More about: King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard

King Gizz are a band like no other: hugely prolific - having put out seven albums in the last three years - they still retain a level of great quality. You might think that a band who release such a lot of music might be cutting some corners, but you’d be wrong: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard are consistently creating highly listenable, highly enjoyable rock records. K.G. is no exception.

K.G. (subtitled Explorations into Microtonal Tuning, Volume 2) opens with an instrumental piece that flows straight into lead single 'Automaton'. 'Automation' feels like the perfect track for driving through the desert: the grooving rhythm section combined with the repetitive riff makes this track such an ear-worm and really sets the tone for the record. 

The album continues with an incredibly similar sound on 'Minimum Brain Size', which almost feels like the younger brother of the opening track, the rhythm section is much more understated here, but that repetitive guitar loop remains. This is also the case for 'Straws In The Wind', which utilises acoustic guitars and sitar to achieve a sound that breaks away from traditional ‘western’ rock sounds. 

K.G then takes a turn for the stranger on the track 'Some of Us', with King Gizz utilising strings and woodwind instruments to create a sound that diverts our perception of what rock music should be. Overlaid and reverberated vocals give the track a creepy sense of doom, which when combined with eastern-scales grows to a groovy and danceable track. 

'Intrasport' again takes this record in another direction; drum machine beats and synthesised keys combined with talkbox vocals and hand claps create an upbeat and infectious pop song. 'Intrasport' flows directly into 'Oddlife' which continues the synth-y keys and lo-fi vocal. This track is very much “part 2” of 'Intrasport', carrying on the thread of eastern influences and an overall more poppy sound from Gizz. 

The penultimate track 'Honey' rediverts K.G to a more traditional sound, but the underlying eastern scales as well as West African rhythm are still very apparent: a fast-paced acoustic track that fades into the intro to the final song, 'The Hungry Wolf of Fate'.

The opening of 'The Hungry Wolf of Fate' is loud and distorted, which continues throughout- this track follows the ‘loud quiet loud’ dynamic, combining the softer elements of this record with some very Sabbath guitar parts. The track builds and builds to a mad crescendo, leaving only distortion and feedback in its wake. 

The fact that King Gizz are such well drilled, talented musicians really means that they can pull this off like no one else could. The wild variety of influences on this album should make it sound like a car crash, but King Gizz have created an album that really puts this band in a league of their own. Kevin Parker wishes he had the guts to write an album like this...

K.G. arrives 20 November via KGLW/Caroline.

More about: King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard