Fluxblog 485: a King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard crash course
Plus new songs by Zach Bryan, Flying Lotus, and Osees.
This week’s playlist is KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD | BEGINNER'S GUIDE, an accessible starting point for anyone curious about the increasingly popular Australian band’s enormous body of work. This includes songs from most of their 26 albums released between 2012 and August 2024.
A lot of my goal here was just getting across what their deal is – they’re a psychedelic band above all else, and they have a lot of motorik garage rock stuff along the lines of Thee Oh Sees. They have a lot of metal and prog-metal songs, and some music that’s pretty much jazz fusion. They can do synth-pop, or go for a “what if Kraftwerk jammed out with a live drummer” vibe. They can do blues rock, folk rock, lounge music, blue-eyed soul. Their most recent album is full-on late 70s/early 80s classic rock. They have a lot of songs in these different styles that just zoom along and go “WOOOOOOOOOO!” I tried to put this all these strains in one place so you can see the game they’re playing, though I don’t think that becomes fully apparent until you see them play live. And if you’re gonna see them live soon, good news – this playlist emphasizes their live staples, so you’ll definitely be familiar with at least part of whatever show you see.
If you’re already on board with the Gizz, please send this along to people you think might be ready to join the weirdo swarm!
[Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube]
Oh, I saw the Gizz in both Queens and Boston this week! Two excellent and totally different shows/experiences.
God, I Miss The Old Me
Zach Bryan “The Way Back”
The character Zach Bryan is singing about in “The Way Back” is a classic fuck up – serious substance abuse issues, broken marriage, abandoned family, apparently a big fan of The Killers. He’s tremendously empathetic towards this guy, to the point that the actual subject of the song seems to be how exhausted he’s become caring about him. Bryan sounds like he’s aiming for stoic but incapable of masking his weariness as he sings about the guy and the people he’s hurt in lyrics rich with well-observed details, and even as he sings “but no matter where you’re at, we’ll always find a way back” in the chorus, his faith seems a bit shaky. The choice not to repeat that chorus after the final verse seems very pointed to me – the story ends ambiguously, and with Bryan recounting a dream he had about him. You get the sense that he’s lost the strength to hope things work out, or that it’s already too late.
Buy it from Amazon.
Is It The Future Or Past Tomorrow?
Flying Lotus “Garmonbozia”
I’m sure a lot of people would be pretty excited for all the Twin Peaks references in this new Flying Lotus song, but my interest is mainly in the track’s weird, sluggish energy. The keyboard and drum machines sounds feel weirdly…meaty? Like wet meat slowing slapping, vulgar but abstract. I can see why Flying Lotus’ mind went to Twin Peaks here – the music is surreal and vaguely upsetting in a way that’s difficult to articulate, but there’s also a touch of the affected romanticism of David Lynch’s work
Buy it from Bandcamp.
Osees “Drug City”
The conceit of SORCS 80 is that it’s an Oh Sees record with no guitar on it. This isn’t such a wild idea, since John Dwyer has done some guitar-free synth-focused music in the past, but I think the key point here is that it’s a very much an Oh Sees record in form and function. “Drug City” may not have any guitar on the track, but it’s basically a rock song where layers of synths, keyboards, and saxophones are all simultaneously bashing out a simple caveman riff that could just as well be played on a guitar. I love the button-mashing feel of the song with all those instruments slamming down on that riff – it’s so blaring and brutal, borderline obnoxious, but in a good punk way.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
LINKS LINKS LINKS LINKS LINKS
• The Life of the Record podcast has a terrific new episode about the making of Spoon’s They Want My Soul on the record’s 10th anniversary. It’s always intriguing to hear how Spoon operate, but the real draw here is getting some intel on what it’s like to be produced by the eccentric genius Dave Fridmann.
• Nate Jones and the Vulture crew on 100 pieces of culture that defined what they’re calling Obamacore.
• Kelsey McKinney at Defector wrote about Chappell Roan and how she’s dealing with the “sickness of modern fandom.”