Finally the European pressings of the two (still) latest studio albums from Australia's most prolific madmen have arrived, so it's King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard double review time!
KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD - Made In Timeland (Chilli Mango Edition coloured vinyl LP) (2022)
With two sides, both filled with one track containing of exactly fifteen minutes of music "Made In Timeland" isn't exactly the most epic release in their fast growing discography - but the compact length is just the right choice for what MackenzieWalkerKenny-SmithCavanaghCraigHarwoodShrimpomaniac are doing here.
There are no traditional song structures and only very few vocal passages on both "Timeland" and "Smoke & Mirrors", while musically King Gizzard are embracing new sounds to an extent that's remarkable even given their kaleidoscopic reputation.
That doesn't mean there aren't for example any hints of psychedelic garage rock on here, but most of this is different stuff like electronic kraut, sample-based stuff, techno oomphoomphoomph and hip hop beats, some "Butterfly 3000" style Far Eastern sounds and lotsa weird noises. Speaking of hip hop - there are even two short fragmentary instances on this almost instrumental affair, when Amby suddenly channels his inner Beastie Boy and freaking raps.
Above all this whole album just is an excercise in complete randomness, because all that stuff is just patched together in a way that doesn't make any predictable sense. It's totally as if they had just thrown dice and put down which sound was rolled. And I absolutely love it!
For a while this album had just been a running gag among Gizzheads, since it was leaked pretty early on and then still needed an eternity (at least given what we're used to from Stu & Co.) to see the light of day. It's still a limited release, which officially is only out on vinyl. And given that its content is challenging for many fans, no matter which of the thousand stylistic incarnations of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard they usually prefer, it's safe to say this is one of their most controversial releases.
Well fuck that. And fuck the comfort zone! I'd say this is among their bravest most uncompromising stuff so far.
There are no traditional song structures and only very few vocal passages on both "Timeland" and "Smoke & Mirrors", while musically King Gizzard are embracing new sounds to an extent that's remarkable even given their kaleidoscopic reputation.
That doesn't mean there aren't for example any hints of psychedelic garage rock on here, but most of this is different stuff like electronic kraut, sample-based stuff, techno oomphoomphoomph and hip hop beats, some "Butterfly 3000" style Far Eastern sounds and lotsa weird noises. Speaking of hip hop - there are even two short fragmentary instances on this almost instrumental affair, when Amby suddenly channels his inner Beastie Boy and freaking raps.
Above all this whole album just is an excercise in complete randomness, because all that stuff is just patched together in a way that doesn't make any predictable sense. It's totally as if they had just thrown dice and put down which sound was rolled. And I absolutely love it!
For a while this album had just been a running gag among Gizzheads, since it was leaked pretty early on and then still needed an eternity (at least given what we're used to from Stu & Co.) to see the light of day. It's still a limited release, which officially is only out on vinyl. And given that its content is challenging for many fans, no matter which of the thousand stylistic incarnations of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard they usually prefer, it's safe to say this is one of their most controversial releases.
Well fuck that. And fuck the comfort zone! I'd say this is among their bravest most uncompromising stuff so far.
KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD - Omnium Gatherum (Lucky Rainbow 2LP vinyl) (2022)
Where "Made in Timeland" almost abandoned traditional rock sounds completely, "Omnium Gatherum" goes into a quite different direction. This double album isn't so much about stitching outlandish shit together in the studio, but about celebrating the possibility of finally coming together again in person and jamming it out. Especially the eighteen minute opener "The Dripping Tap" oozes with this feeling. It's this relief and energy that makes the track one of the greatest rock'n'roll achievements in the band's catalogue so far.
One trend is continued from the immediate predecessor though: Who would have thought that King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard could do two releases in a row that both forgo their signature 7/4, 5/4 and 9/8 time signatures and are in 4/4 instead almost all the time? And since these elements appearantly come in a package, this album is also quite spare with whoooos and eeeyupps.
So what's even gizzing any more here, you're asking? Well, don't worry, this band is still a hundred percent present, sugary sweet falsetto vocals, stylistic diversity and all.
Yes, "Omnium Gatherum" isn't one of their concept-heavy, more homogenic albums, but rather follows the tradition of "Gumboot Soup", where elements of different directions from previous albums come together for a very colourful mix of sounds, jumping into a different genre with each track.
So the album isn't made of just one epic rock jam on each of its four sides, but a total of sixteen all over the place pieces. But other that on "Made in Timeland" these are all "real" songs.
Listen to side B alone: "Magenta Mountain" basically is a "Butterfly 3000" song, but with the crucial difference of being much straighter, without the rhythmic oddity of that album. "Kepler-22b" is equally light and comes with a somehow jazzy and trip-hoppy flavour I can't fully put my finger on. "Gaia" on the other hand is easy to categorize: It's a full-on metal banger, a more refined version of what the band was doing on their thrash album "Infest the Rats' Nest". After that storm we can relax to the super soothing, yet also very thundercatty funky "Ambegris", before the side closes with a further exploration of the Beastie Boys fun only teased on "Made In Timeland". Of course Amby is far from being a real slim shady, but you cannot deny that these very 80s/90s style hip hop rhymes of "Sadie Sorceress" are still on fire.
A couple of these directions are reprised in further songs on sides C and D, while also still some other flavours are introduced. And here comes my issue with "Omnium Gatherum": I know that it's the least creative critique of a double album, but this thing indeed just is too long.
Most of what it has to say has been communicated at this point and a couple of the still ten pieces to come just feel redundant. Without wanting to choose least favorites beyond "Garden Goblin", the too long eight minutes of "Evilest Man" or "Candles", it would have better for the flow of the whole album to just scrap a quarter of it, even if one or two decent tracks would have been pushed to a later release on another album by it. But I'm sure that has happened many times in the band's history before.
That being said there are of course still some highlights on the second half of "Omnium Gatherum":
"Blame It On A Weather" is a song I don't really want to like, but it's just so damn addictive and transitions so smoothly into "Persistence". The second hip hop track "The Grim Reaper" with its video game music breaks is even hotter than the first one.
The second metal tune "Predator X" may be a little dull in comparison to earlier heavier efforts, but it still shakes the album up in a very welcome way.
Editing - or the lack thereof - remains my problem with this album though. This should have been exciting and fun through and through, but sometimes it just gets a little bit boring. So I don't recommend listening to the whole thing at least without some breaks.
It's still a good release - "The Dripping Tap" alone makes it worthwhile - but all in all, if you made me chose I'd always go with "Made In Timeland".
At least visually the album is a whole win, with a nice gatefold, lyrics and the vinyl of the lucky rainbow edition coming in random colours from the remainders of other productions.
As always, the next couple of releases from King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are already in the works, so even though the band has to slow down due to personal health reasons for the time being and I'm only buying a selected few of their countless live albums, this review probably won't stay my most recent write-up about them here for long.
One trend is continued from the immediate predecessor though: Who would have thought that King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard could do two releases in a row that both forgo their signature 7/4, 5/4 and 9/8 time signatures and are in 4/4 instead almost all the time? And since these elements appearantly come in a package, this album is also quite spare with whoooos and eeeyupps.
So what's even gizzing any more here, you're asking? Well, don't worry, this band is still a hundred percent present, sugary sweet falsetto vocals, stylistic diversity and all.
Yes, "Omnium Gatherum" isn't one of their concept-heavy, more homogenic albums, but rather follows the tradition of "Gumboot Soup", where elements of different directions from previous albums come together for a very colourful mix of sounds, jumping into a different genre with each track.
So the album isn't made of just one epic rock jam on each of its four sides, but a total of sixteen all over the place pieces. But other that on "Made in Timeland" these are all "real" songs.
Listen to side B alone: "Magenta Mountain" basically is a "Butterfly 3000" song, but with the crucial difference of being much straighter, without the rhythmic oddity of that album. "Kepler-22b" is equally light and comes with a somehow jazzy and trip-hoppy flavour I can't fully put my finger on. "Gaia" on the other hand is easy to categorize: It's a full-on metal banger, a more refined version of what the band was doing on their thrash album "Infest the Rats' Nest". After that storm we can relax to the super soothing, yet also very thundercatty funky "Ambegris", before the side closes with a further exploration of the Beastie Boys fun only teased on "Made In Timeland". Of course Amby is far from being a real slim shady, but you cannot deny that these very 80s/90s style hip hop rhymes of "Sadie Sorceress" are still on fire.
A couple of these directions are reprised in further songs on sides C and D, while also still some other flavours are introduced. And here comes my issue with "Omnium Gatherum": I know that it's the least creative critique of a double album, but this thing indeed just is too long.
Most of what it has to say has been communicated at this point and a couple of the still ten pieces to come just feel redundant. Without wanting to choose least favorites beyond "Garden Goblin", the too long eight minutes of "Evilest Man" or "Candles", it would have better for the flow of the whole album to just scrap a quarter of it, even if one or two decent tracks would have been pushed to a later release on another album by it. But I'm sure that has happened many times in the band's history before.
That being said there are of course still some highlights on the second half of "Omnium Gatherum":
"Blame It On A Weather" is a song I don't really want to like, but it's just so damn addictive and transitions so smoothly into "Persistence". The second hip hop track "The Grim Reaper" with its video game music breaks is even hotter than the first one.
The second metal tune "Predator X" may be a little dull in comparison to earlier heavier efforts, but it still shakes the album up in a very welcome way.
Editing - or the lack thereof - remains my problem with this album though. This should have been exciting and fun through and through, but sometimes it just gets a little bit boring. So I don't recommend listening to the whole thing at least without some breaks.
It's still a good release - "The Dripping Tap" alone makes it worthwhile - but all in all, if you made me chose I'd always go with "Made In Timeland".
At least visually the album is a whole win, with a nice gatefold, lyrics and the vinyl of the lucky rainbow edition coming in random colours from the remainders of other productions.
As always, the next couple of releases from King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are already in the works, so even though the band has to slow down due to personal health reasons for the time being and I'm only buying a selected few of their countless live albums, this review probably won't stay my most recent write-up about them here for long.
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