So the Australian psychedelic rock band Tame Impala came through. This is not normally the kind of show I go to, but my wife loves Tame Impala, and I had heard Innerspeaker, oh 600 times or so. It’s a good album of solid song writing, with a prevalent early psychedelic period Beetles sound, and reverby vocals and swirly guitars. On top of that, it was on 4/20 the stoner new year.
So we arrived fairly early, and had our three choices of wonder ballroom bars, the upstairs hipster Seceret Society (ugh!), the Under Wonder Bar (probably my choice), and the Afrique Bistro (no lines, because the food is overpriced and the service lackluster). We ended up at the Afrique Bistro, and the experience reminded me why the lack of a line is the best part about this place, oh and it repels hipsters. I ordered a Aviation Gin and Tonic. I like to order very simple drinks out, because most bar tenders can’t make a good drink, for whatever reason. It is hard to screw up a gin and tonic with extra lime. But the bartender, who was MIA giving bags to some homeless guy for 10 minutes, says they are a out of tonic, at a bar? Yelp reviews show this to be a common problem here. Ok, order some scotch, and get ready for the show.
We didn’t stay too long, and walked in during Yuck’s set. Now Yuck is some British indie rock buzz band that is compared to Dinosaur Jr. and Sonic Youth, two bands I love. First things first, are you really going to name your band something that has negative connotations, and in addition rhythms with both fuck and suck, as well as fucking sucks? Apparently it is ironic or something, oh so very hipster. Alright British hipsters, you do your thing.
Me: This band sucks. They are boring. Indie post snooze core?
My wife: That’s an insult to snooze core, they are just indie hipster crap
Yuck really was not very interesting musically. The crowd did seem to like it a bit, as well based on some applause. How this band gets compared to Dinosaur Jr and Sonic Youth is beyond me. Two innovative original bands, verse this forgettable poppy indie rock? They also had a "light show" that was down right awful. A white sheet hanging behind the band and what appeared to be some nice lights, but they were so close to the screen that the effect was really weak and didn't look good at all. Seemed like a light flail. My previous band Cloud of Suns put on a better light show for our EP release last fall, on a $100 shoe string budget. Soon, Fuck Yuck Sucks was over. I am sure Pitchfork (shudder) loves this band.
I grabbed my wife a beer and we headed up to get a little closer for Tame Impala. Shortly before the set started, I had an ear plug flail, where the filter for my fancy ear plugs popped out and disappeared, and no amount of searching turned it up. I must admit I was distressed by this with two heavy rock shows and Sunday night practice on the agenda for the weekend, I would be swinging the Tame Impala show earplug less. Tame Impala came out to cheers and launched into their first song. I am not really familiar enough with Tame Impala to name their songs, as most of my listening has been when my wife was playing the album around the house and in the car constantly when it came out.
In any event, my ears were thankful this wasn’t a metal show, so it was not insanely loud, even up close. What first stood out to me was the drummer. He didn’t have any overhead micing on his cymbals, just the mics on the drums and possible one on the high hat. The drums sounded awesome, and would be a theme of the show. You could hear the drums extremely clearly, and the drumming really drove the band The drummer’s name is Jay “Gumby” Watson, and he has a rock solid sense of time. Apparenetly there have been some line up shuffles, and Nick Albrook who was on guitar is now on bass, and the rhythm section was solid and sounded great all night.
But from here, I was less impressed (which did allow me to take some pictures ;). Now Tame Impala’s Innerspeaker is a production master piece, with perfectly balanced vocals and guitars, and a band sound that is clear despite the heavy use of effects. The live show just did not sound as good. The guitars were buried, not loud enough to be heard, and I don’t think I understood one word Kevin Parker sung all night. He had an entire table loaded with gear that he kept messing with, but the vocals came across as having a synthetic quality, washed out quality. And it isn't because Parker can't sing. He can sing, and has a voice many would kill for.
Kevin Parker was playing some sort of Stratocaster, and the other guitarist, Domimic Simper was playing what I thought was a black less paul custom, but turns out it was a Ibanex Les Paul Custom form the 70s I am assuming. Both guitars were running through effects I could not get a good look at, and vox amps. The guitar tones were muddy. That sticks in my craw. I like to hear the guitars. Parker was often messing around with his effect table.
Now the light show was pretty cool. They had an osciliscope displaying a Lissajous pattern that was being routed to various channels I believe. It was in time to the music, and cool and psychedelic. This was used pretty much the whole night but depending on the song, it seemed a different instrument was being routed, and hence a different visual effect. Now it does not take a lot of money to put on a cool light show, and Tame Impala's demonstrated what you can do with some creativity.
The music overall was solid. These kids are good song writers, and the live show had sort of a dance vibe, and the crowd responded by getting down, at least close to the stage, which is of course, somewhat rare for a Portland show. They played their hits, which I don’t know the names of, but I recognized the music and so did the crowd. They probably played a good hour and 20 minute set. Watson took the lead on talking to the crowd with some moderately amusing banter about how much the band liked Portland. Watson also announced that they were launching into the last set of music, which seemed to be a catchy arrangement of danceable numbers that had the crowd moving and celebrating the 4/20 new year openly. Tame Impala does not do encores apparently, and so the show just ended.
Overall I felt the drummer carried the rest of the band, and the guitar tone and vocals could use some work. These kids are young and the stage is a different place from the studio, but they need to get their tones in order. I heard a somewhat My Morning Jacket accessible vibe from these kids, with some Fleet Foxes sprinkled in on top of their clear Beatles/John Lennon influences. They got skills and will probably go a long way given all the buzz surrounding them. My opinion of their music was slightly degraded after seeing their live show. I guess I like bands that blow you away with the live shows. The show did not sell out either, so that says something.
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