The Zimmermann Note

Tame Impala – Innerspeaker

I can say this for certain that this 2010 release is the most recent recording on this list.

The Zimmermann Notes Note: I tried to avoid either more recent releases/purchases. Time is such an essential component to the album review and something that is quite impossible early on because it lacks a certain amount of context. There could be an entire post about this but if you do not let your opinions change then you are an idiot. I love the idea, for example, of someone telling me that they went back to an album that they initially thought sucked, and listened to it in it’s entirety again and came up with the same conclusion. If they were honest with themselves that there was a desire to check again to see if they missed something, i.e. when they listened to it the first time around that something was clouding their judgment. It should not be looked at as an exercise in futility and surely they are not pissing into the wind either.

The fact that this album made the list to begin with says just how much it has impressed me in this short period of time.

How does time make a difference? When I put together my best of 2010 listing this album was 11th on the list. Looking back at that list there are some amazing albums that I still listen to. Tame Impala was a grower, which as I think back upon it, had not as much to do with Tame Impala but rather a slew of amazing albums in 2010 and a debut album from a band from the land of OZ might not capture your attention right away. When the dust settled however, it was this album that I went back to.

I remember seeing the band at Lincoln Hall in 2011 and was blown away partly due to the fact that Lincoln Hall in Chicago is the best sounding venue that I have ever been to. I was particularly impressed however with a cover that they did of Massive Attack’s ‘Angel’:

When you put a psychedelic band onstage in an acoustically perfect venue the rest is history. Kevin Parker, the brainchild behind the entire band, found a way to make 60s psychaedelic music sound fresh. This is “Open Your Mind” music plain and simple.

The other important factor, and if you have ever listened to Sound Opinions is that they have a segment where Derogatis and Kot host “Rock Doctor” where they try to set up music for couples that have differing tastes. While we do both have our own interests there are bands such as Tame Impala and especially this album that we both thoroughly enjoy so this one is definitely wife approved.

Judging from their latest release ‘Lonerism’, Tame Impala could be the biggest thing that has come out of Australia in a long time.