King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard | ||
| Allmusic Biography : King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizards sense of unfettered sonic exploration makes them easy to mistake them for a long-forgotten relic of the psych explosion of the 60s. With a far-out sound that, at times, feels barely held together, King Gizzard evoke the eclectic rock experimentation of Frank Zappas early work with the Mothers of Invention, the anything-goes feeling of the Flaming Lips, and the demented glee of a random obscure 60s group plucked from a Pebbles compilation as they follow their musical flights of fancy wherever they might lead. Their prolific nature led them to release albums at a frenetic pace; their intense desire to seek out new sounds -- from expansive jazz-rock (2015s Quarters) to semi-acoustic ballads (the same years Paper Mâché Dream Balloon), and from sci-fi prog (2017s Murder of the Universe) to trippy garage rock (2014s Im in Your Mind Fuzz) -- and follow new paths meant that every one of their multitude of releases sounded different from the last, and each one was worth checking out. Some of their albums, especially Nonagon Infinity from 2016, stand shoulder to shoulder with the best psychedelic rock ever made. Formed in 2011 in Melbourne, Australia by a group of friends who jammed frequently, then decided on a whim to play a show, the lineup consisted of vocalist/guitarist Stu Mackenzie, harmonica player/singer Ambrose Kenny-Smith, guitarists Cook Craig and Joey Walker, bassist Lucas Skinner, and dual drummers Michael Cavanagh and Eric Moore. They released two garage rock-inspired EPs in 2001, Anglesea and Willoughbys Beach, then in 2012 released their debut album, 12 Bar Bruise. Working at the kind of feverish pace that became their standard, they followed up just five months later with 2013s Eyes Like the Sky, which the band described as a "spaghetti Western audio book" complete with narration by Ambrose Kenny-Smiths father, the noted Australian musician Broderick Smith. A third full-length, Float Along, Fill Your Lungs, was released in 2013 and was quickly followed by 2014s Oddments and Im in Your Mind Fuzz. Still working quickly, in early 2015 they released the Quarters EP, which featured four trippy, free jazz-inspired jams that each timed out exactly at 10:10. After signing to ATO Records, their sound took a detour from expanded jams and fuzzy freakouts to tightly constructed, but still weird, laid-back pop songs played exclusively on acoustic instruments on the 2015 album Paper Mâché Dream Balloon. The follow-up, 2016s Nonagon Infinity, was recorded at Daptone Studios and featured some of the bands heaviest, most forceful psych-rock to date. It was recorded so that one track bleeds into the next, then jumps back to the beginning after the last song. They tout it as the "worlds first infinitely looping album." The band spent time touring and getting five albums ready for release in 2017. On the first of them, Flying Microtonal Banana, King Gizzard decided to investigate microtonal tuning, a non-Western way of tuning that involves intervals smaller than a semitone. They had a custom-made guitar gifted to them, and the bandmembers bought new gear and altered the instruments so they could be microtuned in a way that made them compatible. The groups second album of 2017, Murder of the Universe, arrived two months later in March. It was broken into three long sections, each one telling a different apocalyptic tale of the human race being taken over by cyborgs and AI while featuring heavy use of synths and spoken word narration. Just before that albums release, the band finished a collaboration with Mild High Clubs Alex Brettin, who traveled from L.A. to King Gizzards Flightless HQ studios in East Brunswick, Melbourne, Australia, where he and Stu Mackenzie put together some rough ideas. The duo was then joined by the rest of the band to fill those ideas in. Titled Sketches of Brunswick East, the album was a heady mix of soft rock, psych-pop, and cosmic jazz. It was released by ATO in August of 2017, mere months before their next record arrived. The relatively straightforward (for King Gizzard) psychedelic opus Polygondwanaland was given away for free and the master tapes were offered to anyone who wanted to press the album up and sell it. ATO was one of the first to take advantage of this, and several other labels followed suit. Fulfilling the groups pledge to put out five albums in 2017, they snuck in Gumboot Soup just under the deadline. The collection of thematically and sonically unconnected songs, a rarity for the group, was issued digitally on December 31, then given a physical release in April of 2018. The group took the rest of 2018 relatively easy, playing occasional shows and not releasing any albums until November, when ATO reissued their first five records on the same day. They took a relatively relaxed approach to releasing new music in the first half of 2019 too, issuing a single in February, "Cyboogie," that hinted at a new blues-based approach, then another in early April, "Planet B," that swerved into thrash metal territory. When their first album of the year, Fishing for Fishies, was released in late April, the sound was more like the former single, with the band digging deep into boogie rock, biker jams, and blues rock all fed through their unique musical and lyrical filter. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 17 Title: Anglesea Released: 2011-03-18 Tracks: 4 Duration: 12:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Eddie Cousin (02:38) 2 Fried (03:10) 3 Good to Me (02:24) 4 Tomb/Beach (03:48) |
 | Album: 2 of 17 Title: Willoughbys Beach Released: 2011-10-21 Tracks: 9 Duration: 22:52 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Danger $$$ (01:45) 2 Black Tooth (02:30) 3 Lunch Meat (01:40) 4 Crookedile (02:30) 5 Let It Bleed (03:13) 6 Dead-Beat (03:01) 7 Dustbin Fletcher (03:09) 8 Stoned Mullet (02:11) 9 Willoughbys Beach (02:53) |
 | Album: 3 of 17 Title: 12 Bar Bruise Released: 2012-09-07 Tracks: 12 Duration: 34:13 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Elbow (02:39) 2 Muckraker (03:00) 3 Nein (02:52) 4 12 Bar Bruise (03:47) 5 Garage Liddiard (02:29) 6 Sam Cherrys Last Shot (02:48) 7 High Hopes Low (03:45) 8 Cut Throat Boogie (02:50) 9 Bloody Ripper (02:13) 10 Uh Oh, I Called Mum (02:37) 11 Sea of Trees (03:14) 12 Footy Footy (01:59) |
| 12 Bar Bruise : Allmusic album Review : King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizards first album, 12 Bar Bruise, is a pummeling rock & roll record that builds on the promise of their first couple of releases and blasts their expansive garage rock sound straight into orbit. The album barely lets up from start to finish, with the tempos set right around top speed and the guitars set to destruction. Its one ripping rocker after another, with vocalist Stu Mackenzies vocals seemingly fed through a paper shredder and the rest of the band flailing like mad to keep up. Picking highlights is like picking a favorite child; they are all equally strong and violent, and able to knock down the garage walls and take over the neighborhood, if not the world. Apart from one song, a spoken word piece by author Broderick Smith, the album comes across like flickering scenes from a wild frat party, one where inhibitions are tossed out the window and things happen that are best forgotten the next day. Its a loose and frantically fun album that doesnt have time for niceties like fidelity, but doesnt skimp on hooks either. When making records this party-centric and wild, bands too often forget its the tunes that keep people coming back for more. Because King Gizzard included plenty of great tunes on 12 Bar Bruise, the record stands up to repeated listenings -- even if the studio where it was hatched probably collapsed after the last note was captured. Though it may not sound exactly as pure as some garage rock revivalists may like, 12 Bar Bruise perfectly captures the glorious sense of abandon and freedom of the best garage songs, positioning King Gizzard as a rock & roll force to be reckoned with. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 17 Title: Eyes Like the Sky Released: 2013-02-22 Tracks: 10 Duration: 27:47 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Eyes Like the Sky (03:17) 2 Year of Our Lord (02:56) 3 The Raid (02:23) 4 Drum Run (02:41) 5 Evil Man (03:53) 6 Fort Whipple (02:56) 7 The God Mans Goat Lust (03:17) 8 The Killing Ground (02:49) 9 Dust in the Wind (02:23) 10 Guns & Horses (01:08) |
| Eyes Like the Sky : Allmusic album Review : After debuting with records that were a cross between a crazed garage rock band and a trippy band of psychedelic warriors, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizards third album, Eyes Like the Sky, was a total change of pace. The band worked with singer (and father of the groups harmonica and keyboard player Ambrose Kenny-Smith) Broderick Smith to craft what they called a Western audio book. In a suitably grizzled voice, Smith narrated a tale of guns, murder, and the American frontier while the band backed him in rambling spaghetti western style. Its a good pairing -- Smiths vocal carries real gravitas and the band convincingly whip up clouds of dust and sweat behind him. Guitarists Stu Mackenzie, Cook Craig, and Joey Walker do an especially fine job of creating atmosphere. Morricone would have been proud of their efforts. The story itself is harsh and powerful, telling a tale thats been heard before, but the music makes it sound fresh. Its perhaps not a vital piece in the kaleidoscopic puzzle that is the King Gizzard catalog, but its good for a listen or two. | ||
 | Album: 5 of 17 Title: Float Along - Fill Your Lungs Released: 2013-09-27 Tracks: 8 Duration: 41:58 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Head On/Pill (15:59) 2 I Am Not a Man Unless I Have a Woman (02:55) 3 God Is Calling Me Back Home (04:24) 4 30 Past 7 (03:43) 5 Let Me Mend the Past (02:30) 6 Mystery Jack (02:47) 7 Pop in My Step (02:51) 8 Float Along - Fill Your Lungs (06:45) |
| Float Along - Fill Your Lungs : Allmusic album Review : King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizards third album found the band of psychedelic seekers in a typically exploratory mood. After the country & western diversion of Eyes Like the Sky, the group went back to making an unholy hash of its influences, eating them whole and then spitting them back out in what was quickly becoming trademark fashion. "Head On/Pill" kicks the record off like it was kicked off a cliff; it spirals on and on with whirling shards of guitars, pumped-up rhythms, and yelped vocals. It lasts for 16 minutes, but not a single second of that time is dull. After that blow to the solar plexus, the album stays weird. "Im Not a Man Unless I Have a Woman" is loping funk-blues with vocals fed through a busted echo pedal, "30 Past 7" takes an excursion into inner space soundtracked by sitars and banjos, "Let Me Mend the Past" is a rollicking soul ballad with some seriously pleading vocals, and the title track is sumptuous dream pop that closes the album on a blissful note of peaceful psych. The album sounds like a band searching for its footing as its members try any and every style that comes to mind. The results would probably be a complete mess in the hands of most groups, but anything seems possible -- if now somehow preordained -- in the capable mitts of this crazed collective. They would get better quickly, but even baby Gizzard is effortlessly cool and definitely worth digging into. | ||
 | Album: 6 of 17 Title: Oddments Released: 2014-03-07 Tracks: 12 Duration: 32:12 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Alluda Majaka (03:34) 2 Stressin’ (02:56) 3 Vegemite (02:45) 4 It’s Got Old (02:58) 5 Work This Time (04:36) 6 ABABCD (00:17) 7 Sleepwalker (03:46) 8 Hot Wax (03:29) 9 Crying (02:56) 10 Pipe-Dream (01:01) 11 Homeless Man in Adidas (03:24) 12 Oddments (00:25) |
| Oddments : Allmusic album Review : Oddments is the album where King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard start to come into their own as a concept and a band. After making cranked-up garage rock records, spaghetti western soundtracks, and records where they sound like they were trying on styles as easily as one might try on new socks, this is where all the genres and effects start to blend together into a sound that is King Gizzards alone. At times, it tips alarmingly in the direction of lo-fi production, and there are a few songs that are almost throwaways (like the silly "Hot Wax"), but the overall feel is more relaxed and confident as it blends garage rock, psychedelic, and left-of-the-dial pop into a heady, unmistakable blend. Tracks like the soft-focus psych ballad "Stressin," or the trippy folk-rock "Crying," have an easy confidence that allows the band to play calmly and still transmit the same energy as their crazed garage tracks. There are a couple of those here and they sound even more unhinged than past efforts, especially the 17-second-long "ABABCd." They also stretch their sound in interesting directions, like on "Alluda Majaka," which kicks the record off with some groovy Bollywood-inspired jamming. The only thing lacking from the record is higher production values, but thats not enough to ruin the experience, and this is the most interesting of the bands early albums. | ||
 | Album: 7 of 17 Title: Float Along - Fill Your Lungs / Oddments Released: 2014-07-04 Tracks: 20 Duration: 1:14:11 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Head On/Pill (15:59) 2 I Am Not a Man Unless I Have a Woman (02:55) 3 God Is Calling Me Back Home (04:24) 4 30 Past 7 (03:43) 5 Let Me Mend the Past (02:30) 6 Mystery Jack (02:47) 7 Pop in My Step (02:51) 8 Float Along - Fill Your Lungs (06:45) 1 Alluda Majaka (03:34) 2 Stressin’ (02:56) 3 Vegemite (02:45) 4 It’s Got Old (02:58) 5 Work This Time (04:36) 6 ABABCD (00:17) 7 Sleepwalker (03:46) 8 Hot Wax (03:29) 9 Crying (02:56) 10 Pipe-Dream (01:01) 11 Homeless Man in Adidas (03:24) 12 Oddments (00:25) |
 | Album: 8 of 17 Title: Im in Your Mind Fuzz Released: 2014-10-31 Tracks: 10 Duration: 41:58 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 I’m in Your Mind (03:33) 2 I’m Not in Your Mind (02:58) 3 Cellophane (03:10) 4 I’m in Your Mind Fuzz (02:51) 5 Empty (04:10) 6 Hot Water (03:23) 7 Am I in Heaven? (07:05) 8 Slow Jam 1 (02:54) 9 Satan Speeds Up (03:39) 10 Her and I (Slow Jam 2) (08:15) |
| I'm in Your Mind Fuzz : Allmusic album Review : Arriving just eight months after the amiable Aussie psych-rockers Oddments LP, Im in Your Mind Fuzz finds King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard doing what they do best: Simultaneously assembling and dissembling semi-epic blasts of early Flaming Lips, 13th Floor Elevators, the High Strung, Thee Oh Sees, and Dungen-esque space/psych rock and having a great time while doing so. Opener "Im in Your Mind" is a churning, Krautrock-inspired, largely stream of consciousness-driven road anthem that takes up the first half of the album (the ensuing "Im Not in your Mind," "Cellophane," and "Im in Your Mind Fuzz" are mere mile markers), and it serves as an excellent litmus test for listeners wondering how far into the fuzzy, fidelity-challenged, multi-colored waters theyre willing to wade. The back half of the record is a tad more diverse, with highlights arriving via the loopy, beatnik-blasted "Hot Water," the epic pop posturing of "Her and I (Slow Jam 2)," and the fractured "Satan Speed Up," the latter of which sounds like a lo-fi amalgamation of Led Zeppelins "The Rain Song" and anything off of MGMTs Congratulations. The bands overall distaste for sound quality will probably put some listeners off, as much of the record sounds like it was recorded in real time on an old Tascam four-track in somebodys basement, but King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard possess enough pop acumen and oddball charm to lure even the most unsuspecting psych-rock fan downstairs for a taste. Whether or not theyll stay for dinner is open for debate. | ||
 | Album: 9 of 17 Title: Quarters! Released: 2015-05-01 Tracks: 4 Duration: 40:40 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 The River (10:10) 2 Infinite Rise (10:10) 3 God Is in the Rhythm (10:10) 4 Lonely Steel Sheet Flyer (10:10) |
 | Album: 10 of 17 Title: Paper Mâché Dream Balloon Released: 2015-11-13 Tracks: 12 Duration: 33:56 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Sense (03:31) 2 Bone (02:16) 3 Dirt (02:51) 4 Paper Mâché Dream Balloon (02:40) 5 Trapdoor (02:39) 6 Cold Cadaver (02:44) 7 The Bitter Boogie (04:29) 8 N.G.R.I. (Bloodstain) (02:26) 9 Time = Fate (02:27) 10 Time = $$$ (02:05) 11 Most of What I Like (03:18) 12 Paper Mâché (02:30) |
 | Album: 11 of 17 Title: Nonagon Infinity Released: 2016-04-29 Tracks: 9 Duration: 41:45 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Robot Stop (05:22) 2 Big Fig Wasp (04:54) 3 Gamma Knife (04:21) 4 People‐Vultures (04:45) 5 Mr. Beat (04:56) 6 Evil Death Roll (07:14) 7 Invisible Face (03:01) 8 Wah Wah (02:54) 9 Road Train (04:18) |
| Nonagon Infinity : Allmusic album Review : The prolific Australian psychedelic pop combo King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard arent the kind of band prone to repeating themselves. Over the course of their short career, theyve established themselves as voracious sonic explorers who arent afraid to take chances and never met a gimmick they didnt like. In 2015 alone they released Quarters, a jazz-prog epic featuring four songs that were each exactly ten minutes long, and the laid-back summer folk Paper Mâché Dream Balloon, which was recorded on only acoustic instruments. With such a weird and varied track record, their 2016 album, Nonagon Infinity, could have gone just about anywhere and done anything. On it, King Gizzard deliver their best trick yet to go along with their most focused, most ferocious music to date. The album is designed to flow continuously from song to song with no breaks in what the band calls an infinite loop, and unless one is listening very closely its hard to tell where one song stops and the next begins. To help make the gimmick work, the songs are very similar in energy and approach, with lyrics from one song turning up in another and guitar riffs cycling through from one section to another. The energy level is mainly set to search and destroy throughout as the drums thunder, the lightning-fast guitars slash and burn, and the spacy vocals often break out into ecstatic shouts. The band has added some supercharged Sabbathy metal to its sound, and it works very well. The opening suite of songs punches fast and hard, like someone is slapping you repeatedly with a copy of a Saxon album. Its way more blown-out and weird than that, but you can hear a lot of late-70s no-frills metal in the sound. The rest of the record is a little more varied, with moments of calm proggy respite, jazz-rock dreaminess, and blown-out psych-pop to balanced the frantic, sustained attack. The way the album is put together is an impressive feat, but almost beside the point since each song within the loop is worthy of standing alone. King Gizzards inventive sound, giant hooks, and hard-as-titanium playing make Nonagon Infinity not only their best album yet, but maybe the best psych-metal-jazz-prog album ever. That can be debated, but at the very least artists like the Flaming Lips, Ty Segall, and others who think they are doing something cool and weird should check it out and take a few notes. | ||
 | Album: 12 of 17 Title: Flying Microtonal Banana Released: 2017-02-24 Tracks: 9 Duration: 41:53 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Rattlesnake (07:48) 2 Melting (05:27) 3 Open Water (07:13) 4 Sleep Drifter (04:44) 5 Billabong Valley (03:34) 6 Anoxia (03:04) 7 Doom City (03:14) 8 Nuclear Fusion (04:15) 9 Flying Microtonal Banana (02:34) |
| Flying Microtonal Banana : Allmusic album Review : King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard spent their early years honing their tripped-out psychedelic pop sound, then after proving themselves masters of the form with the 2014 album Im in Your Mind Fuzz, decided that every release they did would have some kind of thematic hook or experiment driving its creation and execution. Paper Mâché Dream Balloon was all done on acoustic instruments; Quarters consisted of four ten-minute songs; and the amazing prog-psych epic Nonagon Infinity was touted as the worlds first continuously looping album. A band less dedicated to being weird would have packed it in at this point and gone back to cranking out blown-out psych rockers, but these guys are way too dedicated for that. For their 2017 album Flying Microtonal Banana, King Gizzard decided to investigate microtonal tuning, a non-Western way of tuning that involves intervals smaller than a semitone. They had a custom-made guitar gifted to them, then realized they needed to create other microtonal instruments to match. With a $200 budget each, the bandmembers bought new gear and altered the instruments so they could be tuned in a way that made them compatible. The new tunings dont radically change the bands way of doing things; the songs are still crunchy, twisting jams that have huge hooks and exciting sections of instrumental prowess where they join together in a furious wave of sound that almost feels unstoppable. This time though, the melodies are are more exotic (to ears attuned to Western music anyway) and complex, as the leads are played by the differently tuned guitars, howling Turkish horns, and murky keyboards, giving them a psychedelic twist. The opening "Rattlesnake" sets the scene over seven long minutes of hypnotic guitars and chants, then the following tunes take things to mellower, trance-like places ("Melting"), dole out intense bursts of heavy rock that wouldnt have sounded out of place on Nonagon ("Open Water"), delve into some East-meets-West balladry ("Billabong Valley"), and make the kind of expansive, perfectly layered psych theyve specialized in for years ("Nuclear Fusion," "Anoxia"). As the album concludes, its clear that the experiment was a success and that the microtuned instruments fit in perfectly with their oddball aesthetic. Its also evident that King Gizzard can do no wrong, and as the first of five planned albums for 2017, Flying Microtonal Banana will be hard for them to top. It also sends a message to other bands plying a similar trade that they better step up their games if they want to stay close to King Gizzards level. | ||
 | Album: 13 of 17 Title: Murder of the Universe Released: 2017-06-23 Tracks: 21 Duration: 46:47 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 A New World (00:57) 2 Altered Beast No. 1 (02:23) 3 Alter Me No. 1 (00:45) 4 Altered Beast No. 2 (04:28) 5 Alter Me No. 2 (01:25) 6 Altered Beast No. 3 (02:14) 7 Alter Me No. 3 (01:26) 8 Altered Beast No. 4 (05:10) 9 Life/Death (00:59) 10 Some Context (00:16) 11 The Reticent Raconteur (01:05) 12 The Lord of Lightning (05:07) 13 The Balrog (04:29) 14 The Floating Fire (01:54) 15 The Acrid Corpse (01:00) 16 Welcome to an Altered Future (00:55) 17 Digital Black (02:46) 18 Han-Tyumi, the Confused Cyborg (02:21) 19 Soy-Protein Munt Machine (00:30) 20 Vomit Coffin (02:19) 21 Murder of the Universe (04:09) |
| Murder of the Universe : Allmusic album Review : King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizards second album of 2017 is a rampaging, feverish blast of sci-fi prog punctuated by whizzing synths and robotic voice-overs. Murder of the Universe is broken into three chapters, each telling a tale of humanity being driven out of existence by AI-driven machines and cyborgs. Subtract the story and its trademark King Gizzard, with pummeling guitar riffs pitched between garage punk and heavy metal, Stu MacKenzies yowling yelps at the mike, and the rhythm sections unstoppable drive combining to make exhilarating music that flashes like lightning trapped in a bottle and hits harder than Thors hammer. The first two chapters work the best. "The Tale of the Altered Beast" has electrical sparks shooting from the riffs, sticky hooks that slice through the gnarly guitar crunch, and pleasantly evil voice-over work by Leah Senior. "The Lord of Lightning vs Balrog" brings back large chunks of Nonagon Infinitys sound, even reprising some of the melodies and words, while housing the albums best song, "The Lord of Lightning." How much the listener enjoys the third chapter, "Han-Tyumi and the Murder of the Universe," might depend on their tolerance for graphic descriptions of a cyborg vomiting, and in the process, murdering the universe. Perhaps its a little overdone; and not only that, this section is the least interesting musically and the story is slight, which is often the case on albums like this. There are still some fun snippets of doom psych in this chapter and on the whole, the album is a nice diversion for King Gizzard, though its not very adventurous or experimental; its mostly fun, but a little predictable -- more like something they should have given away free instead of calling it an album and selling it. Still, anytime King Gizzard hit the studio, the result is worth hearing, and even run-of-the-mill Gizzard leaves most neo-psych freaks swimming in their sizable wake. | ||
 | Album: 14 of 17 Title: Sketches of Brunswick East Released: 2017-08-18 Tracks: 13 Duration: 37:20 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Sketches of Brunswick East I (01:20) 2 Countdown (03:22) 3 D-Day (01:39) 4 Tezeta (03:30) 5 Cranes, Planes, Migraines (01:15) 6 The Spider and Me (03:16) 7 Sketches of Brunswick East II (03:25) 8 Dusk to Dawn on Lygon Street (03:03) 9 The Book (04:59) 10 A Journey To (S)hell (02:16) 11 Rolling Stoned (03:18) 12 You Can Be Your Silhouette (03:49) 13 Sketches of Brunswick East III (02:08) |
| Sketches of Brunswick East : Allmusic album Review : Trying to make sense of, and/or keep up with, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard can be a daunting prospect. They are nothing if not prolific, and nothing if not willing to throw curve ball after curve ball. After releasing two albums already in 2017, the microtonal experiment Flying Microtonal Banana and the synth prog epic Murder of the Universe, they hooked up with Alex Brettin of the soft rock weirdos Mild High Club to concoct the smoothed-out psychedelic jazz album Sketches of Brunswick East. It proves to be a winning combination all around, with Brettins warped pop sensibilities mingling nicely with the sonic exploration that the lads of Gizzard do so well. The album comprises small snippets, where the warm keyboards team with woozy samples and piping flutes to conjure up mental images of warmly lapping waves and trippy colors, and more fleshed-out songs that have a perfect blend of imaginative arranging and melodic charm. The instrumental segments are nice moments of cool-breeze Zen, helping the listener achieve the perfect state of relaxed calm, while the actual songs have the opposite effect and really get the blood flowing, not in the usual sense that King Gizzard albums do -- its not a raging volcano of excited blood -- but in a more laid-back, happy-all-over way that fills the body and mind with warmth. The lovely "Countdown" has a nocturnal groove and cocktail bar feel, turned strange by Stu Mackenzies treated vocals; "Tezeta"s warped waltz and odd vocals cant hide the swooningly sweet melody, which sounds like something a Wilson brother might have come up with while on a three-day bender; "The Spider and Me" finds them effortlessly hitting the sound bands like Tame Impala work way too hard to reach; and the stuttering African jazz-rocker "The Book" brings in some of their previous microtonal theory and stretches it out into a very satisfying jam. Its fun to hear Gizzard being reshaped by Brettins soft rock wizardry, and in the process making their third album of the year the most listenable so far. Conversely, working with the Australian wildmen gives Brettins work an unpredictable nature not found on Mild High Club albums. This mutual benefaction means Sketches of Brunswick East is a collaboration that works wonders for both sides and will also make fans of both groups very happy. | ||
 | Album: 15 of 17 Title: Polygondwanaland Released: 2017-11-17 Tracks: 10 Duration: 43:52 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Crumbling Castle (10:44) 2 Polygondwanaland (03:32) 3 The Castle in the Air (02:47) 4 Deserted Dunes Welcome Weary Feet (03:33) 1 Inner Cell (03:55) 2 Loyalty (03:38) 3 Horology (02:52) 4 Tetrachromacy (03:30) 5 Searching… (03:03) 6 The Fourth Colour (06:12) |
| Polygondwanaland : Allmusic album Review : Like the rest of their albums released in 2017, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizards fourth album of the year has a gimmick. This time its not musical, though. The stunt here is that its the worlds first public domain album, given away free by the band and legal to sell by anyone who feels like pressing it up. After an album made with microtonal instruments, a synth prog epic, and a trip-hop jazz collaboration with Mild High Club, Polygondwanaland sounds like a consolidation of everything the band has done up until now, chewed up and spit back put in large and small chunks of psychedelic rock. The first song alone, the ten-minute-long "Crumbling Castle," employs microtonal guitars, layers in synths, sounds like space prog, has laid back jazz interludes and heavy metal breakdowns, and delivers all the trippy punch of their early work. After all the experiments and tricks, it almost sounds like the band is playing it safe, even if the song is a rampaging ball of barely controlled energy. They really arent, though. Instead, they are delivering a record that plays to their strengths as songwriters and musicians instead of distracting people with some flashy idea. Its straight -- or as straight as possible -- King Gizzard, and at this stage of their career, thats a welcome development. Hearing them incorporate all the different sonic flourishes theyve employed in the past in pursuit of good songs and not some higher concept means the album may slip past unnoticed, but it will sound great to anyone not scared off by the lack of theatrics. Tracks like the spookily restrained "Searching," the rampaging "The Fourth Colour," the tribal "The Castle in the Air," or the thrumming title track are the work of a band in full command of their process and results. Their fourth album of 2017 may not be their most exciting of the year, but it is their strongest and shows that King Gizzard dont need any bells and whistles to make a great psychedelic splash. | ||
 | Album: 16 of 17 Title: Gumboot Soup Released: 2017-12-30 Tracks: 11 Duration: 44:13 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Beginner’s Luck (04:25) 2 Greenhouse Heat Death (04:13) 3 Barefoot Desert (03:43) 4 Muddy Water (03:38) 5 Superposition (03:35) 6 Down the Sink (03:59) 7 The Great Chain of Being (04:50) 8 The Last Oasis (03:34) 9 All Is Known (03:34) 10 Im Sleepin’ In (03:00) 11 The Wheel (05:37) |
| Gumboot Soup : Allmusic album Review : When 2017 started, the guys in King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard unveiled a plan to release five albums before the year was out. As the year came to a close, they had unleashed four: the experimental Flying Microtonal Banana, which was played on homemade, finely tuned instruments; the sci-fi synth prog Murder of the Universe; a trippy soft jazz collabo with Mild High Club entitled Sketches of Brunswick East; and the close-to-normal-sounding (for King Gizzard anyway) Polygondwanaland, which the band gave away for free. Right as the clock was striking midnight on the last day of the year, the group issued Gumboot Soup, an 11-song collection that sounded like outtakes from the years other albums. "Greenhouse Heat Death" and "All Is Known" are microtonal jams that roil and boil like the songs on Flying Microtonal Banana, the metallic "The Great Chain of Being" has the proggy feel of Murder of the Universe, and a bunch of mellow tracks ("Superposition," "Im Sleepin In," "The Wheel") could have been warped a bit and slotted right into Sketches of Brunswick East. The rest of the songs are strong neo-psych that would have fit well on the grab bag that was Polygondwanaland; the soft rock "Beginners Luck" would have been a highlight with its marshmallowy chorus and jabbing guitar solo, and the same goes for the almost funky "Down the Sink," which reveals a loose-limbed side the band doesnt often show. So yes, its a collection of castoffs and almost-weres, but the amazing thing is that it sounds like a greatest-hits collection made up of songs that are fully realized and played with passion and weirdness, not a half-baked slag heap. In case anyone needed it, Gumboot Soup is yet more proof that King Gizzard were firing all year long on all five cylinders, plus about four more that most bands dont have, and the body of work they created is immensely, intensely, jaw-droppingly impressive. | ||
 | Album: 17 of 17 Title: Fishing for Fishies Released: 2019-04-26 Tracks: 9 Duration: 42:01 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Fishing for Fishies (05:01) 2 Boogieman Sam (04:41) 3 The Bird Song (04:24) 4 Plastic Boogie (03:03) 5 The Cruel Millennial (04:56) 6 Real’s Not Real (03:40) 7 This Thing (03:59) 8 Acarine (05:24) 9 Cyboogie (06:48) |