Like Florence + The Machine on the first day of Gov Ball, Tame Impala are a band whose enormous popularity still surprises me. What once could’ve easily been confined to the circles that populate Levitation/Austin Psych Fest, somehow these guys have managed to transcend some revivalist psych-rock niche to wind up playing a very crowded mainstage set. The first and only other time I’d seen Tame Impala, I was little underwhelmed. This could totally be attributable to where I was standing in Terminal 5 — a Manhattan venue notorious for, let’s say, imperfect sound — but everything sounded pretty and precise but also very flat. Whatever the cause, the Tame Impala show I saw yesterday was the one I’d been hoping for all along: a lush and loud and confident run through those songs of theirs that perfectly blend gorgeously warped guitar textures with unshakeable hooks. The crowd, understandably, really lost it for highlights “Elephant” and “Feels Like We Only Go Backward” (also the most well-known Tame Impala songs). Aside from a stunning ending with “Apocalypse Dreams” (they played it early in the set last time I saw them; this worked so much better), yesterday was all about hearing some new stuff for me. Currents is one of the most anticipated albums of the year, and “Let It Happen” and “‘Cause I’m A Man” both sound incredible already, as well as lending some new changes in pace. In the past, it might’ve been easy for a Tame Impala show to get lost in too many synth and guitar textures droning on, but the groove behind “‘Cause I’m A Man” has made it one of my favorite songs of this year, and seeing it live amongst material from Innerspeaker and Lonerism, it shows the band fleshing out a new, exciting part of their personality. The new album can’t come soon enough. –Ryan