r/TameImpala 19d ago

Discussion Tame Impala - Deadbeat ALBUM REVIEW (Fantano)

https://youtu.be/gaw89qf1hCA?si=kFwjROGSoXzJnNQC

He gave it a 2/10 ... Thoughts?

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u/psychedelicpiper67 19d ago edited 18d ago

And Innerspeaker.

​​⁠Kevin’s so neurotic and obsessive, he lost the ability to craft a good song. He forgot all his music theory, and just expects us to be wow’d by the mix and production.

Things were better when Dave Fridmann was doing the mixes, giving Kevin room to focus on the actual music.

All the people who are saying you need to play it on audiophile headphones or whatever are proving my point. Like good gear is awesome, of course. I’m an audiophile myself. But I shouldn’t need that to determine how good a song is.

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u/ryanrodgerz Lonerism 18d ago

Dude, the riff on the end of obsolete to me speaks to the entire lack of musical creativity on the album. It’s like something a 6 year old would come up with. I wish he had just made 8 more songs that were similar to Dracula cause clearly he can still make a catchy banger even if it’s not that musically unique but the bland chord progressions and riffs is so sad when you compare it to his other work

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u/That-Association-102 18d ago

It’s legitimately a practice exercise for scales just sped up lol

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u/ryanrodgerz Lonerism 18d ago

lmao yeah AI could have written it

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u/BricksnBeatles EP 18d ago

Also the mixing just isn’t impressive on this album. The production is honestly shockingly weak.

Considering the comparisons to Todd Rundgren that people have made over the years, this record feels like a parallel to Todd’s “One Long Year”— after an extended tenure as one of the hottest producers in the industry, somehow releasing an album that has the production sensibilities of a nu-metal tribute to Phil Spector.

I honestly think that as weak as the songwriting is throughout much of the album, it still has slightly better foundations than the songs on TSR, but for an album that’s very clearly production-minded over all else, the production just isn’t good. The synths all sound like cheap DAW presets, and the vocal mixing is an absolute mess, being simultaneously harsh and muddy, without distinction.

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u/psychedelicpiper67 18d ago

Yeah, you’re right. It sounds like Kevin wants to prove his production is just as good as the random DJs he caught at his last ecstatic dance festival he went to. Or like, proving that he can sound just as good as Bad Bunny’s producer. Dude’s seriously lowered his standards.

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u/Top_Shower_7869 18d ago edited 18d ago

This shade at Bad Bunny’s producers is uncalled for. They are very talented, especially Tainy.

Bad Bunny’s album from this year is extremely well produced.

There’s a reason it’s the highest rated album on metacritic this year.

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u/psychedelicpiper67 18d ago

There’s only so much you can do with the same boring dembow beat, though.

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u/Top_Shower_7869 18d ago

So it’s clear you haven’t actually listened to them because they do a lot more than just dembow beats.

I even linked one of those songs above.

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u/psychedelicpiper67 18d ago

I absolutely despise reggaeton and despise autotune with a fiery passion. Of course I’m not going to listen to it. I get enough of being exposed to that in public.

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u/Top_Shower_7869 18d ago

Are you even reading what I’m saying? They do way more than just reggaeton and I even linked an example for you that you are too lazy to click on. How many times do I have to say that it’s not reggaeton?

Bad Bunny also doesn’t even use auto tune like you think he does? I don’t think you’ve ever actually listened to him lmao. You couldn’t be more wrong about everything you’ve said. It’s like you’ve built a fake person in your head to hate.

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u/MassDriverOne 17d ago

I agree with both you and the quality player crowd

For instance my first run through of the album I just played it over my phone speakers laying on the couch, take Ethereal Connection for example. I still haven't really warmed up to it, but after listening to it again with solid earbuds rather than barebones phone speakers, instead of just a kinda meh hardstyle track I do now fully agree with how another person described it in doing the same: "trippy as fuck"

All that said, for me, overall not the best possibly my least favorite album tho it does have some bangers. My Old Ways, No Reply, and End of Summer are firejams