For Tame Impala fans, the wait goes on for the Kevin Parker-led band’s follow-up to its 2020 album The Slow Rush. But there is news today (July 8) involving some of Parker’s other recent activities, including his song with Diana Ross on the Minions: The Rise of Gru soundtrack and his work on a longtime collaborator’s vintage music.
Fellow Australian group PNAU has remixed the Tame Impala/Ross collaboration “Turn Up the Sunshine,” transforming the disco vibes of the original track into a full-on, four-to-the-floor club banger. PNAU is perhaps best known for its remix of Elton John and Dua Lipa’s “Cold Heart,” a worldwide smash that hit No. 1 in the U.K. and Australia.
As previously reported, the Minions: The Rise of Gru soundtrack was produced by Jack Antonoff and is comprised mostly of covers of memorable 1970s-era songs by such artists as Phoebe Bridgers (The Carpenters’ “Goodbye to Love”), Thundercat (Steve Miller Band’s “Fly Like an Eagle”), H.E.R (Sly and the Family Stone’s “Dance to the Music”) and St. Vincent (Lipps Inc.’s “Funkytown”).
In other Parker news, he has remastered the first two albums from Tame Impala drummer/Pond member Jay Watson’s GUM project, which are out today from Spinning Top Records. 2014’s Delorean Highway sports a previously unreleased demo cover of Ron Davies’ “It Ain’t Easy” as well as an update of Jason Galea’s original album artwork by animator/photographer Alex McLaren. 2015’s Glorious Damage is appended with a previously unreleased demo of the song “The Plot.”
Says Watson, “I’m thrilled that these remasters are finally available. These first two GUM albums are now much more in line with how I imagined them sounding, both digitally and on vinyl. The bonus tracks are an additional curio that while not perfect, are an interesting addition to the narratives of each record.”
Tame Impala is on a short break from the road but will be back in action Aug. 11 at Sweden’s Way Out West festival. The group’s only scheduled North American appearance for the remainder of the year is at the upcoming Desert Daze festival in Joshua Tree, Calif., where it will play its 2012 debut album Lonerism in its entirety. Pond and GUM will also perform at the event.
