Tame Impala - "Deadbeat" (2025)

Kevin Parker, the mastermind behind Tame Impala, is self-admittedly a perfectionist and as fame and critical acclaim has come his way he has taken longer and longer to craft each new record. There was five years between Currents (which took him from indie darling to one of the biggest names in music) and The Slow Rush - which was itself nearly 6 years ago now. The Slow Rush era started with a bit of a sputter, with the original lead single, Patience, scrapped from the album and second single, Borderline, entirely remixed for the album version. I personally really like that album (and actually prefer it to Currents), but on the whole it wasn't met with the same rapturous praise that previous TI albums had been up to that point. In the years since, Kevin has been extremely active as a producer and collaborator, delving further into his dance tendencies working with Dua Lipa, Gorillaz and Justice just to name a few.

So it is not a surprise that for the 5th TI album, Kevin has gone fully dance and basically made a house and techno album. Aside from the hazy, reverb-laden vocals, the psychedelic rock and pop that the project built its name on has basically all gone. The first taste of the record we got was the closing track, End Of Summer. The song didn't have anything notably awful about it, but felt really bland and lifeless for a house track. It felt throwaway and uninspired, like something Kevin was just working on something and just wanted to throw it out there, not the lead single to a new album. Considering the false start to The Slow Rush rollout, I had hoped that maybe it was just a non-album single that wasn't going to be characteristic of the whole record; but then we heard Loser, the second single, and I started to sense that we were in for a real misfire. I like the first three seconds of that song, with its warbly, psyched out, mariachi-esque riff. But it is then repeated at nauseum for nearly four minutes with some really trite lyrics about being a loser ect. Kevin has a tendency to be indulgently self deprecating (why I'm not the biggest fan of Currents despite everyone else loving it), but one of the major themes of The Slow Rush was about Kevin accepting himself for who he is and to stop comparing himself to others about where he should be in life and how people perceive him. It feels like such a regression and also really doesn't do anything with the topic. Where Lonerism really delved into Kevin's psyche as an outsider, Loser just feels like him wearing it as an aesthetic despite him being incredibly successful and adored at this point.

Things improve a bit with the third single, Dracula - mainly due to it being more melodic and having a somewhat funky and fun bass groove. It actually feels like a complete song, where End Of Summer and Loser just felt like first drafts. However, it is far from TI's best, and does get a little repetitive over a few listens with its simple melody and kind of garish Halloween theming. The only other somewhat redeeming song is the opener, My Old Ways. The intro to the song is a very stripped back vocal passage from Kevin and stark piano riff, which is then met by a bouncy, danceable house groove that comes in at the midpoint. It hasn't got anything on any track from TI's back catalogue, but stands out by a country mile when compared to the dross on the rest of the album.

Deadbeat's biggest crime is that for a dance album, it is just so boring. It's instrumentally lifeless, and so poe-faced and self-serious. Outside of Dracula, it has no sense of fun. It's 55 minutes of Kevin moping about, complaining about 'how much of a loser he is' over washed out, greyscale beats with no sense of melody or groove. No Reply sees Kevin complaining about a mismatched relationship where he comes across as the loser in the situation. The lyric "You're a cinephile, I watch Family Guy" has already been memed on the internet for how dreadful it is. Everything about the song is so tiring, from the repetitive beat to Kevin's monotonous drawl. Oblivion sounds like a smooshy, reverbed to hell version of the Minecraft soundtrack with a beat under it; and Piece Of Heaven is the same but for Enya's Sail Away. The first half of Not My World is pretty boring, but then does layer up into more enjoyable dance groove towards the back end of the song.

While the album is initially bland and lifeless, but generally tolerable; it's at Ethereal Connection that it really starts to wear on me. The track is a needlessly long and uneventful techno tune with not a single moment of interest within its runtime. It kills what little engagement I have with the record and makes me want to turn it off before the last few tracks roll past and fail to hook me back in. Even the good TI albums can be criticised for being a bit too long, and Deadbeat really doesn't justify its length.

Everything about Deadbeat, from its name to its boring music and defeatist lyrical content make it feel almost like self sabotage. Part of me wonders if Kevin has subconsciously deliberately released a half-arsed stinker of an album to try and relieve himself of the pressure of expectations that his legacy has created. The drop in quality is just that significant and that weird. Kevin knows how to make a dance song, just listen back to Let It Happen, or Breath Deeper, or Neverender with Justice. I'm glad I'm done with this review, so I don't ever need to listen to Deadbeat again.

Top Tracks: My Old Ways

3/10

Little Simz - "Drop 7" (2024)

 

Little Simz is back with another EP in her Drop series, which sporadically intersperse her main LPs and are generally used as a place for her to experiment a little without the perfectionism and burden of expectation that is a common theme within her music. This one comprises of 7 tracks that incorporate techno, trap and grime with a bit of Latin and afrobeat rhythms - a stark contrast to the soul and funk instrumentals of her past few main albums. 

These tracks are all pretty short, with much less attention to detail than the lush instrumentals of SIMBI and NO THANK YOU. They're repetitive and somewhat hypnotic, and Simz' vocals and lyrics feel much more off the cuff and frankly background-y than the commanding presence she usually has. It's all a bit vibey and unfinished. I've had the pleasure of seeing Simz live a couple of times now, and I just can't see any of these tracks penetrating her live set the same way a couple of the tracks off Drop 6 did.

The opener, Mood Swings is definitely the most complete song on the EP, and midpoint SOS is quite a nice Latin meets deep house track that I can vibe to. The closer, Far Away, brings back some of the jazz and soul that Simz is more known for and I vibe with that also, even if its a lot more lightweight that I'd expect from a Simz track. 

Drop 7 is perfectly listenable but on the whole it just doesn't leave much of an impression. I would have rather this had spent a bit longer in the oven and had more of its own identity, because it is a significant step below everything Simz has put out since 2018 and I'm definitely going to forget about it within a few weeks.

Top Tracks: Mood Swings, SOS, Far Away

5/10

Massive Attack - "100th Window" (2003)

Continuing on with Massive Attack's discography into the 21st Century, 100th Window makes a unique stylistic shift for the group. The record came after a period of tension within the group, with only Robert Del Naja (aka 3D) and producer Neil Davidge working on the record, with no involvement from Andrew Vowles or Grant Marshall. As a result, the record is far less indebted to the sounds of dub, soul and hip hop than the group's previous albums, instead heading of the direction of ambient and minimal techno. The record is still just about trip hop, but as a sign of how different it is, the album contains zero samples.

What results is a an incredibly low-key album that feels very serene and measured. The tracks fade together, all occupying similar tempo, sonic pallets and tones. The Vocals in particular have much less emphasis on them. All the tracks have them, yet the only track where they really draw attention is Special Cases. Most of the time, they float about in an ethereal fashion, almost as if their purpose is to be an additional instrument rather than a lyrical focus. The tracks also feel very synthetic, with their emphasis on rigid techno beats. Take for example Butterfly Caught, a track which has these flourishes of strings as additional layering, but the core of the track (the repetitive beat and 3D's vocals) feel so mechanised and sterile. The best tracks have something to grab you're attention, for instance the aforementioned more intense vocals on Special Cases. Everywhen has a more organic feel to it; and A Prayer For England has a prominent, much more groovier bass guitar line which feels like it gives the track some more heft compared to some of the other cuts

The record has been great to have in the background while working, the tracks are busy enough to not feel like droning, but ambient and minimal enough to not be distracting. But unlike the rest of the group's records, I don't really want to listen to it while not doing anything else. It feels so sterile and passive. The cover represents the album well, clean, glass-like, varying shades of grey. It's like a brand new skyscraper in a world city; impressive and elegant, yet characterless and unremarkable. I'd say only check it out if you're really into checking out the group's entire discography, although the record still maintains a decent quality and the best moments are pretty good. It just feels a bit one note and uneventful compared to the genre-sprawling of Massive Attack's 90's work.

Top Tracks: Everywhen, Special Cases, A Prayer For England

6/10