Frankie - Tame Impala: Currents
Sometimes I look at how much my record collection has grown in the past year or so that I smile thinking of those first few albums that I picked up to kick it off. Namely, my Tame Impala album Currents has become a go to album that is irreplaceable in my collection. It is both an album I can focus in on and get lost in the intricacies of the songs, while dancing my little heart out, and something I can put on quietly while I work or have guests over and it acts as a soundtrack to whatever I am doing. The first Tame Impala song I ever heard was obviously “The Less I Know The Better” and I get excited every time the tune catches my ear. Tame Impala has a unique way of blending melancholy lyrics with this pulsing, future disco sound that makes you want to dance and cry at the same time.
Currents came out in 2015; I remember first hearing “The Less I Know The Better” when someone way cooler than me put it on the radio at my job and I was an instant fan. I specifically remember tweeting the opening lyrics “Someone said they left together/ I ran out the door to get her/ She was holding hands with Trevor/ Not the greatest feeling ever/ Said, "Pull yourself together/ You should try your luck with Heather"/ Then I heard they slept together/ Oh, the less I know the better” and simultaneously confusing every Trevor I know, which there are quite a few. The year of it’s release, Currents won an ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Award) for Best Rock Album and Album of the year in its home country, and in 2016 it was nominated for the Grammy in Best Alternative Music Album, to which it lost to Alabama Shakes. In 2017, main member and songwriter Kevin Parker released Currents B-sides and Remixes EP which included 3 new songs that didn’t make the initial cut for the album. The first time “List of People (To Try to Forget About)” I was dumbfounded that it hadn’t secured a spot on the album; the song blew me out of the water.
I believe I picked up Currents from the record store Haffa’s in Athens, Ohio, along with several other albums on a binge-shopping trip. I think no matter how large my collection grows it will always be an album I will return to.
Michael - Maggie Rogers: Heard it in a Past Life
This week I chose to talk about the most recent addition to my record collection, Maggie Rogers, Heard it in a Past Life. I feel like I have been waiting an eternity for this album to come out. I tried to go to a couple of local record shops the week of its release to pick up a copy but there weren't any available. I looked on Amazon and they were already sold out and wouldn't be shipping until mid-February. I decided to keep checking back at Amazon because you never know. The other day a "used" copy came up with two-day shipping and I immediately pounced. It came today and turns out it was brand new!
I have been talking up this album since it came out, it may just stay as my album of the year for 2019 and it's only January! Though I should say Better Oblivion Community Center's new album is fantastic. Anyway, back to Maggie Rogers. Not only are the songs on the album incredible, you just get the sense from an outside perspective that she's a good person who is genuinely grateful for all the things that are happening in her life. It's cool to see someone so gracious.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, Rogers has the crossover potential to draw both alt and mainstream crowds, as evidenced by the massive success of Heard it in a Past Life. It is also evident in her sound. I am so excited to add this debut to my record collection and so excited to see where Rogers goes from here. You should be too.