365 – New Music Daily

This is the first full-length album I’ve ever listened to by Australian band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. I would let the name just sit in the fantastic natural form that it occupies, however I did do a bit of research (amazing, I know), and the band’s frontman wanted Gizzard Gizzard as the name, while another member wanted it to just be Lizard King, the latter apparently Jim Morrison’s nickname. This was the eventual compromise.

Anyways, onto this album. Actually, no. I have to mention this band has a prolific output. They have 27 albums on Spotify, the oldest of which dates back to 2011. They put out 6 albums last year. That’s Gucci Mane level output. Lil B level output. The fact that we’re 5 months into 2023 and there isn’t a new King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard album may be cause for concern. If you listen to this and are into them, this is fantastic news.

Okay, really this time, onto this album. It starts with an 18 minute song. That’s right. Now, you might be thinking, has my listening become masochistic? Why would I listen to an 18 minute song, let alone one on an album that’s 80 minutes? It’s not like I’m listening to a Charles Mingus album. Then it would be justified. An 18 minute song on one of 27 albums from a random Australian band does seem masochistic, but it’s fucking good. Like, one of the best songs on the album. If you are into the first minute, you’ll like the entire song. Replay value? Might be completely out the window. Maybe not. Time will tell.

The album descends into a few nice groovy, Indie Rock songs, Magenta Mountain and Kepler-22b, both showcasing the bands originality musically and lyrically. Then, we are thrown for a major fucking loop, with a thrashy-metally song. I’ve begun writing notes for these reviews as I listen – and this one was “What in the god damn fuck is Gaia”. Not only that, as little sense as it makes on its own, it’s followed up by a super smooth song “Ambergris” with a fat, fat, fat bassline. Maybe this was intentional, because Ambergris was even better in this context.

We’re then continuing on the groovy Indie Rock journey. It’s a pleasant one, nothing too spectacular. There’s a few Beastie Boys sounding songs as well, and if you know me, you know how I feel about that. Poorly. Then, it fucking happens again! Another thrashy metal song. What the fuck! Not only is it incredibly jarring in the context of the album, but sonically it is not good. I couldn’t believe it.

This is pretty emblematic of the entire album. It’s got some good shit here, some good shit there, but in between here and there is a lot of stuff that makes no sense. That may be an issue of releasing 12 albums in the last 3 years. This shit is all over the place, not without it’s highlights, but not without some really tough lowlights.

Favorite songs: The Dripping Tap, Keppler-22b, Ambergris, Evilest Man, Persistence, Red Smoke, Candles