DOWNLOAD THEN SEE: Tame Impala

By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Nov 26, 2010 4:20PM

Tame Impala's strength is in channeling '60s psychedelia filtered through a thick rock and/or roll thump. You can almost hear the beads clinking in a doorway when they enter a room. But these Australians aren't a bunch of feel-good hippies, no siree. Instead there's a groovy brutality behind their sound. There's a haze of stoner smoke swirling about the songs, that's for sure, but there's also a hard bite in there, an unexpected twist or turn that keeps things from getting too comfy.

This isn't to say that the brand is menacing in the least, because they're not. But they do keep the proceedings edgy enough to keep them from falling into easy cliché, and when you're mining the sounds of the '60s and '70s like the boys in Tame Impala do that's no easy trick.

There's no better example of the band's many moods than "Runway, Houses, City, Clouds" off the band's latest album, InnerSpeaker. That song, and, really, the rest of the album, has been parked on our personal play list for the past couple weeks. The band is currenty wending their way through the states and stop in Chicago, at Double Door, tonight. Light up and meet us near the back of the room and we'll take it all in together.

MP3: Tame Impala "Runway, Houses, City, Clouds"

Tame Impala plays tonight, November 26, at Double Door, 1572 N Milwaukee, 9 p.m., $12, 21+