- Hustle Hound
- Oct 21, 2012
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all is known
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king gizzard put out a single recently and the last thread is archive vaulted, so let's make a new thread.
king gizzard and the lizard wizard is a wild and crazy band. they've put out 15 (soon to be 16?) albums in 8 years of almost every guitar-oriented genre imaginable (and some non-guitar-oriented genres) and were probably the best touring band of the current century back when people were allowed to do that.
who are they?
left to right: ambrose kenny-smith, joey walker, michael "cavs" cavanagh, cook craig, stu mackenzie, eric moore, lucas harwood (né skinner).
stu is the main songwriter and frontman of the group. ambrose, joey, and cook have all helped with writing and sung on tracks in the past as well. they mostly play the instruments you see in this image.
what are they like as a live band?
i never saw them live, unfortunately, but here are some good sets:
Ancienne Belgique 2016
KEXP 2 (Flying Microtonal Banana era)
KEXP 4 (Polygondwanaland/Gumboot Soup era)
KEXP 5 (Infest The Rat's Nest era)
Cabaret Vert 2016 (Nonagon Infinity in its entirety)
they also put out three live albums to raise money for wildlife funds after the brushfires last summer. and they recently put out a soundtrack album to their live documentary film chunky shrapnel (not available for viewing at this time).
let me know if there are other great live set videos so I can update this section.
what have they recorded?
they are very prolific recorders, so before i list out their entire discography i would suggest starting with the album gumboot soup as it's a nice sampler of the various different styles of music the band is capable of. if you don't have time to listen to an album, please take some time to skim the discography because i make some song recs there.
2 EPs:
- anglesea (2011) - their debut ep. it’s out of print. i have no idea what it sounds like, and neither do you. if you actually have heard this, please post about it!
- willoughby’s beach (2011) - surf/garage rock with catchy hooks and not much else. i still like it though.
15 albums:
- 12 bar bruise (2012) - like willoughby's beach but with slightly more sophisticated songwriting and less professional recording quality. there is a prototype of eyes like the sky on this album ("sam cherry's last shot"), which is an interesting twist among all the garage rock.
- eyes like the sky (2013) - spaghetti western narrated by broderick smith, ambrose's dad.
- float along - fill your lungs (2013) - the opening track, a 16-minute jam called "head on/pill," is referred to as the gizzhead anthem. i'm guessing it's because of the iconic opening riff. there are other quite good songs here too, like the title track and "let me mend the past."
- oddments (2014) - leftovers album released in demo form. it's not very good, sorry. "hot wax" and "it's got old" are good, and "stressin'" is a good song but this recording of it is not.
- i'm in your mind fuzz (2014) - best known for the "mind fuzz" suite of 4 tracks at the beginning, especially the song "cellophane" which says the word like 40 times. a couple of songs on this album are hosed up on streaming platforms for some reason (cellophane, satan speeds up) but it's very good if you can find a version of those songs that aren't hosed up. other great songs are "am i in heaven?" and "slow jam 2 (her and i)."
- quarters! (2015) - it's 4 tracks, each of length 10:10. generally very chill. if you like long songs check this one out, especially "the river."
- paper mache dream balloon (2015) - an album made almost entirely with acoustic instruments. full of compact, 2-3 minute tunes that don't gently caress around, so if you aren't into jams then check this one out. "sense" and "trapdoor" are great tracks.
- nonagon infinity (2016) - in case the "mind fuzz" suite wasn't enough continuity for you, here's an album that infinitely loops. it's very fast, high energy jams almost all the way through. start the album on any track, play it through multiple times, the world is your oyster. this one's probably my favorite of theirs?
- flying microtonal banana (2017) - rattlesnake, rattlesnake, rattlesnake, rattles me. they put extra frets between the existing frets on some guitars and made an album. people say it sounds turkish. it's a very good album. in addition to "rattlesnake," "nuclear fusion" is a great track.
- murder of the universe (2017) - an album which more intense, dark, and narratively focused than nonagon infinity. the narrative is kinda wierd though, it's split into 3 chapters culminating into a vomit machine malfunctioning and engulfing the entire universe. if you gently caress with that, give it a listen. "digital black" and "lord of lightning" are great tracks.
- sketches of brunswick east (2017) - a collaboration with mild high club which is fairly low-key and jazzy. basically the complete opposite of the previous album.
- polygondwanaland (2017) - a well-considered album released entirely for free. they even released the vinyl master for people to do with that what they wish. "crumbling castle" is one of their best songs, so give that a listen if you have 11 minutes to spare.
- gumboot soup (2017) - a second leftovers album except this one is actually very good. like paper mache, it's not very jammy either. "beginner's luck," "muddy water," and, of course, "all is known" are great tracks.
- fishing for fishies (2019) - a boogie-woogie type album that suddenly becomes electronic toward the very end. it's got some songs about The Environment, like the title track and "plastic boogie." good songs include "bird song" and "real's not real."
- infest the rat's nest (2019) - a sci-fi thrash metal album about climate change apocalypse which culminates in people stuck on earth taking a rocket to venus, burning alive, and becoming satan's minions to kill all the rich humans on mars, hence the title of the album. there's also a black sabbath-y song called "superbug" which clearly predicted covid. "planet b" and "hell" (especially the KEXP version!) are great tracks.
videos?
they have a lot of interesting videos. here are notable music videos:
planet b
the river
robot stop
rattlesnake
there is also a 2 hour documentary called BOOTLEG HOLIDAY FROM HELL as well as "making of"-type documentaries Peeling the Flying Microtonal Banana, How to gut a Fishie, and Ratty.
here's the new single:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADj2jDqT4uY
seems like they're making a second microtonal album, which is pretty exciting.
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Jul 17, 2020 01:32
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- Adbot
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ADBOT LOVES YOU
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Aug 8, 2020 14:13
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- Ratios and Tendency
- Apr 23, 2010
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My cool idea for a band in highschool was to have 2 drummers. Turns out I was a genius.
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Jul 17, 2020 04:29
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- Pontificating Ass
- Aug 2, 2002
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What Doth Life?
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Is the name of the band a joke??
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Jul 26, 2020 21:35
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- Odoyle
- Sep 9, 2003
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Odoyle Rules!
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These guys are something else. They’ve got something for everybody with their relentless genre exploration. Polygondwanaland is hands-down my favorite record of 2017.
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Jul 27, 2020 01:17
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- A human heart
- Oct 10, 2012
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I tried listening to their 'thrash' record and it sounded like they'd maybe heard an 80s thrash album once at some point and had no good riffs. More evidence that genre eclecticism is fail!
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Jul 28, 2020 09:04
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Aug 8, 2020 14:13
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- sporklift
- Aug 3, 2008
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Feelin' it so hard.
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I saw them in a small theater a couple days before they released Murder the Universe and they played a track or two from it along with a lot of Microtonal Banana. The droning aspect of their music along with the repetitive CG visuals made me feel like I was going in and out of a trance. I think they brainwashed us. But it was a cool show. All the young 20 somethings were up front dancing, the 30's-40's crowd was in the middle absorbing and the older hippie folks sitting in the back.
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Jul 31, 2020 00:35
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Jul 17, 2020 01:32
