King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard: 3 Albums

 

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard are an Australian rock band formed in 2010 in Melbourne, Victoria. The band consists of Stu Mackenzie (vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, flute, sitar), Ambrose Kenny-

Smith (vocals, harmonica, keyboards), Cook Craig (guitar, bass, keyboards, vocals), Joey Walker (guitar, bass, keyboards, vocals), Lucas Harwood (bass, keyboards), and Michael Cavanagh (drums, percussion). They are known for exploring multiple genres, staging energetic live shows and building a prolific discography, having released eighteen studio albums, ten live albums, two compilations and two EPs.
                                         

Formed in 2010 in Melbourne, Australia, by a group of friends who jammed frequently, then decided on a whim to play a show, the lineup consisted of vocalist/guitarist Stu Mackenzie, harmonica

player/singer Ambrose Kenny-Smith, guitarists Cook Craig and Joey Walker, bassist Lucas Skinner, and dual drummers Michael Cavanagh and Eric Moore. They released two garage rock-inspired EPs in 2011, Anglesea and Willoughby's Beach, then in 2012 released their debut album, 12 Bar Bruise. Working at the kind of feverish pace that became their standard, King Gizzard followed up just five months later with 2013's Eyes Like the Sky, which the band described as a "spaghetti Western audio book" complete with narration by Ambrose Kenny-Smith's father, the noted Australian musician Broderick Smith.
                                     

A third full-length, Float Along, Fill Your Lungs, was released in 2013 and was quickly followed by

2014's Oddments and I'm in Your Mind Fuzz. Still working quickly, in early 2015 they released the Quarters EP, which featured four trippy, free jazz-inspired jams that each timed out exactly at 10:10.
                                        

After signing to ATO Records, King Gizzard's sound took a detour from expanded jams and fuzzy freak-outs to tightly constructed, but still weird, laid-back pop songs played exclusively on acoustic

instruments on the 2015 album Paper Mâché Dream Balloon. The follow-up, 2016's Nonagon Infinity, was recorded at Daptone Studios and featured some of the band's heaviest, most forceful psych-rock to date. It was recorded so that one track bleeds into the next, then jumps back to the beginning after the last song. They tout it as the "world's first infinitely looping album."
                                     

The band spent time touring and getting five albums ready for release in 2017. On the first of them, Flying Microtonal Banana, King Gizzard decided to investigate microtonal tuning, a non-Western way of tuning that involves intervals smaller than a semitone. They had a custom-made guitar gifted to

them, and the bandmembers bought new gear and altered the instruments so they could be microtuned in a way that made them compatible. The group's second album of 2017, Murder of the Universe, arrived two months later in March. It was broken into three long sections, each one telling a different apocalyptic tale of the human race being taken over by cyborgs and AI while featuring heavy use of synths and spoken word narration.
                                  

Just before that album's release, the band finished a collaboration with Mild High Club's Alex Brettin,

who traveled from L.A. to King Gizzard's Flightless HQ studios in East Brunswick, Melbourne, where he and Stu Mackenzie put together some rough ideas. The duo was then joined by the rest of the band to fill those ideas in. Titled Sketches of Brunswick East, the album was a heady mix of soft rock, psych-pop, and cosmic jazz.
                                 

It was released by ATO in August 2017, mere months before their next record arrived. The relatively straightforward (for King Gizzard) psychedelic opus Polygondwanaland was given away for free and

the master tapes were offered to anyone who wanted to press the album up and sell it. ATO was one of the first to take advantage of this, and several other labels followed suit. Fulfilling the group's pledge to put out five albums in 2017, they snuck in Gumboot Soup just under the deadline. The collection of thematically and sonically unconnected songs, a rarity for the group, was issued digitally on December 31, then given a physical release in April 2018.
                                 

King Gizzard took the rest of 2018 relatively easy, playing occasional shows and not releasing any

albums until November, when ATO reissued their first five records on the same day. The group took a relatively relaxed approach to releasing new music in the first half of 2019, too, issuing a single in February, "Cyboogie," that hinted at a new blues-based approach, then another in early April, "Planet B," that swerved into thrash metal territory. When their first album of the year, Fishing for Fishies, was released in late April, the sound was more like the former single, with the band digging deep into boogie rock, biker jams, and blues-rock, all fed through their unique musical and lyrical filter.
                                       

They followed in the direction of the "Plan B" single later that year on Infest the Rats Nest, a blistering

metal album that revolved thematically around the death of Earth and the population of nearby planets. It was recorded by a stripped-down version of the band, often just a trio, and released in August. Around that time, King Gizzard launched a worldwide tour; recordings made at various stops were compiled on the 2020 live album Chunky Shrapnel. A like-named feature film documenting the tour was also made and released alongside the record in late April.
                                     

Never one to let something, even a global pandemic, slow down their frantic recording pace, the band started working on an album while holed up in their respective homes in Melbourne. Taking up the

custom-made instruments featured on Flying Microtonal Banana, the group ended up making something of a sequel to that album while also adding some acid disco to the mix on the track "Intrasport." K.G. was issued in November 2020, the same day a double-live album titled Live in San Francisco '16 hit the shelves. The former was their first record without drummer Eric Moore, who left in August to devote more time to his record label, Flightless.
                                   

K.G. was only half of the results of the group's socially distanced sessions; the remaining songs were

released in early 2021 as L.W. King Gizzard weren't content to stay in one lane, as usual, and their second album of the year was one of their most audacious to date. Constructed from loops made on vintage modular synths, Butterfly 3000 is all major-key melodies, warm-as-the-sun arrangements, and positive vibes. It was released by the band's own KGLW label in June, just before the group played their first post-lockdown show in Norway.
                                 

The band were scheduled to go out on the road following the album's release, but rescheduled the dates

for 2022. Fans had to be satisfied by the steady release of archived live shows, and the release in early 2022 of Butterfly 3001, a remix album that featured a number of artists reworking songs from Butterfly 3000. Some, like Héctor Oaks and Fred P, guided the songs to the dancefloor, while others, like Flaming Lips and Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, took a headier approach.

12 BAR CRUISE 2012

                                                                          

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard's first album, 12 Bar Bruise, is a pummeling rock & roll record that

builds on the promise of their first couple of releases and blasts their expansive garage rock sound straight into orbit. The album barely lets up from start to finish, with the tempos set right around top speed and the guitars set to destruction. It's one ripping rocker after another, with vocalist Stu Mackenzie's vocals seemingly fed through a paper shredder and the rest of the band flailing like mad to keep up. Picking highlights is like picking a favorite child; they are all equally strong and violent, and able to knock down the garage walls and take over the neighborhood, if not the world.
                                       

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – 12 Bar Bruise
Label: Flightless – FLT001
Format:    CD, Album
Country: Australia
Released: Sep 14, 2012
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Indie Rock

                                    

TRACKS

                                                        

01. Elbow  (Written-By – Stu Mackenzie) 2:40
02.Muckraker  (Written-By – Stu Mackenzie)  3:00
03. Nein  (Written-By – Stu Mackenzie)  2:52
04. 12 Bar Bruise  (Written-By – Stu Mackenzie)  3:47
05. Garage Liddiard  (Written-By – Stu Mackenzie)  2:29
06. Sam Cherry's Last Shot  (Written-By – Stu Mackenzie)  2:49
07. High Hopes Low  (Written-By – Stu Mackenzie)  3:46
08. Cut Throat Boogie (Written-By – Ambrose Kenny-Smith, Stu Mackenzie)  2:50
09. Bloody Ripper  (Written-By – Stu Mackenzie)  2:13
10. Uh Oh, I Called Mum  (Written-By – Stu Mackenzie)  2:38
11. Sea Of Trees  (Written-By – Stu Mackenzie)  3:15
12. Footy Footy  (Written-By – Joe Walker, Stu Mackenzie)  1:59

MP3 @ 320 Size: 86 MB
Flac  Size: 269 MB

I"M IN YOUR MIND FUZZ 2014

                                                         

                                                                                                     
Arriving just eight months after the amiable Aussie psych-rockers' Oddments LP, I'm in Your Mind Fuzz finds King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard doing what they do best: Simultaneously assembling and dissembling semi-epic blasts of early Flaming Lips, 13th Floor Elevators, the High Strung, Thee Oh Sees, and Dungen-esque space/psych rock and having a great time while doing so.
                                    

King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard – I'm In Your Mind Fuzz
Label: Flightless – FLT-012CD
Format:    CD, Album
Country: Australia & New Zealand
Released: Oct 31, 2014
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Indie Rock

                                

TRACKS

                                                 

                                                             
01. I'm In Your Mind     3:33
02. I'm Not In Your Mind     2:58
03. Cellophane     3:10
04. I'm In Your Mind Fuzz     2:51
05. Empty     4:10
06. Hot Water     3:23
07. Am I In Heaven?     7:05
08. Slow Jam 1     2:54
09. Satan Speeds Up     3:39
10. Her And I (Slow Jam 2)     8:15

MP3 @ 320 Size: 98 MB
Flac  Size: 282 MB

NONAGON INFINITY  2016

                                                          
                                                     

The prolific Australian psychedelic pop combo King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard aren't the kind of

band prone to repeating themselves. Over the course of their short career, they've established themselves as voracious sonic explorers who aren't afraid to take chances and never met a gimmick they didn't like. In 2015 alone they released Quarters, a jazz-prog epic featuring four songs that were each exactly ten minutes long, and the laid-back summer folk Paper Mâché Dream Balloon, which was recorded on only acoustic instruments. With such a weird and varied track record, their 2016 album, Nonagon Infinity, could have gone just about anywhere and done anything.On it, King Gizzard deliver

their best trick yet to go along with their most focused, most ferocious music to date. The album is designed to flow continuously from song to song with no breaks in what the band calls an infinite loop, and unless one is listening very closely it's hard to tell where one song stops and the next begins.
                                                

King Gizzard's inventive sound, giant hooks, and hard-as-titanium playing make Nonagon Infinity not

only their best album yet, but maybe the best psych-metal-jazz-prog album ever. That can be debated, but at the very least artists like the Flaming Lips, Ty Segall, and others who think they are doing something cool and weird should check it out and take a few notes.
(Review by Tim Sendra)

King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard – Nonagon Infinity
Label: Heavenly – HVNLP127CD
Format:    CD, Album
Country: Europe
Released: Apr 29, 2016
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Indie Rock

                                                             

TRACKS

                                               

01. Robot Stop    5:22
02. Big Fig Wasp    4:55
03. Gamma Knife    4:21
04. People-Vultures    4:46
05. Mr. Beat    4:56
06. Evil Death Roll    7:14
07. Invisible Face    3:01
08. Wah Wah    2:54
09. Road Train    4:18
                                  

MP3 @ 320 Size: 103 MB
Flac  Size: 270 MB

Various: Rock Against Bush Vol. 1 + Vol. 2 (2004)

 

The Bush administration based its rationale for the Iraq War on the claim that Iraq had a weapons of mass destruction (WMD) program, and that Iraq posed a threat to the United States and its allies. Some US officials falsely accused Saddam of harbouring and supporting al-Qaeda.
                                               

The Iraq War was a protracted armed conflict from 2003 to 2011 that began with the invasion of Iraq by
the United States–led coalition which overthrew the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein. The conflict continued for much of the next decade as an insurgency emerged to oppose the coalition forces and the post-invasion Iraqi government.
                                             

                                                                           
An estimated 151,000 to 1,033,000 Iraqis died in the first three to five years of conflict. US troops were

officially withdrawn in 2011. The United States became re-involved in 2014 at the head of a new coalition and the insurgency, and many dimensions of the armed conflict continue today. The invasion occurred as part of the George W. Bush administration's War on Terror following the September 11 attacks despite no connection of the latter to Iraq.
                                              

In October 2002, Congress granted President Bush the power to decide whether to launch any military attack in Iraq. The Iraq War began on 20 March 2003, when the US, joined by the UK, Australia, and Poland launched a "shock and awe" bombing campaign. Iraqi forces were quickly overwhelmed as coalition forces swept through the country. The invasion led to the collapse of the Ba'athist government; Saddam Hussein was captured during Operation Red Dawn in December of that same year and executed three years later.
                                                 

In 2004, the 9/11 Commission concluded there was no evidence of any relationship between Saddam's regime and al-Qaeda. No stockpiles of WMDs or an active WMD program were ever found in Iraq.

Bush administration officials made numerous claims about a purported Saddam–al-Qaeda relationship and WMDs that were based on sketchy evidence rejected by intelligence officials. The rationale for war faced heavy criticism both domestically and internationally. Kofi Annan called the invasion illegal under international law as it violated the UN Charter.
                                                      

The bands on this comp have come together for one reason, and that's to express our outrage at - and form a unified front against - the dangerous, destructive, and deadly policies of George W. Bush and his administration.

VARIOUS - ROCK AGAINST BUSH, VOL. 1.

                                                             

SUM  41

Rock Against Bush, Vol. 1 is a Rock Against Bush compilation album released on the Fat Wreck Chords record label.

ANTI - FLAG

It contains a collection of songs, both released and unreleased, by various punk rock artists and includes a bonus DVD with political facts, commentary regarding the U.S. presidential election, 2004, footage from a David Cross stand-up comedy performance, as well as a few music videos.

RISE AGAINST

It was released on 20 April 2004.

THE GET UP KIDS

Fat Mike of NOFX freely admits to his spotty voting record.

AUTORITY ZERO

But that didn't stop him from founding www.punkvoter.org, an organization with a mission to mobilize young voters against President Bush and his administration's policies, and make 2004 the year punk spoke.

N O F X

Rock Against Bush features music from 26 likeminded artists, as well as a DVD packed with insightful, inciting political rabble-rousing and videos from types like Bad Religion, Anti-Flag, and Fat Mike's own NOFX.

ANTI - FLAG

None More Black kicks things off with the martial, spittle-flying stomp of "Nothing to Do When You're Locked in a Vacancy," and Alkaline Trio's "Warbrain" attempts to save the world with a righteous pop-punk melody and memories of better days.

STRUNG OUT

The Offspring's "Baghdad" isn't the greatest song ever, but it's interesting that it dates from 1991 and the first Bush presidency.

DESCENDENTS

Speaking of the first Bush, Ministry returns with the frenetic industrial clatter of "No W," which updates the 1992 rant "N.W.O." with samples from the latest Bush president.

JELLO BIAFRA

Veteran D.I.Y. firebrands Jello Biafra and Billy Bragg are here, the latter teaming with Less Than Jake for "Brightest Bulb Has Burned Out.

SOCIAL DISTORTION

" The Ataris cover Bad Religion's "Heaven Is Falling" acoustically, and Social Distortion's "Prison Bound" will hopefully turn A New Found Glory fans on to Prison Bound.

OFFSPRING

Other highlights of Rock Against Bush include the bopping neo-new wave of the Epoxies, the Soviettes' raucous "¡Paranoia! Cha-Cha-Cha," and Authority Zero's "Revolution.

NONE MORE BLACK

" There are also stylistic detours from Denali (the austere "Normal Days") and the World/Inferno Friendship Society ("Expatriate Act").

There's a rousing, ruefully funny essay from Fat Mike in the liner notes; 17 of the comp's 26 tracks are unreleased or otherwise rare; and Fat Wreck is giving the thing away for six bucks.

MINISTRY

If that's not enough incentive, the set's DVD portion includes a piece of typically scathing comedy from David Cross.  

Various – Rock Against Bush Vol 1
Label: Fat Wreck Chords – FAT675-2
Format:    CD, Compilation
DVD, DVD-Video, NTSC, Compilation
Country: US
Released: Apr 20, 2004
Genre: Rock
Style: Punk

TRAXS

                                                              

01. None More Black – Nothing To Do When You're Locked In A Vacancy    2:07
02. Sum 41 – Moron  (Producer – Greig Nori, Written-By – Sum 41)  1:39
03. Alkaline Trio – Warbrain   2:27
(Instruments [Additional Instrumentation] – Nolan McGuire
Recorded By, Mixed By – Matt Allison
Voice [Warbrain Machine Reading] – Craig Fairbaugh
Written-By – Dan, Derek, Matt)
04. Epoxies – Need More Time    2:29
05. Anti-Flag –    The School Of Assasins  (Music By – Chris Head, Justin Sane, Words By – Justin Sane)  2:37
06. Against Me! – Sink, Florida, Sink (Electric)    2:10
07. The Offspring – Baghdad  3:18
(Bass – Greg K.
Drums – R. Welty
Engineer [2nd] – Rusty Striff
Guitar – Noodles
Producer – Thom Wilson
Vocals – Dexter Holland
Written-By – The Offspring)  
08. The Get Up Kids – Lion And The Lamb    3:22
09. Rise Against – Give It All    2:49
10. Ministry – No W  (Lyrics By – Al Jourgensen, Music By – Jourgensen, Brody, Scaccia, Washam)  3:13
11. Descendents – Sad State Of Affairs    2:35
12. Authority Zero – Revolution  (Written-By – Authority Zero)  2:23
13. The Soviettes – ¡Paranoia! Cha-Cha-Cha    2:04
14. Jello Biafra With D.O.A. – That's Progress  (Written-By – Jello Biafra)  3:14
15. RX Bandits – Overcome (The Recapitulation)  (Music By – rxbandits,
Words By – Matthew Embree)  3:43
16. Strung Out – No Voice Of Mine    2:30
17. Strike Anywhere – To The World    3:21
18. The Ataris – Heaven Is Falling
(Music By, Words By – Brett Gurewitz)  2:38
19. Pennywise –  God Save The USA    3:06
20. Denali – Normal Days    3:25
21. The WorldInferno Friendship Society – The Expatriate Act    3:02
22. New Found Glory – No News Is Good News    2:58
23. The Frisk – Basket Of Snakes    2:31
24. NOFX – Jaw, Knee, Music    2:31
25. Social Distortion – It's The Law    2:35
26. Less Than Jake Featuring Billy Bragg – The Brightest Bulb Has Burned Out
2:04

MP33 @ 320 Size: 164 MB
Flac  Size: 507 MB

VARIOUS - ROCK AGAINST BUSH, VOL. 2.

                                                    

GREEN DAY

Rock Against Bush, Vol. 2 is the second Rock Against Bush compilation album released on the Fat Wreck Chords record label.

USELESS ID

It contains a collection of songs by various punk rock artists, some of which were previously unreleased.

THE INTERNATIONAL NOISE CONSPIRACY

It also includes a bonus DVD with political facts, commentary regarding the U.S. presidential election, 2004, comedy footage, and music videos.

OPERATION IVY

It was released on August 10, 2004.

YELLOWCARD

While Fat Mike of NOFX has never been known as one of the more emphatic and articulate political voices in punk rock (let's face it, NOFX have been more about high punk goofiness than making a "statement").

He's certainly been making up for that in 2004, having started the Leftist activist group Punkvoter.com with the expressed goal of voting George W. Bush out of the White House in that year's presidential elections, and releasing not one but two Rock Against Bush compilation albums on his Fat Wreck Chords label.

RANCID

Designed to raise money for Punkvoter.com and awareness about the upcoming election, Rock Against Bush, Vol. 2 offers up 73 minutes worth of circa 21st century punk with a decidedly anti-authoritarian slant;

FOO FIGHTERS

If you're looking for specific anti-Dubya anthems, there aren't a lot of 'em here, though No Use for a Name's acoustic reworking of "Fields of Agony" actually features the voice of the man himself thanks to the magic of sampling.  

NO DOUBT

Bad Religion contribute "Let Them Eat War" from their virulently anti-Republican The Empire Strikes First.

Along the way, you get solid new stuff from Green Day, Sleater-Kinney, Foo Fighters and the Dropkick Murphys, hard-to-find tunes from No Doubt, Jawbreaker, and Yellowcard.

Generally cool rock from the Lawrence Arms, Flogging Molly, Rancid, Operation Ivy, and the (International) Noise Conspiracy.

ONLY CRIME

In short, a good, pissed-off time is had by all, and anyone with a taste for the current state of punk rock and a healthy disgust for the Bush administration will consider their money well spent on this album.

THE LAWRENCE ARMS

The CD is accompanied by a bonus DVD that adds major value to the package, featuring six politically oriented short subjects (including extended previews of Uncovered:

AUTOPILOT OFF

The Whole Truth About the Iraq War and Unconstitutional), five music videos (including NOFX's ridiculous and sublime "Idiot Son of an Asshole"), and some genuinely funny topical humor from Will Ferrell, Patton Oswalt, and Greg Proops.

NO USE FOR NAME

Register to vote, and pick this up on the way home.

 

 

Various – Rock Against Bush Vol 2
Label: Fat Wreck Chords – FAT677-2
Format:    CD, Compilation
DVD, DVD-Video, NTSC, Compilation
Country: US
Released: Aug 10, 2004
Genre: Rock
Style: Punk

TRAXS

                                                  

01. Green Day – Favorite Son  2:13
(Music By – Green Day, Words By – Billie Joe Armstrong)  
02. Bad Religion – Let Them Eat War    2:58
03. Operation Ivy – Unity    2:14
04. The Lawrence Arms – Necrotism: Decanting The Insalubrious (Cyborg Midnight) Part 7  1:48
05. Dropkick Murphys – We Got The Power (Written-By – Dropkick Murphys) 2:45
06. Flogging Molly – Drunken Lullabies
(Written-By – Regan, King, Casey, Schwindt, Hensley, Maxwell, Schmidt, Hutt)
3:49
07. Only Crime – Doomsday Breach    2:15
08. Foo Fighters – Gas Chamber  0:55
(Written-By – B. Vockeroth, G. Turner, M. Saunders, P. Galligan, T. Homer)
09. Lagwagon – Status Pools    2:36
10. Sugarcult – What You Say  2:36
(Mixed By – Mark Trombino, Producer – Gavin MacKillop)
11. Rancid – 7 Years Down    2:33
12. Sleater-Kinney – Off With Your Head    2:26
13. The Unseen – Scream Out  2:48
(Lyrics By – Mark, Music By – Scott)
14. Yellowcard – Violins    3:33
15. Dillinger Four – Like Sprewells On A Wheelchair    3:41
16. Jawbreaker – Chesterfield King (Live)  4:03
(Written-By – Pfahler, Schwarzenbach, Bauermeister)
17. Bouncing Souls – Born Free (Live)    1:45
18. Mad Caddies – No Hope (Live)    1:41
19. The Dwarves – Kids Today  1:25
Featuring – The A.K.A.s, The Matches
(Written-By – Blag Dahlia)
20. Sick Of It All – Can't Wait To Quit    2:09
21. No Doubt – Comforting Lie  2:52
(Producer – Glen Ballard, Written-By – Gwen Stefani, Thomas Dumont, Tony Kanal)
22. Useless ID – State Of Fear  3:12
(Written-By – Carmel, Berger, Ben Horin)
23. Autopilot Off – I'm Thinking    2:50
24. The (International) Noise Conspiracy – My Star  2:35
(Producer – Rick Rubin)
25. Donots – Time's Up  (Lyrics By – I. Knollmann, Music By – A. Siebenbiedel, E. Herwig, G. Knollmann, I. Knollmann, J.D. Poggemann)  3:24
26. Hot Water Music – Kill The Night    2:42
27. Thought Riot – You're Gonna Die    2:36
28. No Use For A Name – Fields Of Agony (Acoustic)  2:45

MP3 @ 320 Size: 169 MB
Flac  Size: 534 MB