other albums this treatment, I know the M.O. here was to talk about something I didn’t like, so I’m glad we chose Lonerism. I actually didn’t like this album even more than I realized. I just thought it was overrated. Now I actually realize that, on the whole, it’s a pretty weak effort. If you like soundscapes and psychedelic-tinged background music, then Lonerism is good for you. If you actually like songs, hooks and interesting structures, download “Apocalypse Dreams” (but cut it at the 3 minute mark with one of your Apple editing programs), “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards” and “Elephant.” That would be a solid EP. But Lonerism on the whole plays like a boring waste of money. Especially if you’ve just got to have it on vinyl, which I’m sure most of you do.
Brendan: No, I did not listen to it on vinyl. I find it too difficult to jog with a turntable strapped to my back. The needle keeps skipping. Actually that sounds like a good Onion headline: "30-Year-Old Hipster Prefers More Intimate Sounds Quality While Training for the Chicago Marathon."
Overall, even though I feel I agreed with you on a lot of points like it was a 2nd presidential debate, I did enjoy the album. Lonerism is infuriating and messy and kinda exhausting, but I still respect the ambition and it has those two killer tracks that are still lodged in my shuffle playlist.
I really enjoyed watching you tear Tame Impala from limb to limb.
Thanks, Paul.
