CAVS - Sojourn

After reviewing Flea's debut it's only logical to continue with another solo album more interesting than the recent output of the artist's main band. Enter King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard drummer Michael "Cavs" Cavanagh!

CAVS - Sojourn (Clear Orange vinyl LP) (2026)

Ok, maybe writing this would have been the right occasion to finally give King Gizzard's last two studio albums a proper listen. On the other hand I just can't bother. What I heard of their respective singles felt so Dad Rock that I still don't feel any motivation to do so. But now, a relative eternity of three years after "The Silver Chord (Extended Mix)" there's finally some exciting studio material from the Australians' camp again, even though it only involves their drummer - and Joey Walker on bass.

Not to downplay the skills and importance of other more front and center members like Stu or Amby, but the secret most valuable player of KGLW has always been the drummer, without whose endurance, prowess and increasingly in the pocket beats the whole genre-switching shtick of the band simply wouldn't work as successfully as it does.

On "Sojourn" the drum grooves are unmissable, his clean snare and hi-hat-heavy style unmistakable and maybe most reminiscent of what he did on "Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava". But even though the cover artwork might suggest that, and Cavs is aided by more drums and percussion, performed by co-producer and engineer Jim Rindfleish and conga player Robyn Poppins, this album is not some exclusive rhythm-only Afro-Beat thing like for example the self-titled debut of Klaus Weiss' Niagara.

It is however clearly an instrumental Jazz thing, a funky Fusion fest - yet it also doesn't deny Cavanagh's Psychedelic roots. So all in all these ten tracks - all filled with rich textures and melodies of guitars, piano, keys, saxophones, flute, harp and more - are an inspiring, vitalizing source of feel-good vibes.

Cavs and company cite Jazz Rock, Kraut and Latin music of the 1970's, yet make it sound young and excited like a freshly hatched bird of paradise. In terms of recent artists this album scratches an itch similar to Cazayoux and parts of Ivan The Tolerable's oeuvre for me. An easy but not shallow pleasure trip to the inner happy place.

The typical (p)doom Records packaging and the clear orange vinyl with not even a label blocking the transparence in the middle are a nice touch adding to my enjoyment of this spiritually stimulating delight of a record. It might take a while - and potentially several albums - for that Lizard Wizard to exceed the bar set here.

KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD - PetroDragonic Apocalypse Live

No, this certainly isn't an essential release, but after the disappointing live experience in Hamburg and two rather uninteresting Dad Rock albums (I couldn't even finish listening to one whole song of each) following the brilliant electronic "Silver Cord (Extended Cut)" it just has been an awfully long dry spell, which made me feel the need to reconnect with King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard again.

KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD - PetroDragonic Apocalypse Live (Bloody Metallic Buzz-Saw vinyl 2LP) (2026)

Of course there's a huge ever-growing catalogue of official Gizzard live bootlegs that surely offer more interesting content than just the live version of one studio album, but come on:  "PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation" is still cool as fuck and - to be completely honest - I was just spontanoulsy compelled to order this from Fuzz Club Records, simply because I didn't have a buzz-saw cut record in my collection yet. This shit just looks awesome.

The recording itself isn't from one single show, but a compilation of the seven album tracks from various stops of the Australians' 2024 North America tour.
The Thrash / Progressive / Psychedelic Metal epic sounds fuzzier and feels a bit looser and more Garage than the brutal precision of the studio recording, but ultimately it's of course the same material and the same fantastic energy and musicianship bringing it to life.

Again: This is not a record anyone desperately needs - and the ending with drums fading into the next track instead of the Electronic ending of "Flamethrower" is even a bit of a let-down. On the other hand however it's not a five-hundred-bucks twenty kilogram box you'll hardly listen to completely more than once in your life, it's fun and definitely nice to have.

So yeah: King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard in full metal mode, fuck yeah!

KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD - 3h marathon show at Stadtpark Hamburg (May 22nd 2024)

band: very good to great

weather: unlucky

volume: living room to reading a book

audience: mid to low quality

Not enough? Ok, it's probably a good thing that I needed to write a couple of other live reports before this one (and one day of A Colossal Weekend is still waiting for its review). Otherwise this might have only been a rant about King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard's audience. As if that was needed... If you have been in one fan group on social media, where they are proudly flaunting their bland Taylor Swift-infested fucking Spotify stats, you already know that this band deserves a better fanbase.

The prolific Australians' primary strength is not that they are the best at what they are doing, because if you pick any of the multiple genres they are playing - except for a couple of very special interest records -, you'll always find superior artists. But of course they are great musicians. Their musical nerd-dom and constantly high level of quality in which they apply their own spin on everything they're doing - that's what truly sets them apart. There's really a lot to be appreciated - yet most of it certainly goes over a big chunk of their fans' heads, that rather seems to reduce them to a party-orientated cult of personality, which crosses the line from being funny or ironic to getting on your nerves way too often - while also acting as if King Gizzard have invented music and probably also the wheel.

But maybe I'm just talking bullshit, because I'm spoiled by the respectful crowds of most of my usual shows and festivals, who just know better how to party without being a dick. Seriously: This was an outdoor show in the middle of Hamburg in the middle of the week. If the volume doesn't increase after two "Louder! Louder!" chants - it won't happen. They have restrictions.
But these morons... every time the band went quiter by choice! they came back with their chants, instead of just shutting the fuck up and listening. At one point the band just gave the relaxed jam up and played something else.
I was also under the impression that at least in the front area there were a lot of international travelling fans, who maybe just didn't care too much about potentially ruining the experience for others, because they would see them on other dates of the tour later anyway.

Well of course, you cannot put all the blame for this all in all disappointingly mediocre night on the audience. In fact many for sure also made the best out of the circumstances. But the bad things will of course overshadow that. And the worst thing was of course the low volume. My personal lesson is that I'll never go to Rock / Metal shows here again. It's just too damn silent for that. If I think back on recent Psychedelic shows like Slift or Full Earth the sheer sonic power still blows me away - a great bunch of this show however I just experienced as a backdrop for all kinds of conversations so important they just couldn't wait until later. People can hang out together completely silent with everyone looking onto their own screens - but when you're at a live show you just have to babble constantly?

Normally I'm not the guy in favour of that one fan in the front who holds up his phone to film the whole fucking show. In this case however there is a fan-filmed video on YouTube, which is really worth watching. In fact this video is actually better than having been there in person. At least if you like to hear the actual music of the show you're attending. The value for money ratio of the video definitely is a winner.

It's a shame. In a closed venue this could have been so great. And I'm not even complaining about the rain, which was just extremely unlucky. I had the best tourist weather in Copenhagen a couple of days before and even in Hamburg this just happened to be the one day when it was pouring. But ultimately who cares? It was just weather and at least no thunderstorm or blizzard. The rain wasn't even that cold.

But again - the volume. The band did - almost - nothing wrong. The only thing I missed in the set was some of their microtonal and/or "Polygondwanaland" stuff. But then on the other hand, what we got in this three-hour-marathon was actually great:

You could roughly divide the performance into three parts. The first act, which was opened by "Float Along - Fill Your Lungs" was Psych / Garage Rock stuff and classics with many highlights, be it the "Nonagon Infinity" songs, the groovy "Iron Lung" jam the flute-tastic "Hot Water" or the several "Motor Spirit" teases placed everywhere.

In the middle of the show the synths and stuff table was brought onto the stage and the band premiered a twenty-five minute version of "The Silver Cord". I guess they cannot really replicate the studio version on stage, so this was actually the jammiest part of the whole show with a very lose and ambient sound without even a full beat for most of the time. This Electronic section also was the only one where the volume actually felt close to acceptable. I would have gladly taken a full hour of this weird, but really awesome shit.

The final part of the show was a huge section dominated by the Thrash Metal escapades of "Infest The Rats' Nest" and "Petrodragonic Apocalypse". Super(cell) stuff, but you already know what spoiled it... after the Electronic goodness the Rock instrumentation felt even more tame now. It doesn't really feel like a Doomsday invocation if you can hear a pin being dropped into the mud / grass.
(Ok, that's an exaggeration. I actually couldn't even keep a couple of guys right next to me from trampling the glasses of a girl who had lost them. No chance to break into the moshpit action. At least the crowd was entertaining itself. But I alone witnessed two pairs of glasses being sacrificed to the pit. Who knows how many must have been lost in total?)

Everything had build towards "Motor Spirit" ending the show and so it did. And I was mostly relieved that this distanced simulation of a fantastic PsychElectroRock'nRollMetal show was over.

Compared to how ecstatic their Hamburg show in 2018 had felt, this was just a giant pile of wasted potential. Wrong location. Period.
Musically, under different circumstances this could have been my third or fourth favorite (non-Festival) show of the year so far.

Well, at least one dude filmed a watchable video of it.

The aftermath:

MUSIC 2023: top 23 albums

Albums which I play in the car all the time. Albums which are way too long to listen to every day. Albums which I already listened to too much. Albums which I unjustifiably neglected. Albums with a profound message. Albums which are just pure fucking fun. Albums from bands I've been a fan of for ages. Albums I only just got in the last couple of weeks. And so on and so forth...

So many different albums with so many criteria coming into play. So many different moods and styles. What is more valuable? An album which calms me down? And album which makes me think? An album which puts me into a cathartic rage?

I feel that it's getting harder to come to a satisfying result when putting together my favorite studio releases of the year every time I'm doing this. My usual practice of only considering studio albums which I own as physical copies narrows the list down a little (obviously not always in a way that's fair), but the task still remains impossible. At some not too far point in the future I will inevatibly look back on some choices I made or missed and shake my head in disbelief.
How couldn't I with all those varied great releases that just didn't fit in anymore? When I had settled on 22 (or really 24, because I bent the rules twice) I still had a competition of names like Årabrot, Crawl, Edena Gardens, Fleshvessel, Jegong, John Zorn, Les Nadie, Onkos, Sulphur Aeon and more battling for that last spot. And that's good! As long as it's a pain the ass to put together a ranking like this it means that I've been exposed to an abundance of great music.

In this spirit: Here are - cast in stone for all eternity, or at least until tomorrow morning - my personal...

TOP 23 albums of 2023:

1. BELL WITCH - Future's Shadow Part 1: The Clandestine Gate
   
   
   
   Even though the one eighty-three-minutes song album (their second in that specific format after "Mirror Reaper"!) cannot even be conclusively judged yet, because it is only the first part of a trilogy, I already predicted back in July that I would probably crown this glacially moving Funeral Doom behemoth as album of the year. And how could I not? Dylan Desmond and Jesse Shreibman have even improved their songwriting and arrangement skills and expanded their sound palette to appeareantly score the sorrowful fading of existence as a whole. Stillstand beyond the laws of time has never felt as crushing as floating here, in the void behind the Clandestine Gate.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. LAIBACH - Sketches of the Red Districts
   
   
   
   Yes, the Slovenian collective has made it into top positions of four different MUSIC 2023 lists now! One answer to how they can pull this off lies in several writing teams. "Sketches of the Red Districts", an Industrial / Ambient / Electronic historical recontextualization of Laibach's birth myth in 1980 in connection with a bloody conflict between Yugoslav fascists and the local labour movement of Trbovlje in 1924, saw the current drummer and guitar player step forward to create an atmospheric masterpiece, which is one of the most classic sounding Laibach releases post the 1980's, but still presents a fresh new take on their aesthetics.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. POIL UEDA - PoiL Ueda / Yoshitsune
   
   
   
   Bending the list rules, part one: This spot inevitably had to be shared by two equally brilliant albums, on which traditional Japanese vocalist and satsuma-biwa player Junko Ueda tells epic stories from the Far Eastern Middle Ages with the aid of the absolutely bonkers Magma- and King Crimson-inspired French Avantgarde Prog Rock group PoiL. Both albums of their joint cross-cultural project PoiL Ueda burst with boundless creativity in stunningly intense virtuosic performances. Undoubtly one - err, two - of the wildest and most exciting musical adventures of the year!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. BIG|BRAVE - Nature Morte
   
   
   
   Once again the Canadian Noise Rock trio crushes our hearts, souls and bodies with the deeply satisfying Drone of monolithic guitars and the honest rawest emotion in Ronin Wattie's piercing heartfelt vocal  performance. In a discography that has never shown any sign of weakness "Nature Morte" sees Big|Brave broadening their compositional toolset by drawing lessons from the previous collaboration with The Body without sacrifing their principles of maximalist minimalism.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. HEALTHYLIVING - Songs of Abundance, Psalms of Grief
   
   
   
   While it's impossible to pin this band down on one specific reference like (old) Gggolddd, Brutus, Dool or Chelsea Wolfe, because every track shows a different side of their Post Rock/Punk/Hardcore/Doom/Noise/etc. mix and showcases another facet of Amaya López Carromero's amazing voice, which you might also know from her solo project Maud the Moth, one thing is for sure: Their amazing debut album is filled to the bursting point with strong songs which won't leave your head anytime soon.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. THE KEENING - Little Bird
   
   
   
   After the rest of Salt Lake City's sadly disbanded Doom Metal giants SubRosa have already released an album as The Otolith in 2022, it was now time for front woman and main songwriter Rebecca Vernon to also step into the light again. And be it as singer and lyricist or as a composer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist - she has so much to say on this genre-transcending full-length of wonderful Alternative Gothic Doom Folk greatness! The epic closer "The Truth" alone in truth is one of the greatest songs of the year. Gorgeous!   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. ESBEN AND THE WITCH - Hold Sacred
   
   
   
   "I am down here, in my chapel, where I'm safe from the evils of the world." Esben And The Witch's goodbye before an undetermined long break due to living far apart from each other now, is a magically intimate beauty I cannot stop listening to. Never has the trio's music been so stripped-down Ambient, so centered around Rachel Davies' mesmerizing voice and words. "Hold Sacred" goes right to the soul. This album is a soothing, consouling embrace in the darkness.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. DYMNA LOTVA - Зямля Пад Чорнымі Крыламі: Кроў (The Land Under The Black Wings: Blood)
   
   
   
   A Belarusian Post Black Metal band fleeing from the regime - right into Ukraine before Putin's  invasion - releases an anti-war album based on both the horrors of WWII in their home country and their personal experiences. Even after that serious premise you're hardly prepared for the gut-wrenching storytelling and adamant earnest stance of "Land Under The Black Wings: Blood". Musically Dymna Lotva's Black Metal incorporates Doom as much as influences from Folk, Classical music and even Jazz in a similar way artists like Dordeduh or White Ward are doing it. Very haunting and unfortunately so significant!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
9. GILDED FORM - Gilded Form
   
   
   
   Hardly even moving synths, the halting heartbeat of minimal drums and a guitar slowing down the Blues to tectonic lentitude pay homage to Dylan Carlson's Earth with a coat of bohrenish Doomjazz. Besides Bell Witch no album here will let you hover in a world-withdrawing state of timelessness like Dead Neanderthals (Otto Kokke, Rene Aquarius) and Nick Millevoi are achieving it on their joint project, debut release and forty-minute track "Gilded Form". Even though this is as conceptually reduced as ever it ranks among the most  powerful things the prolific Dutch duo has done so far.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
10. THE END - Why Do You Mourn
    
    
    
    Is it the chaotic baritone guitar and drums rhythm section of Anders Hana and Børge Fjordheim? Is it the double saxophone force of Mats Gustafsson and Kjetil Møster? Or is it the mind-boggling vocal craziness of Sofia Jernberg? Each of these elements alone would already make the dynamic experimental Heavy Jazz Fusion on "Why Do You Mourn" special. Together however The End are capable of anything - even super-slowing down the Sudan Archives Trip Hop track "Black Vivaldi Sonata" to thrice of its original length. 
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
11. SWANS - The Beggar
    
    
    
    How to summarize two hours of Swans in just one paragraph? Yes, Michael isn't done yet at all, so here's another ginormous, existential offering, which combines the recent sound and wordiness of "Leaving Meaning" with the reverb aesthetics of "The Great Annihilator". This huge meditation on decline, decay, dissolution and Death even contains an album within the album with the forty+ minutes of the studio collage "The Beggar Lover (Three)". With all those larger than life works of the past it's unlikely that many Swans fans will crown "The Beggar" as their all-time-favorite. Yet of course the usual scale of operation alone still lets "The Beggar" tower far above most other music releases out there easily.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
12. AUTOPSY - Ashes. Organs, Blood and Crypts
    
    
    
    Fuck yeah! No deep analytical thoughts necessary for this one - it's a bloody gory new Autopsy album. Starting with the title it's a completely accurate what you see is what you get situation - that goes literally for the sick album cover and just as much for its rotten content. Last year's first album with new bassist Greg Wilkinson "Morbidity Triumphant" was already old school rancid Death Metal bliss at its best like only Chris Reifert and Co. can deliver it. But somehow the legends got even darker and filthier now. Gut-splashing, grave-desecrating Autopsy - they just always know how to throw the greatest parties.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
13. GODFLESH - Purge
    
    
    
    JK Broadrick and BC Green added only one letter to the title of their 1991 classic, and indeed the new Godflesh album is an open throwback to the sound and mindset of "Pure". While the guitar sound is fuller and sludgier now, the sawing riffs and screeching leads complimenting Broadrick's nihilist vocals are as similar as the rumbling bass sound and the Hip Hop inspired programmed and sampled drums. Due to its referential nature "Purge" isn't Godflesh's most experimental or original album by far, but with this execution - damn, it's a monstrously grooving cold and heavy Industrial Metal beast.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
14. SARMAT - Determined to Strike
    
    
    
    Recorded before, but released after their "Dubious Disk", which already made it into my TOP 7 non-album releases 2023, the album debut of Sarmat starts more on the Technical Dissonant Death side, before spreading wider into all kinds of Exreme Metal / Avantgarde Jazz Fusion insanity. "Determined to Strike" brings together brutality and classy brass with natural ease. This short but highly entertaining brainmelter for sure is a peak exemplary I, Voidhanger Records release and definitely one of the finest works in the current wave of Jazz Metal!
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
15. KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD - PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation /
    The Silver Cord (Extended Mix)
    
    
    
    
    Of course! With Joey Walker instead of Stu Mackenzie wearing the main composer's helmet this time, the hyper-prolific Australians released an unlikey pair of twin albums based on related song ideas - and who am I to seperate them? "PetroDragonic Apocalypse" is King Gizzard's longer, more refined and more relentless second Thrash Metal album after "Infest The Rats' Nest", which also calls back to the Psychedelic Prog greatness of "Polygondwanaland".
    
    
    
    
    "The Silver Cord" on the other hand is their first completely (vintage) electronic work, which bounces between Klaus Schultze Synth Kraut, 90's Euro Dance, Beastie Boys raps and many more influences. Both albums can easily look eye to eye with the top tiers in the band's always growing discography - at least if you don't count the regular twenty-six minutes version of "The Silver Cord" and go for the vastly superior hypnotic one-and-a-half hour Extended Mix instead!
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
16. REVEREND KRISTIN MICHAEL HAYTER - Saved!
    
    
    
    This album was the hardest to place in this ranking. It's just so hard to decide whether this incredibly fervent exploration of worship songs by the artist formerly known as Lingua Ignota is creepy, barely listenable - or an addictive, completely transfixing experience. How can these old and new blatantly religious hymns be so eerily alienating yet comforting, so ambivalently non-judgemental and still so powerful? Presented more detached from personal experiences than her previous work, with an analogue low-fi production simulating the decayed quality of unearthed, worn out historic recordings "Saved!" lays open the ecstatic core of congregational songs and deliberately leaves it up to us what to make of it. I guess I'm still in that process.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
17. COLD DEW - Yuyu 欲欲
    
    
    
    Released in early February the debut record of Cold Dew starts out so sugary and schmaltzy that I almost dismissed it immediately. And now look where we are eleven months later! "Yuyu 欲欲" still remains my favorite Krautrock album of the year - if the term is even sufficient enough for the boundlessly creative journey through East, West, mind and cosmos these Taiwanese Psychedelic Rockers allow us to share with them, as they confidently step into the space between the void which the departure of Kikagaku Moyo has left and Acid Mothers Temple, without trying to copy either of them.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
18. P/O MASSACRE + ALEX BUESS & MERZBOW - Aural Corrosion
    
    
    

    Best Harsh Electronics is a subcategory I probably wouldn't even have been able to fill every year since I've been doing these annual rankings. The double album of exile Russians Anton Ponomarev and Anton Obrazeena - featuring collaborative longtracks with Swiss experimental musician Alex Buess and Japanese Noise legend Merzbow - however must be included here. Made of Electronic Noise, guitar, saxophone and trumpet P/O Massacre is fighting fire with fire, as this unsparing "Anti-War" music sounds just like propaganda, invasion, occupation... war! Someone should melt the wannabe-czar's face with this!
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
19. DIVIDE & DISSOLVE - Systemic
    
    
    
    Black Native American and Maori girls unite against the state of the world! A ridiculously over-amplified duo playing instrumental Sludge / Doom / Noise Rock with interludes of looped Jazz saxophones and keys against the white supremacist system. It's a good sign that a band with this specific niché premise can even exist in today's Metal environment. The actual execution of Divide and Dissolve's raw and real fourth album however is even better. Crushing!
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
20. NI - Fol Naïs
    
    
    
    Is Benoit Lecomte the MVP of this TOP 23? The bass player did not only play the acoustic four strings on both PoiL Ueda albums, but is also plugged-in member of the absolutely loony Avantgarde Math Noise Metal band Ni. Their delightfully heavy new coo-coo complex instrumental album sounds pretty much like its hilarious cover looks and totally fits its Old French title, which translates to "Born Mad".
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
21. THE NECKS - Travel
    
    
    
    The great mysterious question lingering on my mind when listening to The Necks is whether the Australian trio even needs to prepare or concentrate on a certain mood before they press record, or if this kind of almost spiritually hypnotic Post Jazz just comes out naturally in up to over twenty minutes long jams when you put these seasoned players into one room. Piano/organ, upright bass and drums - plus some overdubs and post production - forming transcendent signals and imprinting it into your bloodstream. (Look how I snuck all song titles into that sentence!)
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    


22. CAZAYOUX - Cazayoux
    
    
    
    My number one exclusively uplifting feel-good studio release of the year hails from Texas. The self-titled debut album of drummer Forest Cazayoux'  big band is grooving with a many-layered, rich and smoothly produced amalgam of infectiously funky instrumental Psychedelic Latin Afro-Beat Jazz Rock Fusion. This sweet and spicy record bursts with amazing individual performances from innumerable instruments, yet noone steals the spotlight too much from the ensemble as a whole, which is the sparlking star of the show.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
23. HENRIK LINDSTRAND - Klangland
    
    

    

    Need a score to turn any everyday situation into emotionally complex, melancholically longing arthouse cinema? Swedish composer Henrik Lindstrand's sat down at his piano and composed a roundel of achingly beautiful melodic pieces, which accompanied by a sixteen-piece string ensemble will give you exactly that. Contempory Classical music which captures the fugitiveness of the moment in genuine purity.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

    favorite MUSIC 2023 - all my lists:

    TOP 23 albums   |   TOP 7 live albums   |   TOP 5 reissues
    TOP 7 non-album releases   |   TOP 23 live shows

Bandcamp Friday haul December 2023 feat. THE LORD & MARTHE and TROPICAL FUCK STORM & KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD

Yeah, that's quiet a long post title for just two EPs. So appearantly, as of now, Bandcamp Friday is still a thing. And this is the exclusively digital stuff I bought this time:




TROPICAL FUCK STORM & KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD - Satanic Slumber Party (2022)

Does this even count? I only just got this collaborative EP on one-sided picture vinyl for a small price and could have digitalized these three tracks, which actually equal just one wild Psychedelic Rock tune sandwiched between an intro and utterly chaotic sound collage. But I was lazy and also wanted this brilliant Experimental Garage Fuzz excess in my Bandcamp collection.
This surely works as a warning in case you're ever planning on visiting Australia. When you're down under and see a couple of bands hanging around on the sidewalk, better don't come near them without substance consumption beforehand, or you'll be seriously confused!

THE LORD & MARTHE - The Eye of Destiny (2023)

Sunn O))) member Greg Anderson aka The Lord has teamed up with another artist yet again. On this two-track EP it's new Southern Lord signing Marthe and they're both paying tribute to Quorton. I've actually never immersed myself into the discography of Bathory, so I'm just familiar with the work through covers and the undeniably still ongoing wide influence on the whole Metal scene. So here's another piece of that puzzle!

The title track "The Eye of Destiny" is a mix of Drone with conanthebarbarianous fanfares and a vocal performance quite akin to Ana von Hausswolff's evil banshee mode. A haunting piece, one of the best The Lord's collaborations have called into existence yet.
"Wisps of the Black Serpent" has a little more of a folksy storytelling vibe - if can can call it that in this thick and mighty Drone Metal soundscape - and with the some very Black Metal-ish vocal deliveries.

All in all thirteen and a half minutes of low frequency greatness and epic atmosphere.

KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD - The Silver Cord

Wooooohoooooooooooo!

Ok, ich kann nicht behaupten, die Memo nicht bekommen zu haben. Ich habe sie nur nicht richtig gelesen. Und so ging ich, als ich meine Doppel-LP des neuesten (tatsächlich immer noch!) Albums von King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard bestellte, davon aus, dass sie sowohl das reguläre Album als auch den Extended Mix enthalten würde. Stattdessen bekam ich allerdings nur den letzteren. Aber das ist, wie ich gleich ausführen werde, auch ok so.

Da beide Versionen gleichzeitig dasselbe und verschiedene Werke darstellen, rein digital aber stets zusammen präsentiert werden, beziehe auch ich beide Varianten von "The Silver Cord" in mein Geschreibsel mit ein.

KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD - The Silver Cord (Extended Mix) (Rain of Sorrow Edition 2LP) (2023)

Beginnen wir doch mit der bemerkenswerten Tatsache, dass dies erst das zweite Studioalbum ist, welches die hyperproduktiven Genre-Hopper aus Australien dieses Jahr herausgebracht haben!
Und wer nicht gerade zu jeden Fans gehört, welche die Band eigentlich nur zu ihren Garagenpsychedelicwurzeln zurückkehren sehen möchte, der muss zugeben, dass diese Priorisierung von Qualität über Quantität keinesfalls ein schlechter Schachzug ist.
Dabei ist es natürlich zentrales Markenzeichen der Gruppe, bei jeder Veröffentlichung - ganz egal, wo sie uns stilistisch hinführt - ein hohes Niveau und ihre eindeutig wiedererkennbare Identität zu wahren. Von den fünf 2022er Alben habe ich mir zwei allerdings noch nicht einmal angehört. "Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava" hingegen hat sich vor allem als großartiger Jam auf langen Autofahrten erwiesen. Das Potenzial, auf lange Sicht mit dem besten Material der Band mitzuhalten, spürte ich allerdings nur beim auf alles scheißenden, wagemutig kurzen und chaotischen "Made In Timeland".

Dieses Jahr erschien nun aber bereits der gnadenlose Thrash-Metal-Dampfhammer *LuftfürdenlangenTitelhol* "PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation", ein Doppelalbum, welches die ersten Dreschansätze von "Infest The Rats' Nest" and das Psych-Prog-Meisterwerk "Polygondwanaland" in eins verschmolz und noch eine Menge zusätzlichen Pfeffer, Präzision und Energie hinzufügte. Das Ergebnis kann nicht nur mit allem mithalten, was King Gizzard jemals zuvor gemacht hat, sondern kann sich auch innerhalb der tatsächlichen Metal-Szenen behaupten, von denen es inspiriert wurde. Ein absoluter Knaller!
Es enthielt außerdem noch eine erzählte Ambient-Version der gesamten Geschichte aus einer anderen Perspektive als Bonustrack.

Und hier kommt nun "The Silver Cord" und öffnet eine komplett neue Dose Echsen, während es gleichzeitig ebenso sehr eine weitere Version der PetroDrakonischen Apocalypse präsentiert. Ja, ich weiß, das klingt alles nach einer Menge. Es ist aber irgendwie erklärbar. Hoffe ich zumindest, anderseits würde der Rest dieses Textes ein Krampf. Aber ich bezweifle dies und schütze mich einfach mit einem präventiven Auflockerungsschrei davor.

Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh!!!

"The Silver Cord" ist mit knapp sechsundzwanzig Minuten ganz klar eines der bisher kürzesten Alben von King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. Es ist auch der mit Abstand weiteste Vorstoß der Band in vollelektronische Gefilde, werden hier doch erstmals gar keine akustischen Instrumente mehr gespielt. Stattdessen bekommen wir jeden Menge Vintage-Synthesizer, Effekte, komplett künstliche Drums und sogar Gitarrensynthesizer auf die Ohren - ein vollkommenes Bekenntnis zum Konzept also. (Die Credits dazu sind ähnlich nerdig detailliert wie auf Blood Incantations Ambient-Ausflug "Timewave Zero".)

Die sieben kleinen Stücke fließen alle ineinander über, so dass sich das Album beinahe wie ein einziger zusammenhängender Track anfühlt. Auch das offizielle Video zu den ersten drei Songs "Theia", "The Silver Cord" und "Set" unterstreicht diese Idee.

Letztendlich sind sowohl diese Triple-Single als auch das gesamte Album zwar unterhaltsam, wenn man nicht so viel Zeit hat, dienen aber im Grunde nur als Vorgeschmack auf das eigentliche Ding, den Extended Mix. Mal im Ernst: Wer schaut sich heute noch die Kinofassung der Herr der Ringe-Trilogie an?

In der erweiterten Version schwillt der Opener von dreieinhalb auf fast einundzwanzig Minuten an, während auch alle folgenden sechs Tracks mindestens die Zehn-Minuten-Marke knacken. Was das Ganze folgerichtig zu einem herrlich exzessiven Neunzig-Minuten-Doppelalbum macht. Oder kurz gesagt: Woooh, schweinigyle!

Sounds zwischen Schultze, Kraftwerk, 80er Pop und 90er umpffumpffumpff Euro-Dance, hin und wieder und auch Breakbeats. Unwahrscheinlich, dass hier gezielt eine spezifische Bewegung Pate stand. Es scheint vielmehr - wie immer so - dass King Gizzard einfach das machen, worauf sie Bock haben. Ähnlichkeiten entstehen hier vor allem durch die Klangpalette des benutzten Equipments.

In ihrer ewigen Länge durchlaufen die Tracks alle verschiedene Phasen: progressiv, hypnotisierend, aber durchaus auch mal so richtig Vollasi mit Beastie Boys-Rapalarm. Gesanglich ist eh für viel Abwechslung gesorgt, wobei mir neben Ambys Partyhiphop-Passagen vor allem Joey gefällt, der es im Titelsong irgendwie schafft, die emotionale Düsternis von Emilíana Torrini in "Gollums' Song" (huch, noch eine Herr-der-Ringe-Erwähnung!) heraufzubeschwören. Stu hingegen, welcher den Chefkomponistenmantel dieses Jahr offensichtlich Joey übergeben hat, schwankt hier ein wenig und passt eigentlich immer am besten zum Elektrosound, wenn er eine tiefere kehlkopflastigere Stimmlage zum besten gibt.

Eine sehr spezielle Phase in jedem Track ist jene, wenn auch durch textliche Rückgriffe aufs letzte Album ("Motor Spirit" / "Converge!" / "Gila! Gila!") deutlich gemacht wird, dass alle Songs tatsächlich auf denselben Ideen wie ihre vermeintlich vollkommen gegensätzlichen Metal-Gegenstücke auf "Petrodragonic Apocalypse" beruhen!
Was genau die inhaltlichen Brücken zwischen der Over-the-top-Komplettzerstörung des Planeten und dem kosmisch-esoterisch mesopotamischen Mystizismus von "The Silver Cord" sind, überlasse ich fleißigeren Lyrikanalysten zu ergründen. Es ist auf jeden Fall eine lässige neue Ebene, ein beeindruckendes Yin zum Yang (oder umgekehrt?) und vor allem eine erbarmungslose Ohrwurmschleuder! So hirngestört und abhängig haben mich King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard selten hinterlassen. Die Produktion gehört auch zum allerfeinsten aus dem hause KGLW - was für ein Kopfhörertrip! Einfach ein Spaß Spaß Spaß machendes fettes Hammeralbum.

Nur "Chang'e", der Track im Zentrum des Album wirkt mit seiner eher auf "Butterfly 3000" passenden Zuckersüßlichkeit doch etwas deplaziert in dieser Tanzopalypse und entwickelt leider ein paar Längen. Alles andere ist einfach so viel stärker!
Wer also Playlisten nutzt, dem würde ich als ideale Version von "The Silver Cord" grundsätzlich immer zu sechs Siebteln den Extended Mix empfehlen - mit der einzigen Modifizierung, Stück vier sozusagen als Zwischenspiel durch die kurze Version zu ersetzen, so dass der Fluss zwischen den wild fetzenden Tracks drumherum nicht mehr gestört wird. Dann stimmt alles. Und für den Connaisseur der Quantität sind es insgesamt ja auch so immer noch stolze zweiundachtzig Minuten Spacedisco. You will see everything you can be in the music!

Das Coverfoto ist jetzt schon Kult, der Metallic-Druck der Rain of Sorrow-Edition schreit Achtziger-Jahre - und geht ganz scheiße zu fotografieren. Das transparente Vinyl mit blauem Splatter ist ebenfalls ein Hinkucker. Wie immer ist das Ganze leider viel zu kostspielig - aber halt auch leider leider leider geil. Aber sowas von!
Muss ich noch erwähnen. dass mir die kurze Version Albums digital reicht? Habe ich ja eigentlich schon erklärbärt. Da könnte mich höchstens noch eine Veröffentlichung in einem anderen physischen Format (also CD oder Kassette) erweichen.

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