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luuurien · 1 year

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King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard - Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava

(Jazz Rock, Jam Band, Psychedelic Rock)

Mixing their psychy jazz-rock with winding, jam-band style compositions, King Gizzard's first October release is a thrilling, if uneven listen. Though these songs tend to meander, it's the band's exceptional solo sections and ability to hold a tune together that keeps Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava moving along.

☆☆☆½

Like its title, Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava is one highly-packed experience. King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard have always pulled from the worlds of jam bands and long-form Krautrock - think a mixture of CAN and Phish - but it often acted more as a supplementary part of their vast psychedelic rock and pop universe than a whole world in itself, hypnotic grooves and energetic instrumentation the support beam for whatever direction they wanted to head, fit for both Nonagon Infinity's looping garage rock and the jazzy prog-rock of Quarters. With Ice, Death, Planets..., the band seeks to give those jammy elements their own Petri dish to grow in, setting down some of their strongest grooves in years and letting the music flow naturally for as long as it takes to grow into something both beautiful and deeply imposing. The album's ideas are solid, but occasionally held back by their ambitions at the same time, these longer tracks and their emphasis on constant development leaving little breathing room and causing the album's impressive compositions to feel stuffy and, at worst, unimpactful. At its very best, Ice, Death, Planets... is a reminder of just how powerful a band King Gizzard can be, the harsher side of their sound that has been relatively dormant the past few years coming back in the hints of acid rock and heavy psychedelia they thrown in here and there, album singles Ice V and Iron Lung incorporating bits of noisy guitar work into red-hot fusion jams that manage to be both hypnotic and deeply engaging at once with their beautiful yet technical lead guitar work surrounded by strong grooves, buoyant basslines and subtle accompaniment parts - whether you want to lose yourself in the band's world or pick apart every little element, there's something in Ice, Death, Planets... you'll love. King Gizzard settle into a certain style for all seven of these tracks, but they aren't aiming for cohesion so much as a particular template they bend and break depending on what each track needs to do, opener Mycelium brighter and sweeter than the rest of the tracks with its wah-guitar opening solo and Afrobeat-tinged kick and snare patterns while the heavy centerpiece Lava relies more on its slow dynamic build to create enough tension for the second half of the track to completely explode, but it's all within this free-flowing psychedelic mindset that hangs over the album no matter the intricacies of King Gizz's sound at any given point. Regardless, there's a lot to love about Ice, Death, Planets... and how powerfully it brings back the darker side of King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard we haven't seen much of since the late 2010s. What has held me back from fully embracing Ice, Death, Planets..., though, is that there's little breathing room and constant movement without a clear end goal, King Gizzard's solid songcraft lacking a final destination and wandering about because of it - even if they almost always sound great while doing so. These songs are dominated by their solo sections so much that the interims between them feel shockingly empty and flat even with how much is going on all the time, the album's last two tracks Iron Lung and Gliese 710 suffering especially from this as King Gizzard close Ice, Death, Planets... out with an unexpected evaporation of intensity rather than taking the music in a new direction - I honestly would have preferred if the album closed out on the thirteen minute highlight Hell's Itch considering how definite and strong it feels compared to the songs succeeding it. It's harder to get past these little hiccups than on some of the band's other releases because of how long these songs are and how few of them make up the tracklist: if you're not a fan of the way Lava or Mycelium sound from the get-go, the songs never move far enough from their starting point to pique your interest for a second time, King Gizzard sticking to their guns for an album that's both a showing of their group cohesion and one of their most enclosed projects yet. Ice, Death, Planets... isn't a bad album, but like their other recent albums it doesn't do much to push its ideas further than what they show: these are robust, enormous psych-rock jams carried by their solo sections and mesmerizing drum grooves, but whenever things start to compress and the songs begin to feel monotonous rather than immersive there's little the band can do to pick up the pace, stuck following the same patterns and structures to keep these extended tunes from falling apart but often ending up sacrificing so much of the spontaneity and quick energy that's made many of their previous albums such a wealth of contemporary rock gratification, Ice, Death, Planets... trying to reward deep listening but without enough variation in its elements to justify that kind of focused album experience. It's just as strong as anything King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard have done in the past, and none of the shortcomings Ice, Death, Planets... has get in the way of those fundamental charms.

#king gizzard & the lizard wizard #ice death planets lungs mushrooms and lava #kglw #acid rock #funk rock #heavy psych #jam band #jazz funk #jazz rock #neo-psychedelia #progressive rock #psychedelic rock #rock #2022 #7/10 #album review #album reviews #2022 albums

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slitherbop · 3 years

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God is in the Rhythm

#slitherdraws #kid cosmic #papa g #TITLE IS FROM THE SONG FROM THE ALBUM QUARTERS BY KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD #CUZ CRAIG MCCRACKEN SAID THAT ALBUM WOULD BE HIS FAVOURITE #AND GOD IS IN THE RHYTHM MAKES ME NOSTALGIC AND MADE ME CRY LOL #ALSO ALSOALSO #I LIKE THE THEORY THAT HES GONNA LEARN HOW TO SUMMON WEAPONS SO HERE HE IS W AN AXE #ALSO THE THEORY THAT HES A TIME TRAVELER IS COOL AND REAL #NOT A THEORY JUST A HEADCANON BUT I THINK HE AND KID SHOULDA BEEN NATIVE IT WOULDVE BEEN LEGENDARY RIGHT #SO PAPA G IS IN MY HEART #IM REALLY RAMBLING #ANYWAY THIS WAS COOL TO DRAW #LISTENING TO KING GIZZARD & THE WIZARD LIZARD IS GREAT AND NOW IM BEING RECOMMENDED MORE PSYCHEDELIC ROCK STUFF

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sinceileftyoublog · 6 years

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Live Picks: 6/8-6/11

Hop Along; Photo by Tonje Thilesen

BY JORDAN MAINZER

The weekend’s got plenty of music and a couple more festivals. Check out what to see.

6/8: Bill Frisell Trio, Old Town School of Folk Music

Bill Frisell has long been one of the most innovative jazz guitarists, injecting influences from Americana/country (see Blues Dream), Malian guitar music (see his excellent The Intercontinentals), and even ambient/experimental music. To see him play in any capacity is a treat. This trio performances features bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Rudy Royston.

6/8: The Black Dahlia Murder, House of Blues

Tonight, Michigan death metal band The Black Dahlia Murder plays last year’s Nightbringers in its entirety, their best album since Ritual and certainly one of their best records yet. We previously covered a show of theirs in Joliet to support 2015′s Abysmal, and if that was anything to go by, they’re experts at combining melody and power on stage as well as in the studio.

Knoxville deathcore band Whitechapel (playing This Is Exile in its entirety) co-headlines. Italian death metal band Fleshgod Apocalypse and blackened death metal bands Aversions Crown and Shadow of Intent open.

6/8: Young Widows, Subterranean

Tonight, Young Widows celebrates the 10-year anniversary of their album Old Wounds by playing it in its entirety as well as playing some never-before-played tracks from their just-released compilation DECAYED: Ten Years of Cities, Wounds, Lightness, and Pain. Earlier this week, we spoke with front-man Evan Patterson about the new album and the upcoming show.

Singer-songwriter Emma Ruth Rundle and local post-hardcore heroes Sweet Cobra open.

6/8: The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die, Lincoln Hall

There’s a reason that this band has made it to our top albums of both 2015 and 2017 and that their show three years ago at Subterranean was one of the best we’ve reviewed. The band’s trademark mix of post-rock, post-hardcore, and truly tender emo makes their sound unmistakable. Their stories, filled with tales of sexual violence, feminist revenge, and experiences with xenophobia have hit hard for many. Yet, their most successful songs remain as vaguely relatable as their music is expansive. Their live show is becoming increasingly ambient, as well, a refreshing shift for a band not content to stay within any one scene.

Baltimore Indie post-hardcore band Pianos Become The Teeth co-headline. LA garage rock trio Teenage Wrist opens.

6/8-6/10: Chicago Blues Festival, Millennium Park

Headlining performances take place in the Jay Pritzker Pavilion and include tributes to founder and owner of Delmark Records Bob Koester and legendary blues musician Little Walter, as well as a performance by a living legend, Mavis Staples.

We previewed Mavis Staples’ headlining show at the Vic Theatre back in February:

“Since 2010′s stunning You Are Not Alone, Chicago legend Mavis Staples has fostered a fruitful musical relationship with another beloved Chicagoan: Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy. Three out of the past four albums feature production and/or songwriting from Tweedy, and his minimalism is the perfect complement to Staples’ deep soul. Her most recent offering is If All I Was Was Black, an outward and explicit political statement. Live, Staples tends to cherry pick from her recent discography but also play Staples Singers classics and covers of The Band and Buffalo Springfield.”

Vieux Farka Toure plays the Budweiser Crossroads Stage (at South Chase Promenade) on Saturday at 2:45 P.M. The Malian singer and guitarist is more than just the son of the legendary Ali Farka Toure; he’s put out some great albums in his own right, namely his self-titled debut and 2011′s wide-ranging The Secret (I see you, Dave Matthews feature). His most recent album is last year’s Samba, which features the limber and joyous “Bonheur”.

Fantastic Negrito opens for Mavis Staples on Sunday at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion. His subversive, hilarious blues punk broke out in 2016 with The Last Days of Oakland, and he’s got a new album out next Friday with Please Don’t Be Dead. So far, he’s released two songs from it: the blistering “Plastic Hamburgers” and funky “The Duffler”.

6/8-6/10: Ribfest Chcago, Lincoln Avenue from Irving Park to Berteau

You can even be a vegetarian and enjoy Ribfest because it usually books pretty good bands. This year, headliners include Southern rockers The Weeks and country punks The Waco Brothers tonight, SILY favorite Algiers and indie folk act Yoke Lore tomorrow night, and 2000′s hype kings Ra Ra Riot and Americana duo Striking Matches on Sunday.

Algiers’ The Underside of Power was one of our top albums of last year. They’re a stellar live band, lead singer Franklin James Fisher equal parts soulful and angry, the band behind him delving into everything from ramshackle post-punk to ragtime and blues.

6/9: Tech N9ne: House of Blues

Divisive and lyrically dexterous Kansas City rapper Tech N9ne comes around pretty often, but like Los Lobos, that’s reason for me to always say “I’ll catch them next time.” Eventually, you just need to bite the bullet. Albums like All 6′s and 7′s and Something Else cemented him as an ambitious rapper who can succeed when working with big concepts and other mega rappers, while recent albums like Planet and Special Effects have showed he can be a hit-maker. He’s got 20 albums to his name and a ton of other EPs. Not everything he produces is quality, but he’s pretty prolific.

Hip hop artists Krizz Kaliko, Just Juice, Joey Cool, King ISO, and Mackenzie Nicole open.

6/9: Clams Casino, East Room

We covered influential beat-maker Clams Casino’s set at Day For Night 2016, where we noted that both he and the audience seemed a bit bored. Something tells me, however, that catching him in a crowded club at night is better than catching him in a half-empty post office in the middle of the day. (I listened to Instrumentals a couple days ago, and it still bangs.)

Producer Plu2o NASH opens.

6/9: Liz Phair, Empty Bottle

She’s got a sold out show at Empty Bottle and a major slot at this year’s Riot Fest. That’s because Matador records just released Girly-Sound to Guyville, a 25th anniversary retrospective of Liz Phair’s debut Exile in Guyville that even more notably includes remasters of her Girly Sound demo tapes. To celebrate the occasion, Phair’s set should be heavy on Guyville material, perhaps with a few highlights from Whip-Smart or Whitechocolatespaceegg.

Indie darling Soccer Mommy opens.

6/9: The Mavericks, Thalia Hall

Tex-Mex band The Mavericks have been perhaps at their strongest since their 2010s reunion. 2013′s excellent In Time may be their best album as a whole, while 2015′s Mono (mixed in monophonic sound) appropriately emphasized production over hooks. Last year’s Brand New Day veered a bit towards Americana--just listen to those powered out fuzz riffs behind the Tex-Mex on “Damned (If You Do)”. Even if the new record wasn’t as good as the previous two, it was at least a symptom of a band unwilling to stay put.

6/9: Live from Here with Chris Thile, Ravinia

Chris Thile’s done it all: played with acclaimed bluegrass bands like Nickel Creek and Punch Brothers, won a MacArthur Genius award, and covered Bach on a solo album. Now, he takes over for Garrison Keillor, who was accused of sexual harassment, on Live from Here (formerly A Prairie Home Companion). Special guests tomorrow night include guitarist Parker Millsap (who we just previewed), acoustic instrumentalist band Hawktail, comedian Tom Papa, and duet partner Gaby Moreno.

6/10: Traschan Sinatras, SPACE

Scottish indie pop band Trashcan Sinatras embarked on an acoustic tour last year. Now, they’re on their “One Night, Two Albums” tour, in which they’ll play in full their 1990 debut Cake & 1993 follow-up I've Seen Everything as well as selections from their more recent discography. Their last album was 2016′s Wild Pendulum--but I’d hope for cuts from 2004′s Weightlifting.

6/10: Simon Joyner, Empty Bottle

Omaha singer-songwriter Simon Joyner is the type to have laid back and made himself a steady presence in the Americana world. Those he’s influenced and collaborated with, like Beck, Conor Oberst, and John Darnielle, have sold more records than he has, but his music remains just as present. Last year’s Step Into The Earthquake followed 2015′s excellent Grass, Branch, & Bone, which we spoke to him about at length in our feature Palpable Pain.

Chicago singer-songwriter Gia Margaret and singer Angela James (joined by Jordan Martins of Quarter Mile Thunder on pedal steel) open.

6/10: Hop Along, Metro Chicago

We caught Hop Along’s intimate, energetic set at House of Vans last year after they had multiple years to iron out the songs from their great Painted Shut album. This time around, they have another excellent album to their name: Bark Your Head Off, Dog, released a couple months ago. In recording the new album, the band spent extra time in the studio, resulting in songs filled with strings, Rhodes, and complex, layered harmonies. The extent to which they’re able to replicate the album live is a selling point for seeing them just as much as lead singer Frances Quinlan’s incredible voice.

Ex Hex-offshot Bat Fangs opens.

6/10: King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Riviera

They did it. It was an ambitious promise, but Australian psych rockers King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard released 5 albums last year (including Murder of the Universe, reviewed on SILY). They were all good, but none as good as 2016′s truly nonstop Nonagon Infinity. Expect them to play from their entire recent discography minus Sketches of Brunswick East, which was released in collaboration with Mild High Club.

Melbourne rockers Amyl & The Sniffers opens.

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reviewsbyryan · 6 years

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The Top 25 Albums of 2017: The Final Installment

At last, we’ve arrived at he top 5 albums of the year. These albums were beautiful, mesmerizing, emotional, and they were created with impeccable musicianship. Their lyrics are beautiful, their experiments succeed, and they enrich the ears beyond expectations. Let’s get to it.

Fleet Foxes - Crack-up

Referring to Fleet Foxes as a folk-rock band doesn’t really do them justice, because their music transcends our preconceived boundaries of either genre. Robin Pecknold’s layered vocal harmonies have always been my favorite part of their music, and we get no shortage of it on their latest album, their first since 2011′s Helplessness Blues. Crack-up is a change of pace in many ways from their previous work. The music is more mysterious, subdued, but just as enticing.

Julien Baker - Turn Out the Lights

Julien Baker’s sophomore album wrestles with heartbreak, addiction, religion, and self-worth. She writes and performs all the music herself, and it’s so personal that it feels right that way. The simple piano and guitar instrumentals suffice to enhance the sadness of it all, and we all know I’m a sucker for sad music that’s raw and meaningful. Not to mention, Baker’s vocal performances are beautifully delivered, and her incredible belted notes at the end of tracks like “Appointments” or “Claws in Your Back” cement her places as one of indie-rock’s brightest new artists.

Listen: “Appointments”

Sufjan Stevens, Nico Muhly, Bryce Dessner, and James McAlister - Planetarium

As the cover and title may suggest, Planetarium is about the planets, stars, and celestial objects that compose the heavens. But it is not so literal. Instead, the collaboration of singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens, composer Nico Muhly, guitarist Bryce Dessner, and drummer James McAlister fashion mysterious electronic music that feel suspended in space, just as their subjects are. From the bright fanfare of “Mars” and the soft piano ballad of “Mercury,” to the dark ambient noise of “Black Hole,” Planetarium is as diverse and gorgeous as the universe itself.

Listen: “Mercury”

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Flying Microtonal Banana

Making their second appearance on this year’s list is the first album released this year by King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. They began the year with a bang, turning western music on its head. Recorded with specially tuned instruments, Flying Microtonal Banana is an album written completely microtonal keys. And even while the band took on such a risk, King Gizzard produced a set of extremely catchy and groovy songs, using Middle-Eastern influences as a compliment to the strange key signatures.

Every quarter sharp or quarter flat sticks out so significantly; they are not tones that our ears are used to hearing. By the end of the first track, I was so riveted by the opener “Rattlesnake” that the rest of the album sounded just as normal as any other album with more conventional music. King Gizzard succeeds so completely in this microtonal endeavor that it’s impossible not to recognize this experiment as a huge musical achievement.

Listen: “Open Water”

Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked At Me

Despite the fact that this is my #1 album of the year (and I can’t even say it was a close contest), I’m pretty sure I only listened to this album once. I’m not sure I can bring myself to ever listen to it again. A Crow Looked At Me had a greater emotional impact on me than any album I have ever experienced; I had to crawl into bed for the rest of the day after hearing it. Phil Elverum, the man behind Mount Eerie, composed a series of utterly heartwrenching songs about the way-too-early death of his wife Genevieve due to pancreatic cancer last year. The lyrics are so plain and easily understood, but unbearably difficult to process.

A Crow Looked At Me’s musical quality is controversial for some. It’s extremely simple instrumentals are mostly just Elverum strumming a few chords, and occasionally adding a drum machine for a soft beat. There is really nothing innovative or interesting about them at all, and for some listeners, that low level of variation detract from the album’s musical value. I almost fell into that same boat. I rarely hold lyrics in high regard; I’m usually looking more for musical innovation and flawless production.

But I think that if you’re paying too much attention to the instruments on A Crow Looked At Me, you’re missing the point. This really is Phil’s album. It is a series of songs, composed over several months, that tell the story of how struggles with his wife’s death, and how difficult it is to be strong for his daughter who he must now raise on his own. Few of us are familiar with this kind of loss, so we are left to imagine what it must be like. Phil does incredible work in communicating his feelings of despair, so well that throughout the album you begin to feel like you are part of his family, and are experiencing this loss along with him.

While this is clearly not the most pleasant feeling in the world, and is the reason that I could not bring myself to experience this album more than once, it’s that feeling that makes this the most important album I’ve heard in 2017. Phil is incredibly brave in sharing his story with the world, and helping us to understand what it’s like to lose something so dear to us. A Crow Looked At Me was the most powerful experience of my musical year, and hearing it just that one time is something I’ll never forget.

#music #Album of the Year #top albums of 2017

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gemcatvinyl · 7 years

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ALBUM REVIEW - King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard & Mild High Club, Sketches of Brunswick East

In a LONG overdue review, we’re looking at the 3rd album of a promised 5 to come out THIS YEAR alone, from Australian Psych rock outfit King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. King Gizzard are a frankly crazy and exciting group, both with their weird lo-fi sound, unique and bizarre aesthetic and the sheer volume of work they produce, with a discography of 11 studio records since 2010.

If King Gizzard aren’t known for their sound, they’re certainly known for their album concepts, which have included fully acoustic albums (Paper Maché Dream Balloon), albums using microtonal instruments (Flying Microtonal Banana), a 40 minute album featuring only 4 tracks (Quarters!) and even a album in the form of a spoken word fantasy space opera earlier this year (Murder of the Universe).

However for this most recent release, king gizzard have set their sights on a much more unambitious concept, a Jazz record, enlisting the help of the much lesser known and honestly less interesting jazz project Mild High Club.

So, how does Sketches of Brunswick East actually sound? and how does it compare to other releases from the extended Gizzverse?

The album opens with the first of 3 title tracks that frame the record. The first is a brief instrumental intro, driven predominantly by a simple piano line and flute lead. This intro does a brilliant job of setting the albums mainly breezy and lowkey tone and establishes the heavy use of background noise on the record, with the sort of cold open to the track and the sounds of a train station. A solid start.

Countdown is straight away immediate and groovy in its instrumental, coupled with raspy vocals from Gizz lead singer Stu Mackenzie, which have their trademark doom, cultist undertones in the lyrics. This track has a nostalgic and warm feel to it, present on the entire album, as well as a lot of swagger. Close to the tracks close is a smooth guitar line, along with a reprisal of the chorus. A solid track.

We go straight into the next track, D-day, opening with fitting church bell and explosion samples. This track is the first to bring in some trademark King Gizzard sounds, including a strong and bizarre horn lead and tinny drums. For a very similar and much better track of this type, i’d look to the much more substantial Rattlesnake from Flying Microtonal Banana.

Tezeta is next, with a smooth gloomy guitar intro that turns into a bizarre and groovy choir, then devolves into a summery and chilled out guitar and snare driven series of verses. This track also includes a bizarre series of spoken word samples, that Gizzard fans will recognise this as the voice of Han-Tyumi on Murder of the Universe, who here is much more witty and less vomit obsessed. A distorted and loud guitar solo is the tracks centrepiece, giving an extremely breezy song a more dark edge. definitely a standout track, and the most substantial so far.

Cranes, Planes, Migraines could be considered an interlude with its short run time and lack of vocals. It’s a fun yet bizarre addition, which makes good use of some very moody subway ambience.

The Spider and Me is the most relaxing and watery track so far, especially with the use of fountain ambience and loud bird song. The xylophone and drum fronted instrumental gives the track a clear psychadelic vibe, and puts me in mind of music of its type from the 60s combined with traditional children TV of the time. This song clearly and unapologetically wants to create the feeling of a country garden full of hippies, and it is all the better for it.

The center of the record is our second title track, this one being much longer in length. The track opens with a weird crackling, vaudeville-esque sample, followed by a drum beat and flute based instrumental alongside some groovy and meandering electric organ, mainly in the same key and to the same tune as the intro. the track also includes at various moments the same noise of church bells, as well as general ambience. This track is extremely atmospheric and airy, and like with much of the album has a very sincere and DIY live quality to it, as if everything has been recorded in one take. A personal favourite.

Dusk to Dawn on Lygon Street is as immediate as it is traditionally jazzy. Much of its overall sound sums up the sound present across the whole album. Every musical signature as it were on the record crops up in some form here. The inclusion of what appears to be the ambience of a crowded bar and street is some of the best use of sound effects in my opinion, creating the feeling the track is being played live.

The Book, while still holding its jazz aesthetic and musical palette, is perhaps the closest we get to a “standard” King Gizzard song. The tracks opener is the grating organ lead we’ve heard on many tracks from the band, however here it soon turns into a groovy and dense jazz tune. This track has the strongest vocals and lyrics on the entire album. Stu’s performance here is awesome and witty, with tongue in cheek and luckily unpretentious lyrics, where he muses on religion and his own atheist beliefs. The use of varied and unorthodox live instruments makes the whole track feel playful, and provides energy present nowhere else on the record. I especially enjoy the cowbell. By far my favourite track on the album!

A Journey to S(Hell) is the weirdest shorter track on the album and a good follow up to The Book. A heavily packed instrumental makes uses of a whole array of horror style sound effects and ambience, with a ever building synth that creates an anxiety inducing feeling. The track constantly twists and turns, even switching off and on again at one point. The tracks close and transition to the next is also very funny with a sudden shift back to the woozy dreamy sound of the rest of the album.

Rolling Stoned has been a fan favourite, and is the best put together of the more dreamy styled songs. The flute lead keeps it simple and relaxed at first, with the substance of the song appearing as the song progresses. My main criticism of this track and others of its type, is that the use of repetition makes some tracks border boring in places. luckily none of them are entirely boring, but its something that does hinder the album.

You Can Be Your Silhouette has a very french quality to its instrumental, and is a track that is truly better for its simplicity. There’s not much to be said about it honestly, other than it’s a good song.

The album closes with the 3rd title track, a woozy lo fi short outdo, that feels like a sleepy goodbye to the album in a way, reprising the flute tune of the previous two title tracks. A decent close.

Overall, Sketches of Brunswick is an Extremely consistent album in terms of sound and quality, and is a record that sounds unique in the context of King Gizzard’s discography, its closest counterpart being Paper Maché Dream Balloon.

Despite this, its also their most subtle and unassuming album, something I think will result in it being overlooked and underrated by fans and critics alike.

In my opinion, while there are better King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard records available, this album is a fab set of lo fi and off kilter jazz music, as well as a good introduction to Stu and the group’s diverse and recognisable sound.

I give it a 7/10

BEST TRACKS - The Book, Tezeta, Dusk and Dawn on Lygon Street, Sketches of Brunswick East II, You Can Be Your Silhouette

LEAST FAVOURITE TRACKS - D-day, Countdown

Listen HERE

#King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard #sketches of brunswick east #king gizzard #mild high club #jazz #album recommendation #album review #new album

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rocknutsvibe · 6 years

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Review: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Polygondwanaland

4 OUT OF 5 NUTS!

I have no problem calling King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard the most ambitious band of 2017. The band seems to be on track to keep their promise of a year with five releases. So far, we’ve received Flying Microtonal Banana, Murder of the Universe, Sketches of Brunswick East, and now, believe it or not, the strongest release so far, Polygondwanaland. What makes this release unique aside from being the 4th launched this year? You own it, i own it, everybody owns it. The album was released for free in to the creative commons for anybody to do as they wish. Download it for free, start your own record label and make a vinyl pressing, heck, make a cassette tape if that’s your thing.

Polygondwanaland, for me, is the tightest Gizzard release this year. Yes, Murder of the Universe was a RUSH inspired fever dream that was broken down into three chapters with excellent cohesion. But, Polygondwanaland has the most exhilaration out of any of their releases this year. “Crumbling Castles” is an absolutely one of my favorite tracks this year. Stu and co. form a sort of hypnotic urgency that permeates the song at every turn. It feels both Nonagon Infinity and Quarters all in one song. The best qualities of Polygondwanaland are it tendencies to stray farther from their garage/psych sound. Tracks end begin and seep into each other depending on the thread King Gizzard wants to continue. The title track tip toes through whispered lyrics into a flute based outro. That then bleeds into the narrated, cool, synthy, renaissance groove of “The Castles In The Air.” To finish the 3-song movement, heightened, jagged guitars rip to and from between space bound synths.

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For Polygondwanaland there really are a lot of flourishes here that make the music feel just as experimental as the release method. “The Fourth Colour” trills its’ way into your ears along with pitch shifting kaleidoscopic voices that bounce from ear to ear.

Polygondwanaland is the strongest Gizzard release this year. Its’ construction shows a focus towards overlapping prog grooves, thematic illustrations, and acute brand of storytelling. While it lacks a form of tightness presented by albums such as I’m In Your Mind Fuzz and the prog, psych doom and gloom classic Nonagon Infinity. Polygondwanaland has to be one of the best free albums you can download all year. Now I can only imagine what Stu and the boys have in mind for this year’s final LP. Whatever it is, it goes without saying this year has been huge for Gizzard fans.

You can see more reviews like this at thefirenote.com

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#Rocknuts #rock #music

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