King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Flying Microtonal Banana

King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard, outside of having one of the most fantastic band names ever, in these last few years have become one of the worlds most impressive Psychedelic Rock bands.  With their 2012 debut "12 Bar Bruise", King Gizzard quickly aligned themselves with their contemporaries, showing off the fuzzy distortion sounds similar to Thee Oh Sees, the wild energy of the great Ty Segall, but also having this occasional sense of humor similar to that of Black Lips.  "12 Bar Bruise" wasn't perfect, and there were some really bizarre unnecessary moments like "Sam Cherry's Last Shot".  But most of it was well written, catchy Psychedelic Garage Rock.  With their next full length album, King Gizzard went all out.  They released a gigantic double album filled with jams often reaching anywhere from 5-17 minutes.  I appreciated just how ambitious this all was, but overall I wasn't exactly crazy for it.  Sure, there were some fantastic tracks, but overall I felt like they weren't seriously being themselves, and were trying to capitalize way too much on what else was going on in Garage Rock at the time.  However, on "I'm In You're Mind, Fuzz", King Gizzard became Psych Rock stars very quickly.  In a really odd way, King Gizzard got in their heads the idea to start doing more gimmicky albums, which usually is a HUGE No-No for me, unless of course it works out well. "I'm In You're Mind, Fuzz" was the first more gimmick based album they produced, with the first half of the album based all tying together with the same bass riff and drum pattern so you could basically mix and match the order of the tracks yourself to make your own playlist out of them.  Even the later tracks on the album that fell out of this gimmick like "Am I In Heaven?" just showed King Gizzard showing so much promise, so much raw energy that I can't help but to totally freak out every time I hear the album.  The bands 2015 album "Quarters" was a little bizarre, with it only consisting of four tracks all ten minutes and ten seconds long.  For the most part, this was a solid album, with King Gizzard showing off a little more swagger and pacing it out nicely over much longer tracks.  On "Paper Mache Dream Balloon", King Gizzard felt the urge to go acoustic, all acoustic in face.  Shockingly, this turned out absolutely incredible for the Psych Rock band.  There was a very Classic Rock feel, and even though the entire band was playing with acoustic instruments the energy here was fantastic.  On "Nonagon Infinity" however, King Gizzard were back in heavy Psych mode, creating their heaviest, most twisted album yet.  It was a huge return to form, and showed that as far as they'd gone from their original form they were certainly still amazing at what they do.  When it comes to these new singles from King Gizzard, I feel like I've been blown away by all three released so far.  So here we go, one year after "Nonagon Infinity", lets chat about this new King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard album.

(Easily one of my all time favorite King Gizzard tracks)

This album starts off with “Rattlesnake”, and call me crazy but I just love all of the whirring sound effects at the intro.  When it comes to garage rock and psychedelic rock, I love them both mostly when they’re completely over the top almost to goofy levels (Take for example Ty Segall’s “Emotional Mugger” and Thee Oh Sees “The Masters Bedroom…”).  After the sound effect laden intro, “Rattlesnake” picks up rather quickly.  King Gizzard seem to be their usual selves for the most part, with the only real huge change being in the production.  Their production over the last few years has made them more and more chaotic and loud by the minute, but the production here is a nose dive into the Low-Fi direction.  Interestingly enough though, outside of the production King Gizzard sound just as fierce.   I love the pulsating vibes to everything, and the way King Gizzard come off as so confident as the track rolls on and on.  Overall this actually reminds me quite a bit of some of their stuff on the “Im In Your Mind Fuzz” album, but even simpler, especially lyrically.  As far as lyrics go, they’re certainly taking it easy here, but King Gizzard aren’t really about that to begin with.  Plus, it seriously works with the whole hypnotic vibe here wonderfully.  On their last album, King Gizzard really weren’t going with their usual “Jam” element, but trust me it’s back in a big way here.  That being said, this could have been a little bit shorter, maybe by a minute or so.  I still think “Rattlesnake” has a TON to like about it though.  The whole freakish vibe to everything is just so much fun.  So yea, overall no this certainly isn’t as chaotic as I’m used to for King Gizzard, but, it’s still VERY enjoyable.  As the album goes on, King Gizzard certainly don’t ease up on the weird.  As soon as “Melting” gets going, I feel like I’ve just wandered in to the funkiest and most bizarre Occult ritual ever.  The drum performance’s here are absolutely brilliant, and I love the constantly creeping upward vocal performances that seem to be just as unpredictable as the instrumental.  “Melting” continues to show a very different side of King Gizzard, but the grooves here are absolutely ridiculous.  Lyrically, once again I wish this was a little more dense and interesting, like their last few albums.  The instrumentals though certainly keep this one interesting.  The mystical atmosphere makes this probably the most Psychedelic thing I’ve heard from these guys in years.  I wouldn’t say this is mind blowing, but it’s still more interesting than what passes for Psych Rock most of the time these days.  The “Jam” aspect also continues to be back in a big way, and their certainly experimenting and bringing in improvisational stuff, which is fantastic.  “Open Water” is the easily one of the heaviest tracks here by far.  The intro on this one is absolutely intense between these ridiculous drums and that bizarre harp floating through the background.  All of a sudden “Open Water” picks up even further into a very doom-oriented atmosphere.  The vocals totally add to this atmosphere as well, with another completely over-the-top nearly animated sounding performance.  While the production is still not as flashy and much less loud, instrumentally this is all just as dense, kind’ve like how it worked out on their “Paper Machè Dream Balloon” album.  As “Open Water” continues on, it becomes more and more twisted constantly, making for one of the most paranoid and frantic sounding King Gizzard tracks I’ve heard in ages.  

Overall this album has a HUGE mystical feel, but to be honest King Gizzard are no strangers to that and it's pulled off wonderfully.  Up next is "Sleep Drifter", and this track here I would actually have expected more on their "Paper Mache Dream Balloon" album.  It's a little softer and much more focused on the Psych aspects but to be honest they pull it off majestically and confidently.  Overall this album is going to certainly alienate some King Gizzard fans, this isn't nearly as intense or extensive as their last album.  Strangely enough, as bizarre as this all get this album remains strangely warm and inviting.  "Sleep Drifter" is overall fantastic, with a hypnotic riff and one of the more chilled out vocal performances here.  I'm still not really into the whole microtonal tuning gimmick of the album, but I don't even think that's necessary in this case, solid music is solid music.  Overall I like a ton of the material on this album, but there are a few weak spots we gotta talk about quick.  First up in "Billabong Valley".  The vocals here that start everything off are easily the most puzzling thing about this album.  Vocalist Stu Mackenzie here is dripping in so many sound effects that it barely sounds like him.  I wouldn't say that's necessarily a bad thing, it certainly adds to the twisted sound of everything going on here, and it actually really sticks with you.  While the freakish atmosphere is obviously present, and the smooth piano chords and sweet guitar licks add plenty, overall this track doesn't completely click.  I don't think this is a bad track, it actually gives a huge "bad trip" vibe to everything, it just feels a little incomplete.  "Anoxia" on the other hand, is just plain bad.  This one literally takes everything that King Gizzard just build up and throws it away for some much funkier material.  While some funky material to break things up sounds inviting, "Anoxia" floats by and literally does nothing for me at all.  Instrumentally, vocally, lyrically, this track just comes off half assed, and THAT sucks.   It doesn't even really feel like it belongs on this album.  The only thing that slightly helps out is that funky bass riff, but even that get's a little stale.  Overall this track doesn't fit at all.  

Thankfully, King Gizzard end off the album pretty smoothly.  "Doom City" you can tell from it's title and the instrumentals that follow that King Gizzard are going for much more of a doom oriented atmosphere.  This is MUCH more in line with the King Gizzard style.  Like some of the previous, more underwhelming tracks this track has a ton of funk in it.  But here this comes off so much more effective since it incorporates more of the rest of the album's sounds.  The confidence that King Gizzard showed earlier in the album is back with a bang, and Stu Mackenzie's vocal performance is right back to being completely off the wall.  The pacing on this one is where King Gizzard really shine with those fantastic upbeat verses and the much slower twisted breakdowns.  Overall this may be King Gizzard in their comfort zone and it's certainly on the simpler side, but man does it work nicely for them.  So remember earlier when I stated that this is probably the most twisted thing King Gizzard has done in years?  That goes doubly for "Nuclear Fusion".  The vocal effects are some of the most off-the-wall elements I've heard here so far, and they go fantastically with these very soulful and funky guitar licks.  "Nuclear Fusion" as far as a catchy track goes, this may be the most infectious track here.  Between the distorted vocals and the mysterious guitar licks, everything about this one works.  Which brings us to the finale, "Flying Microtonal Banana".  I don't really have much to say about this one, it's a pleasant instrumental outro.  I'm really not used to hearing instrumentals from King Gizzard, but this certainly works for them.  It has a very mystic and Psychedelic vibe, like most of the rest of the album, and there's plenty of freakish instrumentals as well.  There's not a whole lot to take out of this, but it's certainly a good outro.  

Rating: 7.9/10

Give A Listen To: "Rattlesnake", “Sleep Drifter” “Doom City”, “Nuclear Fusion”

Overall Thoughts: I wasn't as affected by this album nearly as much as the last three King Gizzard albums.  However, I think that King Gizzard are far from done blowing us away in the future.  This is easily the most freakish and bizarre album I've heard from them in years,  When they seriously get into a groove and lock it in, they end up coming up with some of the best material here.  However, there are still a handful of tunes that just come off as underwhelming and out of place.  Overall, it's still head and shoulders better than what passes for most Psychedelic Rock in 2017.