Beyond the Boundries of Styles and Genres - King Gizzard and the Li...

Hanging out in bike shops for extended periods can also have a profound musical experience on you. I remember when I was building my bike at Recyclistas, the music we listened to included trippy psycheldelic rock, noisy garage jams, crazy acid jazz, and mellow surf pop. When a certain tune struck my fancy, and I asked the guys about the band, the quite often answer was the same: King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard.

A Band of Many Styles

They say as an artist, after practicing for ages and following your inspirations to perfection, you will eventually develop your own particular style. That may be true, but I suppose style becomes secondary if you keep switching between musical genres. Though it would be far from me to suggest King Gizzard hasn't found their style. In fact, it may just be so complex that it hasn't become clear to me. But after fifteen studio albums released since their formation in 2010, no one can accuse them of slacking.

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Hailing from Melbourne, Australia, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard has grown from an indie-rock garage band into ... well, something of a mystery surprise that may hit you with the last thing you have expected. It may dumbfound you at first, but soon you're bound to take a liking to it.

Perfect Music for Working on Bikes ... or Whatever!

Their first proper studio album I'm in Your Mind Fuzz happened to be on when a kid of maybe eight came into the bike shop with his mom. He enjoyed looking at the bikes, but seemed to be completely taken by the speedy rhythm of the progressive rock rifs, exclaiming: "Mom, this music is fantastic!" Not much later that same album switched into a slow jam, reminiscent of 1950's surfer pop.

Another day, I was surprised to hear something that sounded more like an audio book of what I pictured to be a dog-eared copy of a cheap paperback Western novel. Occasionally there was a bit of music sounding like the soundtrack from some Spaghetti Western Movie between the chapters about gunslingers, Indians, and a blue-eyed boy growing up with the natives. Not surprisingly, it was Eyes Like the Sky, another King Gizzard album. This time it was simply fun following the story while taking apart bicycles.

Finally, to completely mix things up, I learned to like Sketches of Brunswick East, an improvisational jazz album by the same band, dipping their music into yet another style. At this time it was not so much about the individual tunes any more. My respect for this band had grown immensely, simply for doing what they were doing. After all, what's the point of restricting yourself to one genre? Screw the style development, even! Just play what you want to play, and if people like it, they will come.

Free Music, Anyone?

To top things off (I supposes there has to be a top somewhere...), in 2017 King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard decided to release FIVE albums in one year. The fourth one of these, Polygondwanaland was offered for free. Anyone could download it, burn it, try selling it, or simply give it away, as the band had intended it. On its facebook page the band states:

This album is FREE. Free as in, free. Free to download and if you wish, free to make copies. Make tapes, make CD’s, make records. Ever wanted to start your own record label? GO for it! Employ your mates, press wax, pack boxes. If u wanna make cassettes I don’t really know what you would do. Be creative. We did it once but it sounded really shit. Maybe try the WAVs idano.

Check Them Out!

Given the multi-faceted style of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, this short post barely scratched the surface of all the band has to offer. So if it sparked your interest, I recommend looking them up and giving them a try. Juggling so many genres, I'm sure they will have something for everyone, and one thing particularly for you!