In Review - Currents by Tame Impala

Hey what's up guys, this is Sam Bennett and I'm Luke Garrison and this is OBUFM episode 3 and yeah, welcome. Alright, so this week, the first time it's my turn to pick the album and I picked Currents by Tame Impala. A more recent album, I mean it's 8 years old by now but still, this is our first time, I think, being in the 21st century. Uh yeah, for sure. I mean it's definitely decades newer than the albums that we've chosen so far. And that's kind of why I chose it. One, because I do love this album but also I did want to switch it up a little bit. We'll be jumping around from era to era for episodes if you guys are wondering. But yeah, this is an album I've loved for a few years now. I started listening to it back in high school. I know you're familiar with Tame Impala but I don't know if you've listened to any of their records really. Yeah, I mean I haven't really like taken a dive into any of their albums really but I mean I certainly know a handful of songs. I think most of the Tame Impala songs that I know are off of this album and I would say at least 80% of the Tame Impala songs that I know, I know from you. So I think that that's an interesting thing. Going back and listening to this album in preparation for this episode, I found out I knew a lot more than I thought I did. So that was a pleasant surprise. Well, as we'll get into in a second, Kevin was kind of going for more of a commercial album. He wanted his music to be like actually out there and played. So you've probably heard a lot of these songs either on the radio or like... I've heard of tons of them in like TV and movies and stuff. So it's not surprising that it's so much familiar. But that being said, I guess we can start with some band history. Taking the intricacies of the psychedelic rock genre and balancing it with the sugary melodies of the modern day pop genre has made Tame Impala one of the most notable indie artists today. All four of the band's LPs have been critically acclaimed, with fans constantly juggling over which is their favorite. But before we talk about their music, I think we need to talk about Kevin Parker. Like he is Tame Impala. It's not really anyone else, at least in the recording. Yeah, as we'll get into it, he has had the same band from Australia like with him since the beginning. But he is the one who writes and records basically all their music. So nearly every layer you hear on a Tame Impala album was written, recorded, and produced by Kevin Parker. While he has had most of the same guys in his live band since their first tour in 2008, this collaboration rarely reaches the studio. To avoid having to make compromises in the studio through collaboration, Kevin decides to work alone. When you hear the final products, you can't really argue with his logic. He constructs swirling symphonies of sound alongside meaningful lyrical concepts. Much of Tame Impala's music centers around concepts such as introspection, self-doubt, and hopeless romantic love. Kevin was born in Sydney, Australia and raised in Perth. His father was his biggest influence when it came to music, as he taught him to play guitar and introduced him to bands such as The Beatles, The Beach Boys, and Supertramp, who Kevin all names as big influences. Kevin recorded music all throughout his teenage years, and his hobbies soon became an obsession. His father told him to avoid making music as a job, as he feared Kevin would lose his passion. So Kevin went to a university for engineering, but soon switched to astronomy. But his passion always lied in music. At the time, Parker played in a band with some of his high school friends called the D.D. Dumbs. They gained some local recognition while allowing Kevin to improve his technical abilities as a musician. In 2007, Kevin started his own project under the name Tame Impala. Rather than using his own name, he chose a moniker to blend in with the rise in popularity of Australian bands at the time. He put his first music up on MySpace, hoping to gain attention, and on his way to his final astronomy exam, Kevin got a call from Modular Recordings for a record deal. He turned his car around, went home, and started writing more music. That's pretty funny. I know, that's a pretty cool story. I heard that in an interview. I don't know, but way before this episode, I was just like watching an interview with him, and he said that, and that's like a super dope story. He basically dropped out of school and just started doing music full-time. Didn't even bother to take the test. Yeah, I know. Just wasn't feeling it. Well, it was funny, because he said the whole reason he changed from engineering to astronomy is he wanted to do something more fun, because he realized engineering was super boring. Yeah, I mean, astronomy, I guess, is super riveting stuff, too, so... Yeah, yeah. Well, in 2008, we saw Kevin Parker's first release as the self-titled EP of Tame Impala. This garnered him enough recognition to open for bands such as MGMT and The Black Keys, bands who were in their prime popularity at this time. In 2010, Tame Impala released their debut record, Inner Speaker. It received praise for creating a modern twist on the psych rock sound of the late 60s, and Kevin's voice was constantly getting compared to that of John Lennon's. By the time Inner Speaker dropped, Kevin had already started working on his next album, Lonerism, which released in 2012. Honestly, with this whole catalog, this is probably my favorite album by him. It is weirder, though, and it's not as popular, so I'm ditching Currents. I do love Currents, though. I go back and forth. Anyways, Lonerism surpassed all expectations set by Tame Impala's debut, with the intention to detail a combination of meticulously layered, weird sounds and rhythms, alongside poppy melodies, being received even better than Tame Impala's first record. Not too long after the release of Lonerism, Kevin broke up with his French singer-songwriter girlfriend, Melody Prochet. Kevin left Paris, where he had been living, and moved back to Western Australia. And this leads us to the album History of Currents. Cool. So, yeah, that leads us to Tame Impala's groundbreaking third album, Currents. Here, Kevin Parker began working on a new sound that traveled outside rock. He worked all day, every day, at a fairly relaxed pace. His perfectionist nature led him to record thousands of vocal takes because every minute detail mattered. This led to Kevin having to push back his deadline six months to give him time to finish recording. He poured his entire heart and soul into recording, performing, and producing Currents entirely on his own at his beachside home studio in Fremantle, Western Australia. I'm sure that's quite a nice little studio. Yeah, I've seen, like, some pictures of that space, and it looks just awesome. With, like, literally having the beach outside your window. Yeah, that's got to serve as some inspiration there. Definitely. The two-room studio contained a minimal amount of equipment. He described it as a ramshackle drum kit, a guitar covered in duct tape, and some battered vintage synths. Parker likened his small setup to an airplane cockpit. In an adjoining room, he began designing the light show that would accompany live performances of the album by using automated stage lights on stands. That's pretty cool. Yeah, I really want to see him in concert, because their light shows and stuff are insane. They headlined Coachella a couple years ago, and, like, I watched that set, and visually, it's stunning. I think that shows how, like, into this project he was, that alongside recording the album, he's already thinking about what the lights are going to look like. Yeah, definitely. That's cool. This was also the first album Parker mixed completely by himself. The album features no other collaborators. Here, Tame Impala shifted from its psychedelic rock sound to a focus on intricate pop music. While the first two albums had clear common themes running throughout their tracklists, neither focused on a central concept. Currents is a breakup album through and through. As well as being a more conceptual album than previous releases, Currents also saw Parker focus on synths and bass rather than guitar being the primary instrument of most songs. Parker utilized the Roland Juno-106 and a sequential-circuit Pro-1 synth that he had previously used on Lunarism, and also added a Roland JV-1080 synth module and a sequential-circuit drum tracks for drums. This new emphasis on synthesizers was inspired by Kevin's desire to hear his music in dance clubs and more communal settings. I can definitely hear that. Like, listening to this album, I can definitely... Not that I have ever stepped foot in a dance club for any reason, but, I mean, I was thinking, like, this is something that I think I would hear, especially during, like, that time, like, 2015. Yeah, it is very, like, dance-y, but it also is kind of indie and alternative. It's still, like, an interesting musical listen. It's got a variety of... It definitely does, yeah. It just... I get what he was trying to do as far as making it more, like, mainstream appeal. And, I mean, he succeeded, because... Released in 2015, Currents was Tame Impala's most successful and best-charting album yet. The album charted number one in Australia, number three in the UK, and at number four in the United States. As of January 2023, Currents has sold over one million copies in the United States. Like its predecessors, the album received critical acclaim and appeared on various critics' lists of the best albums of 2015. Pitchfork gave the album a Best in Music destination and a score of 9.3 out of 10. If you don't know a lot about Pitchfork, they don't usually give scores that high. They're not too kind. No, normally they'll rip into an album. But at the 2015 ARIA Music Awards, Currents was awarded Best Rock Album and Album of the Year. It also received nominations for the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album and the Jay Award for Australian Album of the Year. In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked Currents 382nd on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Good for them. Yeah. I mean, Rolling Stone... Look, I'll say this. Rolling Stone, I know you're listening. I don't agree with this list of your 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. But, I mean, sure. Currents can be on there. I don't mind that. It's very... Yeah, I've looked at this list. And some of the albums, especially when you get to the top 100, some of the albums in there are so questionable. They also have a pretty... I think they have a songs list, too. I remember just reading that in my room last year and just being pissed. Yeah. Bob Dylan, I think, is like number one. Yeah. I don't know about that. But, yeah, that kind of sums up both the band and album histories for this. Yeah. I guess we can go right into the track list if you're ready. Yeah, let's do it. Let it Happen Alright, so starting off with Let It Happen. This sounded familiar to me right off the bat. Like, it had me wondering if it was a specific song that I knew of theirs. And it turns out that it was. At about 6 minutes and 15 seconds in, it went to the part that I recognized. It's that guitar part, you know what I'm talking about? This is definitely an album opener. It's very weird, but it is... It has an irregular structure, for sure. It does, but it's catchy and, I don't know, the sense when it starts is like... I don't know how to explain it. If I ever start this when I start a drive, it feels like I'm already going 80 miles an hour even though I'm just now leaving the parking lot. I wrote that it has a complicated simplicity to it. It really does. It's very repetitive. It is long. This used to be a song I would skip. I would get a couple minutes into it and then I'd kind of be like, alright. It is a longer song for the album. Yeah, it's 7 minutes and 46 seconds. Almost 8 minutes. It's pretty long, especially for an opener. But it's a great song. And like you were saying, it builds up and finally gets to that guitar riff, which is just so catchy. And the crazy thing is, I think that's the first guitar you hear in this song, which is crazy to think about because if you listen to any of Tam Follis' prior records, guitar is so central to all of that music. So I think it's very much kind of a statement about what the album is going to be like, that it's going to be different and that it is more kind of groove-heavy and synth-based. I guess that mid-section is supposed to resemble a record scratch. Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned that. That always used to trip me up when I would listen to it. But it's a nice build. Knowing what I know about Tam and Paula, when I heard that, I was not at all caught off guard. I'm like, oh, yeah, okay. I know what he's doing here. That's funny. I've heard so many stories of friends or people listening to this and they think something's wrong with Spotify. Well, yeah, if I was listening to this on a record, on a vinyl LP, I would definitely think something was up, especially if I didn't know the song beforehand. But, yeah, listening to it on Spotify, I'm like, that's not going to mess up. I know what he was doing there. It's definitely a clever trick. It works, too. This song made me refer to AllMusic, which is a website that I think is the number one source when it comes to music today. It's kind of like Liner Notes, digitally speaking. And they also have plenty of credits and reviews, too. And I was looking at their review for the album and it said that it generally sounds like he's either on a verge of a long nap or waking up from one. Vocally? With these songs. Yeah, I definitely can hear that. It's very spaced out, verbed out. It just sounds like the song itself is like you're sleepwalking. Yeah. Which is not a bad thing. Almost like in a trance. Yeah, that's a good way to say it. Especially this song. This one's definitely kind of trance-like. I can see that. It's just a dreamy feel that you kind of wonder where it's going to take you next. Another thing I wanted to say is that listening to this, it has a 4-4 time signature, but the way it's structured, it made me think it was something else at first. You know what I'm talking about? It's very straightforward. It's not 4 on the floor. Yeah, it goes to weird places. That's true of some of the other songs on here that I'll mention later that it is 4-4, but his rhythmic choices are pretty interesting. Yeah. Last I want to say about this, off of Genius, he's kind of talking thematically about this song. Kevin Parker introduces the album's theme of letting go and allowing nature to take its course with Let It Happen and merges Tame Paul's suture psychedelic rock sound with an extended electronic breakdown. This theme is where the album derives its title. As Parker stated, it's about powerful forces that lead to personal transformation. Interesting. Yeah, which is interesting, especially considering this is a breakup album or at least that's what most people say because if you listen to the lyrics in most tracks it is really talking about getting over somebody or moving on. Would you say that this is a concept album and if your answer is yes, do you think the concept is a breakup? Because honestly, listening to this album, I did not gather that this was a breakup album. Yeah, see, and that's fair because the music is so uplifting on a lot of these songs, but when I think of a breakup album, it definitely has a concept and it is thematic and a lot of the songs tie into each other musically. But I don't know, when I think concept album, I think of Pink Floyd or something like that where the songs all flow into each other and it's almost like one long song. I don't know, you could argue it's a concept album, I wouldn't say so. I wouldn't call it a breakup album though. It's just interesting musically and lyrically how that's kind of juxtaposed which I guess we'll kind of get into on some other tracks. I think that's enough for now. Yeah, so now we're at Nang's which I have a question to leave this little conversation off. So do you think this song follows Let It Happen or do you think it leads into the moment? Like obviously it does both in terms of the track listing but in terms of its meaning and connection, which do you think? I think it's more of a lead in but it's weird it's almost on its own. It's almost like an interlude. Yeah, it's certainly an interlude but I don't know I had to listen to all the songs again to kind of understand what the purpose of Nang's was because it's very short. It's like a minute. Yeah, a minute 37 I think is what I have on here. Yeah, which I mean it's kind of interesting that the second song of your album is going to be that short. Especially after an opener that long. Yeah, I mean some interesting choices were made there. I mean there's not a whole lot to say throughout the song but is there something more than that? Yeah, see that's what it says on Gene. Okay, but look it says people are saying that they hear is there something wrong with love? The biggest thing about this song is just like how disorienting kind of like those scents are. Yeah. It's almost like it's very trans-psychotic let it happen but this is to a higher degree I'd say especially since there's no lyrics for the first however many seconds 30 seconds or so of this song. Yeah, I mean it's like I don't know I didn't know what it meant and apparently Nangs is named for the Australian slang term Bricanus is filled with nitrous oxide a compound gas used in cars to boost speed and transmission or laughing gas. Nangs are occasionally used as a recreational drug in the United States where they're known as whippets. Oh yeah. I mean that's don't take that the wrong way I don't know a lot about whippets but I've heard of them. Yeah, I've heard that it was an Australian name but I didn't Nangs sounds like it. Nangs, yeah. Okay, so we can move on to track 3 I think. Okay. Yeah, so the moment I wasn't expecting a shuffle I always appreciate a good shuffle especially in this day and age Yeah, this is one that definitely grew on me because the synths on this one are very kind of like stabby I don't really know how to say it and it was always one I didn't really like that much but as I've listened to this album more and more it's grown on me and I specifically love the chorus of this song. I will say this after listening to this album I would say that I can tell you where the chorus is of maybe half of these songs. It's definitely experimental and like not trying to I think that's an interesting thing because like when we were doing the album history you mentioned that this was his effort to be a little bit more mainstream a little bit more poppy but like it's super experimental and I don't know enough of his other work to compare it to that but if this is his effort of being more mainstream I'd love to hear his other songs that are played on the radio and I think it's more just the sound of them kind of the production standpoint and everything but yeah I agree that even on the list I know the better like which we'll get to there's not really a set verse chorus verse chorus structure to most of these songs which is interesting which I mean that kind of is a theme yeah like it's very sudden there's not a whole lot of build up it's just like right out the gate you're in the song which it's kind of cool yeah and so thematically the moment focuses on going with the flow and living mindfully but with the added element of learning to be impulsive and make mistakes but Kevin we know you're listening please call us and let us know the reasoning you had behind this song yes we wanted to give him the interview after last week we wanted another guest but sadly Kevin Parker did not respond I think no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no 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