What I've been listening to lately, #3

Proudly carrying the old-school-psychedelic-rock flag, Tame Impala is a quartet hailing from Perth, Australia. Few days ago I've heard their May 2010 dated debut Innerspeaker, and got stunned by the first listen. With echoing vocals, trippy drumming, and guitars immersed in the flanger effect; this is true psychedelic music. It is quite hard not to recall the Beatles of the late 60's, in their psychedelic era, when listening to Tame Impala. The frontman Kevin Parker's overall singing voice and pronounciation of certain words when singing, sounds a lot like John Lennon.

From beginning to end, Innerspeaker sounds like it belongs to some other decade. It's a nice thing to see a band stepping up, producing a certain era's music with a modern twist and hence drawing a unique path of their own. Nowadays there are numerous artists that label themselves as "psychedelic", but after listening to Tame Impala, I realized how the term 'psychedelic music' has lost it's true meaning. Just give these Aussies a listen. You won't regret.

Tame Impala is currently on a U.S. tour, supporting MGMT. A detailed tour schedule and more information about the band could be found on www.tameimpala.com .

A live performance of the track 'Solitude is Bliss':

Yourstru.ly Presents: Tame Impala (1 of 2) from Yours Truly on Vimeo.

New Klaxons video: 'Echoes'

The first single off Klaxons' Surfing the Void .

Klaxons are returning: 'Surfing the Void'

They were deemed as Britain's the next big thing in 2006, after playing to the crowdest audience the Carling Stage (the 2nd stage of the festival) ever saw in the Reading music festival's history, before they even released their debut. 2007 saw Klaxons release their debut Myths of the Near Future which earned them a Mercury Prize and kudos all around the globe. The music they were doing was something the world has not seen before. They were screaming, they were making references to odd sci-fi novels, they were singing about cyclops, half men - half horses, the mythical Atlantis, and they brought back the glowstick fashion. They amazed and confused people. NME went on to describe their music as "acid-rave sci-fi punk-funk", and perhaps made the most stupid remark of all times. But on their myspace page, Klaxons describe what they sound like as "When Buzz Aldrin returned from the moon and turned Muslim", which is not an orthodox remark either.

Despite waiting 3 years to release a follow-up to their debut, Klaxons never stopped touring and playing to diverse audiences. Last summer I had the chance to see them perform in Istanbul, Turkey, and even had the unexpected pleasure of chatting with them a little before the show. Really friendly and witty guys I should say. Playing, trying out their new songs in their live shows for the past three years, Klaxons are ready to come back with a brand new album.

It's called Surfing the Void, features an astronaut cat on it's cover, and is set to be released on 23 August 2010. The odd artwork suggests it's the same old Klaxons we should expect; which is good news. One little detail you should note is that Surfing the Void is produced by Ross Robinson, -who is mostly acknowledged for his work with the nu-metal band Korn- ; signaling that the new sound of the psychedelic rockers will be wilder and louder. And this is partially confirmed by the first track released out of the album, that has been spinning on the radio stations and other media for a while, which is called 'Flashover'.

• 'Flashover' can be heard on http://www.myspace.com/klaxons.
• An interview with the band about their sophomore effort can be watched here: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xdvgeh_klaxons-allomusic_music?start=73#from=embed

What I've been listening to lately, #2

You just can not go wrong with the Smiths. The best, and hence the most unique, British musical foundation in my opinion, The Smiths, a Manchester band, existed for five chaotic years. Their rapid rise in 80's dynamic Brit music scene was as phenomenal as their break up. Although followed by nearly all Smiths fans, Morrissey's solo journey had never been an epic one. Guitarist Johnny Marr produced music with numerous different bands/artists including the Modest Mouse - and most recently with The Cribs- but failed to establish a stable career. And after the Smiths, Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce, the bassist and drummer respectively, two specially talented rock stars back in the day, have turned into two ordinary people whom fans don't even care if they live or die. The bottom line: Smiths was an exclusive mixture, but without each other, components were too ordinary alone. Of course Morrissey's ego will never let him accept this fact, and it's quite impossible to see a Smiths reunion in the future. But I personally still admire Morrissey.

These being said, this 1995 release is one of the few good Smiths compilation albums. Definitely recommended to those who are anticipating a way to introduce themselves to the magic of the Smiths. It's a fair selection of top-notch Smiths songs, leaving some of the important yet controversial songs such as 'The Headmaster Ritual', or 'Suffer Little Children' out of the tracklist. Oh speaking of it, here is the tracklist:

1. "Hand in Glove" (album version) - 3:25
2. "This Charming Man" - 2:41
3. "What Difference Does It Make?" (album version) - 3:51
4. "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" - 3:35
5. "William, It Was Really Nothing" - 2:09
6. "How Soon Is Now?" (album version) - 6:46
7. "Shakespeare's Sister" - 2:09
8. "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore" (album version) - 4:59
9. "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side" (album version) - 3:18
10. "Bigmouth Strikes Again" - 3:14
11. "Panic" - 2:20
12. "Ask" (album version) - 3:14
13. "Shoplifters of the World Unite" - 2:58
14. "Sheila Take a Bow" - 2:41
15. "Girlfriend in a Coma" - 2:02
16. "I Started Something I Couldn't Finish" - 3:46
17. "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me" (album version) - 5:02
18. "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" - 4:02

Mind blowing 18 songs. I would only add two more to this list; 'Half a Person' and 'Pretty Girls Make Graves', two songs you have to hear next to these. All in all, a nice compilation I've been listening to for the past few days.