THE TOTALLY INCONSEQUENTIAL BLOG (Issue No. 2): Old News/Music News

KEVIN PARKER: THESE SKILLS ARE ANYTHING BUT TAME

My first encounter with the Aussie music experience known as Tame Impala occurred during a class break at SAE. Based upon my seemingly bipolar preferences for indie/alt rock, psychedelic/cosmic/futuristic music, and meaningful lyric writing, a student colleague suggested I check out TI. I must admit that at the time I had grown a bit jaded, a bit underwhelmed by the typical Millennial fare, what with its EDM obsessions, brainwashing loops and nauseatingly repetitive chord progressions. A conspiracy theorist, I would even go so far as to theorize that “the Man” was using such inane non-melodic drivel to dumb down the general population.

In other words, I was becoming quite the Generation X/Xennial music grump.

What I heard in my headphones that day restored my faith in the post-2000 music industry.

Virginal to all things Kevin Parker (and most things “Milennial cool”), I was not at all prepared for the epic soundscape I discovered in his single “Let It Happen”. Furthermore, I was not prepared to experience its freak-you-out-make-you-lose-sleep-and-perhaps-your-lunch music video, which features a Bowie look-alike facing his mortality via cardiac arrest and/or airplane crash. The entire thing was simultaneously disturbing and indescribably beautiful, and the music hit me in the chest like a freight train.

Reeling from the first song, I next checked out a video entitled “Mind Mischief”, which featured a steamy psychedelic guitar line and a similarly steamy tryst between a teacher and her student aged fifteen (or so). Obviously, nothing was taboo with TI, and I found myself to be further intrigued. Who was this Parker, this 31-year-old Australian talent? Where did he come up with this stuff? Why was his music so different from every other thing I’d been hearing? More importantly, how did he get his recordings to sound so AMAZING?

I set out to learn the answers.

Fast-forward five months or so later, and I am now familiar with the many shades of Tame Impala, the early records with their throwback psychedelic sound— heavy on the guitars, style reminiscent of The Who and Jimi Hendrix. And while Innerspeaker (2010) and Lonerism (2012) were indeed admirable in bringing new musical insight to 70’s-inspired psychedelia, my personal curiosity wandered more toward the luminous, other-worldly 2015 album entitled Currents. The reasons are simple: (1) Currents marks Parker’s debut performing all instruments and vocals, doing the full production, mixing, and engineering; and (2) Currents contains some of the most lush, gorgeous, original writing and music production I have ever personally heard in a music album.

Let me start by stating the obvious: trying to figure out Kevin Parker’s process is about as easy and transparent an endeavor as trying to crack the code on Edison and the light bulb or Einstein and his theory of relativity. This is a rare type of genius that cannot be fully dissected; however, Parker leaves clues via rare, scattered interviews and - of course - in the productions themselves.

What is so special about Currents is that it marks significant shifts in both Parker’s message and in TI’s overall sound.

While Currents retains a vinyl playback quality (the songs seem to “pop and sizzle” more than in today’s digitally-refined singles), there is much to sonically separate the album from its predecessors. First, Parker puts less emphasis on the use of guitars and guitar pedals and lends the spotlight more to the bass guitar and synthesizers. This establishes more of a transcendental dance/pop vibe. When asked why he chose to use more synthesizer sound in this album, Parker casually comments that he grabbed whatever instrument he could when a song idea hit, stating that the choice of each instrument dictated how he ultimately delivered the instrumental material. Many times, Parker would grab the keyboards because his guitars and pedals were en route to some other destination or concert setting and were not available as a result. (I immediately - and geekily - recall how J.S. Bach would adapt his compositions according to the means he had available at the time of creation; i.e. a “good choir” versus a “bad choir” at St. Thomas’ in Leipzig dictating what he could do and his genius ability to work within limitations and parameters, the mark of a true artist. Parker seemed to possess this trait as well.)

As Parker created and performed all instrumental tracks on this album, one would guess that he had the freedom to use whatever processes and workflow he had at his disposal. In one interview, he talks about how he holed up in a house in Perth while making the album:

“I didn't realize it would add a completely extra dimension of absolute nervous breakdowns,” Parker awkwardly says, talking about the new album’s one-man recording process. “I was just sitting in my studio going, ‘Fuck. How am I going to do this?’” ~ From Pitchfork.com

(14 July 2015)

Anyone who has listened to the end result - with its mastery of audio manipulations ranging from sweeping EQ to drum filtering to mysterious panning - might never guess that the talented composer/producer feared for lack of experience. One nod to Parker’s ingenuity includes a half-second loop which arrives in the middle of “Let It Happen”. This cheeky little feature caused me to stop and check the streaming on my phone: I thought something was wrong - until the strings re-entered and the drums came back in. So yeah, I admit it: I got mind-fucked by Tame Impala. And according to Parker, that was his intention all along.

“Eventually” arrives near the middle of the album, in the #5 spot. In many ways, it might be considered the climax and/or “turning point” of the album. Parker neither admits nor denies that the song deals with a breakup; however, the lyric more than hints at this idea, or at least communicates a major life transition. The mix incorporates effects such as unpredictably timed low-mid bass/guitar/synth blasts, ethereal panning, enhanced finger clicking, and oscillating upper synths, to name just a few of its many complex elements. Parker’s mix supports the emotional impact of the song by being simultaneously emotive and detached; its psychedelic elements provoke emotion while remaining “scientific” enough to keep things objective. This works for the song as the narrating character is the instigator of the emotional separation: “But I know that I’ll be happier/ and I know you will too”. As the song progresses, one gets the feeling that the narrator is moving back and forth between feelings of guilt and the rationalization needed to complete his unfortunate task of ending the relationship. It could also be that the narrator is wrestling with his conscience. Still, he keeps a kind of sacred, 10,000-foot perspective with genius lines like: “wish I could turn you back into a stranger

(brilliant!)/‘cause if I was never in your life, you wouldn’t have to change this” - raw, pure, unassuming. Interestingly, Parker prefaces such verses with brief melodic extensions, like awkward pauses that might occur in such a conversation: your fingers tapping on the table in front of you when you’re not sure what to say next. But perhaps the most effective statements in the mix are the “surprise blasts”, double-forte motives in an otherwise mezzo-forte mix that sound like a sledgehammer coming down on the relationship, a final judgment or last word. Throughout the mix, Parker adds in several swooping synths that seem to “zip up” and end in abrupt stops, followed by largely glottal onsets in the vocals. This creates obvious gaps in the sound, very effective - as if the heart pauses for a moment, skipping a beat or two. Overall, the listener is left with both the pain of the one who is left and the unwavering objectivity of the messenger who is leaving. In this track, everyone is forced to grow up - whether they want to or not.

Tame Impala is just beginning to hit its stride. The project has already successfully dipped into the traditions of psychedelic rock and innovated into the futuristic sounds of electronic dance music and synth pop. Like the sparkling nuances inherent in its music, the next moves of this Australian force will likely be hard to pin down. It seems inevitable that Parker will be increasingly in demand as a producer; indeed, he has already produced for others, notably for ex-girlfriend Melody Prochet and Miguel. The mix with Miguel shows Parker in more of his pop element - a place he is game to explore. With so much on the horizon, only time will tell where Parker and his brainchild will go. There is, however, one thing we know for sure....

Tame Impala is a beast.

~ Lesley Gent