My KGATLW top 10
With this post, I’m starting a (disorganized) series of posts on musical themes.
I don’t want to give a central theme to this thread, but I will limit myself to scattered thoughts on some things I think about.
You know the famous 'shower thoughts'? Well, I have these thoughts while emptying the dishwasher or getting ready to go to work.
Few bands have intrigued and captivated me in recent years like King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard.
For years, I semi-snobbed them after discovering them in early 2019 while listening to an episode of the radio program Psiconauti on Bang Bang Radio, a web radio from my area.
In fact, at first listen, this band seemed to me like all the others that were played on that radio, like Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall or the many Italian psych rock/garage rock bands.
However, when I listened to them again at the end of 2021, by chance, probably on Spotify (when I had Spotify, before self-hosting a Navidrome server at home), a ton of interesting stuff had already come out in the meantime: three albums of microtonal music, a metal album, jazz, psychedelic folk, progressive rock, roots rock, and amidst all this, more than a few concept albums...
Honestly, at first, diving into the band's music was full of hesitation and arrogance because I found myself asking who the hell they thought they were.
Then, in 2022, another 5 INCREDIBLE albums.
From there, for at least a good 6 months, I became a "light" Gizzhead, sure, because I still live in a small Italian town - and no way am I starting to get into psychedelic drugs and crocodile tattoos on my forearm. I'm still a dad...
My gradual listening to the band's music was also favored by my growing habit of jogging, which between the summer of 2021 and the autumn of 2023 was practically regular.
I managed to enjoy practically up to the second-to-last album of the band while sweating and burning calories, how cool.
Last unpopular opinion (but obviously shared by 99% of the world's population) before getting to the point: fanbases are ALWAYS TOXIC.
Some are less so, some more, but in my opinion, that of KGATLW is no different.
I often find myself reading on their headquarters on Reddit, and if we want, it's the exact mix of Reddit's nihilistic cynicism and the blind adoration of a band like any other fanbase.
It also has its merits, such as helping you discover a ton of curiosities about the band, quickly reporting or even anticipating news about the band, and allowing for the (non-toxic) sharing of reflections on the band's lyrics and compositions.
As a simple admirer of the band and without being so presumptuous, I now want to try to do what no one on the official subreddit dares to do (I'm joking): my personal top 10 of the King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard tracks!
Of course, it's a personal top 10, and the order is more or less flexible depending on the day...
Let's proceed!
- Yours (Butterfly 3000, 2021)
A piece that has always struck me since the first listen: first for the song's structure, then for the lyrics—when I read them closely just before my daughter was born, understanding the central theme of this album and feeling somehow connected to it...
- Iron Lung (Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava, 2022)
I first listened to it on the day of its release on a web music program, and it blew me away, making me a huge fan of this band. Just the fact that they released three albums (!) in one month, that they created an album entirely based on the modes of the C major scale, that they played the whole album live in the studio, and included sounds ranging from jazz to afrobeat to krautrock... But can we talk about the individual tracks?! A masterpiece, not for everyone—a truly highly played album, not quite on the level of some post-punk albums, but full of riffs and solos, perhaps one of the furthest from their psych/garage rock beginnings...
This is the album that made me pick up the electric guitar again!
- Sense (Paper Mâché Dream Balloon, 2015)
This piece is an atmospheric masterpiece, one of those that makes you realize that behind the noisy, frantic "fuzz" of the band, there is a mind that knows how to write a good song. Taken from an entirely acoustic album, and for a band as chaotic as this, that's quite something.
- Self Immolate (Infest the Rats' Nest, 2019)
Wow, what a bomb. When I went running, I could do half the track with this one! Just kidding, of course, it’s too short, but it hits hard. The first metal track you'll find in this top 10, for me it's a must-listen on grumpy winter mornings. Shall we talk about the drums from the great Cavs?
- Perihelion (Infest the Rats' Nest, 2019)
And here we have the second metal track! This is my favorite from that album. Fun fact: it’s also the only one I can play (well) on the drums. How cool is that!
- Gondii (Changes, 2022)
You can feel the krautrock influence here, albeit disguised as synth-pop. They even played it live a few times in 2024 during electronic sets. This album is among the band's most refined, and this is perhaps the piece I associate most with other albums in their production (especially Butterfly 3000, with polyrhythms and synthesizers).
- The Fourth Colour (Polygondwanaland, 2017)
Here you can see that this is a band that knows how to compose, indeed! This is the closing track of the band’s quintessential "prog" album, where you can also hear the evolution of drummer Cavs. Live, the band plays it after the first track of the same album, and it fits perfectly. It was my ringtone for a year!
- Gamma Knife (Nonagon Infinity, 2016)
This is a track I've learned to "play around" on the drums, with the help of my teacher. Well, what can I say, another track with a stellar Cavs, but the album doesn't yet have a polished sound, quite the opposite. The composition of the pieces is already remarkable, and I think this album can be defined as the first milestone of the band. This track, along with the opening Robot Stop, could be considered one of the focal points of this record.
- Float Along - Fill Your Lungs (Float Along – Fill Your Lungs, 2013)
A psychedelic gem; I'm just sorry that the band's sound on this album was still too raw. Fortunately, the number of high-quality live recordings keeps pouring in thanks to the band's policy of making most of their live recordings accessible since 2023 (and anyway, there are also many older ones available on Archive.org, always from soundboard or otherwise recorded in excellent quality).
I love how this track sounds; it even reminds me (myopic comparison) of The Beatles during the Rubber Soul period, The Who’s more psychedelic tracks (those from Naked Eye), or Kikagaku Moyo for a more relevant comparison to KG.
- The Dripping Tap (Omnium Gatherum, 2022)
I have to put this track first because, while driving around the city and listening to random music, it was the first song that made my jaw drop for this band. The truth is, I never expected to hear something like this, making me think, "Hey, this is the overdubbed solo style I recorded when I was twenty-three in my bedroom... and they made a nearly twenty-minute piece out of it!" This piece may not be the best in the band’s catalog, but it represents them the best, perhaps even better than the dozens of tracks with odd time signatures and complex structures in their repertoire: a piece made entirely for fun, who cares about commercial logic. What a band!
Honorable mention: Motor Spirit (PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation, 2023)
An album released exactly one week after my little girl was born...
This might have made the sonic impact of this track, which melted my face, feel sweeter. Good.
Honorable mention: Theia (The Silver Cord, 2023)
An album that I think is overrated by the fan base, which immediately started calling it "the best album of the band," "the definitive album of the universe," and so on. Yeah, whatever, but the opening track really kicks ass for me. And it might be the only song I would truly save if I had to keep just one from this album. Without thinking too much about it, by the way.
In the extended mix, it also contains a reference to Motor Spirit.