Words by Riley Fitzgerald
Graphic by Abby Gillard

With 2020 closing in, Australian music publication Happy Mag has compiled a list of 25 of the most definitive psych rock records of the last ten years.

And it may not come as too much of a surprise but Perth recording guru Kevin Parker’s Tame Impala and many of its associated acts have topped the list.

Ranking at #19 is Gum (a musical project of Tame Impala’s Jay Watson). POND‘s Man It Feels Like Space Again – produced by Kevin Parker – faired modestly better, clocking in at #8. Kevin’s ex-lover Melody Prochet’s Melody Echo Chamber – produced again by Parker – arrived at #3.

Tame’s third album Currents fell a little further down the list than POND and Melody’s Echo Chamber landing itself, surprisingly, at #10.

“Gone are the fuzzy escapades in exchange for kaleidoscopic synths,” writer Luke Saunders notes. “The question of whether this album is better than the others is beside the point as it stands completely apart. The loneliness is entrenched and the supernatural talent and obsession with making music perfect is clear as crystal. The production, songwriting, and vocals are nothing short of godlike and it’s all Kevin Parker.”

Tame Impala’s 2012 masterwork Lonerism is, quite rightly, awarded the number #1 place.

“Every so often an artist comes into a sound-world so wholly unique they electrify a genre and kickstart a legion of imitators,” Saunders comments. “Kevin Parker is one such individual… Lonerism is an aural masterpiece. From walking through a flutter of butterflies to charging down the barrel of an acid trip, it’s a ride that’s one of a kind.”

Tame was not without a degree of competition, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard‘s Nonagon Infinity and I’m In Your Mind Fuzz ranked #2 and #6 respectively.

While 13 of Gizzard 15 albums did it appear this may be no indictment upon the listmakers, were all of Gizzard’s albums to have been included they would very well have taken up the majority of the list.

Blasphemyously, Tame’s 2010 debut InnerSpeaker was entirely absent.

You can read the full list here.