In recent times, we’ve seen a resurgence of cock rock bands and glo-synth bands to dilute the predominance of Ikea-indie bands that just about threatened to overwhelm the music scene at the turn of the millennium. But when we’ve just about gone blind from flouro and deaf from the sound of air-guitar posturing, another old sound that has been insinuating itself into the collective unconsciousness has become new again. The word psychedelic comes from the Greek words for “soul,” and “manifest”. A psychedelic experience is characterized by the perception of aspects of one’s mind previously unknown. (thanks Wikki) So it seems that just when popular music has lost its soul, psych-rock bands come along to show us where it’s at.

Philosophical musings aside, Saturday night saw the launch of the Tame Impala EP with support from These Ship Wrecks and The Silents. All three bands have been bitten by the psych snake, and will take you on a mind altering journey when you hear them live. These Ship Wrecks get more impressive with each show they play, tonight they had a keyboardist sitting cross legged on the ground, because the tiny Basement stage really wasn’t big enough for all six of them. But then, the tiny Basement wasn’t big enough for the audience.

Sold out well in advance, people were pulling in all their favours to secure a ticket, and still there were disappointed people waiting outside, hoping someone had a spare ticket or a way to sneak in. The Basement might have been able to fit a couple more people in if they had stripped the punters naked and greased them up, and once the music began, no one would have minded too much either.

These Ship Wrecks were an excellent choice to start the night, putting the crowd in the right mind set by leading them through the fields and valleys, along the rocky crags overlooking stormy seas… You get the picture, right? Their music can tell any story you want it to, because while there are vocals, the words are indecipherable and whether this is intentional or not, it works well. After their support performance Saturday night, they are likely to have a flood of offers that will see them playing to full rooms more often, so if the idea of greasing up to fit into a gig doesn’t appeal, perhaps get along and see them soon.

The Silents have a different flavour, but fit in just as well, they are a little more garage, and their tunes seem to invite more participation. Their lyrics are clear, and they add a catchy melody to most of their songs, so that while you can lose yourself in the music, you never really lose the thread of the music, and it is easier to follow the thread back out when the song is ended. Perhaps we could think of the Silents as Psychedelic 101, a good place to start if you have been listening to glo-pop too long and need a re-education. It’s fitting, since these guys reintroduced the Perth ear to the genre several years ago, that they share the stage with the bands they undoubtedly influenced.

Like pearls before swine, the conversation overheard outside between sets was about how awesome some guy was at guitar hero, in an attempt to play down some of the best live guitar work we’ve seen in a long time. You can take an ass to water…

Gangly like the antelope, but not in the least bit timid, Tame Impala trod barefoot onto the stage while the audience just kept on squeezing themselves in until there was no way in hell that anyone was going to be able to dance, unless it was a writhing wormy mass type of dance where everyone moved in the same direction at the same time. Still, there was space for some slight head nodding and toe tapping, as long as no one got too carried away. (If the drummer looked familiar to you, its because he used to play with the Novocaines when they were Howlin.’)

Yes, Tame Impala are worth the hype. Absolutely.

True, their style has been done before, and done well, but not for a long time, not since the majority of us were able to go and see it live, so in that sense, it is something new. Besides, there were enough mature audience members absolutely loving it, that we can assume that the resurgence is welcome.

Thanking us for coming to the show, Kevin Parker expressed relief at being home after their tour, but if they were tired of playing their songs, they didn’t show it, except for the final song, Half Full Glass of Wine when they decided to switch up instruments with Parker on the kit, drummer Jay Watson taking bass, and Dominic Simper swapping to guitar. If any of them were uncomfortable on their new instrument, it wasn’t evident, all three played as if that’s all they had ever played.

Parker has a velvety voice, which is clear and easy to listen to, and surprising when he travels down into the lower registers effortlessly, showing off an amazing range. It’s possible that everything good has already been written about these guys, certainly all of the comparisons have been made, and so in the spirit of avoiding redundancy, perhaps a simple recommendation will suffice. Catch them when you can, they’ll be at festivals everywhere this summer.

Perhaps the musical flavour of the moment has to do with the availability of certain recreational substances, or perhaps the recycling of musical styles is a coming of age thing; what your parents listened to will govern what you rebel against and thus what you prefer to listen to, or perhaps it just took lovers of psych rock this long to get themselves into a position where they could influence what sounds get produced or promoted. Let’s just hope Modular takes better care of Tame Impala than they did of Wolfmother. Then again, these guys are from Perth, and no doubt they can take care of themselves.

Photos by DigitalJunglist