Synthesis!
Coming from more traditional Rock/Punk roots, the main bands i've listened to that use synths are more old school and it's never really been my favourite part of a mix.Lately as i've learned more about the way Synth works i've started to see their value and and enjoy playing around with them.
For this weeks blog i'm going to be talking about my hometown boys Tame Impala, because they are the only synth heavy band i've listened to a lot of! Kevin Parker, the singer/songwriter for Tame Impala uses alot of 60s and 70s inspired psychedelic synths to create dreamy layers over old style Beatles pop bass and drum grooves. Though in their earlier albums, the synths are more of an companion to the guitar which is more of the foundation of the song. As their careers have progressed, Synth has become much more the foundation of the songs.
Kevin Parker uses a Roland Juno 106 Synthesiser and a Moog Sub Phatty 25-Key Analog Synthesiser (Hawkins, 2017) to create his dreamy pop synth sounds. It's also worth mentioning his guitar tone, and how similar he can make it sound to a synth. He even has a Squier Jazzmaster fitted with a Roland synth pickup, which helps make his synth sounds on their latest album Currents. My knowledge on the synth is rather limited while the sounds on the Tame impala records can vary quite alot, while always retaining their style, i wouldn't be able to comment on how they are achieved, only that they sound great!
This song is probably my favourite Tame Impala song off their album Lonerism which was released in 2012. The guitar driving this song is such a nod along riff, the synths come in at 1:14 and just jam until 2:50.
on the latest album currents Kevin has gone more down the path of old dance music grooves with old hip hop kind of beats, with the synth as the heavy rhythm.
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