I was gonna stick with the dichotomy of Kaytranada and RJA, but then the new Tame Impala was released and I was motivated to give it a listen right away, so I tacked that review onto the end. I don't know why I'm explaining this, it doesn't actually matter.
Released: August 15, 2025
Follow-up to: BUBBA, Week 51
I dunno, man. This sounds fine. Exactly what I expected. Kaytranada is obviously good at what he does. BUBBA was fine but didn't hit me at the right time. Timeless was fine but had me wondering if it's just not for me, this dance music. I think at this point if I'm not into these sounds, then I'm not going to change my mind by continually listening to Kaytranada. I'm here because RC stipulates that I follow up with all RC artists when they release a new album.
Even that artist decides to play a festival in a country that commits terrible human rights atrocities. Kaytranada's art feels instantly less important to me, if he's willing to forsake the art for a paycheck. Hope he and RC alumni Halsey and Post Fraudlone are able to buy those third beach houses. Fuck these losers.
GRADE: 0.5 pukes out of 5 (-1.5 from original review)
Released: October 3, 2025
Follow-up to: Don't You Fake It, Week 184
I dunno, man. This sounds fine. Exactly what I expected. The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus is obviously good at what it does. Don't You Fake It was fine but I'm pretty comfortable in saying that there is a limit to what I can tolerate from the pop-emo of my wayward youth. I think at this point if I'm not into these sounds, then I'm not going to change my mind by continually listening to the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. I'm here because RC stipulates that I follow up with all RC artists when they release a new album.
Except when the artist makes a statement like this. That is fucking great. Look, I absolutely expressed skepticism of RJA's Christian roots in the past, but these days, I'm a BIG fan of the small slice of religious zealots who are actually following Jesus' teachings by being kind to neighbors and are not falling for trump's ruse, which is antithetical to everything Jesus ever had to say. I might not love X's for Eyes (both for the music and for the incorrect apostrophe in the title), but I sure do love the fact that the person who chose the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus for Record Club is not allowed to go to a Red Jumpsuit Apparatus concert now. YOU GET WHAT YOU VOTE FOR. I'M VOTING FOR RJA.
I do wonder if I didn't mind this album simply because of the outspoken politics thing, or if it's actually pretty okay. Maybe a little of both.
I do wonder if I didn't mind this album simply because of the outspoken politics thing, or if it's actually pretty okay. Maybe a little of both.
GRADE: 3 pukes out of 5 (same as original review)
Released: October 17, 2025
Follow-up to: The Slow Rush, Week 69
Okay, so, what, Tame Impala is just Kevin Parker's electronica project now? Half of this sounded like the muzak that film studio corporations would make to soundtrack the scene in which the protagonist is trying to find someone in a crowded club even though he has never been to a club like this and it's industrial underground basement thing and the strobe lights are going and the love interest is dancing seductively because she is high on illicit substances. The other half sounds like Kevin Parker is trying to be the dirty hippie gringo Bad Bunny.
I wasn't going to review this thing right away, but then I had a shift that went till midnight, just when Deadbeat was being released, and by the time I got into bed, there were like 600 comments on the r/indieheads thread about the album's release, and most of them were saying that it sucks shit. I think it does. But I don't think that it's that bad for what it's trying to be. Indieheads just doesn't like what it's trying to be, which is okay too. It's definitely not a rock band anymore, which is disappointing. As electronic dance music, it's fine. But it has no business being played on XPN as much as it has been.
I've always been a skeptic of Tame Impala. You know how you can tell when a band is mediocre? When you tell 100 fans to play their best song, and all of them play the same song. "Let It Happen" is the only Tame Impala song that has ever mattered, and that makes this band dreadfully boring. And the farther Parker moves Tame Impala away from "Let It Happen," the worse it gets. Feels unfair, in a way. Oh well.
GRADE: 1.5 pukes out of 5 (-1.0 from original review)
NEXT TIME: Let's try to clear the board a bit. I'm committed to short reviews for new albums by Surfaces, OK Go, BIG|BRAVE, Willie Nelson, Erika de Casier, Maren Morris, Burna Boy, Lord Huron, We Are Scientists, Ethel Cain, Young Thug, Of Monsters and Men, and Florence + the Machine.
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