Don’t Be Late to the Party with… King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
This is the first of a series in which I shamelessly admit how late I am in getting into certain artists. Don’t be like me- learn from my mistakes, and don’t be late to the party.
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard sort of fell into my life from every direction all at once. In the beginning of that fateful day, another blog I write for, KXSU, posted the Student Music Advisory Board’s Favorite Albums of 2016 so far, which I honestly only read because I contributed to it as well. This post sent me into a day-long revisit of my obsession with fellow Aussie band, Tame Impala’s Currents record (shoutout Maria). As I scrolled through the post, I glanced by the blurb on King Gizzard’s latest record, Nonagon Infinity, but kept going (shoutout Julia anyway). A little bit later in the day I’m working on a blog post for KEXP. I’m scrolling through some past posts, and stumble across the in-studio session with King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. I decided to sit down and watch the whole video, as I love procrastinating, and was instantly intrigued- but more on that later. Fast forward to that night where my wannabe Aussie friend mentions King Gizzard in conversation over FaceTime. He then proceeds to ask me for a playlist to listen to on the drive to work the next day. I’m popping songs onto the Spotify playlist, and add my favorite Tame Impala track of the day. The cosmic connection hits between fellow Aussie bands, and I start typing King Gizz… into the search bar. I added “Sense” to the list of songs without knowing much about them, and I decided I needed to know more as I just added their song on my own playlist. Now, four days later, here we are.
As I’ve been into them for five days, I’m not even going to try to pretend to be a King Gizz expert. But due to being on summer break, I’ve had enough time on my hands (almost exactly five days) to listen to all of their records I could find (nine in total since 2011), and to do a lot of digging on this group. First off, there are so many of them. There’s seven members, and the fact that they were all able to fit in KEXP’s old gathering space is actually incredible. Check out their in-studio performance from about a year ago featuring songs from Quarters! and I’m In Your Mind Fuzz, which also serves as a pretty good introduction to them:
In this session they played a song from Quarters!, which is one of my two favorite records by them. Maybe it qualifies more as an EP as it’s only four songs, but I enjoy all four of them so much. They’re dreamy, spacey, and interesting to listen to, especially “The River”. If you’re looking for a place to start with KG&TLW, Quarters! would be my suggestion. I’ve been breaking my intense devoted relationship with Spotify to stream it on their Bandcamp, which I’d like to add has all of their records whereas Spotify only has six. What Spotify does have, is Paper Maché Dream Balloon. This is my other favorite album by them, as it’s the only thing I’ve ever felt comfortable comparing The Beatles to. I’ve written a lot of articles on bands, but I’ve never been reminded of The Beatles before. Paper Maché Dream Balloon is their all acoustic album, swapping out their electric guitars for acoustics and their keyboards for pianos. It’s just as dreamy as their other work, but so much jazzier. The melodies on every track are to die for. If you don’t have the time to check out the whole album (which I urge you to take the time to completely shell out), I’d suggest “Sense”, “Cold Cadaver”, “The Bitter Boogie”, “NGRI”, and “Time = Fate”. You’ll be glad you did.
Now that you’ve got your solid foundation, I’d say you’re free to roam their discography on your own. I’d like to suggest their latest release, Nonagon Infinity, next though. It is a completely infinite album with each song sliding into the next- complete with the last song rolling into the first. It’s heavier than the earlier two albums I mentioned, making it the ultimate garage rock anthem from start to end… if you can find the start or the end. I completely missed its release earlier this year in April, making me late to the party with King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. But with a little help from my friends (shoutout KXSU), I can get by just a few months (or years) late.
If you’re in Oz or Europe this summer, be sure to check King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard on tour in a town near you.
