Kevin Parker is the driving force behind Tame Impala, the Australian psych-rock act whose second album, Lonerism, was released last October to rave reviews. (The Guardian praised Parker's "genuinely great songwriting" and NME named Lonerism album of the year.) Parker, 26, was born in Perth, and the remoteness of that city may have something to do with the pervading sense of isolation in Tame Impala's music. However, Parker is at the heart of Perth's buzzing rock scene and plays with several other local bands including Pond, who also released an album last year. During a recent stint in Paris, he collaborated with French musician Melody Prochet on her Melody's Echo Chamber album, which came out in November. Although Tame Impala is essentially a solo project, Parker recruits four musician friends from Perth to help him flesh out his expansive sound on stage. They play London's Hammersmith Apollo on 25 June.

THE FIRST MUSIC I CAN REMEMBER

Smooth Criminal, Michael Jackson (1987)

My brother Steve, who was a few years older than me, had Bad on tape and I remember listening to Smooth Criminal and just thinking it was the coolest thing ever. I must have been five or six at the time and I remember walking around school by myself thinking I was Michael Jackson. I wasn't dancing, exactly – more like walking musically. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

THE RECORD THAT MY DAD PLAYED TO ME ON GUITAR

Sleepwalk, the Shadows (1961)

Listening to my dad playing guitar along to Sleepwalk by the Shadows was probably the first time I discovered emotion in music. He had backing track versions of a few Shadows albums with the lead guitar cut out, and he'd just play along to them. It really got inside me, the melancholic emotion in the music. It was like I was watching a movie or something. I didn't really know what was going on or why I was feeling these feelings. I didn't stay with my dad all the time: I lived with my mum. So I associate this song with having to leave my dad and go back to my mum's – it was always a sad time.

THE RECORD THAT MADE ME WANT TO MAKE MUSIC

Freak Show, Silverchair (1997)

I got into this album because my brothers were into it – they listened to a lot of grunge. That time – I was 10 or 11 – was all about discovering rock music and realising how bad-ass it was. My brother had a drum kit and I started learning how to play. Actually I started playing drums before I had the ambition to be in a band, but as soon as I fell in love with grunge that was all I wanted to do. Grunge gave me a sense of identity and I remember really associating with Silverchair, who were these chilled-out Australian teenagers. The fact that they were teenagers was a big deal for me. It was like: Oh man, you don't have to be a 30-year-old to do this.

THE RECORD THAT GOT ME INTO PSYCHEDELIC ROCK

Disraeli Gears, Cream (1967)

After my grunge phase I started opening my horizons and listening to more electronic stuff. I got into Radiohead, specifically Amnesiac – my brother gave me that album. It wasn't until I was 20 and met all the guys I'm friends with now – the rest of the guys in the band – that I started listening to psych rock. I listened to the Doors, Colour Haze, Black Sabbath and stuff like that, but the album that really got me into it was Disraeli Gears. I loved that rumbling, fuzzed-out sound. I picked it up in a record store one day and it just blew my mind.

THE RECORD THAT INFLUENCED THE SOUND OF TAME IMPALA

Talkie Walkie, Air (2004)

I was starting university when Talkie Walkie came out, and it became an emotional soundtrack to what was going on in my life. At the time I was studying engineering and floundering miserably, because I really couldn't give a shit – as hard as I tried I just couldn't concentrate. I'd spend whole lectures thinking about the next song I was going to do. This album was such an enhancer. I was really inspired by the way they layered melodies and sounds to create a sort of electronic orchestra. That opened my eyes to new studio possibilities, because it was just two guys but they were making a world of sounds. It made me realise that it doesn't have to sound like a band, it can sound like something totally different.

THE RECORD THAT REMINDS ME OF BEING IN PARIS

Histoire de Melody Nelson, Serge Gainsbourg (1971)

I was living in Paris last year while the new Tame Impala album was coming together, and I was listening to a lot of Serge Gainsbourg – which I know is a really cheesy thing for someone living in Paris to do. Anyway, I used to hire a bike and ride around a lot with headphones on, listening to the Melody Nelson album. One day I was going through a cemetery, looking for Jim Morrison's grave [it turned out Parker was in the wrong cemetery], when suddenly I stumbled across Serge Gainsbourg's grave. It was really unexpected and pretty weird, because I had him on the headphones at that exact moment. I knew it was his grave because there were all these empty packets of cigarettes and liquor bottles left around in tribute.

THE LAST GREAT RECORD I LISTENED TO

The OF Tape Vol 2, Odd Future (2012)

My bandmate Dom has been into Odd Future for a while and he played me a few songs from this album. I'm not an avid hip-hop listener and I hadn't really tuned into Odd Future before but I think they're amazing. I like how they're not afraid to say whatever they want. They're not feeling confined – it's refreshing.