Music Review: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Rescue Rooms, Nottingham 16/02/2016

 

There aren’t many bands that would open their set with a brand new song, yet alone a brand new song that features a flute break.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard aren’t most bands. While fellow antipodean neo-psychedeila band Tame Impala were clearing up in the end of year polls for their album Currents, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard released the totally acoustic Paper Mache Dream Balloon, their seventh album in three years.

As a seven-piece featuring three guitars (on most songs), bass, keyboards and two drummers, King Gizzard are definitely more on the rocky Hawkwind end of the psychedelic scale. Although frontman Stu Mackenzie pulls far more shapes than Lemmy ever did.

Despite Paper Mache Dream Balloon being their most recent release, the band only actually play one track from it, Trapdoor, instead playing four new songs. It’s interesting to hear where they can take the track when they remove it from their own “acoustic only” constraints on the album and plug-in. The basic song is still there, still driven by the flute but it becomes more than it is on record.

While the musicianship is never less than first class, they do occasionally fall into that trap that a number of psychedelic bands do whereby a brilliant 3-4 minute pop song gets stretched out into a 7-8 jam. While a lot of people might that, I prefer the more stripped down approach (blame it on my love of punk)

Having said that, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard are never dull and judging by the new tracks that they played tonight, their new album will be worth checking out, especially if their production team can reign in that jamming a touch. Plus, when was the last time that there was a band whose name was just so much fun to say? Go on, try it now – King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard.

By Gav Squires

@GavSquires