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Music

Roll One Up, Kick Back, and Listen to the UK Exclusive Stream of Tame Impala's Third Record, "Currents"

Seemingly inspired by the Bee Gees and magic mushrooms, this is the band's most ambitious release yet.
Ryan Bassil
London, GB

To put it bluntly, the transition in sound on Tame Impala's latest record is down to two things: psilocybin and a pop group. “I was in LA a few years ago and for some reason we’d taken mushrooms", Kevin Parker recounted to the Guardian last week. "A friend was driving us around LA in this old sedan. He was playing the Bee Gees and it had the most profound emotional effect… I was listening to 'Staying Alive', a song I’ve heard all my life. At that moment it had this really emotive, melancholy feel to it. The beat felt overwhelmingly strong and, at that moment, it sounded pretty psychedelic. It moved me, and that’s what I always want out of psych music. I want it to transport me".

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The band's third record, Currents, is the group's most ambitious yet. In an interview with Grantland, Parker confessed “Lonerism is such an insular, detached album. I got that out of the way, and now I want to join the world". Written, recorded, produced, and written by Parker in Freemantle, West Australia, Currents succeeds in transporting the listener to places. It sees Tame Impala diving down the rabbit hole; through tunnels plastered with irreverent pop soundboards, emotional 80s balladry, and funk, filtered through a mist of psychedelic sheen. You've already heard "Let it Happen" and "Cause I'm a Man". Below is the entire stream of the band's new record, available for Noisey UK reader's ears only. So roll one up, kick back, set your phone on silent, and paddle through Tame Impala's latest record, Currents.