I mean, that's kind of one of the whole things of it, being at peace with the idea of people hating it. PARKER: I realized I wanted to have that kind of attitude in the studio, like, “Fuck yeah, we’re doing this!” And not, like, doubting everything constantly, going like, “Let’s not try this,” or, “Let’s not go ’til five in the morning.” Like fuck it! It's a little bit daunting because I never consider my music as something that needs to be performed live for it to fulfil its potential. And she said, 'You fucking said that last time'. STEREOGUM: They so clearly had just re-created “The Less I Know The Better.” Had they approached you, and you turned them down? He’s just really into what he does and is so dedicated. The Slow Rush is released worldwide in 14 February. Him being my father, I worshipped the ground he walked on, I never assumed that he could ever put a foot wrong because he was my dad. I just set up a 707 drum machine and I just hit record because I was testing out this new tape machine that I had. And so the difference between the best person in the world and a total novice is just where you decide to put those kick drums and those snares. The tour was nice and all, but shouldn't Parker be in the studio? “I was gonna call you back, I swear.” [Laughs], PARKER: Around that time everything was new. I really wanted to have [the album] finished for that touring season but it was wrong of me to choose timing over quality. They're not asking for it, but you are able to give it. STEREOGUM: You have a writing credit on this song, but as with so many Kanye tracks, there are so many people credited that it’s hard to know who did what. When I'm kind of uncomfortable, that's when I think of melodies. So if I were the Strokes I might go, “Hey.” But the reason it sounded like me is because it’s the art form, making a knockoff of the song and making it sound as much like the song you’re trying to knock off as you can without it being a copyright infringement. PARKER: It was great. Yeah. I knew I had to do it that way. テーム・インパラ (Tame Impala) は、オーストラリアのミュージシャン、ケヴィン・パーカー（Kevin Parker)によるサイケデリック ミュージック プロジェクトである [1]。ケヴィン・パーカーによるソロプロジェクトではあるが、ライブではバンド編成で演奏される。 I’m joking, obviously. PARKER: Mark was producing the album, so he’s not into that as a format anyway. It’s everything. But even at larger scales, you can sense his aura. The last sort of two or three weeks of making the album was just nonstop. Tame Impala Interview: The majestic new album The Slow Rush sees Kevin Parker absorbing sounds and production techniques from everything available to him… The majestic new Tame Impala album The Slow Rush sees Kevin Parker absorbing sounds and production techniques from everything available to him. Yeah, he just got in touch and asked me to do something. He still does. "I … The most important stories and least important memes, every Friday. Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker Kevin Parker’s Approach to Tame Impala’s Drum Production The Earth Is a Drum 9 Reasons to Love Narada Michael Walden Jerry Granelli Aynsley Dunbar Nick D’Virgilio – An Invisible Touch Joe Wong We did a bunch of stuff, but as with all things, I’m not sure if any of that will surface. I got the awesome opportunity to talk to our boy Cam all about his new EP! But I know that as soon as I do play it to someone my expectations will lower a bit. Kevin Parker's fourth album is his best – and most painful – yet. In a decade, the psychedelic rock torchbearer and musical flagship of Perth, Australia, polymath Kevin … And we programmed a bunch of other stuff. STEREOGUM: How did John Mayer become involved in the SNL appearance? Everything we were doing was a new experience. It was more just like, 'I'm just gonna do this because it seems like a good idea'. In March, when it became clear most people around the world would have to hole up for a while to combat the spread of COVID-19, the Tame Impala mastermind and his wife, Sophie Lawrence, were faced with a significant decision: Stay in LA or make a break for Parker’s native Perth? In hindsight, he even regretted putting those singles out. It’s kind of like ever since then, now I see that as like the ultimate studio environment. Because there’s zero second guessing. So it just reminded me of all the people that I never got back to [Laughs]. He knew early, too, that he wanted to do everything himself. Parker has the ability to induce a kind of collective mania which makes you doubt the veracity of your memories. ‘Cause his first lyric is like, “You’re calling my phone thinking I’m doing nothing better, I’m just waiting for it to stop ringing so I can use it again,” which I thought was hysterical. You have to shake the snow globe up. But it’s the kind of thing where we were always going to be musical buddies. It was almost like karaoke. "There's no one in the world that I've felt as creative with as I do when I'm alone". It's important that they disagree with it. Converting something that I do by myself into something that five people stand on stage and perform in front of people is fun. But the thing is I'll do whatever it takes to get to a spot where I feel like the music I'm making is inspired. There's no one in the world that I've been around with where I've felt as creative as I do when I'm alone. Not like a beat like a rhythm, but like where to hit and where not to hit. That sounds depressing but it's not". I’m honestly not a great singer, but I do what I have to do to make it sound good. I never have. He is a sought-after collaborator who literally cannot write music with anyone else in the room. I think that song started out as something completely different that he was working on, which me and a friend programmed the drums for. Which is obviously never true. And I met him really briefly at a festival in, I think it was Belgium, just recently, which was a trip because I’d always wanted to meet Mike Skinner. Oh, and what kind of kick drum you use, obviously. I honestly believe that. To be honest, this is another thing that I dragged myself kicking and screaming into doing. What was your contribution? There’s some bits and pieces on top of it that I played, which was funny because I hadn’t played along to a recording of that song since InnerSpeaker, which was like 2010. Not if I'm feeling good about it. I played some kind of synth on it, I think. I just thought it was hilarious. It was still fun, though. We would literally be hanging out in our backyard listening to old music constantly. PARKER: At the end of the day, it’s the same. Choosing what rhythms to play. And the more albums [I make], I realise how important that kind of shaking it up is. From about midnight to eight am was when I completed the rest of the song which was writing, recording and mixing. And I guess it proved to myself that I care that much about my albums, because of how much I wanted to have an album finished by then. My manager reminded me just the other day, actually, when I was finishing up this album. I heard a soundalike of “Someday” by the Strokes on the new Ricky Gervais After Life trailer. I was working on a bunch of stuff, just kind of playing some clips of music that I had. I kind of jam with myself all the time in the studio. Just appreciating myself as an artist, which is something I didn't do. STEREOGUM: Before this Saturday Night Live performance you worked on Travis Scott’s Astroworld album. Because it's just them caring about you. It was still just like all he wanted to do was make an awesome album. STEREOGUM: A few years ago Triple J sent a Kevin Parker impersonator to the red carpet at the ARIAs. [5] In the recording studio, Parker writes, records, performs, and produces all of the project's music. You know? And then I walk offstage feeling like a pop star in the best possible way. How different was the creative process from your own? So playing my music other people is kind of a process of bringing the song back down to earth. And I used to be the biggest Streets fan. It's a song for the sake of the song right, you know? And it makes all the difference. "I thought it was totally slamming hip hop, boom-crack drums," he says. STEREOGUM: One of your other biggest crossovers into the pop realm was when Rihanna covered your song. It was. And then a short while after that I just decided to not get hung up about it. That was one of the first big mainstream pop things you worked on. “The music sounds like a band, which I … Rather than not go outside, I went, OK, I'll go to the shops or try and do some grocery shopping. Did you get starstruck back in those days being around celebrities? Tame Impala im Interview: Ein notorischer Einzelgänger reift zum Popstar Simon Ackers 14.02.2020 "Bringen Sie die verdammten Impfstoffe JETZT" "Unter uns"-Star Benjamin Heinrich: 2. PARKER: He actually made contact a lot sooner. But yeah, Rocky came through a few days before, and it was such a good vibe. It's how he writes all his music: first, inspiration; then what can seem like an endless process of reshaping until the corporeal thing is close enough to the imaginary thing. STEREOGUM: When you’re programming drums for a rap record, do you approach it differently than if you’re working on a Tame Impala record? But it also led to a strange relationship with creativity. I wasn’t posting it because I was like flagging it for everyone, like trying to rally up support. PARKER: No, I think she was in quite a hurry to finish her album. That’s the difference it comes down to. He likens it to Lego, the idea of "creating something from nothing." Not at all. "In a way, from the moment I think of a song, it's just a series of letdowns.". Take 'Let It Happen', the breakout single from his breakout 2015 album, Currents. But I know in my heart that the music would suffer. The only people we knew were, like, Noel Fielding and, I dunno, Kings Of Leon or something. Which is what makes it difficult". STEREOGUM: With “Sundress,” was that strictly a sample, or did you have some creative input on that track? You could probably mark quite clearly where I started learning drums because I stopped playing with Lego. We knew who people were. I just suggest something on a whim and it happens. That’s kind of just how I want to approach it, just not being self-aware. I know producers release their stems and say, “OK, remix my shit,” but when you talk about “stems printing” — I didn’t realize that’s something that could be high or low quality. At the precise moment a young man's social world is meant to expand, Parker had his ripped away. I feel like my perspective of being in the studio changed after that. My feelings in that song are not how I feel every day. But like I said, me playing my music to other people is a time of the sun coming back down to earth. So I just sang the first thing that came to my mind. Because we get together and I can sometimes just be in a giggly mood because I'm hanging out with Mark. Which can go catastrophically wrong. the AU review sits down in the Austin Airstream at Austin City Limits (ACL) 2013 with Kevin Parker from Perth's Tame Impala. He wrote every chord, recorded every hi hat, mixed every vocal line. Ultimately, they opted to quarantine Down Under. Exactly. Now Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker has weighed in, and he’s a fan. But you could have that. Like they found a picture of Kevin Parker and it was that guy. PARKER: I guess I was just using all my producer power to make us, a rock band, not sound like a rock band. ", Back to the studio it went, to be reworked, polished, remixed and remastered, until he got it close enough to the platonic version that existed in his brain. I find that slightly surprising, because there's definitely a disco, dancefloor feel in The Slow Rush. Alongside his own band’s accomplishments, he’s become an in-demand producer frequently tasked with lending his unique sensibility to songs by A-list pop and rap stars. I was in shock. Like when A$AP Rocky got in touch the first time, I didn’t know who he was. That's seven months after your Coachella slot. It's different every time. Has success brought more confidence or do you worry about how things are going to be received? That’s why I like hip-hop so much, and that’s why I find hip-hop so intriguing, the way it’s made. A band, in the time-honoured meaning. And, duly, two singles arrived: blissed-out funker 'Patience', and 'Borderline', which sounded like ELO covering Pharrell. There's a part of me that wants to run back to the dressing room and there's another part that's like, 'Come on, Kev', just dragging myself on stage. But none of them, really. PARKER: No, they were just doing a soundalike. [Laughs] I don’t know, I don’t know. And then fuckin’ two months later he was at my house in LA, shooting a video! If you play that, there’s a soundalike of “Someday” in there. It was quite abrupt.". At the end of the day, I think it was right at the time when SZA’s career was taking off. Mark is someone I've been super close with for a long time now, so it's much easier for me, but the big difference is because I've never been able to separate creative time from social time, I know that I piss Mark Ronson off sometimes. Matt Fink ( Under the Radar ): The last time I talked to you, you explained that your songwriting process eventually breaks down over minute details that most listeners will never even be able to hear. That sounds really depressing but it's not.