King Gizzard – Page 2 – 7th Level Music

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard are “Hate Dancin'” with their new single.

Today, Australian polymaths King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard unveil their new single/video, “Hate Dancin’,” taken from their forthcoming album Changes, out October 28th on KGLW. Following last week’s Laminated Denim – an album written specifically with their recent sold-out Marathon Shows at Red Rocks in mind – and Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms And Lava, Changes marks King Gizzard’s third and final album of October. Originally imagined as the group’s fifth album of 2017, Changes has ended up the sixth album King Gizzard will release in 2022 (rounded out by April’s double album, Omnium Gatherum, January’s Butterfly 3001 remix record, and March’s Made in Timeland, the latter of which was just surprised-released on DSPs for the first time). “Hate Dancin’” is a tight number, clocking in just above the 3-minute mark. “I started writing a song about how I hate dancing, but then I realized that I love dancing,”says Gizz frontman Stu Mackenzie. The accompanying video puts the band’s exquisite moves front and center.

WATCH “HATE DANCIN’” VIDEO

For half a decade, the sextet has been haunted by one elusive conceptual project that had bested their every attempt (of which there had been several). They first conceived the album back in 2017, a busy year for the group. Within a mere twelve months, they recorded and released five albums of new material, but the band had intended to see out the year with a different album. That album was called Changes, and it’s finally arriving now. “I think of Changes as a song-cycle,” says band-member Stu Mackenzie. “Every song is built around this one chord progression – every track is like a variation on a theme. But I don’t know if we had the musical vocabulary yet to complete the idea at that time. We recorded some of it then, including the version of ‘Exploding Suns’ that’s on the finished album. But when the sessions were over, it just never felt done. It was like this idea that was in our heads, but we just couldn’t reach. We just didn’t know yet how to do what we wanted to do.”

The group abandoned Changes and instead prepared the beguiling Gumboot Soup (the last of five albums the band released in 2017), and were then quickly ensnared by about eight other outlandish ideas that sent them in infinite new directions. But the concept of Changes did not go gently into that good night. “We really have been tinkering with it since then,” Mackenzie adds.

“It’s not necessarily our most complex record, but every little piece and each sound you hear has been thought about a lot,” Mackenzie adds. Indeed, the album has gestated over a fitfully inventive five years. But the album has taught him that projects operate to their own schedules and are ready when they’re ready.

Good things come to those who wait, and the magnificent Changes is worth every one of the 2,628,000 minutes King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard invested in it. Soaked in the warm sonics of 70s R’n’B and guided by simple chord-changes that contain multitudes and rounding out another remarkable year for the group, Changes is a luminous, soft-pop marvel. Come lose yourself in its slow-cooked brilliance.

Currently in the middle of a largely sold-out U.S. tour, the band return to the U.K. and Europe for a run of shows in March 2023 which include two nights at the Brixton Academy in London. Full dates are listed below and tickets are on sale now.

Finally, read Stereogum’s recent Cover Story on the band, which dives headlong into their epic month and the history of the band as they continue their march towards world domination is the Greatest Rock Band on the Planet™.

TOUR DATES
Fri. Oct. 21 – Forest Hills, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium %
Sat. Oct. 22 – Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall * SOLD OUT
Sun. Oct. 23 – Washington, DC @ The Anthem * SOLD OUT
Mon. Oct. 24 – Asheville, NC @ Rabbit Rabbit * SOLD OUT
Wed. Oct. 26 – Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern * SOLD OUT
Thu. Oct. 27 – New Orleans, LA @ Orpheum Theater * SOLD OUT
Fri. Oct. 28 – Austin, TX @ Levitation – Stubb’s * SOLD OUT
Sat. Oct. 29 – Austin, TX @ Levitation – Stubb’s $ SOLD OUT
Mon. Oct. 31 – Oklahoma City, OK @ The Criterion #
Wed. Nov. 2nd – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre # SOLD OUT
Sat. Dec. 10 – St. Kilda, AUS @ The Palace Foreshore @
Thu. Dec. 29 – Tauranga, NZ @ Wharepai Domain
Sat. Dec. 31 – Wanaka, NZ @ Rhythm & Alps
Wed. Jan. 4 – Auckland, NZ @ The Matakana Country Park
Fri. Jan. 6 – New Plymouth, NZ @ Bowl of Brooklands
Thu. Mar. 2 – Paris, FR @ Zenith
Fri. Mar. 3 – Amsterdam, NL @ Gashoulder
Sat. Mar. 4 – Tilburg, NE @ 013
Mon. Mar. 6 – Malmo, SE @ Plan B
Tue. Mar. 7 – Stockholm, SE @ Munchenbryggeriet
Wed. Mar. 8 – Oslo, NE @ Sentrum Scene
Thu. Mar. 9 – Copenhagen, DK @ Den Gra Hal
Sat. Mar. 11 – Warsaw, PL @ Progesja
Sun. Mar. 12 – Prague, CZ @ Lucerna Velky Sal
Mon. Mar. 13 – Vienna, AT @ Gasometer
Wed. Mar. 15 – Milan, IT @ Alcatraz
Thu. Mar. 16 – Zurich, CH @ X-Tra
Fri. Mar. 17 – Lausanne, CH @ Les Docks
Sat. Mar. 18 – Wiesbaden, DE @ Schlachthof
Mon. Mar. 20 – Brussels, DE @ Cirque Royale
Wed. Mar. 22 – London,UK @ Brixton Academy
Thu. Mar. 23 – London, UK @ Brixton Academy
Thu. Mar. 30 – Sydney, AUS @ Big Top Luna Park
Thu. Apr. 6 – Byron Bay, AUS @ Tivoli
Fri. Apr. 7 – Byron Bay, AUS @ Byron Bay Bluesfest

* w/ Leah Senior
% w/ black midi, Leah Senior
$ w/ Tropical Fuck Storm, The Murlocs
# w/ The Murlocs, Leah Senior
@ w/ Stella Donnelly, CIVIC

King Gizzard & The Wizard Lizard Online:
https://kinggizzardandthelizardwizard.com/
https://www.instagram.com/kinggizzard/
https://www.facebook.com/kinggizzardandthelizardwizard/
https://twitter.com/kinggizzard
https://kinggizzard.bandcamp.com/
https://gizzverse.com/

Keep your mind open.

[Dance over to the subscription box while you’re here.]

[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard to release three albums in October, because of course they are.

Today, Australia’s prolific atom-splitting polymaths King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard exceed even the most hyperbolic projections and announce the upcoming release of THREE new albums, all set for flight during the month of October via their own KGLW label. The first to drop will be the Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms And Lava, out October 7th. Following that will be Laminated Denim, dropping somewhat unconventionally on October 12th, a Wednesday. Finally, on October 28th the band will release Changes, their 5th album of the year. Additionally, they have shared a video for one of the songs off the first of this album triumvirat, “Ice V.” This will all be happening during the height of Gizz’s North American Takeover, as the band traverses across the continent playing their largest venues yet, including three shows at Red Rocks Amphitheater (2 of which are sold out) and New York’s Forest Hills Stadium (where Dylan went electric, no less). As a special treat to those who come and see the band live at some of their biggest shows, limited stock of Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms And Lava will be available at their Greek Theater show in Berkeley, copies of Laminated Denim will be available at Red Rocks, and Changes can be obtained at the Orpheum in New Orleans. Additionally, bundles of all three albums can be pre-ordered here.

WATCH VIDEO FOR “ICE V”

Things move fast in the Gizzverse, and before Stu Mackenzie and his bandmates had even completed work on their recent mammoth double album Omnium Gatherum, they’d started sketching out this next record. Their Omnium Gatherum single “The Dripping Tap” had begun life as a handful of ideas and riffs that had arisen at pre-pandemic soundchecks and demos recorded through lockdown. For this new album, however, the group wouldn’t be bringing in any pre-written songs or ideas; instead, they planned to cook up all the music together in the studio, on the spot. “All we had prepared as we walked into the studio were these seven song titles,” says Mackenzie. “I have a list on my phone of hundreds of possible song titles. I’ll never use most of them, but they’re words and phrases I feel could be digested into King Gizzard-world.” Mackenzie selected seven titles from his list that he felt “had a vibe,” and then attached a beats-per-minute value to each one. Each song would also follow one of the seven modes of the major scale: Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian and Locrian.

Over seven days, the group recorded hours and hours of jams, dedicating a day to each mode and BPM. “Naturally, each day’s jams had a different flavor, because each day was in a different scale and a different BPM,” Mackenzie says. “We’d walk into the studio, set everything up, get a rough tempo going and just jam. No preconceived ideas at all, no concepts, no songs. We’d jam for maybe 45 minutes, and then all swap instruments and start again.” The group ended each day with four-to-five hours of new jams in the can. Mackenzie auditioned those jams after the sessions were done, stitching them together into the songs that feature on the 21st studio album by King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms And Lava (the initials of the title, IDPLMAL, spell out a mnemonic for the modes). Having assembled full working instrumentals from these jams, Mackenzie and his bandmates began overdubbing flute, organ, percussion and extra guitar over the top. The lyrics, meanwhile, were a group effort. “We had an editable Google Sheet that we were all working on,” says Mackenzie. “Most of the guys in the band wrote a lot of the lyrics, and it was my job to arrange it all and piece it together.”

The result of this radical, experimental creative process is one of the densest, most unpredictable statements from a band whose work always rockets in from unexpected angles accompanied by a wealth of subtext and theorems. But you don’t even need even a passing understanding of those Ancient Greek musical modes to appreciate this adventurous new music.

TRACKLISTING
1. Mycelium (7:36)
2. Ice V (10:16)
3. Magma (9:07)
4. Lava (6:41)
5. Hell’s Itch (13:28)
6. Iron Lung (9:05)
7. Gliese 710 (7:49)

“Laminated Denim is an anagram of Made In Timeland” – Stu Mackenzie

TRACKLISTING
1. The Land Before Timeland (15:00)
2. Hypertension (15:00)

For half a decade, the sextet has been haunted by one elusive conceptual project that had bested their every attempt (of which there had been several). They first conceived the album back in 2017, a busy year for the group. Within a mere twelve months, they recorded and released five albums of new material, but the band had intended to see out the year with a different album. That album was called Changes, and it’s finally arriving now. “I think of Changes as a song-cycle,” says band-member Stu Mackenzie. “Every song is built around this one chord progression – every track is like a variation on a theme. But I don’t know if we had the musical vocabulary yet to complete the idea at that time. We recorded some of it then, including the version of “Exploding Suns” that’s on the finished album. But when the sessions were over, it just never felt done. It was like this idea that was in our heads, but we just couldn’t reach. We just didn’t know yet how to do what we wanted to do.”

The group abandoned Changes and instead prepared the beguiling Gumboot Soup (the last of five albums the band released in 2017), and were then quickly ensnared by about eight other outlandish ideas that sent them in infinite new directions. But the concept of Changes did not go gently into that good night. “We really have been tinkering with it since then,” Mackenzie adds.

“It’s not necessarily our most complex record, but every little piece and each sound you hear has been thought about a lot,” Mackenzie adds. Indeed, the album has gestated over a fitfully inventive five years. Originally imagined as the group’s fifth album of 2017, it has ended up the fifth album King Gizzard will release in 2022. Coincidences like this, Mackenzie says, wake up the latent numerologist within him. But the album has taught him that projects operate to their own schedules and are ready when they’re ready.

Good things come to those who wait, and the magnificent Changes is worth every one of the 2,628,000 minutes King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard invested in it. Soaked in the warm sonics of 70s R’n’B and guided by simple chord-changes that contain multitudes and rounding out another remarkable year for the group, Changes is a luminous, soft-pop marvel. Come lose yourself in its slow-cooked brilliance.

TRACKLISTING
1. Change (13:04)
2. Hate Dancin’ (3:16)
3. Astroturf (7:34)
4. No Body (3:42)
5. Gondii (4:57)
6. Exploding Suns (4:41)
7. Short Change (2:51)

TOUR DATES
Fri. Sept. 30 – Perris, CA @ Desert Daze 2022
Sun. Oct. 2 – Berkeley, CA @ Greek Theatre * SOLD OUT
Tue. Oct. 4 – Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater * SOLD OUT
Wed. Oct. 5 – Vancouver, BC @ PNE Forum *
Thu. Oct. 6 – Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre * SOLD OUT
Mon. Oct. 10 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre * SOLD OUT
Tue. Oct. 11 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre * SOLD OUT
Fri. Oct. 14 – St Paul, MN @ The Palace Theatre * SOLD OUT
Sat. Oct. 15 – Chicago, IL @ RADIUS * SOLD OUT
Sun. Oct. 16 – Detroit, MI @ Masonic Temple *
Tue. Oct. 18 – Toronto, ON @ History * SOLD OUT
Wed. Oct. 19 – Montreal, QC @ L’Olympia * SOLD OUT
Fri. Oct. 21 – Forest Hills, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium %
Sat. Oct. 22 – Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall * SOLD OUT
Sun. Oct. 23 – Washington, DC @ The Anthem * SOLD OUT
Mon. Oct. 24 – Asheville, NC @ Rabbit Rabbit * SOLD OUT
Wed. Oct. 26 – Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern * SOLD OUT
Thu. Oct. 27 – New Orleans, LA @ Orpheum Theater *
Fri. Oct. 28 – Austin, TX @ Levitation – Stubb’s *
Sat. Oct. 29 – Austin, TX @ Levitation – Stubb’s $
Mon. Oct. 31 – Oklahoma City, OK @ The Criterion #
Wed. Nov. 2nd – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre #
Thu. Dec. 29 – Tauranga, NZ @ Wharepai Domain
Sat. Dec. 31 – Wanaka, NZ @ Rhythm & Alps
Wed. Jan. 4 – Auckland, NZ @ The Matakana Country Park
Thu. Apr. 6 – Byron Bay, AUS @ Byron Bay Bluesfest
Fri. Apr. 7 – Byron Bay, AUS @ Byron Bay Bluesfest
Sat. Apr. 8 – Byron Bay, AUS @ Byron Bay Bluesfest
Sun. Apr. 9 – Byron Bay, AUS @ Byron Bay Bluesfest
Mon. Apr. 10 – Byron Bay, AUS @ Byron Bay Bluesfest

* w/ Leah Senior
% w/ black midi, Leah Senior
$ w/ Tropical Fuck Storm, The Murlocs
# w/ The Murlocs, Leah Senior

Keep your mind open.

[Why not subscribe? It’s a great way to keep up on a lot of stuff…like when an Australian band releases three albums in one month.]

[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Review: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Omnium Gatherum

King Gizard and the Lizard Wizard are one of the few bands out there who could start off an album with a song that’s over eighteen minutes long and everyone would think that’s a perfectly normal thing to do. Their new record, Omnium Gatherum, does just that with “The Dripping Tap.”

The album almost sounds like a greatest hits record, as KGATLW move back and forth between genres, time signatures, tuning preferences, and distortion levels. “The Dripping Tap” is a wild psychedelic freak-out, the kind that first got the band noticed just a decade or so ago (although it seems longer due to the massive output the band has generated in such a short time). “Magenta Mountain” starts off with soothing keyboard tones and then drops in slick beats that are perfect for a stroll or cruising on a Jet-Ski.

The funky bass on “Kepler-22b” takes you into outer space and encourages you to have a good time there (as do the lyrics). “Gaia” takes us back to Earth with re-entry burn riffs. Then, just to confuse ads, they drops “Ambergris,” a bedroom slow-jam that would fit on a Thundercat record. “Sadie Sorceress,” believe it or not, is a rap track – and it works.

“Evilest Man” is electro krautrock mixed with roaring riffs and smashing cymbals that sounds like something they accidentally left off Nonagon Infinity. “The Garden Goblin” is a fun, bouncy track that could’ve been listed on Fishing for Fishies, as could “Persistence.” “The Grim Reaper” is another hip hop track, complete with trippy flute loops.

“Presumptuous” bounces with Outkast-like pep. “Predator X” is a return to hard-hitting thrash metal, countered nicely by the trippy “Red Smoke” and “Candles,” which literally has the band singing, “Wheee!” at one point. The album closes with an instrumental – “The Funeral,” an interesting name choice for the final track, and an interesting choice to close the record with a track that only has vocal sounds and no lyrics.

Omnium Gatherum is a great place to jump on the Gizzard Train if you’re new to the band. It showcases so many styles they can play, and play well, that you’re sure to like at least a few things here.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe before you go.]

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard climb “Magenta Mountain” on their new single.

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard have released “Magenta Mountain,” a new track/video from their forthcoming album, Omnium Gatherum, which will be released April 22nd via the band’s KGLW label, and is available for pre-order now. It follows the majestic lead single, “The Dripping Tap.” Some tracks on Omnium Gatherum return to the synth-psych visions of Butterfly 3000, like the neon pop of “Magenta Mountain.” King Gizz’s Ambrose Kenny-Smith elaborates on the track: “You know when you have a really weird vivid dream and it sticks with you like glue? One day I came into the studio and Stu was trying to write one of them down. He kept banging on about this paradise called Magenta Mountain that he had seen but none of us believed him. Every day since then he’s been still trying to convince us all that it’s real and one day he will.”

The band has played the track at their shows before, but this is the official studio recording release. This video, directed by John Angus Stewart, is synched to one of the band’s live performances in Melbourne. “‘Magenta Mountain’ is a new track, which can always be a tricky one to film live as people are yet to have digested the song on their own,” says Stewart. “So we decided to use the normally unseen infrastructure of a gig to guide us through the performance. Giving the audience a ‘protagonist’ for a live show, in this case the watchful and sometimes forceful eye of a security guard. The brute in hi-vis clearing a path through sweaty fans is a beautiful thing to behold.”

WATCH KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD’S VIDEO FOR “MAGENTA MOUNTAIN”

Following 2020’s KG and 2021’s LW and Butterfly 3000, Omnium Gatherum was the first time King Gizzard recorded together as a band since the COVID pandemic hit, and Melbourne placed its citizens under a series of prohibitive lockdown measures. Omnium Gatherum’s sprawling 16 tracks of gonzoid prog jams, dizzying pop nuggets, rubber-legged hip-hop odysseys and passages of pure thrash-metal abandon offer plenty for Gizzard fans and neophytes alike to chew on. Typically, Gizzard albums pursue a single theme or style – for example, Infest The Rat’s Nest’s eco-themed metal barrage, or Butterfly 3000’s new age trance-pop, or Nonagon Infinity’s endless garage-prog contortions – and part of the thrill of Omnium Gatherum for the group was the opportunity of new ideas without committing to deliver an entire album in that vein. It’s the perfect entry point for newcomers, and a solid treat for the faithful as well.

Omnium Gatherum feels like a Greatest Hits album, in its variety and the strength of the songs – only you’ve never heard any of these tracks before. It’s the sound of a group operating at their absolute peak, a group motivated by a deserved confidence that they could try their hands at anything. It’s also the sound of a group ready to return to the road after two fallow years – a handful of live shows in Australia, performed in the brief windows between lockdowns, has reawakened King Gizzard’s taste for live action.

They’ll kick off their North American tour next month. Following, they’ll play shows across Europe and then return to the states this fall. Tickets are on sale now and a list of shows can be found below. To say that they’re “up for it” would be a dizzying exercise in understatement.

OMNIUM GATHERUM TRACKLISTING: 1. The Dripping Tap 2. Magenta Mountain 3. Kepler-22b 4. Gaia 5. Ambergris 6. Sadie Sorceress 7. Evilest Man 8. The Garden Goblin 9. Blame It On The Weather 10. Persistence 11. The Grim Reaper 12. Presumptuous 13. Predator X 14. Red Smoke 15. Candles 16. The Funeral

KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD TOUR DATES

Fri. April 22 – Indio, CA @ Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
Sun. April 24 – San Luis Obispo, CA @ Madonna Inn $ SOLD OUT
Tue. April 26 – Sonoma, CA @ Gundlach Bundschu $ SOLD OUT
Wed. April 27 – Petaluma, CA @ Phoenix Theater $ SOLD OUT
Thu. April 28 – San Francisco, CA @ Bimbo’s 365 Club ? SOLD OUT
Sat. April 30 – Atlanta, GA @ Shaky Knees Festival
Wed. May 4 – Monterrey, MX @ Showcenter
Fri. May 6 – Mexico City, MX @ Quarry Studios
Sun. May 8 – Ixtapa Zihuatanejo, MX @ Loot/Musa
Sat. May 14 – Queretaro, MX@ Jardin Hercules
Sun. May 15 – Guadalajara, MX @ Teatro Estudio Guanamor
Fri. May 20 – Cleveland, OH @ Agora Theatre & SOLD OUT
Sat. May 21 – Columbus, OH @ KEMBA Live! Outdoor &
Sun. May 22 – Millvale, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre & SOLD OUT
Tue. May 24 – Rochester, NY @ Water Street Music Hall & SOLD OUT
Wed. May 25 – South Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground & SOLD OUT
Thu. May 26 – South Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground &SOLD OUT
Sat. May 28 – Boston, MA @ Boston Calling Music Festival
Tue. May 31 – Athens, GR @ Gagarin 205
Wed. June 1 – Athens, GR @ Gagarin 205
Fri. June 3 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound – SOLD OUT
Sun. June 5 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera in the City SOLD OUT
Mon. June 6 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera in the City SOLD OUT
Tue. June 7 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera in the City SOLD OUT
Thu. June 9 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound – SOLD OUT
Sat. June 11 – Mannheim, DE @ Maifeld Derby Festival
Sun June 12 – HIlvarenbeek NL @ Best Kept Secret
Tue. June 14 – Berlin, DE @ Tempodrom
Fri. June 17 – Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival
Sat. June 18 – Miami, FL @ Space Park &
Sun. July 31 – Waterford, IE @ All Together Now
Tue. Aug. 2 – Šibenik, HR @ St. Michael’s Fortress √
Wed. Aug. 3 – Šibenik, HR @ St. Michael’s Fortress √
Fri. Aug. 5 – Prague, CZ @ Archa Theatre √
Sun. Aug. 7 – Vienna, AT @ Arena Wien (Open Air) √
Tue. Aug. 9 – Leipzig, DE @ Parkbühne √
Wed. Aug. 10 – Munich, DE @ Tonhalle √
Fri. Aug. 12 – Sion, CH @ Palp Festival
Sun Aug 14- Helsinki, FIN @ Flow Festival
Wed. Aug. 17 – Paredes de Coura, PT @ Paredes de Coura Festival
Fri. Aug. 19 – Gueret, FR @ Check-In Party Festival
Sat. Aug. 20 – Saint-Malo, FR @ La Route du Rock Festival
Sun. Aug. 21 – Hasselt, BE @ Pukkelpop
Tue. Aug. 23 – Cologne, DE @ E-Werk √
Wed. Aug. 24 – Hamburg, DE @ Markthalle √
Fri Aug 26- London, UK @ All Points East
Sat. Aug. 27 – Málaga, ES @ Canela Party
Sun. Oct. 2 – Berkeley, CA @ Greek Theatre * SOLD OUT
Tue. Oct. 4 – Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater* SOLD OUT
Wed. Oct. 5 – Vancouver, BC @ PNE Forum*
Thu. Oct. 6 – Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre *
Mon. Oc. 10 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre* SOLD OUT
Tue. Oct. 11 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre* SOLD OUT
Fri. Oct. 14 – St Paul, MN @ The Palace Theatre* SOLD OUT
Sat. Oct. 15 – Chicago, IL @ RADIUS* SOLD OUT
Sun. Oct. 16 – Detroit, MI @ Masonic Temple*
Tue. Oct. 18 – Toronto, ON @ History* SOLD OUT
Wed. Oct. 19 – Montreal, QC @ L’Olympia*
Fri. Oct. 21 – New York, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium*
Sat. Oct. 22 – Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall* SOLD OUT
Sun. Oct. 23 – Washington, DC @ The Anthem at The Wharf*
Mon. Oct. 24 – Asheville, NC @ Rabbit Rabbit*
Wed. Oct. 26 – Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern*
Thu. Oct. 27 – New Orleans, LA @ Orpheum Theater *
Mon. Oct. 31 – Oklahoma City, OK @ The Criterion #

^ w/ Mildlife
~ w/ Mildlife, DJ Crenshaw
% w/ Amyl and the Sniffers, SPELLLING, DJ Crenshaw
! w/ The Chats, SPELLLING, DJ Crenshaw
$ w/ SPELLLING, DJ Crenshaw
? w/ SPELLLING
& w/ Jess Cornelius
* w/ Leah Senior
# w/ The Murlocs, Leah Senior
√ w/ Grace Cummings

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe before you go.]

[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard announce remix album and massive world tour.

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard announce Butterfly 3001, a remix album of their original out January 21st, 2022 on KGLW. Today, they share two of its singles, “Neu Butterfly” (Peaches Remix) and “Shanghai” (Dub by The Scientist). King Gizzard’s Joey Walker elaborates: “We’ve put off doing a remix album for a long time. Maybe it was conscious, maybe it wasn’t. But it’s happening now. That’s not to say that Butterfly 3000 makes the most sense to remix. It might seem like the obvious one, but it’s not. Yes it’s electronic. But so is a fridge. Have you tried to dance to Butterfly? It’s hard. It ties your shoelaces together. It’s duplicitous in its simplicity. But Butterfly 3001 expands on this. It also deviates and obliterates. We’re honoured to have such esteemed people go to work on these songs. We hope you love this album as much as we do. See you in DA CLUB!!!”

For their “Neu Butterfly” remix, Peaches “wanted to make this remix sound like a lizard. Slippery wet and scaly dry. Something that wiggles through wide open spaces… with slits for eyeballs…. And danceable.”

Listen to “Neu Butterfly” (Peaches Remix)

Legendary producer The Scientist says “I’ve always enjoyed being able to apply my dub mixing techniques to music outside of the typical ‘reggae mold.’ The music of KGLW, and specifically the song ‘Shanghai,’ provided me with the perfect landscape to be able to create something sonically rich and exciting for the listener. KGLW fans and dub-reggae fans, alike, will enjoy this song very much.”

Listen to “Shanghai” (Dub by The Scientist)

Pre-order Butterfly 3001
Butterfly 3001 Tracklist
1. Black Hot Soup (DJ Shadow “My Own Reality” Re-Write)
2. Shanghai (The Scientist Dub)
3. Shanghai (Deaton Chris Anthony Remix)
4. Dreams (Yu Su Instrumental Mix)
5. Blue Morpho (Donato Dozzy Remix)
6. Blue Morpho (VRIL Remix)
7. Blue Morpho (Ciel’s Fluttering Dub)
8. Blue Morpho (ZANDOLI II remix)
9. Catching Smoke (DāM-FunK Instrumental Re-Freak)
10. Ya Love (Flaming Lips’ Fascinating Haircut Re-Do)
11. Ya Love (Geneva Jacuzzi Remix)
12. Ya Love (Héctor Oaks playing w/ Fire Mix)
13. 2.02 Killer Year (Bullant’s Fuck Mike Love Remix)
14. Yours (Fred P Journey Mix)
15. Butterfly 3000 (Terry Tracksuit Remix)
16. Neu Butterfly 3000 (Peaches Remix)
17. Catching Smoke (4am Wack Rmx By Hieroglyphic Being) *
18. Blue Morpho (Mall Grab Remix) *
19. Dreams (Peaking Lights Trancedellic Macrodosing Mix) *
20. Interior People (Confidence Man Remix) *
21. Catching Smoke (Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith Remix) *

*= available on digital release only

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard 2022 Tour Dates
Sat. Mar. 19 – Buenos Aires, AR @ Lollapalooza Argentina
Sat. Mar. 26 – São Paulo, BR @ Lollapalooza Brazil
Sun. Mar. 27 – Bogotá, CO @ Festival Estereo Picnic
Sun. April 17 – Las Vegas, NV @ Event Lawn at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas %
Sun. April 24 – San Luis Obispo, CA @ Madonna Inn $
Tue. April 26 – Sonoma, CA @ Gundlach Bundschu $
Wed. April 27 – Petaluma, CA @ Phoenix Theater $
Sat. April 30 – Atlanta, GA @ Shaky Knees Festival
Fri. May 20 – Cleveland, OH @ Agora Theatre
Sat. May 21 – Columbus, OH @ Express Live
Sun. May 22 – Millvale, PA @ Mr. Smalls Funhouse
Tue. May 24 – Rochester, NY @ Water Street Music Hall
Wed. May 25 – South Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
Thu. May 26 – South Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
Tue. May 31 – Athens, Greece @ Gagarin 205
Wed. June 1 – Athens, Greece @ Gagarin 205
Fri. June 3 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound – SOLD OUT
Sun. June 5 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera in the City
Mon. June 6 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera in the City
Tue. June 7 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera in the City
Thu. June 9 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound – SOLD OUT
Sat. June 11 – Mannheim, DE @ Maifeld Derby Festival
Tue. June 14 – Berlin, DE @ Tempodrom
Sat. June 18 – Miami, FL @ Space Park
Sun. July 31 – Waterford, IE @ All Together Now
Tue. Aug. 2 – Šibenik, HR @ St. Michael’s Fortress
Wed. Aug. 3 – Šibenik, HR @ St. Michael’s Fortress
Fri. Aug. 5 – Prague, CZ @ Archa Theatre
Sun. Aug. 7 – Vienna, AT @ Arena Wien (Open Air)
Tue. Aug. 9 – Leipzig, DE @ Parkbühne
Wed. Aug. 10 – Munich, DE @ Tonhalle
Fri. Aug. 12 – Sion, CH @ Palp Festival
Thu. Aug. 18 – Paredes de Coura, PT @ Paredes de Coura Festival
Fri. Aug. 19 – Gueret, FR @ Check-In Party Festival
Sat. Aug. 20 – Saint-Malo, FR @ La Route du Rock Festival
Tue. Aug. 23 – Cologne, DE @ E-Werk
Wed. Aug. 24 – Hamburg, DE @ Markthalle
Sat. Aug. 27 – Málaga, ES @ Canela Party
Sun. Oct. 2 – Berkeley, CA @ Greek Theatre *
Tue. Oct. 4 – Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater*
Wed. Oct. 5 – Vancouver, BC @ PNE Forum*
Thu. Oct. 6 – Seattle, WA @ Paramount *
Mon. Oc. 10 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre* – SOLD OUT
Tue. Oct. 11 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre* – SOLD OUT
Fri. Oct. 14 – St Paul, MN @ The Palace Theatre* – SOLD OUT
Sat. Oct. 15 – Chicago, IL @ RADIUS*
Sun. Oct. 16 – Detroit, MI @ Masonic Temple*
Tue. Oct. 18 – Toronto, ON @ History*
Wed. Oct. 19 – Montreal, QC @ L’Olympia*
Fri. Oct. 21 – New York, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium*
Sat. Oct. 22 – Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall*
Sun. Oct. 23 – Washington, DC @ The Anthem at The Wharf*
Mon. Oct. 24 – Asheville, NC @ Rabbit Rabbit*
Wed. Oct. 26 – Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern*
Thu. Oct. 27 – New Orleans, LA @ Orpheum Theater *
Mon. Oc. 31 – Oklahoma City, OK @ The Criterion #

% w/ Amyl and the Sniffers, SPELLLING, Dj Crenshaw
$ w/ SPELLLING, DJ Crenshaw
* w/ Leah Senior
# w/ The Murlocs, Leah Senior

King Gizzard & The Wizard Lizard Online:
https://kinggizzardandthelizardwizard.com/
https://www.instagram.com/kinggizzard/
https://www.facebook.com/kinggizzardandthelizardwizard/
https://twitter.com/kinggizzard
https://kinggizzard.bandcamp.com/
https://gizzverse.com/

Keep your mind open.

[Float over to the subscription box while you’re here.]

Review: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Butterfly 3000

Released without any singles dropped ahead of time, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard‘s newest album, Butterfly 3000, was a mystery up until its release…and still is in many ways. The cover alone has things hidden in it, the lyrics are full of introspection and philosophy, and it’s an electro record to boot. This from a band known mostly for its psychedelic sounds, or even thrash metal.

The album opens with a track called “Yours,” an indication that the album is a gift to all of us. The poppy, happy synths bump hips with Michael Cavanaugh‘s joyful drumming and you instantly know that this KGATLW album will be different from any you’ve heard before now. The album was made in quarantine by the band members sending each other samples, loops, and tracks via e-mail and digital download. Frontman Stuart Mackenzie has famously said the album cost nothing for them to make as a result.

The vocals on “Shanghai” blend into the synths to the point where you’re not such which is shadowing which. “Dreams” could be the track that sums up the whole album. Every track is about some kind of journey, growth, or peeling away of illusions. “I only want to wake up in my dream,” Mackenzie sings. Where does the dream end and reality begin? It’s difficult to tell at times, and sometimes you’d rather stay in one than return to the other. The song melts / morphs into “Blue Morpho,” which will probably end up in an Australian sci-fi movie soundtrack in the near future.

“Interior People” is the closest the band gets to a “classic” King Gizz-type of jam with its rolling beats and guitars, but those know when to step back and let the synths and electric piano move to the front. “Catching Smoke” is a standout, with electro-disco synths and hip-shaking beats. It reminds me of some of Bayonne‘s work. “2.02 Killer Year” is probably a treatise on 2020, but it’s so damn peppy that you can’t be sad while hearing it. I mean, it’s full of bright sounds, lasers, hungry hippo bass, and even harp plucks.

“Black Hot Soup” seems to harken back a bit to the psychedelia of Gumboot Soup, but still keeps synth effects on the vocals. “Ya Love” mostly repeats the title as the band jumps back and forth between happy puppy synths and rollercoaster rhythms. The electric heartbeat of the title track closes the album alongside a building synth riff that takes off like a new butterfly emerging from its cocoon and fluttering toward the sun.

The whole album is like that – a liftoff to a brighter future. We could all stand to follow KGATLW’s lead and move forward instead of letting 2020, or our past in general, weigh us down.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe before you float away.]

[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard move North American tour to 2022.

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard announce that their North American tour is now rescheduled for Fall 2022. In October 2022, the band will play shows across the country, including marathon sets at Berkeley’s Greek Theatre and two performances at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, during which the band will play material from their vast discography across three hours. The tour will follow the release of their new album, Butterfly 3000, out now via the band’s own label KGLW.

Butterfly 3000 is King Gizzard’s 18th studio album. The band decided to play this one close to the vest, and refrained from sharing any advance singles, or the album artwork, which will be a cross-eyed autostereogram created by long-time collaborator Jason Galea. Butterfly 3000 might be their most fearless leap into the unknown yet; a suite of ten songs that all began life as arpeggiated loops composed on modular synthesisers, before being fashioned into addictive, optimistic and utterly seductive dream-pop by the six-piece. The album sounds simultaneously like nothing they’ve ever done before, and thoroughly, unmistakeably Gizz, down to its climactic neon psych-a-tronic flourish. This is undoubtedly the most accessible and jubilant album of their career.

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Tour Dates
Sun. Oct. 2 – Berkeley, CA @ Greek Theatre
Tue. Oct. 4 – Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
Wed. Oct. 5 – Vancouver, BC @ PNE Forum
Thu. Oct. 6 – Seattle, WA @ Moore Theatre
Mon. Oct. 10 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Tue. Oct. 11 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Fri. Oct. 14 – St Paul, MN @ The Palace Theatre
Sat. Oct. 15 – Chicago, IL @ RADIUS
Sun. Oct. 16 – Detroit, MI @ Masonic Temple
Tue. Oct. 18 – Toronto, ON @ TBA
Wed. Oct. 19 – Montreal, QC @ L’Olympia
Sat. Oct. 22 – Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall
Sun. Oct. 23 – Washington, DC @ The Anthem at The Wharf
Mon. Oct. 24 – Asheville, NC @ Rabbit Rabbit
Wed. Oct. 26 – Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern
Mon. Oct 31 – Oklahoma City, OK @ The Criterion

*all dates supported by Leah Senior

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe before you go.]

[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard set to release a mysterious new album, “Butterfly 3000,” June 11th.

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard proudly announce their second album of 2021, Butterfly 3000, which will be released on June 11th via the band’s own KGLW label. The band have decided to play this one close to the vest, and will drop the album in its entirety on June 11th without any advance singles, or sharing the album artwork, which will be a cross-eyed autostereogram created by long-time collaborator Jason Galea. The countdown to Butterfly 3000 begins today.

Their 18th studio album, Butterfly 3000 might be their most fearless leap into the unknown yet; a suite of ten songs that all began life as arpeggiated loops composed on modular synthesisers, before being fashioned into addictive, optimistic and utterly seductive dream-pop by the six-piece. The album sounds simultaneously like nothing they’ve ever done before, and thoroughly, unmistakeably Gizz, down to its climactic neon psych-a-tronic flourish. This is undoubtedly the most accessible and jubilant album of their career.

Pre-Save/Add Butterfly 3000
https://kglw.lnk.to/butterfly3000

Butterfly 3000 Tracklisting
1.    ?
2.    ?
3.    ?
4.    ?
5.    ??
6.    ?????
7.    ?????
8.    ?????
9.    ?????
10. ?!?!?!?!

Keep your mind open.

[Why not subscribe while you’re here?]

[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Review: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Live in San Francisco ’16

Recorded barely a month after King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard released their breakthrough album, Nonagon Infinity, Live in San Francisco ’16 chronicles the band playing a small club before they would soon be filling large concert halls and curating their own music festival. The power of a KGATLW show is on full display, and it’s great to hear them still with a raw edge and eager to promote Nonagon Infinity to the world.

A good chunk of Nonagon Infinity is here for us, including the opener “Robot Stop,” which is a pleaser to the eager, appreciative crowd. KGATLW come out like a flame thrower unleashed on an audience made up of hungry fire elementals. “Hot Water,” with its happy flute solos, keeps everyone bouncing. There’s barely time to breathe by the time we get to “Big Fig Wasp,” which has great double-teaming of guitars and drums that must’ve blown the audience’s minds as good as it sounds on this.

As wild as that is, “Gamma Knife” is somehow crazier – launching the show, audience, and venue like a cannonball across the California salt flats. There’s a brief pause as they build into “People Vultures” to let the audience cheer and hydrate for a moment before thunder rolls over them.

By the time lead singer Stu MacKenzie asks, “What’s goin’ on?” before “Trapdoor,” I imagine some of the answers he got included, “I can’t feel my face!” and “I feel like I’ve run a marathon!” “Trapdoor” slows things down a bit, but not by much as its groove is made for dancing. The double-shot of “I’m in Your Mind” and “I’m Not in Your Mind” makes for a wild trip. “Cellophane” moves back and forth between psychedelic grooves and flat-out punk rock screams. Everyone agrees that “I’m in Your Mind Fuzz” pretty much sums up how the audience feels by this point – fuzzed-out and tripping. Someone in the audience has lost their glasses by this point, but thankfully the band finds and returns them to the owner.

“Yeah! Fuck yeah!” a woman yells at the beginning of “The River.” I agree with her, as it’s a great live rendition of the happy psychedelic tune that last almost eleven minutes. The song drifts into space now and then, leaving the audience thinking the song is over before coming back to further hypnotize them. They follow it with “Evil Death Roll” to kick out the jams once again and blast the paint off the back walls. They close the show with over twenty-two minutes of “Head On Pill,” which lulls the audience into premature cheering multiple times as it winds across a desert dune like a sidewinder that’s just eaten a psychedelic mushroom.

It’s one of the best of multiple live albums KGATLW have put out in the last couple years, and a great addition to any collection of psych-rock or live music.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe before you split.]

Top 40 albums of 2016 – 2020: #’s 10 – 6

We’ve reached the “David Letterman” moment – the top 10 albums of records I’ve reviewed in the last five years. Shall we begin?

#10: Priests – The Seduction of Kansas (2019)

This post-punk album is as sharp as a straight razor and as sexy as a femme fatale wielding that razor. Priests call out toxic masculinity, the changed political climate that arose from the Trump administration, and rich elitism with a mixture of snark, shredding, and, yes, seduction. Priests amicably split up after this. I hope they’ll put out new material someday, but they went out on a high note if not.

#9: The Besnard Lakes – A Coliseum Complex Museum (2016)

Easily the lushest album on this list, A Coliseum Complex Museum is full of soaring psychedelic riffs and vocals and songs about hope, strength, and the cosmos. It’s an uplifting record that preceded four years in which most people were trying to put each other down. It reminded us that we’re better than that, and always have the potential to move ourselves and others forward.

#8: Automatic – Signal (2020)

Good heavens, this is a stunning debut of post-punk and synthwave gems. Automatic threw down a gauntlet with this record after slapping all of us across the face with it – and looking fabulous while doing it. Signal arrives sounding like these three women have been making albums together for a decade and is perfect for dance floors, bedroom romps, and action scenes filmed in neon-lit nightclubs.

#7: A Tribe Called Quest – We Got It from Here…Thank You 4 Your Service (2016)

The final album with A Tribe Called Quest made with founding member Phife Dawg before his death, We Got It from Here…Thank You 4 Your Service is a powerful record that reminded the world of many things: ATCQ still had the hip-hop chops that many still envied, Phife was an amazing MC, and that hip-hop (and music in general) can be a powerful tool of change and resistance.

#6: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Nonagon Infinity (2016)

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard could’ve appeared multiple times on my top 40 list due to their prolific output alone, but Nonagon Infinity was the surefire winner of everything they released in the last five years. The album is masterfully engineered as one long track that, when looped, plays infinitely without any noticeable bumps. This was the album that propelled them to massive popularity and is a wild ride from never-beginning start to never-ending finish.

What albums made the top five? Post-punk makes another appearance, as does more doom metal, powerful rock, electro, and an album by a legend.

Keep your mind open.

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