King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
Sketches of Brunswick East

We are indeed discussing 'Murder of the Universe', regarding how prolific and unpredictable this band is, but we find ourselves with what could be called 'limited time' since no sooner do we finish discussing one album, these crazy guys immediately release another one.

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, as far as this year 2017 is concerned, announced their intentions from the beginning, declaring that over the course of the entire calendar year they would release as many as five albums. An idea born from the interest of Stu Mackenzie, who can somehow be considered the frontman of this ensemble, and from his interest in what is defined as 'microtonal music'.

Now, although I am in my small way a musician, I do not have the adequate technical skills to explain what microtonal music is: let's say that basically, it involves the use of intervals smaller than the tones and semitones belonging to the Western-European compositional tradition, and these types of intervals are simultaneously much used and characteristic, typical of many ethnic and far-away music. The mesotonic tuning is consequently completely different from the traditional one and a particular instrumentation is also used in cases to make certain sounds linked to it more effective.

The great project of the group fundamentally arises for this reason, that is, to develop every possible aspect of these types of sounds and 'techniques' over the year, exploring every characteristic and development. However, it would be misleading to also consider only this as the sole reason for their extreme prolificity because since their formation in 2010, the group from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, has released the astonishing number of 11 LPs: a sign that they evidently always have something to say, and as far as I am concerned, this is a good sign of vitality that must absolutely be praised and taken into consideration.

The eleventh studio LP is precisely this 'Sketches of Brunswick East', which like the two previous chapters is released (on August 18, 2017) on both ATO, Flightless, and Heavenly Recordings.

On this occasion, the group takes advantage of the stable collaboration of Alex Brettin's Mid High Club, a jazz formation originally from Chicago and now based in Los Angeles, a partnership strongly desired and that will decisively influence the sound of the entire album, which some want to credit as a true collaboration between the two formations, and whose sounds are therefore in some way different from those of 'Flying Microtonal Banana' and 'Murder of the Universe'. Another clue in this sense comes directly from the title, which echoes 'Sketches of Spain' by Miles Davis, declared by Mackenzie as one of the reference points in the composition of the songs on the album. And indeed, we are faced with something that has very pronounced jazz components in the sound, and mixed with the psychedelic and completely schizophrenic sound of the band, results in a very particular album.

Right from the first track, 'Sketches of Brunswick East I', the lounge and fusion components are evident in what develops as a kind of theme from a seventies mystery or detective film. 'Countdown' has an intro almost in the style of some compositions of Marvin Gaye: the psychedelic sound mixes with jazz fascinators and almost bossa nova rhythms. Surely the sound, although still characterized by those visionary elements typical of Mackenzie and his associates, is more 'contained' and less schizophrenic than in the band's previous works, as they deal with different sounds here, forcing them to limit certain pushes towards every excess.

'D-Day' built on the powerful sound of the bass and guitar riffs indeed takes up the same theme as 'Countdown', of which it constitutes an appendix, and stands out for the sound expansions of the guitar and those recalled microtonal sounds that are pushed to the limit (see also the space music of 'A Journey To (S)Hell').

'Tezeta' and 'Dusk To Dawn on Lygon Street' are a kind of experimental jazz mantra that mixes acid sounds typical of the sixties and some kaleidoscopic pop-psychedelic bands like Os Mutantes (what about 'The Book' for example): however, the track is distinguished by the changes in tempo, shifting from bossa nova to waltz, demonstrating the band's eclecticism and what are indeed the great technical abilities of its musicians, evidently also very prepared as well as endowed with great genius and inventiveness. 'You Can Be Your Silhouette' is what a devoted friend of Iggy & The Stooges would define as elevator music: only, in this case, the elevators in question are actual space elevators, and instead of taking us from one floor to another of a skyscraper, they send us directly into orbit.

'Cranes, Planes, Migraines' and 'The Spider and Me' mix jazz sounds with traditional folk suggestions; the latter track, in particular, could very well take the form of a radio lounge music episode. 'Sketches of Brunswick East II' and 'Sketches of Brunswick East III', 'Rolling Stoned' are purely instrumental tracks (a prevailing feature throughout the album): the typically jazz sound somehow evokes distant places and Middle Eastern or tropical sounds. The result is absolutely relaxing: music that is good for the mind, relaxes, and at the same time lets you travel to faraway places.

We are facing an album that, rather than garage psychedelia, seems to look in a different direction and towards artists like Miles Davis and sounds like fusion, soul, Mediterranean sensations, and lounge music. In any case, here is an album (another one) that once again demonstrates the great inspiration of this group and manages to surprise us with their third publication within five-six months by offering something different from the two previous episodes, completely unexpected and definitively unsettling, capable of catching anyone off guard. If I say they are the craziest and most unpredictable band around, this time I'm sure I'm not wrong.