Playing Catch Up

Despite the fact that I try to listen to a bit of everything, there is just so much stuff that I can't get to. Now that's fine because a lot of music is obscure, and likely stuff I wouldn't stumble upon except by pure chance. But there's a lot of stuff I have to catch up on where I know of them but I've never actually listened to them. Acts where I know the names, but none of the material.

Today I'm going to share a few of my adventures with such acts. I'm giving you my first impressions and whatever opinions formed inside of me as I delved deeper into each act's discography.

Act 1: Tame Impala

Photo Credit: Neil Krug, Photo from Twitter

A psychedelic musical project that comes to us from Kevin Parker and an army of rotating live/studio musicians. Tame Impala's music has always been a lot easier for me to digest because much of it is very chill. I feel relaxed and in somewhat of a trance. That said it's not just stoner shit because there are a ton of times where Parker just absolutely pours his soul and goes into precise details about where his head is at. Tame Impala is one of the few acts where the first song I heard by them/him is the one that immediately clicked and made me go "YES!".

First Song: The Less I Know The Better

An absolute delight. The groove on this is tight, the locals are full of reverb but still present us with a great story about a dude in a bad situation regarding his relationship.
This is probably one of Tame Impala's best known songs and is probably a cliche pick, but I don't care this is absolutely wonderful and I think it's great that it's getting the attention it deserves. Even if some of that might be due to the meme where it's mashed up with SexyBack. The internet strikes again.

The Other Stuff:

Exploring Tame Impala's other works shows that there's a ton of it. In the early years he used a lot more guitar and instruments and though he still does, he's added more tricks to his arsenal since then and I think that's definitely made his stuff better with time.

But yes, delving into Tame Impala's work was a long time coming and absolutely worth it. I really do regret not diving in sooner.

Act 2: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard

An absolute must in the modern day indie rock scene. A genre that is super polarizing to me because for as much as I love acts like Modest Mouse or Now, Now, I cannot stand indie darlings like Arctic Monkeys or Animal Collective. I know it's not fair to immediately assume every indie rock band is going to be similar to each other, but I can't help that my preconceived notions present an uphill battle for a lot of bands to deal with.

Photo from Twitter

Anyway King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard is a seven person rock band from Australia. They've been making buzz with music snob circles (read: white people) for a few years now. With that much buzz this band has to have a lot going for it.

First Song: Cellophane

The hipster in me despises how I'm going with one of the most popular songs first, but I know that there's always a starting point and rather than starting with some obscure album filler, I might as well go with what's appealed to the public the most. That all said, this is a bonafide bop.

In fact this whole album I'm in Your Mind Fuzz is a gem. Lots of nice concepts lyrically going on and I'm just really digging how this whole thing sounds. It's very good and I can't recommend it highly enough.

The Other Stuff:

I'm still trying to swift through the band's other music right now. As far as I can tell a lot of it sounds similar, but there are enough twists and changes with each project to make sure that they're not just remaking the same song a bunch of times.

So far everything I've heard by them has been great. The best thing about them is that they're not boring. Their subject matter on any given song isn't boring, and they don't sound boring even on songs titled "Slow Jam 1". That's fucking quality to me.

Act 3: Lizzo

Photo from Twitter

One of the breakout stars of 2019, Lizzo is a rapper and songwriter who made waves with her massive hit Truth Hurts. Which brings me to...

First Song: Truth Hurts

This song rules. If there's a word to describe it for me it's confidence. This oozes confidence from a person who knows who they are and they are proud of it. And a part of that is making sure they don't have to deal with BS.

Of course being such a big recent hit the discourse around this song was prevalent and I'll never forgot how someone once said that the lyrics in this song are a neverending stream of Instagram captions. Be that as it may this still bangs. I'm glad it got as big as it did in 2019.

Other Stuff:

The thing about Lizzo is that she didn't just start performing in 2019, she's been at it for a long time. Truth Hurts is from 2017. Her debut album Lizzobangers is definitely worth listening to in my book, hooks for days in that album.

Also when she decides to switch it up a notch she can spit pure fire. I can't wait to listen to her second album and third album in full too.

And those were three big names I FINALLY sat down and listened to. I was not disappointed.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).