all woohoos all the time: the king gizzard and the lizard wizard thread

WOOHOO

🌍🌏🌎

who else here is catching smoke?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L3-HOdMeuM

WOOHOO

it took many years, but I'm on board now

sleeve do you think you'll try to catch them if they ever come through your area?

i'm kind of obsessed with seeing them live. bands don't do that for me anymore. what can i say they've tapped my inner fangirl.

i wore my kg&lw tee shirt to the high on fire show. a crew of jolly looking fellas with glazed looks complimented me on my shirt. there was a lot of effusive nodding.

I've gotten compliments every time I've worn my bootleg Gizz shirt.

hell yeah

they are a popular and good band! ilm is kind of sleeping on them tbr.

yea they are very popular irl and deservedly so, feel like every time I go out I see someone wearing a shirt

if you have the chance to see them live GO, I did knowing very little of their work and only recognized one and a half songs but it was insane, felt like I'd witnessed something legendary. it was a seated venue but I don't think a single person was sitting

xps oh yeah I will totally try to see them now, not sure what their schedule is? they go all over!

#onethread I saw a guy at the BBQ cart the other day with a High On Fire t-shirt w/the band logo in the Master Of Reality font. I had a Merzbow "Pulse Demon" shirt on. "nice shirt" I said. "you too" he said back.

The woohoo on Grow Wings and Fly is all-time

Saw them last night doing one of their 'rave sets' - five of them gathered round a desk with a huge modular synth setup in the middle, and the drummer at the back. Occasionally one of them would break off to pick up a guitar or sax, Stu gave us a bit of flute but it was pitched very low, sounded more like a large sea animal.

A bit of a mixed set, some of the longeurs were a bit too long; but when it went off, holy shit. Massive, Prodigy-like rave bangers played on modular synths with live rock drumming, just incredible. The crowd were super into it, legions of crowd surfers, some weird thing where people would put their hands up, joined at the fingertips, and spin slowly - this a gizz thing?

It's all here, start at 2h 22 for a short build up into the most intense part of the set.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikTWrmtZonA

From the other thread, before I knew this one existed:

Was at the Royal Albert Hall show on Tuesday - amazing stuff. First set mostly from the new album, with the Covent Garden Sinfonia. RAH rules stipulate there had to be a 30-minute interval and that the house lights had to be up throughout, but the Gizz, sans orchestra, jammed inna-Live-Dead-stylee for 20+ minutes, then dove into an epic Gaia with long jam section in the middle. Second set included orchestra-aided The River, an absolutely monumental orchestra-enabled Crumbling Castle and a version of Dragon (again, w/orchestra) that was heavier than murder.

Live feed is GLITCHY AF but Prague rave is BANGING

OMG I dropped in at like 2h20 and have been basting in it for 20m and fuuuuck this is sick

lol SIX new 2025 shows just dropped on their bandcamp

https://bootleggizzard.bandcamp.com/

(this includes the London show linked above)

(and the Prague gig)

FIELD OF VISION 2026! they got blood incantation up from denver for it! i am absolutely going. gotta save my nickels.

and forest hills stadium 8/20-8/22. new york though ehhh who gives a shit. j/k

I don't know what it says* that I have not only never heard but never heard of any of the other acts on that Colorado bill, other than Blood Incantation.

*besides that I am old.

i think a lot of them are "in the family" so to speak.

As of 9:02am GMT they are streaming live from Sydney Opera House https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysZYb-V9cDo

Joey currently telling a story of pissing himself at a Drones gig 12 years ago

the orchestra just played Happy Birthday for Lukey

https://bootleggizzard.bandcamp.com/album/mango-sticky-rice

they quietly put out a new album a few days ago. it's all instrumental modular synth noodles so hardly their next proper album

Woohoo! Sounds like something I'll love. Thanks UFO.

And hoooold your horses, this is technically a Stu solo album?!

i was eating a lot of mango sticky rice
and i was thinking a lot about eurorack
and i wanted to try a generative type of thing
set the blueprint and the song plays itself
like a paper plane
you can build the plane and throw it and then its in the wind
mangoes in the wind

love stu
credits
released December 2, 2025

music by stu by machines
artwork by juicey jason galea

That was... innaresting enough, I think. Definitely pleasant. On first listen, it sounds like a lot of the same elements are on "auto run", but they cut out and come back in at different times, so the shape is always morphing. Stu did say it's "generative", which helped modify expectations. But... hmm... yeah, good vibe! Occasionally reminded me of the Butterfly 3000 sonics. I love Stu and will listen more, I think.

someone left
the mangoes
in the wind

Mango Sticky Rice sounding better & better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcbFpyc8qrI
^^^ BRisbane live feed, jumped on midway through Perihelion, now thrashing Converge, it's a metal show mates

i'm there, sound is fantastic but this extended jam out of "am i in brisbane" has been a bit meandering

they invited a guy who said he'd do backflips on stage and he did so many backflips they had to stop playing because they couldn't stop laughing

???

That's awesome.

had to leave early to catch the last train so it was nice to be able to watch the last few songs on the way home

leaving early was a real a shame too because seeing them close with "gamma knife" + "people vultures" would have been a highlight. they could have had the decency to play all the metal at the end instead!

decent show, they're a fantastic live band, but playing mostly deeper cuts makes for a somewhat uneven experience. 20-minute "am in heaven" was half brilliant, half way too meandering. that was probably the only song i was really glad to hear, though the opening microtonal section was pretty good too

seeing them again in a few days for an orchestra show and i'm really looking forward to that

I got the impression after the RAH show that the orchestra gigs and rave gigs have been mind-blowing for them, but they've been really itching to play, y'know, Gizzard shows again, where the setlist can change in a flash, they can drop the deep cuts and they can goof around as much as they like.

If you watched the feed, who was the sportsman whose picture was on Joey's stage monitor for a bunch of the show?

no idea who that is

https://futurism.com/future-society/king-gizzard-spotify-ai-knockoff

no lame content itt thx

Wooooo!

no shade but really can we just keep ai stuff elsewhere?

their decision to pull everything from Spotify looking better by the day

I agree. Didn't want to bring the thread down, just highlighting further Spotify assholery as an affront to these righteous dudes.

In other words, if there’s one band that Spotify should be manually monitoring for AI ripoffs, it’s King Gizzard, but it’s clearly making no such effort. Spotify didn’t reply to a request for comment, though the “King Lizard” account disappeared after we initially ran this story.

They aren't manually monitoring for this stuff because Spotify is the one putting this AI slop on its service.

Yeah, isn't this how Spotify get around Gizzard ditching Spotify? Seriously, I think all streaming services have had a malign impact on the business of music (while also freeing the entire history and present of music, with some exceptions, for everyone to hear), but everything about how Spotify operates and everywhere Ek funnels his unthinkable wealth suggests an absolute parody of horrific end-stage capitalism/fasciam. Given how freely the Gizz give their music, the spirit in which it's made, the rock-hard humanist politics of the group and the way they approach everything they do, the rapaciousnes of such an act is triply, quadruply foul. Fuck this AI Gizzard in the eye, may Ek rot in whatever closest resembles hell.

xp - exactly, it takes a special kind of dupe to believe that Spotify is the secondary victim here, trying ably to play whack-a-mole with these evil AI bots

xps gotcha, i thought the link was something different and i was grumpy this morning. carry on!

phenomenal orchestra show tonight, we got a 15+ minute "ice v" which was fantastic. although, last night got "head on/pill" so i'm a little jealous of that

"the river", "crumbling castle" and "iron lung" were wonderful with the orchestra - letting the orchestra's saxes solo for a bit on "iron lung" was a highlight. even the metal sounded great with it!

Oh man, head on pill is such a banger.

came to realise at the RAH show that Iron Lung is up there as one of the greatest Gizzard epics.

i took a gizzard break for a few months there. happy to come back to flight b741 and have it sound as awesome as ever.

They don't fade.

(Same here, map -- Butterfly 3000 taking the top of my head off once again)

I could really do with a "3-5 new albums within months, or for that matter weeks, of each other" bonanza from these dudes this year.

I think they're happy with their "one a year" pace, but... as a Gizzard fan, I juuuuust missed out on being part of one of those!

are they always 'name your price' on bandcamp or is that a Bandcamp Friday thing?

good question! pretty sure the bootleg/live stuff is name-yr-price but I do think the regular releases normally cost money.

I think they've been name your price since they dropped off Spotify.

I have become Gizard-curious. is there a recommended entry point for these guys?

i always suggest "Omnium Gatherum." If you don't like anything on there you won't like the band. If you like a few tracks you can find whole albums more or less in their respective molds/modes. If you like everything, you can't go wrong with anything else.

this is an "odds & ends" collection that works imo

https://kinggizzard.bandcamp.com/album/omnium-gatherum

lol jinx

perfect, thanks pals!

i think them doing krautrock is probably their most ilm friendly sound. first track on 'omnium' is probably their best krautrock jam so there ya go.

Gaia one of their best thrash songs, too

yeah this is pretty sick tbh (still only on the first track lol). I'm not a big guitar heroics guy anymore, but the style breadth in this one (long-ass) song is impressive

I always feel like their guitar heroics are never about "woah that must be really difficult to play, well done" but about "that sounds fuckin thick, what a rush, what fun noise to hear and thrill too", and that makes all the difference to me

i think best entry point is live in san francisco '16 which covers nearly all the best material from their early motorik period

https://kinggizzard.bandcamp.com/album/live-in-san-francisco-16

"the dripping tap" is incredible but i think the rest of omnium gatherium is pretty mediocre and unrepresentative. like they have more of the thrash metal if you want it but thankfully there aren't any more of their bizarre attempts at hip hop and the synth material on it isn't that much like any of their other synth material idk

KGLW catalog has been name your price for a while, same with the Men I Trust catalog, for those who like that completely different band...

I have an irrational aversion to live albums, but thanks ufo I might try that as the stylistic whiplash on OG was kind of hard to process (I listened through Gaia). "The Dripping Tap" was super impressive though so I am invested now

See, that's one catch of the Gizz, the whiplash (song to song, album to album). It's what I'm wired for (being a longtime Zorn fan weirdo), but it's not for everyone. I played this album for a hippie/jam friend of mine, and the stylistic whiplash that I loved totally turned him off. For me, the metal or krautrock or garage is what makes the Phish stuff palatable. For him, he liked the Phish stuff but couldn't take the other stuff.

I always feel like their guitar heroics are never about "woah that must be really difficult to play, well done" but about "that sounds fuckin thick, what a rush, what fun noise to hear and thrill too", and that makes all the difference to me

I think that's right, and also why their thrash stuff is so on point. I imagine if, I dunno, Phish did a "metal" song it would sound like Dream Theater or some shit, but these guys, they really get to the authentic meat of the metal.

otm

fwiw my real entry point/lightbulb moment was the "Live In Bulgaria 2025" release

which, iirc, opens with "Gaia"

also has a killer version of "Hot Water" which is where I was finally like "OK this is my shit"

laminated denim is also a good follow-up if you just want more krautrock epics like "the dripping tap"

the main reason i recommend live in san francisco '16 is that it's a better, more energetic recording than the earlier albums it's drawing from. they took a while before they could reliably recreate the energy they have live in the studio

i won't hear any ill spoken of their fantastic hip hop numbers.

their only mode i don't really care for is 'jazzy'. some of the tracks on "omnium" fit that description but the songs themselves are strong. the jazzy release i don't care for is 'changes'.

guitars are pretty central to their whole thing. they are great prog metal players (see petrodragonic apocalypse). and then their other guitar mode is fried jam a la grateful dead (see ice death etc. and flight b741). as far as their synth side goes, i think they are at their best on the extended mixes of 'theia' and 'the silver cord' (on the silver cord). and also butterfly 3000. the video at the start of this thread captures a lot of their most appealing qualities imo.

one downside of live in sf is that "hot water" is only 3 minutes and inserted into the robot stop suite, when it's usually at least 7 minutes these days

When they played three nights here at Salt Shed a few years back my buddy and I got there for the night that started with I want to say five or so metal songs in a row to make up for people standing in the heavy rain. We talked to some fans after that follow the band around and they told us we got an awesome set, especially the "Dripping Tap" we got.

i would try and move past genre descriptions to get at what i like most about them though, which would be something like "they are not afraid to write songs that come out of the other side of despair". i think their lyrics are a huge part of their appeal.

guitars are pretty central to their whole thing. they are great prog metal players (see petrodragonic apocalypse). and then their other guitar mode is fried jam a la grateful dead (see ice death etc. and flight b741)

oh yeah I'm not anti-guitar, I knew enough about them to be like yes I want to hear some fcuking jams please. but fwiw the second of these two modes is significantly more appealing, so thanks for the specific recs

xp interesting! I definitely did not clock a single word, will pay more attention next time

they're worth looking up. flight b741 has some very joyous songwriting / poetry on it. lots of reckoning with climate change, life on the planet and what makes it all worth it. plus a flair for very imaginative satire. petrodragonic apocalypse is this very well-drawn dystopic vision that's somehow not depressing at all but exciting. they're maybe a little awkward and dorm room sometimes but they're saved by pure hearts. it's hard for me to not start to get gooey when i talk about it lol.

I love how map has glommed on to and amplified this aspect of the band, because it's otm. A lot of indulgent jam bands, metal bands ... it's rare that any of them could be identified as humanist, but that's really where the Gizz falls. Just good guys that care about shit, even if occasionally through a goofy kaleidoscope.

if you like the fried jam sound, ice, death ... might be right up your alley. it's among their best "jam" records. really weird evocative and touching / life-affirming lyrics about fungi, the strangeness of bodies and the aliveness of earth.

xp my fav story about them is how they brought out a (cheyenne iirc?) elder to bless their show and sing a war song before their field of vision festival in colorado last august. and then they also had kids of attendees many of whom have special needs up on the stage for a "jam sesh". just wonderful stuff.

this is all very good to know

also wanted to say I really like their album art. the gentleman on the cover of Petrodragonic has the most beguiling facial expression

Phantom Island has not one but TWO great covers

yeah that one is a favorite! the lp is gorg.

My fave video (I probably posted it upthread) was the show where someone in the crowd asked to come up on stage to lead the band through his dead friend's favorite Gizz song, and they go along with it, and the fan absolutely kills it and the band loves it.

My second fave may be this show where Stu crowd surfs from the stage through the back of the audience and ultimately to a nearby river, apparently jumps in, goes for a swim, and then makes his way back to the stage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNNrS9a9A84

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC6-8zVT0j8

ice, death, etc. is my favourite album of theirs and definitely the jammiest

xp oh man that Perihelion video is simply unbelievable vibes and has warmed me up 5000% with regard to this band

SF16 is a killer live LP, great intro to the band, lots of classic jams, sidelong head on/pill that I will never tire of.

Petrodragonic became my favourite metal LP of theirs after the RAH show last November. IMMENSE Dragon that night, blew my mind.

xp oh man that Perihelion video is simply unbelievable vibes and has warmed me up 5000% with regard to this band

― Cod:Shellfish (emsworth), Friday, February 6, 2026 10:26 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

yeah it's very moving. thanks for posting these jic. the epic crowd surf into the river video is really fucking cool too. pure rock god stuff. pink floyd at pompeii level.

as luck would have it I found a copy of Omnium Gatherum at the local shop last week, used but unplayed, might as well give it a go right now

ok yes I remember Dripping Tap when I saw them this was the moment in the show I got all emotional like, god bless these boys, should also mention the boys and I were doing dabs beforehand which I never do so yeah this was an experience

yeah pretty sure I saw god during that final guitar shred

The Gizz make transcendence their business.

alright, now that I'm through it, I'd say it's like a combination of The White Album and Faust IV

haha otm

The Gizz make transcendence their business.

― TheNuNuNu, Saturday, February 7, 2026 5:16 AM (ten hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

and business is good!

Speaking of good lyrics, I'll always plug Butterfly 3000. Stu's "blown away by first child" stuff on that record is so good.

i've been going back to phantom island after a several-month break and i honestly can't believe it sounds even better than when i was first obsessed with it last summer. what a beautiful record. i really think it's their high watermark and i'm legit excited to see what they do next.

the lyrics on "silent spring" ... man, that's some tibetan book of the dead level stuff. it's such a warm, friendly and thick record. why do i find myself crying through half of it?

something personal i can share about this record is that though i'm not a father, and i don't think i'll ever have kids, i've had my own particular and strong experience of fatherhood. and this record kind of came along right when i was missing someone who is a son to me. i think that's probably why i still cry at half of it.

Your love affair with Phantom Island last year was one of my favourite ILX experiences tbh

Yeah, I've never focused too much on the details of that record, but I've got a road trip today and I know what I'm playing.

i've been going back to phantom island after a several-month break and i honestly can't believe it sounds even better than when i was first obsessed with it last summer. what a beautiful record. i really think it's their high watermark and i'm legit excited to see what they do next.

― map, Sunday, February 8, 2026 6:38 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

same here, funny how a lot of the fanbase is reacting to these last few records like "well at least we have that insane run from 2017 to 2022" whereas I think they may actually be peaking *now*

I still have a lot of their old records to check out though

always feel "a lot of the fanbase" in sitches like this is just a vocal minority. People were going bonkers when they played the RAH. Also, feel Gizz albums are like GBV songs - you don't like this one? Another one will be along in a couple of minutes.

though it's been a while for them at this point. i assume we'll get a new one this year.

no gold can stay

Did end up listening to "Phantom Island" a couple of times today. For some reason these listens brought Yes to mind, but also (more typical) a bit of Zappa (if Zappa were sincere in his pastiche). Maybe a couple too many songs about flying high or getting high or turning into a fish and leaping high or whatever, but it's all in good fun. Oh, I also for the first time thought of Super Furry Animals when listening to this band.

Well, hey, they know the direction they want to go. Some things are worth repeating.

Cavs's got a new solo album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ-xry29D2s

video miiight be nsfw, depending on how you feel about someone having sex with a tree. Comments are A+.

i don't think i'm going to be able to make it to field of vision 26 and i'm pretty bummed about it. anyway they announced the lineup. Angine de Poitrine! Blood Incantation! some others i haven't heard of. pattie gonia, i guess that's cool, maybe it'll separate out the gays for a minute.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DXgp7LZkZrO/

modular synth album is finished! the other one that's been in the works lately is apparently a bluegrass album with billy strings, which i have a bit of a hard time imagining them pulling off that well

Gizz bluegrass?! There's tendencies in that direction on Flight b741, I'll probably love it.

And yessss to more where The Silver Cord came from.

Thanx for bearing good news, ufo.

stoked. i've been going back to some silver cord stuff. the extended "theia" and "silver cord" are where it's at for me. i love the dnb stuff - i hope there's more of that.

wahhh i want it this weekend

it's been all gizz all the time the past two weeks for me. i got gizz playing on the headphones when i get in my car, and then the cd player in the car picks up where it left off of a gizz burned cd i made.

i think petrodragonic is top 3 gizz for me at this point. i think my ranking is 1) phantom island, 2) flight b741, 3) petrodragonic, 4) silver cord, 5) butterfly 3000.

lately been obsessed with the lyric

"like a dog on a freeway"

what an image.

i like how it appears on silver cord as "like a dog on a freeway / i commit to end life my way" but on "pansych" (phantom island) it appears as "the dog on the freeway thinks it's in control."

The contents of our top five are in a different order but otherwise nearly identical, map. I might have Onmium squeezing in there instead of PetroDragonic or Phantom Island, but then again might not.

And I had the same thought at some random point yesterday: "Man, I wish the new modular synth Gizzard were out."

Didn't notice that lyric recurring!

if you're thinking then you're thinking too hard
so squish your brain, wow wow, numb the pain

I try to compliment people in KGATLW shirts whenever I see them. Odd sort of kinship, like juggalos almost.

I've yet to meet a Glizzardhead in person but I know what you mean. Few things build good will in me quite like finding out that somebody loves YMO and/or King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard.

Ha, there was a guy in a Gizzard shirt at the table next to me in Brooklyn last weekend, and I almost complemented him! He looked exactly like you would think: white, mustache, semi-mullet, tattoos. For all I know he was in the band.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cecu2oUR54Q

stu jamming with a modular synth at a melbourne tram stop

the synth album is supposed to be out this northern hemisphere summer so it shouldn't be too far away

i have a feeling it'll be out around the time of field of vision in mid-august.

Bring it onnnnnnn

New single! haven't had a chance to listen yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp-HWukUDSE

breakbeats!

i'm not blown away by this but it's fine, makes sense as a direction to go in following on from the silver cord really

it sounds like The Prodigy

yeah, that's fine

i like it. it definitely sounds more polished than anything on the silver cord. not very surprising melodically / harmonically, familiar territory for them. it doesn't have a soaring melody like on "the silver cord" title track, but i can see it growing on me, it's catchy enough. i'd love to know the lyrics but they're impossible to make out beneath the vocoder effect. i like the last minute or so the most on first listen. effective to get me excited for the whole thing. maybe this friday? that would rule.

this is... fine?

I guess it's a natural evolution from Silver Cord stuff but, idk, Prodigizzy is not really high on my Gizz wish list, but maybe it'll grow on me

i love the silver cord. i think it has some of their most amibitious lyrics and concepts. the thing about that album that was hard for me to love, initially, was that the synth work felt a little clunky overall, a little primitive and not as funky as it needed to be. on this track at least it sounds like they've leveled up a bit as prog-techno producers. the crucial thing for me with these guys though is what's going on lyrically and conceptually, but again, all that's buried underneath the vocoder effect. i'm a little frustrated by it. of course no listening genius has put up a copy of the lyrics anywhere yet.

i will say that i think they're not quite as exciting, overall, in techno land as they are in, say, metal land.

I don't think it's very good tbh (and overlong for what's going on). I kept waiting for it to switch over into live instrumentation or blend them in. Are they trying to get DJ gigs?

ya dunno if I love this track but I am very curious about what the rest of the album is gonna sound like. feel like it could go heavy or it could go into Mortal Kombat stadium house territory. it did bring back memories of blasting the Propellerheads and the Crystal Method in my room when I was 13 so I dig it for that.

haha now I'm afraid to listen

haha yeah it's not "tasteful" techno and i like it for that. fruityloops vibes.

xp - they did announce a "rave set" in NYC later this summer... so...

If you dug any of their rave sets or Stu's various eurorack sets in recent weeks you will dig this album

have you heard it stevie? are the vocals discernable?

I have and the vocoder pervades but it is SICK. Absolutely alien but absolutely Gizzard, brilliantly so.

Vocals/lyrics are discernible, too. It kills, dudes, this is great work by the Gizz!

lol I love how '90s this sounds. there was some other pop song I heard recently that gave me the same vibes. Zara Larsson?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvY8fdgezLQ

A few years I recall hearing/reading/experiencing that The Kids were into the '90s, I guess it stands to reason that after discovering '90s indie/alt/grunge they would discover electronica.

Vocals/lyrics are discernible, too. It kills, dudes, this is great work by the Gizz!

― Nina in the broadcast booth (stevie), Wednesday, July 8, 2026 7:12 PM (seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

hat tip

a good friend, a 26 year old artsy guy living in an east coast city, informed me he listened to all the prodigy albums at work last week. he says the "blind boy" podcast inspired him to check them out.

ok yeah this is weird as hell, dig it

It's always vibe that hits me first, and this has great vibe.

the first sign of gizz fans putting more of their own identities into their appreciation of the band, rather than liking the music, makes me sick and makes me want to hate the band.

but i dont because they are both that good and don’t ask you to be a fucking dork. you just are.

not at all at nununu or anyone particularly. it could include me i suspect!

That's just "investment", isn't it? I love the spirit of these dudes, so I'll try anything they put out, and even if I don't like it straight off, I'll listen to it a bunch more times than I would to something I *didn't* already feel emotionally committed to.

For instance, there seems to be no amount of love-for-their-spirit that could get me to like Ice Mushrooms Lava etc.

look at what i did— hated on fans making it about themselves— while making it about myself, ha. you’re right on investment

i'm pretty firmly convinced that phanton island is their masterpiece so far, so i think it's possible this one could let me down a bit, but somehow i think it'll still be compelling and powerful. quotes from stu and joey about it have me psyched. i think i'm gonna wait to listen to the new track again until they release the whole damn thing. man i've never been so impatient for an album release. like i've thought i need this album every week since they announced it was finished. the last time i was so hyped about something was in the late 90s with radiohead (who i no longer care for very much tbh - these guys are better).

hah, quite the endorsement. given the way they tend to do things I'm sure there are gonna be some moments where they go balls out and I think those moments will be incredible. but yes I think Phantom Island is probably their best album too, that run from Deadstick to Eternal Return is some of my favorite Gizz music ever. amazing lyrics throughout too.

Level 5 has been stuck in my head all day. Getting my mind blown all over again returning to The Silver Cord, too.

One of the nice things about artists I like announcing new albums is how much time I spend listening to old albums while awaiting the new one.

Phantom Island sounding better than ever.

once listened to it before bed and had a dream that Topper's Pizza used "Deadstick" in an ad but called it "Breadstick"

lol

once listened to it before bed and had a dream that Topper's Pizza used "Deadstick" in an ad but called it "Breadstick"

In a better world...

This band's bevy of amazing vocalists is something else.

damn i think that album is actual fucking osmond brothers shit, but i like “change” amd it’s cheez fusion.

hunt3r have you heard judee sill before?

not yet! but i might. best starting point?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNkSAeA3R_s

^^^ this performance is the single greatest thing she ever did IMO, but both her albums are wonderful, and the demos/live comps that have surfaced in recent years are also very much worthy of investigation.

Fishing for Fishies comes up often enough in the context of Flight b741/Phantom Island that yesterday I gave it a try, but only made it a few songs in. Lord how these fellas have grown.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdQyYsl_rDs

not feeling this one

whoa, sounds like Infected Mushroom. idk if that's a good thing but there's a lot of stuff going on melodically, I think I'll get on with this

Aye, loving this! Appreciate how silly it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9jeUBxWQNs

*sigh* i think i'll like this but i'll be honest and say there is nothing i'm hearing so far that is really exciting me.

^^^ this performance is the single greatest thing she ever did IMO

re judee sill, i think of her when i hear phantom island because i think the arrangements on say heart food do a similar thing where they're unabashedly lyrical and romantic. my theory is that we're kind of conditioned to think those sorts of string arrangements are sappy because artists like the osmonds and the carpenters really smoothed them down and sucked any idiosyncrasy out of them. but with judee sill and phantom island underneath the MOR feel is a sort of monumental, colorful, sometimes kinda weird or strange presence that really amplifies the songs.

i agree with stevie that that particular performance is unequaled just about anywhere. it's a very powerful performance of a very powerful song.

"the pearl" is an example of the kind of string arrangements i'm thinking of. it packs a lot in under 2 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADS3HaFYcHY

album is out today as everyone could have guessed, surprise!

That was very nice.

And on the basis of how much I love Level 5 and Alien Metal after multiple plays, it's probably gonna sound nicer & nicer.

Initial highlights:
-- how it's one long jam
-- the metal bit in Uqt

it's fine but it's not really music i have any use for

that's my take, I just don't dig this at all. thankfully they are uber-prolific and apparently have multiple other albums in the can. i can survive one minor turd in their discography.

Up on Bandcamp now!

Recorded in the future by aliens
Mastered by Joseph Carra
Artwork by Jason Galea

End of the last track syncs up with the beginning of the first track.

i did a quick scan through. it sounds pretty good for progressive techno. they have definitely leveled up as electronic music producers. it's missing the twisty songwriting and soulful lyrics of the last two. all the vox are vocoderized and lyrics are kinda indecipherable or more like chants than full-fledged lyrics. it makes sense in the context of the record's concept. it makes sense to want to do something different after the very songwriting-heavy last two albums. i think i will like this more than i expected to after hearing the first singles. i'm looking forward to running to it.

i wonder how much of field of vision is going to be this stuff.

there is definitely a part of me that feels like this isn't what makes the band great, but at this point it's pretty well-established that they have several modes that have different enthusiasts. that has worked very well for them so far, and i have love for that aspect of the band even if it means there will be a few records of theirs i don't connect with as much. maybe it's time for one of those, for me, although there is def. a chance i will warm up to this. the other area i don't care for as much is when they try jazz fusion, like i can already tell that this won't miss me nearly as much as changes which i just didn't like very much.

anyway i'm saving a full front-to-back listen for when i'm out on a trail this weekend. today is chill vibes only.

Bandcamp review

I left this playing on my hi-fi at home while I went on a drinking binge. When I returned home my dog had gotten pregnant and bore a litter of 741 pups. Now my yurt smells like a petting zoo and the dogs won't stop dancing. Whenever I get close to the hi-fi to turn down the music they form a meat shield. The big one keeps turning up the volume and has ordered the other 740 pups to corral me into the mini-fridge. I'm three sheets to the wind and don't know what to do. Please advise. Favorite track: Alien Metal.

ok i'm listening tonight on the couch. it's a little silly and very gizzard-y with the prog melodies - maybe kinda new age and trance in places - but it whips! the production level-up from the silver cord is huge. getting gizz goosebumps on some of these. "alien metal" sounds much better to me now - maybe some of that is down to the quality of the youtube stream idk. "superheavy supercritical" is magnificent, kinda underworld-y tbh. "level 5" i love. "rapid alpha decay" is giving techno space opera with some good dub breakdowns. "uqt" feels like a climax of sorts and has the lyrical content i was hoping for. "atomic collapse" is sort of a dance prologue. this stuff would be a lot of fun to dance to with the right crowd, which is what i'm assuming is going to happen in just a few hours in buena vista colorado.

also this thing is only 41 minutes (kinda wish it were longer!). it's a very spirited and tight commitment to a particular sound. 3.5 / 5

angine de poitrine are on right now, packed crowd and mosh pit. they sound great.

oh damn they have nikki nair doing a late set.

one of the problems i have with this is that it feels a bit formless and unfocused overall, it hasn't managed to escape its modular synth jam origins quite enough

this metal version of 'swan song' kicks ass

sound is really dialed in. better than last year i think?

is it joey with the short hair and tank? he's been working out. he looks hot. stu looks great with longer hair.

storm clouds in the sky. so electric even through the video screen. so bummed i didn't make it happen this year. hopefully there's a next.

'i can see everything i can be in the music'

#2 was a metal version of "extinction" not "swan song"

this version of "am i in heaven" is so good damn

ah shit the feed dropped.

it's back

flying microtonal banana track with the tuned guitars

michael cavanagh is such a monster drummer and he's a lot of fun to watch.

wow at the intro to "honey".

the modular rack has entered the stage.

omg this jazzy modular synth version of magma

this is the time to rip on a giant joint lol

haha he has his mask on again and he's rapping. australian insane clown posse and i'm here for it.

'level 5' from the new one. really awesome imo. i'm really feeling the vocal effect now.

This has gone up a notch.

first time they've ever played "the land before timeland"!

second listen to alien metal and i'm fully on board, it is a thing of wonderful imagination and beauty and i love it haha.

it might flag a little at the end or maybe not, depends on one's acceptance of the jam i think.

*hitches suspenders* well, i generally reject the “jam” and all its derivatives and acolytes. but as an early gizz stan on the board i’ll probly check out the album. jk i’ll def check

it might flag a little at the end or maybe not

i take this back! that last track might be the best thing on here.

this is a beautiful-sounding record imo. it isn't like hyper-digital edm or anything. the analog character of everything really comes through. the mixing is great. i don't know anything about analog synths but it sounds to me like they've really done a lot of exploring, sound-wise, and come up with a very broad palette. the processed falsetto voices are something else. watching them all sing into mics plugged into the rack last night was very cool.

they said in an interview that the entire album was based on a single ~2 hour modular synth jam that stu & joey did (which they intend to put out at some point), which they spent a year arranging and editing down. there's also mention of two albums that are 3/4 done, one of which is the billy strings collaboration.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsMph-w-6r4

the rock version of "extinction" they did yesterday was excellent

yeah it was! did you like the modular synth 'magma'? i know that album's one of your favs.

yeah it was good, they were doing that synth magma last year but i think this version was a bit tighter

👍

is there anyone else here who is enjoying the new album?

highlights for me right now:

all of "superheavy supercritical"
"rapid alpha decay" big drop into dub techno chords at 1:58
the back half of "atomic collapse" from about 3:00 on

pvmic but i think it's worth moving off streaming and having the files for this. it rewards a high-quality listening experience.

today i was thinking - is there anything else that sounds like this album? i feel like it's pretty unique. all-analog sound palette with a lot of tonal depth and richness. jams edited into rough structures that are still pretty open-ended. wacky progressive melodies and falsetto synthified vocals. evocative sci-fi lyrics. bangin high-energy techno backbone. truly a gizz album in spirit imo and very uniquely theirs.

I just got the FLAC files this morning but haven't gotten a chance to really dig in yet

King Gizzard kind of makes me think that I would like all these other jam bands I don't like if they had a legit metal side to them.

going back to laminated denim on a lark this morning. i'd forgotten how good that one is. if stereolab were a jam band, and tbh there are only a handful of stereolab tracks i think are on par with it.

ok this new shit rules

👍👍

this reminds me of other heavily-affected-vocals acts like Zapp or Black Moth Super Rainbow, wild shit

(but put through the modular synth rave filter)

The FLACs are crucial, agreed. I liked it on streaming on Day 1, but got blown away on Day 2. Been listening lots, it's wonderful... I made myself a three-hour single-track version so that the album can loop back on itself over & over again.

The songwriting isn't as epic as on The Silver Cord (or at least so initial impressions suggest) but the richness of the sound is a level-up for sure.

good pitchfork review with some more background on the album:

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/king-gizzard-and-the-lizard-wizard-alien-metal/

a 7 feels right to me tbh.

I'm not sure this is an album I'll come back to that often, if at all, but that's nothing new for the group. If you're as restless and creative and prolific as these guys are there are definitely going to be some big swings and misses in the catalog, and even those are often still intriguing or endearing.

the richness of the sound is a level-up for sure.

they're on Level 5 now ;)

lol, that's right. (And so humble & positive of them! Still got a ways to go to 99)

just tapping into say i’m puking

I was at the second Forest Hills show and confirm that the metal version of "Gilgamesh" is incredible. Max Weinberg on drums for "Hot Water" was very fun too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b280BDGxcb0

oh wow. love. cav at 7:20 lmao.

synth "head on/pill" rules