Notes

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard Merch
The band that started as a solo project for guitarist Stu Mackenzie has grown into a full-fledged, collaborative rock band in the tradition of Wilco. Mackenzie is still the chief creative force, but he hasn't been creating new music as frequently as he once did. He has instead focused on putting on shows that he hopes will have the greatest impact on fans.

For seasoned King Gizzard fans, there's no question that the Australian outfit's catalog is a rich trove of music. It's a sprawling, genre-spanning oeuvre that's hard to pin down, let alone hone into a single definitive album.

But for those unfamiliar with their output, it's an equally difficult task to decide where to begin. There are no enduring singles that represent the group's finest moments, and there aren't any clear points in their discography where they've established themselves as a recognizable genre (they were never categorized as rock or metal).

They also haven't landed a string of hit songs on streaming services like Spotify, so it's easy to see how a newcomer can get lost trying to sort through the band's output.

That's why we set out to distill 10 years of the band's abrasive, head-nodding output into a list of 10 songs that represent some of the greatest peaks on their ongoing rocket-ride into the unknown. It may be an imperfect attempt to distill a band's expansive output into a simple and manageable list, but it's worth attempting for the sake of giving newcomers a chance to play catch up and understand this iconic act better.

Laminated Denim
In March of this year, King Gizzard released Made in Timeland, a vinyl-only one-off that doubled as a special treat for the Red Rocks shows they were booked to play at that time. It was an idiosyncratic, genre-jumping concept record that incorporated two 15-minute jams that had a specific tempo. Designed to surprise the audience during their intermissions, the songs were intended to be more collaborative and less abrasive than many of the band's other instrumentals.

As they've continued to play at Red Rocks, Gizzard has worked up material for a new LP that combines the "two 15-minute songs" concept with the "motorik jams" they've been pushing into their live sets. They've dubbed the new effort Laminated Denim, and it's out today on the band's label, Flightless Records.

The title track slams into the eardrums with a ferocious motorik groove that's reminiscent of a pair of tracks on Ice Death, but the tempo is much more spirited than before, and both tunes are full of soaring guitar licks. The band explains that they're working up these tracks on their current tour, and while it's too early to say if they'll continue to incorporate them into their live shows, it's a safe bet that they'll end up being part of the setlist for future gigs.

This week, they'll kick off a North American tour that will bring them back to Red Rocks for the third time, and they'll release another new album during the run. But king gizzard and the lizard wizard T-Shirts as this band has built itself up on a series of zany, genre-bending, and sometimes jarring jams, it's important to remember that they're also responsible for some of the most genuinely affecting and deeply moving rock music of the last decade.
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