Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms And Lava
Ambitious as a rule, Melbourne ensemble King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard devote their 21st studio album to exploring each of the seven modes of music’s major scale. The resulting seven-track odyssey—just one of three albums King Gizz is releasing during a single month in 2022—was born from open jams with band members freely swapping instruments. You can hear that celebratory spirit at every turn here, especially in the whimsical flute passages. Opener “Mycelium” plays like a jaunty 1960s psych-pop tune, while wah-wah guitar washes over a snappy rhythm section of “Ice V.” Considering all of their elaborate scene changes in the past, it’s no shock to hear King Gizz move fluidly across prog, folk, Afrobeat, and funk on these marathon experiments. Yet the intricate layers and seamless dynamic shifts are just as impressive as the band’s communal vocal harmonies and the newfound influence of Stevie Wonder and Herbie Hancock.
Recorded by Stu Mackenzie Mixed by Stu Mackenzie Produced by Stu Mackenzie Mastered by Joe Carra Performed by King Gizz on Wurrundjeri land Cover art and layout by Jason Galea Special thanks to Nico Wilson
The Gizzard’s abundant crop of fall albums spans custom incidental music, nerdy compositional experiments, and one of the best front-to-back records in their catalog.
Born out of jam sessions where the band went into the studio with no preconceived notions other than preselected tunings and rhythms, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard prove yet again on Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava that they haven't run out of ideas even after releasing more records per year than most bands do in a lifetime.
It’s starting to get to the point now that if a King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard/ King Gizzard/ King Gizz/ Gizz (or whatever your preferred term for psychedelic cosmonauts is) album doesn’t drop, or five, within a calendar year, then you do have to start questioning whether the Earth really did circle the sun.
Is there anything King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard can’t do? The Australian psychedelic juggernauts have amassed a colossal catalogue, one that moves