This Lizard is a Wizard

In the past year and a half or so, I’ve been finding some pretty neat and unique-sounding groups who are bending genres in a way that calls back to bands like Ween. What I mean by this is they just like to experiment with their skill sets as musicians (or have some encouragement from... other means 👀) and create records that are diff genres over each release, or throughout a single given record, tbh. This led me to a wildly individual, inventive, and hilarious band named King Gizzard and the Wizard Lizard.

The first thing that caught my eye with these cats (or should I say lizards) is the sheer amount of music they release in a given year - they pump out a metric shit ton of music. They have released over 20 albums in their 14 years of being a band, with them releasing FIVE separate projects in 2022 alone.

And that’s not even the best part…

They also bend genres! All five releases from 2022 sound like King Gizzard and are identifiable as them, but they also lean into genres like shoegaze, dive into psychedelic/acid rock across them all, funk in some spaces, and almost like dream pop in certain sections. Collectively their music… It’s a sound that sort of tickles your ears in the mix with a bit of a scratch that is reminiscent of older vinyl, which gives their tunes a bit of a classic feel, if that makes sense? They also mix up how the songs are played when they play them live - how fun is that?

I’ve fallen in love with synthesizers and their flexibility across genres (as mentioned in the first Finetuned newsletter) and our Aussie buddies here do a phenomenal job rocking that synth into the mix. All in all, I think that their discography features groovy tunes, high-paced tunes for cleaning or working out, and then tunes that you can just vibe out to while having a couple of cold ones with some buds. 🍺 

They are a bucket list band for me to see live at this point… and you can see why in this live performance from them here (click image for full video):

I mean just listen to those vocal effects, the stage presence, the lights. 🤘 

REC TIME, REC TIME! Here is where I’d say start…

With this group, it’s truly an investment of time to listen to them, if you care to listen to their discography - which I think you should!

Omnium Gatherum - this record rips. It pulls in sounds that call me back to rock bands from the ‘60s, ’70s, and ’80s. The vocal effects honestly remind me of some of what can be heard from Iggy Pop on The Stooges’ Funhouse record. This is a bit of a time commitment to start, I know, but it’s worth it! The record is about an hour and a half.

album rating - 8.4/10, fave track - The Dripping Tap

I’m In Your Mind Fuzz - this is impossible to not bob your head to. This feels so shoegaze and so fuzzy (has to be on purpose…) and it’s so rock and roll. This is a record that I sit behind the drums and just whale the hell out. There are moments in this album that I think of Tenacious D (IYKYK) and I love that.

album rating - 9.2/10, fave track - I’m In Your Mind Fuzz

I hope you all have enjoyed this week’s Finetuned! Feel free to share your thoughts on this Lizard Wizard group with me over on Twitter or send me a message at [email protected].

Please do share Finetuned with your friends & fam! Let’s get these great tunes and mediocre puns to more earholes (and eyeballs… ew?)

Little note here, most of the links to albums will be on Spotify, where I also have playlists that feature my recs based on the month their newsletter came out. You can find those playlists here!

See you all next week! 🙌