Dylan Jones: Man about town
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Occasionally – very occasionally, mind – a group's self-awareness is acute. The Pet Shop Boys always had a keen sense of themselves, probably because they didn't become famous until they were approaching their thirties.
Tame Impala hail from Perth, in Western Australia, and perhaps have the distance to know exactly who they are. They describe themselves as a band that makes "steady-flowing psychedelic hypno-groove melodic rock music that emphasises dream-like melody" (music which sits on the edge of ethereal "dream pop").
They formed in 2008, and owe rather a lot to the half century of pop that came before them. And even though they come from Perth, the most isolated city in the world, they appear to have heard most of the good stuff they came in the wake of. "I can't stress enough how insignificant Tame Impala is," said band leader Kevin Parker a few weeks ago. He created Impala's 2010 debut, Innerspeaker, largely by himself – writing, playing and eventually recording himself at a house near Perth.
Tame Impala sound like the Grateful Dead might have sounded if they'd been born in Japan, hired George Harrison as a singer, Burt Bacharach as a songwriter and George Martin as their producer. And then formed a supergroup with Big Star. Oh, and then spent a month in Ibiza with a bunch of Spiritualized and Air CDs.
Miles from civilisation? Well, while their music is a weird, if oddly topical, mix of the old and the new, Innerspeaker's cover is about as zeitgeisty as possible, looking not a little like Arcade Fire's The Suburbs. Self-awareness in excelsis.
Dylan Jones is the editor of 'GQ'
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments