exploremusic

“Solitude Is Bliss” by Tame Impala

When you name your band Tame Impala, you must really have had trouble coming up with a name. Really? A domesticated African antelope? And you’re from Australia?

Four people from Perth, way out there on the west coast on the Indian Ocean. Very psych-y. They were formed in 2007 and have been working on the dreamy melody thing ever since. There were two EPs before they released this full album called Innerspeaker, which (so the story goes) was recorded in a beach shack about four hours south of Perth.

If you get a globe, you’ll see that this is about as remote as you can be anywhere on the planet without actually leaving a continent.

Now you know why the first single is called “Solitude Is Bliss”.

“Summer” by Magic Kids

We’re gonna get a little magic for a couple of songs, starting with Magic Kids. They’re from Tennessee—Memphis—and are based around a core group of members who surrounded themselves with a bunch of friends called The Magic Kids Orchestra. See how you fare with a song called “Summer”.

“Casual” by Here We Go Magic

Now we have Here We Go Magic. They’re from Brooklyn and have a record called Pigeons. They’re pretty blissed out. Put it this way: they opened a couple of shows with Broken Social Scene and the pairing worked really well. You’ll know what we mean when you hear a song called “Casual”.

“I Go Away” by MNDR

Then we have MNDR. Obviously, the band has something against vowels. They are a German pop band with some heavy krautrock influences but with female vocals. That adds a nice dimension to things. There’s a mildly 80s song called “I Go Away” that’s pretty nice.

“Stranger Than Fiction” by Bad Religion

Finally, some Bad Religion. They’re celebrating their 30th anniversary together, so it’s appropriate that we look at something from them. Here’s a video of them doing a song called “Stranger Than Fiction,” the title track of their 1994 album—and their first on a major label. That was a bit weird back then. They founded their own successful indie label and then signed to Atlantic? Still their best-selling CD, though.