Project Description
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – Flying Microtonal Banana (Album Review)
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Melbourne’s psychedelia-infused garage rock group, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, have returned for their first of five albums for 2017. Continuing in their pursuit of experimentation, and with a budget of $200 each, the 7-piece modified their instruments to add microtonal tuning (micro-tones are the notes found when you create smaller intervals than with semi-tones) into the sound for Flying Microtonal Banana. Not only do they expand their creative barriers, but their production sensibility is improved, marking the clearest and most crisp they’ve ever sounded.
Scathing winds pick up in the opening and with only a moment’s hesitation the pounding of the dual drum kits rips the album ‘s scenery wide open. The already crowd-favourite, Rattlesnake, is the kind of jam that will have krautrock fans licking their lips. Reminding me of the same addictive hook of Neu!’s Hallogallo, the combination of Cook Craig, Joey Walker and Stu Mackenzie’s rhythm leaves me wanting even more of those lengthy gizzy jams.
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Melting, the second track of the album sounds exactly how you’d think a King Gizzard track called such would be. It still holds the pace set by the previous track but mellows the mood a little. Melting’s guitar solo demonstrates the extent of how much more can be done with micro-tuned instruments.
Pushing the metronome up a few notches, Open Water isn’t quite as catchy but still rocks hard. Interestingly, the later part of Open Water sounds like Road Train from last year’s Nonagon Infinity. Not that I think its them hacking at the same idea, but possibly premeditated to transition between the two songs in their live set (as they’ve been doing in their recent headline shows with Wah-Wah and The River).
Moody, dark and chilled, Sleep Drifter picks the kraut right up again to let the Cry-Baby pedal come out to play. The characteristics of the record then take a turn for Billabong Valley. With Ambrose Kenny-Smith grabbing the vocal mic, Billabong Valley feeds off the same approach the group took with Eyes Like the Sky with a microtonal context. The lyrics, almost out of an old Australiana book, have Ambrose singing tales of bold bushranger Mad Dog Morgan. Just as Sam Cherry’s Last Shot from 12 Bar Bruise evolved into Eyes Like the Sky, will we soon hear the promised sequel of the spoken-word novel-album with a possible feature of Mad Dog? I hope so.
Doom City is possibly the most interesting track on the record. Channelling the doom-metal spirit of Black Sabbath and toning guitars to the sound of Tony Iommi, it proves that King Gizzard are fellow masters of reality. Repeating lyrics “Doom, City Doom Doom, City Doom Doom, City Doom Doom” work as a catchy vocal-instrumentation chant. As the break-down slows the pace, blaring zurnas haunt the ear while the listener descends, right before being picked up again by the returning catchy chant of the song’s title.
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On the home stretch, Stu and Co. present us with Nuclear Fusion, another moody and broody track that emphasises the ‘doomsday’ landscape emitting from the record.
For the last track, Flying Microtonal Banana, deep sounding bongo drums are covered with a slowly repetitious guitar riff thats lead by the returning zurnas. Tribal, culty and spooky, the album’s title track wraps everything up nicely with one last blow of Kenny-Smith’s harmonica before the same winds at the opening of the album fade in and out.
Fans new to King Gizzard wanting a non-stop hard hitting record like Nonagon Infinity might need to wait a little longer. Flying Microtonal Banana changes pace, going up and down, from left to right and accelerating highs to slow lows. For Gizzheads more familiar with the collection the high production values and experimentation of fresh ideas will be welcomed. Assuming they hold their end of the bargain with those four more albums by the end of the year, King Gizzard are convincing everyone that being 9 albums deep doesn’t mean they’re short of any new ideas.
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Flying Microtonal Banana is available NOW via their Bandcamp.
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