TAME IMPALA - LONERISM
INDIE/ART ROCK
SIMILAR ARTISTS: MAC DEMARCO, GRIZZLY BEAR
I haven't listened to this album in full until recently, and I'm not sure how I managed to avoid it for so long. I had heard and loved Elephant and Feels Like We Only Go Backwards, but thought the rest of the album couldn't stand up to those two tracks. I was wrong. The album is honestly pretty underrated in comparison, creating a really cool cohesive product full of the signature Tame Impala touch—spacey vocals, distorted guitar, synth, and drum work, and a theme full of social disconnect (it's all in the name, Lonerism is exactly what the album is about). Each track has its own little flair, and despite critics that say the reverb and distortion makes everything sound the same or fails to innovate, standout tracks with unique stylings and applications of the cohesive style are all over the place—even something like She Just Won't Believe Me, a minute long transition track/experiment a la Gossip or Nangs from their newer album Currents. Everything flows completely to create an emotional tapestry that only Tame Impala could create, documenting the feeling the title evokes—Lonerism. Feeling separated from everyone around you, and the paranoia associated with that feeling, and all the denial and questioning that comes with being on your own mentally.
ROSTAM - HALF-LIGHT
INDIE/POP
SIMILAR ARTISTS: JAI PAUL, VAMPIRE WEEKEND
This is one of the best albums I've ever listened to. An incredibly beautiful album full of amazing instrumentation from ex-Vampire Weekend member Rostam Batmanglij, perfectly complementing equally amazing vocal work. Everything about the tone and sound of the album is impeccably done, featuring some idiosyncratic drum and layering work that not only brings out every detail from each layer but also makes it impossible to catch each one of those details on first listen. Rostam's voice takes center stage on this album, performing every track, it seems, with a smile. That's not even an assumption—he really does sound like he's got a goofy and quiet grin on whenever he sings, and review of live footage has confirmed that he really does smile every single time. I guarantee that the album will make you smile too, both when you inevitably sing along and on first listen. In contrast, however, the songs that really bring out the sadness (EOS, I Will See You Again, Half-Light) do so somewhat surprisingly in contrast to the happiness of other tracks—so surprising it may catch you off guard, and suddenly without warning you've been bawling in the bathroom for an hour. An astonishingly beautiful album by an equally amazing artist.