Kevin Bronson on November 26th, 2012

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Australian psych-rockers Tame Impala looked every bit album-of-the-year contenders on Nov. 16 at the El Rey Theatre.

But what year, though? 1968? 1973? Does it matter?

It certainly didn’t to the capacity crowd at the El Rey during the first of two sold-out shows mastermind Kevin Parker and crew played last weekend in Los Angeles. Even more than with its highly acclaimed debut “Innerspeaker” a couple of years ago, Tame Impala has opened up a wormhole between Then and Now. Rather than jump through, dress in period costumes and play around with vintage sounds, Tame Impala has something of an exchange program going on.

The band’s hour-plus concert behind the October release of “Lonerism” was a blitz of phased guitars, swirling melodies and shifting rhythms, all dispensed in front of visuals only HAL 9000 could love. At their most expansive, Parker and mates Dominic Simper, Jay Watson, Nick Allbrook and Julien Barbagallo recalled Pink Floyd; at their most playful, they were only a layer of irony and two doses of showmanship away from Todd Rundgren circa “A Wizard, a True Star.”

From the opening volley – “Lonerism” opener “Be Above It, ” followed by “Solitude Is Bliss” and “Endors Toi” – Tame Impala was as businesslike as its crowd wasn’t. The El Rey’s curtain was not even drawn after a blissful opening set by the Amazing, the Swedish band (featuring members of prog-rockers Dungen) who imagine Spiritualized, if they were from Laurel Canyon. The Aussie headliners followed by merely walking onstage and starting in, inspiring a big roar, a bigger cloud of smoke and the occasional crowd surfer. They played 30 minutes before even acknowledging the crowd, then doing so in the most perfunctory manner, professing their love for L.A., etc., etc.

Parker, playing, as one railbird put it, “in bare feet among 50,000 pedals,” was a study in focus. Tame Impala’s psychedelia can be as hallucinatory as any of the great music in its genre, but owing to the powerful rhythm section and meticulous electronic undertones the quintet felt as if it were diagramming its dreams as much as illuminating them. “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards,” which arrived mid-set, felt anything but. “Innerspeaker’s” “Why Won’t You Make Up Your Mind?” seemed to come from the El Rey’s chandeliers. Main set-ending “Apocalypse Dreams” was levitational.

The crowd, many of whom professed to be returning the next night for another sold-out show (at the Fonda), swayed and churned with arms raised reverently. It was strong medicine from a band wrestling with the idea of “Lonerism.” For those who got a small dose when Tame Impala played a good-but-not-great at the Echo back in 2010, it was downright hard to believe how strong.

Tame Impala just announced another U.S. tour for February and March, though without any West Coast dates. A return trip to Coachella? Sure, bring it on.

Photos by Laurie Scavo