Innerspeaker | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 21 May 2010 | |||
Recorded | June–August 2009 | |||
Studio | Wave House (Injidup, Western Australia) | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 53:15 | |||
Label | Modular | |||
Producer | Kevin Parker | |||
Tame Impala chronology | ||||
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Singles from Innerspeaker | ||||
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Innerspeaker is the debut studio album by Australian musical project Tame Impala, released on 21 May 2010 by Modular Recordings. The album was recorded and produced by musician Kevin Parker at a remote beach shack in Western Australia during the summer of 2009, [4] who also wrote every track on it except for the interlude after "The Bold Arrow of Time".
Innerspeaker was acclaimed by critics for its reminiscence and reinvigorating of 1960s psychedelic rock. The album peaked at number 4 on the ARIA Charts and was certified platinum in the country. At the J Awards of 2010, the album won Australian Album of the Year. [5] It was recognized as the 83rd Best Album of the Decade So Far by Pitchfork in August 2014. [6] In March 2021, a 4xLP reissue of the album was released to celebrate the album's 10th anniversary. [7]
Tame Impala had previously released their self-titled EP in 2008 and single "Sundown Syndrome" in 2009. In the lead-up to the release of Innerspeaker, four small video snippets were released through their YouTube channel, showing them practicing the songs, "The Bold Arrow of Time", "Island Walking" and another instrumental piece. The album contains two re-recorded songs, "Desire Be Desire Go" (previously released on their self-titled EP) and "The Bold Arrow of Time" (previously recorded, but unreleased).
Past Tame Impala releases were done by Kevin Parker purely for his own enjoyment. Innerspeaker marks the first time Parker has "recorded something for an intended release. In the past [he has] just recorded a song, then done another two weeks later and eventually put them together." [8] While Tame Impala tour as a band, it is Parker's personal music project in which he writes and records all the music to. Commenting on this, Parker said "Tame Impala is just one sliver of the giant amount of noise-making that we do as a circle of friends. I don't feel bad doing the recording by myself because I don't expect that input in their bands...to us Tame Impala is just Kevin Parker's project and everyone has a project" [8] and "Tame Impala has always been a solo project. It has two halves: one half is the recording side which is very calculated and pieced together, and the other side is the live side, where we take what's been recorded and turn them into live songs." [9] Parker has been recording music solo for a long time, as he explains "I’ve always recorded music. When I was 12, I used to set up two tape machines and multi-track myself. First, I’d record a beat on the drums, then, I’d play that tape into another tape recorder while playing keyboard; then I’d take that tape and play bass guitar along with the drums and keyboard. I’d keep adding instruments. I did that for a long time until my dad bought me an 8-track, and then I continued recording music by myself, even if I was in other bands at the same time." [10] Parker's father "played a lot of music as a hobby" and was a "big influence" on Kevin. [10]
The album was recorded almost entirely at Wave House, Injidup, a beach shack about four hours south of Perth with 180 degree views of the Indian Ocean, [4] with "no internet, no phone reception and no TVs". [11] While it had been reported that Tame Impala were recording in a mansion, Parker ran into problems: "The mansion isn't really like a mansion to us, it's more like a big, wooden house; the roof was leaking and the power was so bad that it kept turning off and I kept losing drum tracks. I lost a whole day's worth of drum tracks one day while recording Innerspeaker. Sometimes the power would go off for a second, which was enough to kill off my eight-track, and I lost everything. We also had plastic on top of everything because the roof was leaking so bad". Still, he maintained that "it's the most amazing scenery [he has] ever woken up to" and that recording in the house was a luxury, with the scenery having a subconscious influence on the recording. [12] [13]
Recording started in June 2009 and finished in August 2009. [4] Parts of the album were recorded all over the house, with some being recorded on the balcony overlooking the ocean whilst the Fremantle Doctor blew towards the house. [4] Additional recording took place at Poon's Head Studio and at Parker's House. Regarding the recording environment, Parker said, "the idea of going to some flash studio where there's some stranger telling you how to arrange your song is pretty absurd to us". Consequently, the majority of the album was recorded and produced by Parker, with Jay Watson and Dominic Simper contributing small parts to the recording. [14]
Mixing began in November 2009 and was undertaken by acclaimed Flaming Lips producer Dave Fridmann at Tarbox Road Studios in Cassadaga, New York. [15] Originally, Parker had intended to make the entire album by himself, recording, mixing and producing it all by himself, but he ran into problems when he was "mixing it and couldn't get the sounds [he] wanted to." Parker wanted it to sound "absolutely explosive" but was not able to do so on his own. [16] At first, he was hesitant to let Fridmann mix it and was "torn about instantly handing over everything". However, he later concluded that "in the end, there's no way in hell [he] could've made the album sound as good as Dave [Fridmann] made it sound" and that his experiences working with Fridmann made him "feel like [he had] taken a giant leap forward as an engineer". [14] Speaking about the album's and Fridmann's slightly lo-fi sound, Parker said "it has a different emotion to it, it brings out a different feeling". [14]
Tim Holmes from the band Death in Vegas also came along during the recording of Innerspeaker to handle engineering duties, but was not required very often. As Parker recalls, "I told him that the Tame Impala set-up was pretty unprofessional and that there wouldn't be much for him to do. Tim was totally cool with it. He said he'd bring his fishing rod and help out when needed." [8] Parker later said, "He encouraged me to use some different mics instead of some old mics I was using, which helped a lot. I look back now and it was really invaluable having him there." [16]
Innerspeaker features album artwork from Australian artist Leif Podhajsky. [17] It features an image of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina, United States. [18] The original image has been digitally altered using the Droste effect in recursion to make it appear as if the image continues into itself, creating a distinctly psychedelic feeling reminiscent of Pink Floyd's album cover for Ummagumma .
Parker revealed his intentions for the album artwork: "I had an idea for the album cover but didn't have the graphic design skills or the resources to carry it out. It was to be a shot of some scenery where the features of the landscape repeat infinitely into the horizon. Leif Podhajsky is an artist we found who has an amazing eye for weird cosmic art. We'll probably ask him to do the next album!" [19] and "I think it's pretty important that you have the right image for people to associate with the sound. Especially the colours. With the InnerSpeaker cover we worked with a graphic artist for a long time to get the right shapes and colours." [20]
The album cover for Innerspeaker was nominated for an ARIA Award in 2010 for Best Cover Art.
Innerspeaker was released on 21 May 2010. Four singles were released from the album, the first single, "Solitude Is Bliss", was released in April 2010, second single, "Lucidity" was released in July 2010, third single, "Expectation" was released in December 2010 and fourth single, "Why Won't You Make Up Your Mind?" was released in February 2011. "Solitude Is Bliss", "Lucidity" and "Expectation" all featured music videos.
On 12 May 2010, iTunes accidentally made Innerspeaker available to buy immediately (not pre-order) and therefore it was leaked before the official release date. It was also leaked on the internet in poor quality a month earlier. Parker commented on this poor quality leak by saying "That was a real bummer. It was kind of bittersweet because I was glad that people could finally hear it, I wasn’t that pissed off about the sales or release or whatever, it was just that it was in bad quality from how it actually sounded." [21]
Originally, Parker intended for Innerspeaker to be a double album, but eventually lacked the motivation to make it. Many of the songs demos intended for the double album were later leaked onto YouTube in unmixed form. [16] An image in the Limited Edition version of Innerspeaker shows a drafted track listing, featuring titles such as "Feelin' the Dread", "I Know Where", "Dance", "Latenight Moonlight", "Pretty Song", "Stormy", "Funk Jam" and "Don't Ask", all of which have not seen an official release, which were possibly considered being released on the double album. [21] In 2012, Tame Impala recorded a cover of "That's All for Everyone" to be included on the Fleetwood Mac tribute album Just Tell Me That You Want Me , which was originally intended to be released on Innerspeaker. "When we made our first album our first idea is that it would be a double album and that it would finish with a cover of "That's All for Everyone". The joke being that we'd choose a song from Fleetwood Mac's double and use it to close out our double album, which was also our debut album. It never actually happened because we realized that making a double album was gonna be way too much work. So it was great when we got the offer to be included on that compilation because it meant we finally had a reason to record that song." [22]
The title Innerspeaker was selected by Parker, which was a term he came up with to try to explain the "feeling you get when you're at your most inspired, the idea that [a song] just appears to you vividly and if someone plugged a stereo into your brain they'd be able to hear it" [23] and also said "the songs come from somewhere internal, rather than slowly taking shape with a bunch of guys jamming in a room. One way of writing a song is that you've got an idea in your head and build a song around that. Another is more of a collaborative thing: It starts out as nothing and gets put together with whatever happens. This album was very much a case of the former; it's meant to give off the idea that the songs would be preserved." [10]
On 27 May 2011, Innerspeaker: Limited Edition was released on CD. This collector's edition includes a second disc, Extraspeaker, containing B-sides and remixes.
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AnyDecentMusic? | 7.5/10 [24] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [25] |
The A.V. Club | A− [26] |
DIY | 7/10 [27] |
The Guardian | [28] |
The Irish Times | [29] |
Mojo | [30] |
NME | [31] |
Pitchfork | 8.5/10 [32] |
Q | [33] |
Uncut | [34] |
Innerspeaker was released to critical acclaim, with many praising Parker's ability to put a modern spin on elements of 1960s psychedelic rock, creating a new and original sound. [32] The album was awarded with being the feature album for Triple J Radio from 16 May to the 22nd. [35] The album was nominated for a J Award for Australian Album of the Year on 26 July 2010. [36] At the end of Triple J's Australian Music Month (November), it was announced as the winner. It was also nominated, and ultimately won, the Rolling Stone award for Album of the Year. [37] It was also featured on the Triple J Hottest 100 Australian Albums of All Time in 2011, firstly being featured at number 18 in the list voted by Australian musicians and industry experts, [38] and secondly being featured at number 19 on the public voted list. [39] It was nominated for an ARIA Award in 2010 in the categories of Album of the Year and Best Rock Album and also for a WAMI Award in 2011 for Most Popular Album. [40]
Upon release, the album entered the Recent Releases chart on UK-based review aggregator AnyDecentMusic? with an ADM rating of 7.5. [24] Pitchfork placed it at number 43 on its list "The Top 50 Albums of 2010". [41]
All tracks are written by Kevin Parker, except interlude after "The Bold Arrow of Time", written by Jay Watson and Parker
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "It Is Not Meant to Be" | 5:22 |
2. | "Desire Be Desire Go" | 4:26 |
3. | "Alter Ego" | 4:48 |
4. | "Lucidity" | 4:30 |
5. | "Why Won't You Make Up Your Mind?" | 3:19 |
6. | "Solitude Is Bliss" | 3:55 |
7. | "Jeremy's Storm" (instrumental) | 5:28 |
8. | "Expectation" | 6:02 |
9. | "The Bold Arrow of Time" | 4:24 |
10. | "Runway, Houses, City, Clouds" | 7:15 |
11. | "I Don't Really Mind" | 3:46 |
Total length: | 53:15 |
Vinyl editions split tracks between sides as the following: tracks 1 to 3 (A), 4 to 6 (B), 7 to 9 (C), 10 and 11 (D).
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
12. | "30 Minutes with Mathew Saville" (Secret bonus track†) | 27:19 |
13. | "Island Walking" (iTunes bonus track†) | 3:05 |
† The iTunes version has "Island Walking" as the 7th of its 12 tracks; placed between "Solitude Is Bliss" and "Jeremy's Storm".
† This track is found by inserting the Innerspeaker CD into a computer CD drive, which takes you to a webpage featuring this track plus Live at the Corner and extra videos. It is an improvised jam session which features musician and photographer Matthew Saville on drums, with Kevin Parker playing guitar and Dominic Simper playing bass.
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Sundown Syndrome" | 5:50 |
2. | "Remember Me" (Blue Boy cover) | 4:22 |
3. | "Half Full Glass of Wine" | 4:27 |
4. | "Wander" | 5:14 |
5. | "Why Won't You Make Up Your Mind?" (Erol Alkan Rework) | 8:14 |
6. | "Lucidity" (Pilooski Remix) | 5:30 |
7. | "Solitude Is Bliss" (Mickey Moonlight T.A.M Remix) | 3:59 |
8. | "41 Mojitos" (Canyons Poolside Dub) | 6:20 |
9. | "Canyons Sunrise Reprise" | 7:45 |
Total length: | 51:41 |
The 10th anniversary edition includes new mixes and previously unreleased material. Side E (12 & 13) were mixed by Kevin Parker at Fremantle in 2020, Side G (16) is a collage of demos cut and pasted by Parker from sessions dating 2008–2010, and Side H (17) is a one-take jam at Wave House in Injidup, Western Australia, dating July 2009, with Kevin Parker on guitar, Dom Simper on bass and Matthew C. Saville on drums.
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
12. | "Alter Ego" (2020 mix) | 4:48 |
13. | "Runway, Houses, City, Clouds" (2020 mix) | 7:13 |
14. | "Why Won't You Make Up Your Mind?" (instrumental) | 3:19 |
15. | "It Is Not Meant to Be" (instrumental) | 5:22 |
16. | "Demos" | 20:43 |
17. | "Wave House Live Jam" | 17:37 |
Total length: | 59:05 |
Tame Impala
Production
Design
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Australia (ARIA) [58] | Platinum | 70,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [59] | Gold | 100,000‡ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
---|---|---|---|
2011 | Innerspeaker | Album of the Year [37] | Won |
Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
---|---|---|---|
2010 | Innerspeaker | Australian Album of the Year [60] | Won |
Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
---|---|---|---|
2010 | Innerspeaker | Album of the Year | Nominated |
Best Rock Album | Nominated | ||
Best Cover Art | Nominated |
Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
---|---|---|---|
2011 [40] | Innerspeaker | Most Popular Album | Nominated |
"Let It Happen" is a song by Tame Impala, the project of Australian rock artist Kevin Parker. It was released as the lead single from his third studio album under the moniker, Currents (2015), on 10 March 2015. The song centers on accepting personal transition, and was worked on in various locations around the world. The song runs at nearly eight minutes long, and its second half contains a section of the song repeating akin to a scratched Compact Disc, and stripped-down lyrics consisting of gibberish. It also has vocoded-like vocals in the second half, which were actually manipulated with a keyboard sampler. Like with the rest of Currents, Parker was the song's sole writer and producer.
Tame Impala is the psychedelic music project of Australian singer and multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker. In the recording studio, Parker writes, records, performs, and produces all of the project's music. As a touring act, Tame Impala consists of Parker, Dominic Simper, Jay Watson, Cam Avery, and Julien Barbagallo. The group has a close affiliation with fellow Australian psychedelic rock band Pond, sharing members and collaborators, including Nick Allbrook, formerly a live member of Tame Impala. Originally signed to Modular Recordings, Tame Impala is now signed to Interscope Records in the United States and Fiction Records in the United Kingdom.
Tame Impala is the second extended play (EP) by Australian musical project Tame Impala, released on 11 October 2008 by Modular Recordings. It reached number 1 on the Australian Independent Record Labels (AIR) Chart and number 10 on the ARIA Physical Singles Chart. Three singles were released from the EP: "Desire Be Desire Go", "Half Full Glass of Wine" and "Skeleton Tiger". All three received national radio airplay on the Triple J network. "Half Full Glass of Wine" reached number 75 on the Triple J Hottest 100. The song is also featured on the Hottest 100 compilation CD/DVD. It was reissued in 2013 as part of the Record Store Day with the track "Wander" making its first appearance on vinyl.
Lonerism is the second studio album by Australian musical project Tame Impala, released on 5 October 2012 by Modular Recordings. Like the band's debut studio album, Innerspeaker (2010), Lonerism was written, recorded, performed, and produced by Kevin Parker, with live member Jay Watson contributing on two tracks. Recorded mostly in Perth, Australia, and Paris, France, Lonerism builds on the psychedelic sound of its predecessor and features fewer guitars and more synthesisers and samples. Parker attempted to incorporate his love for pop music into his songwriting for the record through catchier melodies. Many tracks feature ambient sounds recorded by Parker with a dictaphone. The album's theme of isolation is reflected in the album cover, featuring an image of a fenced-off Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris.
Kevin Richard Parker is an Australian singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and DJ, best known for his musical project Tame Impala, for which he writes, performs, records, and produces the music. Parker has released four Tame Impala albums: Innerspeaker (2010), Lonerism (2012), Currents (2015), and The Slow Rush (2020). He has won 13 ARIA Music Awards, two APRA Awards, and a Brit Award, and has received four Grammy Award nominations.
"Sundown Syndrome" is the debut single by Tame Impala, released as a single in 2009. Its B-side was a cover of the Blue Boy song "Remember Me". The title "Sundown Syndrome" refers to a neurological phenomenon called sundowning.
"Solitude is Bliss" is a song by Tame Impala, released as a single in April 2010. It was recorded during the sessions for the Innerspeaker album in 2009, and released as the first single from that album. The single features artwork from Australian artist Leif Podhajsky, who also created the artwork for Innerspeaker and the follow-up Lonerism. "Solitude Is Bliss" came in at number 33 in the Triple J Hottest 100 in 2010.
"Lucidity" is a song by Tame Impala, released as a single in 2010. It was recorded during the sessions for the Innerspeaker album in 2009, and released as the second single from that album. The single features artwork from Australian artist Leif Podhajsky, who also created the artwork for Innerspeaker and the follow-up Lonerism. "Lucidity" came in at number 74 in the Triple J Hottest 100 in 2010.
"Why Won't You Make Up Your Mind?" is a song by the Australian band Tame Impala, released as a single in 2011. It was recorded during the sessions for the Innerspeaker album in 2009, and released as the fourth single from that album. The single features artwork from Australian artist Leif Podhajsky, who also created the artwork for Innerspeaker and the follow-up Lonerism.
Beard, Wives, Denim is the fourth studio album by Australian psychedelic rock band Pond, released in Australia on 2 March 2012, through Modular Recordings. Most of the album was recorded over two weeks at Zampatti Farm in Eagle Bay, Western Australia in April 2010, which is pictured on the album cover. The album was preceded by three singles: "Fantastic Explosion of Time", "Moth Wings", and "Mystery".
"Apocalypse Dreams" is a song by Australian psychedelic rock band Tame Impala, it was first released on 8 July 2012 as a promo single and first track released in promotion of the band's second studio album, Lonerism as the third track.
"Elephant" is a song by Australian musical project Tame Impala, released on 26 July 2012 as the lead single from their second album Lonerism (2012). The single features artwork from Australian artist Leif Podhajsky, who also created the artwork for Innerspeaker and the follow-up Lonerism.
Jay Wesley Watson is an Australian multi-instrumentalist, producer, singer and songwriter. He is best known as a touring member of the psychedelic rock band Tame Impala and as a co-founder of the psychedelic rock/pop band Pond, with whom he's recorded ten albums. Watson also records solo material under the name GUM and, as of 2023, has released six studio albums under this name. In addition, he sometimes collaborates with fellow Pond member James Ireland as the duo GUM & Ginoli, remixing songs originally recorded by a variety of different artists, and occasionally contributes production and mixing to the solo projects of fellow Pond members as well as other local Perth musicians.
"Feels Like We Only Go Backwards" is a song by Australian psychedelic rock band Tame Impala. It is the seventh track on their 2012 album Lonerism, and was released as its second single on 1 October 2012. The single features artwork from Australian artist Leif Podhajsky, who also created the artwork for their first album, Innerspeaker. In an interview with Rick Rubin on the podcast Broken Record, Kevin Parker said he wrote "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards" after being inspired by "Walk in the Park" by Beach House.
The discography of Tame Impala, a psychedelic rock project by the Australian musician Kevin Parker, consists of four studio albums, two live albums, four extended plays, twenty two singles and several collaborations and compilation appearances.
Currents is the third studio album by Australian musical project Tame Impala, released on 17 July 2015 by Modular Recordings. It was released by Interscope Records in the United States and by Fiction Records in the United Kingdom, while Caroline International released it in other regions. Like the project's previous two albums, Currents was written, recorded, performed, and produced by Kevin Parker. For the first time, Parker mixed the music and recorded all instruments by himself; the album featured no other collaborators.
"'Cause I'm a Man" is a song by Australian musical project Tame Impala, released on 7 April 2015 as the second single from their third studio album Currents. The song peaked at number 80 on the ARIA Singles Chart. A music video for the song was uploaded on 21 May 2015 on the project's Vevo channel on YouTube.
"Patience" is a song by Australian psychedelic music project Tame Impala. It was released as a single on 22 March 2019 through Modular Recordings. It was written and produced by Kevin Parker, and was his first single since "The Less I Know the Better" in 2015.
"Borderline" is a song by the Australian psychedelic music project Tame Impala. It is the third track on the 2020 studio album The Slow Rush, and was released as a single on 12 April 2019 through Modular Recordings. The song was written by Kevin Parker, who performed all instruments and vocals. The song was influenced by yacht rock and disco, and the lyrics explore nihilism and insecurity. It was debuted during the band's performance on Saturday Night Live on 30 March; Parker ad-libbed much of the initial lyrics since he had not yet finalised them.
The Slow Rush is the fourth studio album by Tame Impala, the musical project of Australian multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker. It was released on 14 February 2020. It follows the 2015 album Currents and the 2019 singles "Patience" and "Borderline", with the latter serving as the first single from the album. Rooted in psychedelic disco music, The Slow Rush received critical acclaim from music critics. On the top 10 on many record charts around the world, debuting atop the charts in three countries and as well as on the US Alternative and Rock charts.
With Currents, Tame Impala's Kevin Parker abandoned the more resolutely lo-fi aesthetics of his first two albums...