Live Review: LISTEN: Tame Impala 'Elephant' (Todd Rundgren Remix)

“Here it comes, here it comes, here it comes....” Yeah, we know TAME IMPALA's sophomore LP Lonerism is coming, and yeah, we're all super stoked, but the waiting game is becoming a little too tedious!

If their first single 'Elephant' is becoming too much of a tease for you, then feel free to mix it up a bit as rock experimentalist TODD RUNDGREN has just released his own spin on the track.

This remix is giant. The escalating introduction is almost as exciting as knowing you'll have Lonerism in your hot little hands 5th October.

Once the track takes off with Kevin Parker's hypnotic vocals, we're not only introduced to the original instrumentation; it's topped off with some whacked out synthesisers and soft reverb.

Then all of a sudden “Here it comes” is re-introduced as a warning of the next chapter of this five and a half minute mix. A new synth leads and possesses an arcade game sort of vibe as it makes you feel as if you're a character trapped in an unrealistic quest battling warriors or something. Things keep getting fantastically weirder from here until the original structure of the song makes a comeback and finishes off this monster of a remix.

The band are fans of Rundgren. After coming home from one of Tame Impala's tours, Jay Watson of the group pulled out an odd looking record from his bag in front of Kevin.

“He was telling me about it as I was walking upstairs but I wasn't really listening as I was kind of tired and jetlagged... Something about the guy from the Nazz's solo thing... Anyway a few minutes later I heard some kind of cosmic-ness going on downstairs, I resisted a few more minutes but the cosmic-ness continued so I pulled myself downstairs to see Jay with this look on his face like he'd just had his tits blown. Turns out he had indeed just has his tits blown. A few minutes later I had my tits blown too. The song was 'International Feel' from the album A Wizard a True Star by Todd Rundgren. So from that day we were Todd Rundgren slaves. Fast forward like four years or something and Glen from our record label said he had agreed to do a remix of our new song 'Elephant', which made me go pretty batty. So that's how that all happened. Enjoy!”

If you too want your tits blown, listen to the mix, have a good groove and then go back to waiting for what will probably be one of 2012's best albums.

You can grab a copy of both Rundgren's and Canyons' remix in an 'Elephant' bundle from iTunes now.

Words by Hannah Galvin

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