Hi, everyone. Deadthony Beattano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of this new Tame Impala album, Deadbeat.

This is the fifth full-length LP from Australian music project, Tame Impala, which, of course, is famously spearheaded by Kevin It's-One-Guy Parker: producer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter extraordinaire. A guy who, in the 2010s, through his talents and songwriting, was drawing quite a bit of attention to the bustling, psychedelic rock scene in Australia at the time through impressive and head-turning albums such as Innerspeaker, as well as the amazing Lonerism, one of my favorite rock records of the 2010s by far.

But as many as you already know, even though psychedelic rock may very much be at the creative roots of Tame Impala, that is not where the project would stay forever, as Kevin Parker's talents and creative ambitions would go on to push him into other musical territory territories, like on his 2015 album Currents, which came out 10 years ago at this point.

If you weren't around for the moment in which this album dropped, it may be hard to explain just how big this album was at the time. Sure, there were a lot of amazing and groundbreaking records dropping back in 2015. But Currents was truly a special one in terms of its really deep and interesting crossover appeal, because Kevin really forged a trademark and standard standout strain of futuristic synthpop on this project that appealed to pop fans, electronic music fans, rock fans, and hip hop fans alike.

After, following such a breakthrough commercial and cultural moment, I guess it only made sense that Kevin would go forward to embrace the more dance and electronic elements that were popping up in his music on currents because, I mean, again, that record was so huge for him, and all those sounds, all of those characteristics were the newest additions to the Tame Impala recipe. Maybe diving even further into them would yield even greater results. Which is where we got 2020's The Slow Rush, an album that, mind you, is the five-year follow-up from Currents. And yet it's a record that did not sound like it took five years to create, as at least to my ears, it sounded like a much blander and more hollowed out and more forgettable representation of a lot of the disco and synthpop influences that made Currents what it was.

I mean, even though the record wasn't complete trash or outright terrible, it was handily the worst Tame Impala project to date, and I was hoping that whatever followed from here would maybe turn things into a new direction because clearly whatever this is was getting stale here.

Now we have Deadbeat, and I got to say, what the..... What is this? I mean, at least now, I guess we have a new worst Tame Impala album, because even this record somehow makes The Slow Rush sound like this massive artistic undertaking. Because not only are, again, a lot of the super reverb-heavy mixes and dance music palettes delivered throughout this album pretty bland and forgettable, but when you're not getting that, many of the other songs on this record are just downright embarrassing in terms of their execution, their musical ideas.

But let's get into it.

The whole record starts with the song "My Old Ways", which is this linear, entrancing dance cut that is mostly based off of some straightforward beats, Kevin's lead vocals, a little piano line, some synth flourishes here and there, especially toward the end of the track. And while it's not a bad song, it's not a mindblowing one either. And it's one of a few tracks tracks in the tracklist here that doesn't so much feel like a Tame Impala original as much as, I don't know, Kevin taking a handful of random stems he was diddling around with in the studio, handing them over to a DJ, and then having that person do a remix around them.

Yeah, that's pretty much it. We're just doing dance music wallpaper off of stems. That's what a handful of these tracks feel like, be it this one, be it the closer, or be it the very lengthy "Ethereal Connection". All of which, again, are listenable, are immersive. But don't be surprised if when you put these tracks on, they fall very quickly into the background because there's not really a whole lot about them that demands your attention. If you're looking for dance music wallpaper, I mean, there's no shortage of places to go online to find exactly that. You don't need to go to a Tame Impala record for it.

But honestly, if the rest of the album were this forgettable, I feel like I would more or less be fine with it, because while, I don't know, it would be boring, it certainly wouldn't be offensive in any way. But quickly, we actually do start getting very annoying and very tedious on "No Reply", which features not only one of the worst and most repetitive and mindnumbing vocal melodies on the entire record, but also has standout lyrics like, "You're a cinephile / I watch Family Guy," as Kevin is explaining the quirky dynamics of this domestic love and partnership he describes, not just here, but on a few other of the record as well.

Yeah, I feel like the song is inadvertently what Animal Collective was doing during their Merriweather Post Pavilion period, but with all the fun and colorful ideas sucked out of it.

After this track, though, we do have the song "Dracula", which I do got to say, I think is my favorite of the bunch. However, I could see why many people wouldn't necessarily be riding for this track, because it does stick out in the album like a sore thumb with the instrumentation and lyrics being predominantly spooky and all. It feels like Kevin was trying to do an '80s synth funk thing that's maybe a little Michael Jackson-coded. (There's actually several key tracks on the record that are very Michael Jackson-coded. But seemingly, Kevin didn't really have the lightning in a bottle that he and Quincy Jones did when they were putting some of their best and most exciting work together.)

But yeah, it feels like Kevin was trying to angle for a track that people might put on their Halloween playlist that might some fall play every year. I also respect the fact that the track does, even though it is working with some different aesthetics here, still reinforces a lot of the album's themes around romance and love that's very close and familiar. It's definitely one of the more lively and fun and, again, eccentric tracks on the album, but that makes it feel like the odd man out in a way because no other track on the record hits this hard or is this playful.

Because this song also stands among tracks like "Oblivion", which is this weird forced Latin thing that is a complete headache. I get that Kevin Parker, through Currents and the way that Tame Impala so widely appeals, has gotten this sense that he can do and try anything and people will see something in it. But he is clearly not playing to his strengths on this track. This vaguely tropical beat with some of the worst and most annoying falsetto vocals soaked in reverb I have heard all year is just not it. Some of the vocal harmonies toward the very end are a complete nightmare.

After this, "Not My World" is even more dreadfully boring. The whole first leg of the song, actually, it just sounds like Kevin's putting together a demo, either that or it's LCD Soundsystem doing a really terrible Gorillaz remix.

Even more ridiculous and laughable is "Piece of Heaven", which is essentially Kevin doing this out-of-tune caterwauling over the bright heavenly synthesizers that you might catch during a peak commercial Kate Bush album. Add to this these weird arpeggios and boom-clap beats, and you essentially have this mishmash of several different aesthetics and ideas that just don't mix.

The song "Obsolete" puts on display just how weak and terrible some of the musical ideas on this album are, as much of the last leg is taken up by these really goofy, chromatically shifting licks and riffs that don't sound good at all. It sounds like I'm listening to some weird, bad, electronic prog rock band performed for the first time at a local bar.

By the time we hit "See You on Monday (You're Lost)", I'm just in my mind begging for the album to end, because the song literally does feel lost over these bouncing, bobbing, childish, silly synth lines. I feel like I'm listening to a bad Beach Boys demo.

Again, what is going on? What is this? How have we fallen this far? Again, there are so many tracks tracks on this album that feel like they took so little effort in comparison to so many of the amazing and well-written creative highlights throughout the freaking Tame Impala catalog up to this point. Like with four albums to reference back to, even The Slow Rush, Tame Impala has set a certain standard in terms of musicality and slickness of production, methodical assembly, aesthetic cohesion, and none of standards are being met at all on this album, even a little bit.

I wish I had more nice things to say about the album rounding this whole thing up, but I just don't. I feel like if I am to look forward to and review positively a Tame Impala album past this point, we're just going to have to maybe reset things and start from the beginning over again, and just figure out a new direction as well as just, like, start putting some more effort into the songwriting again. Because again, I just feel like this record is not it in the slightest, which is why I'm feeling a strong 1 to a light 2 on this thing.

Anthony Fantano, Tame Impala, forever.