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SoundsXP Presents

Pictures from some recent gigs we've hosted:

29 March 2013 - Brixton, London

Viv Albertine, VuVuVultures, Left Leg, Mickey Gloss, Big Wave, No Cars, Arthur Gunn, Simon Love (Pictures)

8 March 2013 - Lexington, London

R.Ring, Golden Grrrls, Slushy Guts and Equinox (Pictures)

On Our iPod

Parquet Courts - Light Up Gold (album)

Antony Harding - Why Do Birds Suddenly Appear (album)

Black Angels - Indigo Meadow (album)

Thee Oh Sees - Floating Coffin (album)

Still Corners - Strange Pleasures (album)

Savages - Silence Yourself (album)

Mikal Cronin - MC II (album)

Can’s Ege Bamyasi played by Stephen Malkmus and Friends(album)

Victoria and Jacob - Festival 7"

Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City (album)

Sauna Youth - False Jesii Part II 7”

Lightning Bolt - Oblivion Hunter

Robyn Hitchcock - There Goes The Ice (2x 12")

Latest Forum Posts

Album Review

Tame Impala
Lonerism Modular Records

Article written by Ged M - Nov 10, 2012

Lonerism sounds like a condition affecting Kevin Parker. Though Tame Impala is also a (big-selling) live band, the recording version is largely Parker, endlessly working and reworking his songs in Perth (probably the most isolated city in the world). But the music itself has an instant, attractive quality designed to win friends worldwide, even more than debut album Innerspeaker. This is melodic psych-pop, full of washes of guitars and heavy on the effects pedals but also heavily influenced by the Beatles. The spirit of Strawberry Fields lies heavy on swirly psych tunes like ‘Feels Like We Only Go Backwards’, while Lennon-ish vocals do battle with writhing keyboards beneath a fuzz blanket on the 60s-infused ‘Music To Walk Home By’.

Lest you think it’s simply retro, there are leftfield choices that shake your first impressions of the band. The album opener ‘Be Above It’ is a racing train rhythm strafed by wah wah guitars, with the title repeated mantra-like to hypnotic effect, while the final track ‘Sun’s Coming Up’ has two-and-a-half minutes of simple piano and voice before Parker employs a whole panoply of effects for a full-on mind-blowing closer. Between them comes the glam-rocking ‘Elephant’, a great rainbow tank-top and ox-blood-Doctor-Marten’s version of a 70s pop stomper and an instant classic.

It’s a great record because it doesn’t simply excavate the past but it gives it a brand new engine and wraps up the whole thing in memorable melodies. If the first album caught your attention, this one goes further and burrows its woozy melodicism deep into your brain as one of the best releases of the year.

Links:
http://www.tameimpala.com/
http://www.modularpeople.com/artists/tame-impala/48.html
http://www.facebook.com/tameimpala