Machine Reviews Every Album He Listens To

Machine · 12-30-2017, 12:18 PM

ENTRY 1

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Gumboot Soup
Genre: Garage Rock, Neo-Psych, Jazz Rock, Heavy Psych

So at this point I'll assume that everyone knows this band and has heard at least one album they've put out in the last year.Personally I think all 4 so far have been good to great, with an outstanding amount of quality control for a band putting out an album every 2 to 3 months. I figured what better way to start off this journal when I found out that the 5th and final album of the year was released this morning. All I know about the album so far is that it is a re-recorded collection of tracks that didn't make the other four albums. I've heard a couple singles and thought they were good. Without further ado let's start.

Track 1: Beginner's Luck
Alright we're starting off with one of their more jazz-pop songs. I always thought they should explore this style more than their usual psych stylings. Strange chords on this song, I'm not entirely sure they all work and the chorus is a little irritating. I can see why this was left off of Sketches, but it's not really bad, just nothing special. The little flute solo was nice with the psych'd out backing vocals.

Track 2: Greenhouse Heat Death
This is one of the song's I've already heard. So this was pretty obviously left off of Flying Microtonal Banana, but in sound it really comes closer to sounding like a fusion of the FMB sound and the Murder sound. It's a little heavier and less krautrock than anything from Banana. This one is pretty damn catchy the only thing that bothers me are the throat growled vocals that are way too high in the mix.

Track 3: Barefoot Desert
Strange riff to start off on. Oh **** this is straight up psych pop, haven't heard this style from them on any of their albums this year, so I'm not sure where exactly this would have landed. I always liked Ambrose's vocals over Stu's in all honesty, I'm glad he was given more time to shine here. At around the 2 minute mark there's there's an awesome little breakdown.The song is proggier than you would think for such a short song, goes through a lot of changes for it being so short and poppy. Yeah that one was pretty alright.

Track 4: Muddy Water
Back into psych rock like THAT all right this one is really cool. Sounds like their usual riff orientated style, but with all acoustic guitars and just proggier instrumentation overall. This one is actually the best on the album so far. Great mix of the Nonagon sound with the Polygondwanaland sound. I don't care what anyone says about them overdoing the whole "garage rock based in riffs" it fits them and I've never heard anyone do it as well as these guys. Oh lord that sax trio was wonderful. Easily one of their best songs this year.

Track 5: Superposition
Before I even start this one I already know, just on the track title alone, that this was left off of Polygondwanaland, so I'm pretty excited to hear this one. I was right. Woah this is actually quite a lot different for them. It's all based around synths ad a heavily autotuned vocal. I was not expecting this out of a King Gizzard album, ever. Hm, not too much to say in the song itself it has a cool droning chords progression and it relies on mode mixture over actual chord changes, and ah a free jazz breakdown out of nowhere, nice touch. Production is something else on this one.

Track 6: Down The Sink
This one's a little funky. They need to keep this sax going on their next album, it adds a lot to their music and I don't knowhow they just they of using the instrument. This one I can tell was LEFT OFF an album, it feels a bit unfinished and the song itself is a bit weak. The production is wonderful, but that has gone for every King Gizzard album I've ever listened to, even the more lo-fi ones. I'm a bit sad they wasted such a great groove on a weak song. It's got cool sections, but overall pretty skippable.

Track 7: The Great Chain of Being
I love the title of this one lmfao. OH THANK THE ****ING LORD HEAVY GIZZ! I want to personally ask Stu when he's giving us the heavy psych/doom metal I've been wanting from them for a year now. This is ridiculous, the guitars are so damn crunchy and bluesy in the most Electric Wizardy way. That's my favorite sound out of a guitar. Damn this song just kicks ass, it's not just a sludge fest either, they brought the catchy songwriting as well. Why did they leave this off an album?!?! I do not understand the logic behind that decision. OH the ending part of this is just too much.

Track 8: The Last Oasis
Ah the other track I heard before this came out. This is pure jazzy beauty. Easily the best in this style I've heard from them and this is coming from someone who actually liked Sketches quite a bit. Not too much to say beyond that though, the chord progression is pretty great despite not knowing what it actually is. Not too big on the wash over production that happens about half way through the track at all though, the vocals also sound a little weird with all the autotune they have on them.

Track 9: All Is Known
More Microtonal Banana ****. Just based on these outtakes you could tell these were written a little later in the recording process because they sound like a mix between FMB and Murder like I said earlier. This song is a little bit generically "them". It's cool, but you can only listen to this tune so many times, luckily they're not a one trick pony and you can usually bet on them changing things up quite a lot by the next album. Bit boring.

Track 10: I'm Sleepin' In
This is almost Radioheady, this is beautiful. There's actually quite a lot going on here, so I'll point out a few points of production I think are interesting. So the recording is clean, except for the drums which are overloaded and in the front of the mix. There is a constant barrage of synths over this lightly strummed acoustic guitar line. So short tho... Alright if there are tracks to list to from this, listen to this one, The Great Chain of Being, and Muddy Water.

Track 11: The Wheel
Alright final track of this incredibly inconsistent album. Seems to be more jazz rock, wow they really recorded a lot for Sketches that didn't make it on the record. Why do I get the feeling in the future they're going to go down this chilled out jazz rock road a lot more than I'm personally comfortable with. This one is a little sleepy for me, too chill for it's own good. There's just not much to say about it. Yeah whatever, boring.

OVERALL
Pretty good outing, wildly inconsistent, but it also has some of their best tracks ever put to recording, so I can't really complain.
6/10

12-30-2017, 12:18 PM	#4 (permalink)
Machine moon lake inc. Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Detroit Posts: 2,125	ENTRY 1 King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Gumboot Soup Genre: Garage Rock, Neo-Psych, Jazz Rock, Heavy Psych So at this point I'll assume that everyone knows this band and has heard at least one album they've put out in the last year.Personally I think all 4 so far have been good to great, with an outstanding amount of quality control for a band putting out an album every 2 to 3 months. I figured what better way to start off this journal when I found out that the 5th and final album of the year was released this morning. All I know about the album so far is that it is a re-recorded collection of tracks that didn't make the other four albums. I've heard a couple singles and thought they were good. Without further ado let's start. Track 1: Beginner's Luck Alright we're starting off with one of their more jazz-pop songs. I always thought they should explore this style more than their usual psych stylings. Strange chords on this song, I'm not entirely sure they all work and the chorus is a little irritating. I can see why this was left off of Sketches, but it's not really bad, just nothing special. The little flute solo was nice with the psych'd out backing vocals. Track 2: Greenhouse Heat Death This is one of the song's I've already heard. So this was pretty obviously left off of Flying Microtonal Banana, but in sound it really comes closer to sounding like a fusion of the FMB sound and the Murder sound. It's a little heavier and less krautrock than anything from Banana. This one is pretty damn catchy the only thing that bothers me are the throat growled vocals that are way too high in the mix. Track 3: Barefoot Desert Strange riff to start off on. Oh ** this is straight up psych pop, haven't heard this style from them on any of their albums this year, so I'm not sure where exactly this would have landed. I always liked Ambrose's vocals over Stu's in all honesty, I'm glad he was given more time to shine here. At around the 2 minute mark there's there's an awesome little breakdown.The song is proggier than you would think for such a short song, goes through a lot of changes for it being so short and poppy. Yeah that one was pretty alright. Track 4: Muddy Water Back into psych rock like THAT all right this one is really cool. Sounds like their usual riff orientated style, but with all acoustic guitars and just proggier instrumentation overall. This one is actually the best on the album so far. Great mix of the Nonagon sound with the Polygondwanaland sound. I don't care what anyone says about them overdoing the whole "garage rock based in riffs" it fits them and I've never heard anyone do it as well as these guys. Oh lord that sax trio was wonderful. Easily one of their best songs this year. Track 5: Superposition Before I even start this one I already know, just on the track title alone, that this was left off of Polygondwanaland, so I'm pretty excited to hear this one. I was right. Woah this is actually quite a lot different for them. It's all based around synths ad a heavily autotuned vocal. I was not expecting this out of a King Gizzard album, ever. Hm, not too much to say in the song itself it has a cool droning chords progression and it relies on mode mixture over actual chord changes, and ah a free jazz breakdown out of nowhere, nice touch. Production is something else on this one. Track 6: Down The Sink This one's a little funky. They need to keep this sax going on their next album, it adds a lot to their music and I don't knowhow they just they of using the instrument. This one I can tell was LEFT OFF an album, it feels a bit unfinished and the song itself is a bit weak. The production is wonderful, but that has gone for every King Gizzard album I've ever listened to, even the more lo-fi ones. I'm a bit sad they wasted such a great groove on a weak song. It's got cool sections, but overall pretty skippable. Track 7: The Great Chain of Being I love the title of this one lmfao. OH THANK THE ING LORD HEAVY GIZZ! I want to personally ask Stu when he's giving us the heavy psych/doom metal I've been wanting from them for a year now. This is ridiculous, the guitars are so damn crunchy and bluesy in the most Electric Wizardy way. That's my favorite sound out of a guitar. Damn this song just kicks ass, it's not just a sludge fest either, they brought the catchy songwriting as well. Why did they leave this off an album?!?! I do not understand the logic behind that decision. OH the ending part of this is just too much. Track 8: The Last Oasis Ah the other track I heard before this came out. This is pure jazzy beauty. Easily the best in this style I've heard from them and this is coming from someone who actually liked Sketches quite a bit. Not too much to say beyond that though, the chord progression is pretty great despite not knowing what it actually is. Not too big on the wash over production that happens about half way through the track at all though, the vocals also sound a little weird with all the autotune they have on them. Track 9: All Is Known More Microtonal Banana . Just based on these outtakes you could tell these were written a little later in the recording process because they sound like a mix between FMB and Murder like I said earlier. This song is a little bit generically "them". It's cool, but you can only listen to this tune so many times, luckily they're not a one trick pony and you can usually bet on them changing things up quite a lot by the next album. Bit boring. Track 10: I'm Sleepin' In This is almost Radioheady, this is beautiful. There's actually quite a lot going on here, so I'll point out a few points of production I think are interesting. So the recording is clean, except for the drums which are overloaded and in the front of the mix. There is a constant barrage of synths over this lightly strummed acoustic guitar line. So short tho... Alright if there are tracks to list to from this, listen to this one, The Great Chain of Being, and Muddy Water. Track 11: The Wheel Alright final track of this incredibly inconsistent album. Seems to be more jazz rock, wow they really recorded a lot for Sketches that didn't make it on the record. Why do I get the feeling in the future they're going to go down this chilled out jazz rock road a lot more than I'm personally comfortable with. This one is a little sleepy for me, too chill for it's own good. There's just not much to say about it. Yeah whatever, boring. OVERALL** Pretty good outing, wildly inconsistent, but it also has some of their best tracks ever put to recording, so I can't really complain. 6/10 __________________ boost my ego listen to me stroke my delay pedal ever wanted to hear death grips songs... but they're acoustic? me neither.