12/21/17:
Plain silliness

The Gizzard boys decided to take "self-released" to a new level with this, their fourth (and final) release of 2017. Go to the website, and you can download everything: complete audio files (digital, CD, and vinyl-ready), print-ready album cover and liners . . . everything you need to put this album out on your imprint. Which the band fully encourages: "Ever wanted to start your own record label? GO for it! Employ your mates, press wax, pack boxes. We do not own this record. You do. Go forth, share, enjoy."



King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
Polygondwanaland
(self-released)

So that's cool. And then there is the music itself. These Australian boys have brought prog fully into the new century, almost seamlessly fusing it with an ever-flowing rhythm section, punk and grunge while not abandoning the technical precision of the original sound. That sounds impossible, and it kinda is. But whatever it is that these guys are doing (and when you venture into microtones and other esoterica, you're definitely geeky, if not proggy), they do it oh-so-well.

Hell, they could have just released the first track, "Crumbling Castle," a shambling near-11 minute opus that pretty much drives a spike into the brain and plants the King Gizzard flag for all time. Really. It's kinda spectacular. But then there's more. So much more.

Which means that if you do press vinyl, you might want to make this a double album for best sonic fidelity. Short sides, but when you cram more than 20 minutes to a side, you start to get some bleed. Just sayin'.

This album (like the rest of the King Gizzard catalog) is the perfect soundtrack for musing. About anything. Indeed, my mind starts to gallop the moment I put some on. These boys might be too prolific for their own good, but even on the fourth album of the year, there isn't a clunker in the bunch. Utterly inspiring.

Jon Worley


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