Alt-J - An Awesome Wave

The Tune for today is: 

Alt-J - Breezeblocks

She may contain the urge to run away
But hold her down with soggy clothes and breezeblocks
Cetirizine, your fever’s gripped me again
Never kisses, all you ever send are fullstops
Do you know where the wilds things go
They go along to take your honey
Break down, now weep, build up, breakfast
Now let’s eat, my love, my love love love

Muscle to muscle and toe to toe
The fear has gripped me, but here I go
My heart sinks as I jump up
Your hand grips hand as my eyes shut

Do you know where the wild things go
They go along to take your honey
Break down, now sleep, build up, breakfast
Now let’s eat, my love, my love love love
She bruises, coughs, she splutters
Pistol shots hold her down with soggy clothes and breezeblocks
She’s morphine, queen of my vaccine, my love, my love love love

Muscle to muscle and toe to toe
The fear has gripped me, but here I go
My heart sinks as I jump up
Your hand grips hand as my eyes shut

She may contain the urge to runaway
But hold her down with soggy clothes and breezeblocks
Germoline disinfect the scene, my love, my love love love

But please don’t go, I love you so
My lovely

Please don’t go, Please don’t go
I love you so, I love you so
Please don’t go, Please don’t go
I love you so, I love you so
Please break my heart

Please don’t go, Please don’t go
I love you so, I love you so
Please don’t go, Please don’t go
I love you so, I love you so
Please break my heart

Please don’t go, I’ll eat you whole
I love you so, I love you so, I love you so
Please don’t go, I’ll eat you whole
I love you so, I love you so, I love you so

Review by Jon O'Brien (all music)

Named after the Mac command also used as a mathematical equation to show change, formed while studying fine art at university, and prone to throwing in the odd geometric reference within their lyrics, there are signs that Cambridge-based quartet Alt-J might be a little bit too clever for their own good. Produced by Charlie Andrew (the Laurel Collective), their debut album, An Awesome Wave, is occasionally guilty of pretentiousness, particularly the irritating a cappella vocal warmup of the interlude "(The Ripe & Ruin)." But for the most part, its 13 tracks do for nu-folk what Everything Everything's equally ambitious debut did for indie rock, breathing new life into the genre with an intriguing but accessible series of art rock twists and turns. Indeed, other than frontman Joe Newman's impassioned -- if occasionally bordering on parody -- vocal style, there's little here in common with the tweeness ofMumford & Sons. "Tessellate" combines the glitchy electronica of Thom Yorke's solo career with the wistful wintry harmonies of Fleet Foxes; "Fitzpleasure" fizzes along with its dubstep-lite beats and acidic basslines before it's interrupted, first by a burst of jangly post-rock and second by the kind of shimmering guitar twangs you'd expect from a Tarantino soundtrack; while "Taro" somehow melds together the unlikely bedfellows of Americana and bhangra to produce a fittingly oddball but enthralling finale. It's toAndrew's credit that these eclectic arrays of sound are woven together in a manner so effortlessly that the results never feel forced or contrived. There are a few more straightforward moments such as "Matilda," a gentle acoustic folk ode to Natalie Portman's troubled character in Léon, and the sparse, haunting "Ms." But Alt-J's wave is far more awesome when it's at its most schizophrenic.

Tune the Album:

Tune The New Awesome Tame Impala Video:

Tune The Chosen Tune Playlist:

Tame Impala - Lonerism

The Tune for Today is:

Tame Impala - Apocalypse Dreams

This could be the day that we push through.

It could be the day that all our dreams come true.

For me and you.

Terrified me enough, just another day.

Ahh, you’re too terrified to try your best.

Just to end up with an educated guess, not success.

Like those times you wake up mystified.

Oh it feels so real in my sleep, never felt so good, so close I do with you.

Until the day this could be feeling, do you realise that I could feel it.

Everything is changing and there’s nothing I can do.

My love is turning pages while I am just sitting here.

Well, am I’m getting closer? Will I ever get there? Does it even matter?

Do I really need it? Wish that I’d remember and I’m on the outcome.

(This could be the day that we push through).

Did I really want it? Does it really matter? It was only yesterday….

(It could be the day that all our dreams come true).

Didn’t even know you… Now I’m going to miss you.

(Oh it feels so real in my sleep, never felt so good, so close I do).

Nothing ever changes, no matter how long you do your game.

It's the same to everyone else.

Everything is changing, I guess I should want my love.

But she’d just be excited

I couldn't resist the temptation to post a second tune:

It feels like I only go backwards, baby
Every part of me says go ahead
I got my hopes up again, oh no, not again 
Feels like we only go backwards, darling. 

I know that you think you sound silly when you call my name
But I hear it inside my head all day 
When I realize I'm just holding on to the hope that maybe your feelings don't show

It feels like I only go backwards, baby
Every part of me says go ahead
Then I got my hopes up again, oh no, not again
Feels like we only go backwards darling.

The seed of all this indecision isn't me, oh no
Cause I decided long ago.
But that's the way it seems to go when trying,
So hard to to get to something real, it feels

It feels like I only go backwards, darling
Every part of me says go ahead
I got my hopes up again, oh no, not again
Feels like we only go backwards, darling
It feels like I only go backwards, baby
Every part of me says go ahead
But I got my hopes up again, oh no, not again
Feels like we only go backwards darling
It feels like I only go backwards, baby
Every part of me says go ahead
But I got my hopes up again, oh no, not again
Feels like we only go backwards darling.

Review by Gregory Heaney (allmusic)

There's a better than decent chance that, no matter where you are, Perth, Australia is pretty far away, a fact that pretty much makes Tame Impala mastermind Kevin Parker an isolated pop genius' isolated pop genius. Working mostly by himself, Parker mines this solitude with brilliant results on Tame Impala's sophomore effort, Lonerism. Diving headfirst into the realm of pop music, the way Parker uses keyboards to explore more traditional melodies makes the album feel like the McCartney to Innerspeaker's Lennon, blending the familiar with the far out to craft a Revolver-esque psych-pop experience. This shift from the guitar-heavy sound of the debut to a more synthed-out approach gives the album a more expansive feeling, allowing Parker to explore new textures through layer after layer of melody. As withInnerspeaker, sonic architect Dave Fridmann handles the mixing, and though he wasn't involved in the recording process, Lonerism definitely shares the producer's knack for using the space as an instrument in and of itself. This layering of not just sounds, but environments, creates a serene and lonely patchwork of sound, texture, and atmosphere that's a pleasure to explore, offering something different with every journey into its swirling haze of classic pop melody and modern, more experimental, construction. Most importantly, the partnership allows Fridmann to help shape Tame Impala's wild, starry-eyed ambition into something enveloping and accessible, a trick he's performed for the Flaming Lips and Mercury Revagain and again. This combination gives Lonerism the best of both worlds, allowing it the creative freedom to emerge as one of the most impressive albums of the home-recording era while still feeling superbly refined.

Tune the album here

Checkout the Tame Impala website