Psychedelic – Page 34 – 7th Level Music

Rewind Review: Santana – Santana 3 (1998 re-release)

Originally released in 1971, Santana‘s third album, originally titled Santana but later known as Santana 3 (or Santana III or Man with Outstretched Hand), was the last of their albums featuring the original “Woodstock-era” lineup of musicians for their first two classic chart-topping, platinum-selling albums (Santana and Abraxas). It’s also the debut of a chap named Neil Schon who would later go on, with original Santana member Gregg Rolie, to found some obscure band called Journey.

To say this album is a classic is an understatement. The band was firing on all cylinders in 1971 and experimenting like few other bands were at the time, mixing Latin funk with jazz, R&B, psychedelic rock, Afrobeat, and garage rock with such ease that it was easy to forget they were still college-age dudes who hadn’t been playing together for decades.

The opening track, “Batuka,” brings in the sweet percussion from Jose Chepito Areas and Coke Escovedo and builds it, along with David Brown‘s killer bass lick, to a surprisingly heavy jam. It flows so naturally into their classic single, “No One to Depend On,” that you barely notice the transition. The mix of English and Spanish vocals from Carlos Santana (not to mention his fiery guitar solos) and Michael Carabello‘s conga work were destined to make the song a hit. The breakdown into deeper beats and heavier guitar is outstanding.

“Taboo,” has a sweet mellow groove throughout it that was probably the soundtrack for many trip-out sessions in early 1970s San Francisco. The “Toussaint L’Overture” is a great example of the blend of musical styles Santana could create that was, and still is, hard to define. It’s definitely not just “Latin rock,” “world music,” or jazz. It’s something in-between and also beyond all of those things. It’s also simply stunning and nearly six minutes of jaw-dropping percussion that dances all around you.

“Everybody’s Everything” was another top single from the record back in 1971 (reaching #12 on the charts), and the addition of Tower of Power horns certainly helped it reach that point. The tune takes off right out of the gate and doesn’t stop its hot groove for three and a half minutes. Rolie’s organ solo on it is also nice. “Guajira” is something you hear in the sultry Central American nightclub of your dreams.

Santana and Schon’s guitars on “Jungle Strut” are a great match and bounce off each other well. Rolie also gets a great opportunity to shine on a hot organ solo. “Everything’s Coming Our Way” is a bright, bouncy track with Santana singing in his falsetto and Areas’ putting down rapid grooves between jazz lounge beats. Their cover of Tito Puente‘s “Para Los Ruberos” is as hot as you hope it will be.

The reissue ends with three previously unreleased live tracks from their famous July 04, 1971 concert at the Filmore West – “Batuka,” “Jungle Strut,” and “Gumbo.” All are solid live cuts and make you wish you could slip back in time to catch that show in person.

III / 3 / Santana / Man with Outstretched Hand is a true classic and a must-have for Santana fans and fans of 1970’s funk-rock. Is that the proper term to describe their music? I don’t know if it is, or if it matters after hearing an album as good as this.

Keep your mind open.

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Riding Easy Records announces the eleventh Brown Acid trip.

The forthcoming eleventh edition of the popular compilation series featuring long-lost vintage 60s-70s proto-metal and stoner rock singles, Brown Acid: The Eleventh Trip will be available October 31st, 2020. Today, Metal Injection shares the first single, “Diamond Lady” by Larry Lynn HERE. (Direct YouTube and Bandcamp.)
The Brown Acid series is curated by L.A. label RidingEasy Records and retailer/label Permanent Records. Read interviews with the series curators via Paste MagazineHERE and LA Weekly HERE.

About The Eleventh Trip:
This Trip opens with Adam Wind‘s “Something Else,” featuring groovy crooning and a very acid-damaged guitar riff that meanders across key signatures like it ain’t no thing. This 1969 single by the Tacoma, WA band predates grunge by 20 years, but the band’s heavy psych and murky tones are just the stuff Northwest heroes Mudhoney sought so fervently at their peak. Lead singer Leroy Bell‘s excessive vibrato gives the tune its charm, but the heavy breakdown in the middle is the real payoff.

Boston bruisers Grump return to the series with a previously unreleased dose of raw soul layered in greasy horns, plucky harmonized guitar leads and chirping organs on “I’ll Give You Love.” The track packs twice the punch of their cover of Elvis Presley‘s classic “Heartbreak Hotel” heard back on The Eighth Trip, itself a fan favorite.

Stevens Point, WI is the actual origin of Bagshot Row, a little-known band taking its name from a street in The Hobbit. However, they sound much less fantasy obsessed than their name suggests and more akin to Sugarloaf of “Green Eyed Lady” fame. Their swaggering “Turtle Wax Blues” of 1973 will put some extra hair on your feet and send you searching for this lone 45 single like a ring that possesses magical powers to control all of Middle Earth (or at least Middle America.)

Larry Lynn‘s “Diamond Lady” is the B-side to his 1970 single “Back On The Street Again.” Larry Leonard Ostricki adopted his stage name while performing with The Bonnevilles in the mid-1950s in Milwaukee, WI, and later with The Skunks. Larry Lynn’s eponymous band explored bluesy psychedelic rock from 1969 to 1978, only to reunite in 2009 and they still perform to this date.

Renaissance Fair take things in a very weird, very fun and undeniably heavy direction with an insanely distorted organ that sounds like a monstrous vacuum cleaner over dirge rhythms and growling vocals on their – we reiterate – weird 1968 track “In Wyrd.” Think if someone left a copy of The Doors‘ Strange Parade out to warp in the sun on a blown-out toy record player, and then visiting space creatures attempted to imitate what they’d heard.

Chicago, IL’s Zendik bring it all back down to Earth with their politically-charged 1970 firestorm “Mom’s Apple Pie Boy” which echoes the unabashed rage of The MC5 and anthemic sarcasm of CCR‘s “Fortunate Son.” The band’s only publicly released single “Is There No Peace” (previously heard on Brown Acid: The Sixth Trip) boasts the proto-punk refrain “God is dead!” This equally direct polemic was recorded during the same sessions, but unreleased until now.

The opening cowbell of Daybreak‘s kicked back 1977 rocker “Just Can’t Stay” affirms that the boogie is back on this swaggering nugget of FM-ready rock from San Mateo, CA. “Just Can’t Stay” closes the band’s lone 4-song EP, and the band delivered on the promise, vanishing into the ether shortly thereafter.

West Minist’r of Fort Dodge, IA make their desires clear on “I Want You” with an undeniably driving riff and particularly beefy sounding synth leads that would fit in fine on Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. The song, originally released on Magic Records, is the B-side to “Sister Jane” and the band’s last of three singles issued between 1969 and 1975.

Debb Johnson of Saint Louis Park, MN is a BAND, not an individual member of the band. The 7-piece group featured a full horn section and three-part harmonies on their 1969 self-titled album. The backstory on their name is: three of the group’s seven members shared the last name Johnson, so they then took the first letters of the last names of the other four members and combined them into the word “debb.” The politically minded “Dancing In The Ruin” speaks a truth all-too-familiar to this day backed by a brand of wailing acid rock crossed with Buddy Miles‘ Expressway To Your Skull style funk.

Crazy Jerry sends us off on a high note with “Every Girl Gets One,” featuring crunching riffs, rollicking electric piano, stop ‘n’ start rhythms and a curious telephone call sounding like a creepy answer to the Big Bopper’s “Chantilly Lace.” Crazy Jerry is the alter-ego of guitarist Jerry Ciccone, who can also be heard on a few soul/funk and rock records from the 70s, including The Left Banke‘s second album. But here, Jerry is…well, simply crazy.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Dave as US / THEM Group.]

The Well release “live in quarantine” video for “Sabbath.”

Austin trio The Well share a new “live in quarantine” video for “Sabbah” via Metal Injection from their powerful third album Death and Consolation. Watch and share “Sabbah” HERE. (Direct YouTube.)

The next night, on a small outdoor set, each band member filmed their respective video parts solo, joined only by TV’s Daniel as masked director and videographer. The scenes were then inter-woven together into a mesmerizing smokey psychedelic dreamscape using 3 cameras and projector lights to reconstruct the group experience. All said and done, this live version of “Sabbah” was recorded, mixed, shot and edited in a three day quarantine time turnaround, resulting in a unique and experimental piece of work that encapsulates the energy of The Well’s live performance, despite being surrounded by nothing but uncertainty and detachment in the world around them.

Death and Consolation is without a doubt a weighty album title. And, The Well is among the heaviest heavy psych bands in existence. So when we say that there’s even more darkness and intensity to the band’s third album than previous efforts, take heed. It’s a deep sea diving bell of enveloping heaviness and longing.
“This one is a little more personal,” says guitarist/vocalist Ian Graham. “2018 was a strange, dark year. A lot of change going on in my life, there was a lot of depression and coming out of it over the last year. I wanted to call this Death and Consolation, because in life that’s a constant.”

Sonically, Death and Consolation picks up where The Well — Graham, bassist/vocalist Lisa Alley and drummer Jason Sullivan — left off with their widely heralded 2016 RidingEasy album Pagan Science. The band once again recorded with longtime producer/engineer Chico Jones at Estuary Studio in 2018, who has turned the knobs for all three of their albums (Jones engineered the band’s debut album Samsara with producer Mark Deutrom [Melvins, Sunn0)))] in 2013.) Samsara, released late September 2014 was ranked the #1 debut album of 2014 by The Obelisk and Pagan Science among the Best of 2016 from the Doom Charts collective. Likewise, the band’s intense — some even say “possessed” — live performances have earned them featured slots at Austin’s Levitation Fest, as well as tours with Kadavar, All Them Witches, Black Tusk and more.

“This album might be a little less produced, because I didn’t want to push technical stuff as much,” Graham says. “I’m so scared of getting too complicated when getting better at guitar. This is still kind of punk rock.”

Death and Consolation is available on LP, CD and download, released April 26th, 2019 via RidingEasy Records. Orders are available HERE.

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[Thanks to Dave at US / THEM Group.]

Yardsss’ “Cultus II” is a wild burst of drone rock.

Portland, OR band Yardsss — ethereal music brainchild of Southerly and Sndtrkr leader Krist Krueger — share the first track from their forthcoming new album Cultus today via TrebleZine. Hear and share “Cultus II” HERE. (Direct Bandcamp.)

The album is performed in the full trio lineup of the band, Paul Schaefer, Robin Levy, and Krist Krueger.

The first two Yardsss releases, the Foma EP (2013) and Granfalloons EP (2016) were masterpieces of sonic effluvium, walking the fine line between abrasive noise and gorgeous, sometimes cacophonous melody inviting comparisons to Swans, Glenn Branca, White Suns and Godspeed Y!BE. Later efforts like the collaborative 333 (2016) and musical stream-of-consciousness Epithets (2017) explore conceptual themes of text as well as lineup. With the newly solidified delineation of Yardsss’ varying entities, Krueger and interlopers are free to expand upon ideas as they arise without fear of confusing fans.

Krueger is best known for his work with Southerly, whose 2007 debut Storyteller and the Gossip Columnist was met to national critical acclaim. His collective-run label, SELF Group, began a major relaunching in late 2015, with new releases from like-minded outfits Southerly, Mothertapes, King Who, C^VES, Swansea, Scriptures, and more.

Cultus will be available on September 11, 2020 via SELF Group. Pre-orders are available HERE.

On The Web:
selfgroup.org/yardsss

facebook.com/Yardsss

twitter.com/Yardsss

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[Thanks to Dave at US / Them Group.]

Review: Spun Out – Touch the Sound

If I had to pick one word to describe Spun Out‘s debut album, Touch the Sound, it might be “lush.”

Formed by former members of Chicago indie rockers NE-HI, Spun Out (the main trio being Alex Otake, James Weir, and Mikey Wells) are more of a musical community than a band. Spun Out is all about collaboration with friends and colleagues, or, as they describe it, “…a revolving door for our friends to come in and work with us.”

It produces great results. Opener “Another House” builds to a great mix of shoegaze and psych. “Such Are the Lonely” has power pop bounce but doesn’t lose its shoegaze roots, and that brief saxophone solo by Kevin Jacobi is a cool way to end it and leave you wanting more. Thankfully, Sean Page‘s keyboard work on “Dark Room,” backed with a wicked beat that Chicago hip hop DJ’s are probably sampling even now, more than satisfies.

The acoustic guitar chords of “Running It Backwards” bring early tracks by The Fall and The Church to mind. “Antioch” walks along the edge of synthwave at the beginning and then takes the plunge into a pool of lovely dream pop that instantly mellows you. “Off the Vine” brings in funky bass and keyboards to produce dance-psych (Did Spun Out just create a new genre?). “Don’t Act Down” implores us to rise above chaos and drama and not succumb to such distractions from the journey inward amid its groovy beats.

Speaking of groovy beats (full drum kit and plenty of hand percussion, I think I even heard a triangle in there), the opening ones on “Pretender” will get your toes tapping. “Cruel and Unusual” is as lovely as a warm breeze drifting across a Chicago balcony in late summer when either baseball team in town is doing well in their division’s standing. The closer, “Plastic Comet,” starts out with a tribute to Bob Dylan and “Knocking on Heaven’s Door” with its lyrics and then it melts into lava lamp psychedelia.

It’s a lush record that is suitable for lounging on the couch, the balcony, the beach, or the park…or the dance floor. A surprising number of songs on Touch the Sound will get you moving. It’s a good debut and a successful experiment that bodes well for future records.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Review: Remington Super 60 – New EP

Christopher Schou of the Norwegian dream pop band Remington Super 60 recently asked me to check out his band, which he described as being “inspired by everything from the Beach Boys to New Order with a little dash of Stereolab
and Velvet Underground in the middle.” How could I pass that up? I decided to check out their cheekily-named record, New EP.

It turned out to be a smart decision because it’s a lovely record. The opening track, “The Highway Again,” has those Velvet Underground synths and driving-around-at-3am drums that are always perfect for such endeavors. “I Don’t Wanna Wait” is perfect dream pop with subtle, sexy vocals from Elisabeth Thorsen. The psychedelic-tinged guitars of “Fake Crush” provide a bit of a hedonistic backdrop to lyrics about lust and erotic confusion.

The perfectly named “Tropical Drone Pop” is ideal for that space station Tiki bar you’ve been designing in your head since you began reading rediscovered issues of Omni magazine. “Dreaming of Summer” puts Schou’s love of The Beach Boys on full display with Thorsen’s vocal styling, mellow southern California guitar, and hypnotic synths. The closer, “Dina Hender” (“Your Hands”), pops and bubbles like a happy robot toddler.

Remington Super 60 plan for another record to be released this autumn, and having a record as bright and lovely as New EP land in the time of falling leaves, pumpkin spice, and further COVID-19 blues seems like a great idea. I’m eager to hear it.

Keep your mind open.

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Holy Motors take us to “Country Church” with new single from upcoming sophomore album.

Today, Tallinn, Estonia’s Holy Motors are announcing Horse, the follow up to the group’s critically acclaimed 2018 debut album, Slow Sundown, which is due out October 16th on the iconoclastic Brooklyn indie, Wharf Cat Records (Bambara, Public Practice, Dougie Poole). To mark the occasion the band are sharing lead single “Country Church” alongside its accompanying video.

WATCH: Holy Motors’ “Country Church” video on YouTube

Though their music has often been tied to the traditions of Americana and America roots music, Holy Motors were formed in Tallinn, Estonia in 2013, when founding member Lauri Ruas (songwriter and one of the band’s three guitarists) recruited Eliann Tulve, who was just 16 at the time, to join the band as songwriter and lead vocalist. With Tulve’s gorgeously foreboding vocals serving as a ballast for the guitar section’s “infinity-pool-style shimmer” (Pitchfork) the band quickly became as un-ignorable as they were inscrutable, rising from the ranks of eager supporting act (for Low, at SXSW) to sought after headliner (at NYC underground-meets-above-ground mainstay Berlin) in just a matter of days during their first unofficial tour of the US in 2018.

That same year marked the release of their critically acclaimed debut LP, Slow Sundown, on New York City’s equally enigmatic Wharf Cat Records, an album that garnered praise and airplay not just in the band’s native Estonia (where it won Tallinn’s Music Week award and a nomination for Debut Album of the Year by the Estoniain Music Awards), but also via a battery of publications west of the Baltic, including Stereogum (Album of the Week), Bandcamp (Album of the Day), and the UK’s DIY Mag (Neu Pick). All this momentum went so far as to capture the attention of one of the band’s very own idols, Anton Newcombe of The Brian Jonestown Massacre, who approached them after seeing a live performance in Berlin and would go on to produce a handful of tracks for the band in 2019 as well as join them for their set at Switzerland’s Festival Nox Orae (you can watch the full set here) during a summer itinerary dotted with European music festivals.

But rather than being blunted and worn down by the tumultuous forces of success, Holy Motors’ incongruence has instead grown all the more prevalent and endearing. They remain musicians from an ex-Soviet country producing music that has been described as “cowboy dream-pop with a dark side” (Interview Magazine), “shoegaze that sounds like the old West” (The Fader), and like “a twang-filled soundtrack to… cowboy melancholy” (Beat). The resulting mystique is an inalienable part of the band’s DNA, stemming from the shared infatuation with the American West that the members developed waiting out Estonia’s long, grim winters with the warm company of American western films (Badlands and Paris, Texas amongst their favorites) and their instruments. What began as an innocent fascination evolved into a sincere embodiment of that dreamy, melancholy cowboy aura, both in their music and persona as a band.

Now, at 22 years old, Eliann Tulve resembles Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval, reincarnated as an Estonian cowgirl. She is enigmatic as ever but stands more firmly alongside co-songwriter Lauri Ruas, the solidification of their roles perhaps accounting for the more hopeful turn their songwriting has taken of late. Their new LP Horse, which is due out on Wharf Cat on October 16th, finds the band acknowledging the Americana and rockabilly strands of their musical DNA without sacrificing any of the otherworldly mystique that keeps them from neatly conforming to the shoegaze and dreampop labels often applied to their music.

From the album’s opening moments, songs like “Country Church,” with its major key and classic rhythm and blues guitarline, and “Midnight Cowboy,” which sounds like a lost Buddy Holly 45 played at 33 rpm, make it clear that Horse — even if it may not accomplish the impossible task of demystifying this band of ex-Soviet cowboys — will at least show you that there’s more to them than the near-impenetrable darkness of their work to date may suggest. While tracks like “Trouble” and “Endless Night” gravitate towards the ethereal production and existential subject matter of prior releases, repeat listens will reveal the same complex compositions and an empathy that are much more a hallmark of Horse’s eight songs.

As a whole, Horse stands as a warmer, more human counterpoint to 2018’s celestial Slow Sundown, and showcases Holy Motors as a hypnotic force that draws listeners in and leaves them wanting more. This effect, paired with their ability to write lyrics and music that resonate with a deeply relatable feeling of isolation, has resulted in an album built to connect with people from devoted shoegaze and western psychedelia fanatics to dreamer cowboys, driving through wide open country roads under the stars.
Horse will be released October 16th on Wharf Cat Records. It is available for preorder here.

Tracklist
1. Country Church
2. Endless Night
3. Midnight Cowboy
4. Road Stars
5. Matador
6. Come On, Slowly
7. Trouble
8. Life Valley (So Many Miles Away)

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[Thanks to Tom at Hive Mind PR.]

Spun Out arise from the ashes of NE-HI and take us to “Another House” with new single.

Spun Out, the new Chicago-based band led by Mikey Wells, James Weir, and Alex Otake, announce their debut album, Touch The Sound, out August 21st via Shuga Records and the band’s Spun Out Productions label. Today, they also present their lead single/video, “Another House.” Spun Out is built from the embers of NE-HI, whose influential half-decade run ended in 2019 as one of Chicago’s foremost indie rock acts. Touch The Sound is an expansive and exciting first offering. Full of mesmerizing grooves, melancholic pop bliss, and thrilling studio experiments, Touch The Sound is a document of a band truly pushing themselves. With songs simultaneously perfect for a packed rock club or a sweaty dance floor, this is an album that instantly grabs you and takes hold with each successive listen.

While NE-HI had spent years making four-piece indie rock, their new material reflects their evolving tastes with more danceable, spacey, and heady textures. Spun Out’’s first few writing sessions were a whirlwind of creativity and soul-searching. They enlisted Josh Wells (Destroyer) as producer and his approach to generating new sounds fit seamlessly with the band’s newfound ethos; to collaborate openly, emotionally and artistically. “Instead of recording everything live and just trying to capture the energy, we were more intentional: tracking as many layers as we wanted to and then peeling it back. There were no limitations in the studio and were able to shape these songs more,” says Otake. That’s not to say their studio experimentation results in a lack of energy. These songs burst with life and color.

Spun Out is an open door for collaborators and over the course of making Touch The Sound, they enlisted a diverse cast of musicians to flesh out these songs including Destroyer’s JP Carter, Caroline Campbell, saxophonist Kevin Jacobi, Patrick Donohoe, now full-time members keyboardist Sean Page and guitarist Jake Gold, Deeper’s Shiraz Bhatti and Nic Gohl and others. “This isn’t just a three person band. We want to keep it a revolving door for our friends to come in and work with us,” says Weir.

Opener “Another House” captures the band’s spark and their daring songwriting. The track builds slowly but surely to a hair-raising peak complete with pulsing synths and a cacophony of drums and guitars. The accompanying video, directed by the bus-dwelling creative duo Noble Savage (Austin LeMoine and Troy Chebuhar), is representative of Spun Out’s vivid and rich sound. It features the band, washed in a hazy, psychedelic filter. Weir elaborates: “‘Another House’ is a musical boiling pot of a band break up, a search for a new artistic voice, mixed with imaginative studio exploration. We all know there are much bigger and more important things to discuss right now, but if this video and this song can transport you into a positive headspace, then the music has achieved its goal.”

While this album investigates the confusing emotional territory of feeling disillusioned and growing up, Spun Out are certain in one thing: each other. Says Weir, “We’ve only gotten closer as friends and bandmates. We’re basically brothers.” It’s not just a love letter to their expanding adventurousness as artists but also to Chicago’s vibrant music community and their evolving bond. Like its title suggests, Touch The Sound is an invitation to do just that.
WATCH THE VIDEO FOR “ANOTHER HOUSE”

PRE-ORDER TOUCH THE SOUND

TOUCH THE SOUND TRACKLIST
1. Another House
2. Such Are The Lonely
3. Dark Room
4. Running It Backwards
5. Antioch – Easy Detroit
6. Off The Vine
7. Don’t Act Down
8. Pretender
9. Cruel And Unusual
10. Plastic Comet

Spun Out Online:
https://twitter.com/spunoutband?lang=en
https://www.instagram.com/spunoutband/
https://spunoutband.bandcamp.com/releases
https://www.facebook.com/SPUN-OUT-105109181173378/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/53glqqgSYim0HNqJmVCffs

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Review: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Chunky Shrapnel

The cover of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard‘s “first” live album (not counting the three live recordings they released earlier this year to benefit Australian wildlife charities), Chunky Shrapnel, features an image of a seven-headed hydra (the same number of guys in the band) surrounded by speakers hooked up to analog equipment to produce weird digital images signifying their already tremendous output of albums and songs, such as Infest the Rats’ Nest (bottom middle), “People Vultures” (bottom right), and even the cyborg Han-Tyumi from Murder of the Universe (second down from the top on the right).

It’s a neat image because it not only tells you what’s in store for you on this great live album, but also a nod to the blending of music and modern technology. The band released a Chunky Shrapnel concert film in a limited stream earlier this year. A full-blown theatrical / wide streaming release is in the works, but this album is a great taste of what to expect from it – and any live KGATLW show (which never disappoint).

The album is sprinkled with studio instrumentals (“Evil Star,” “Quarantine,” “Anamesis”) and the rest is stuffed with live tracks recorded in Luxembourg, Madrid, Manchester, Utrecht, London, Brussels, Milan, Berlin, and Barcelona) over the course of their 2019 world tour. The first live track is a wonderful, jazzy version of “The River.” It’s a neat choice to open your live album with a mellow track (that blooms into an epic jam around the three-minute mark) to get the listener grooving. “Wah Wah” gets the Madrid crowd chanting and jumping. “Road Train” is a nice, crazy follow-up, and the trippy “Murder of the Universe” lets them jam at will as Han-Tyumi’s vocals echo around them from some unseen machine.

The version of “Planet B” unleashed on the London crowd is downright dangerous, somehow sounding twice heavier and faster than the album version (which is already damn heavy and fast). “Parking” is a fuzzy two-minute drum solo that leads into the blazing “Venusian 2” and “Hell” that threaten to incinerate and / or flatten the Milan venue.

The bluesy, swaggering “Let Me Mend the Past” gets the Madrid crowd whooping and hollering. “Inner Cell” brings back a bit of menace. “Loyalty” and “Horology” both flow well together and ease us back down before nineteen minutes of “A Brief History of the Planet Earth” pieced together from four different shows. The song ebbs and flows, being manic one moment and euphoric the next. It’s full of noodling jams and more fuzz than a koala bear. There’s even a moment when they pass a beer through the crowd to their sound man accompanied by frenzied riffs.

It’s another great, stunning album from KGATLW – who by now are obviously unstoppable.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Live in Brussels ’19

One of three live albums released by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard for Australian wildlife charities, Live in Brussels ’19 is a wild, heavy set drawing on a lot of material from Murder of the Universe, Nonagon Infinity, Infest the Rats’ Nest (their newest album at the time of this tour – October 2019), and Fishing for Fishies.

Opener “Evil Star” is a fuzzy instrumental appetizer to the meaty, heavy “Venusian 2.” The crowd is in full battle mode when they arrive at the sludgy “Superbug.” Lead singer Stu Mackenzie‘s vocals sound shouted to the moon and I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Lucas Harwood‘s bass rooting the tune in a solid stoner metal groove. “The Lord of Lightning” begins as a neat psychedelic jam that gets the crowd clapping and grows into the powerful story of a wizard fighting a monster.

“Altered Beast IV” has some of Michael Cavanaugh and Eric Moore‘s best double drumming. The crowd goes wild for “People Vultures” – and rightly so, since it seems to be played at double the normal speed of the album cut. The groove of “This Thing” is undeniable, and Ambrose Kenny-Smith‘s harmonica work on it is always top-notch.

“Sense” slows things down to a happy vibe. “The Wheel” might be the trippiest song on the album. Kenny-Smith’s vocals are warped, and Mackenzie, Cook Craig, and Joey Walker‘s guitars move around each other like cats high on catnip. “The Bird Song” is always a delight – live or otherwise. The band always sounds happy while playing it, and you can’t help but partake in their joy.

“Down the Sink” has a fun new wave vibe to it. “Work This Time” floats the audience about five feet off the hall floor with its hazy, meditative feel. Plus, the guitar solo on it is great. The band then gets the crowd roaring again with “Robot Stop.” The opening chords alone make the audience frantic before it explodes into chill-inducing mania. “Big Fig Wasp” continues the chaos with its microtonal riffs. “Gamma Knife” comes at you like a whole swarm of the aforementioned wasps.

The closer, “Float Along – Fill Your Lungs,” is jaw-dropping. It’s a stunning piece of psychedelia that floats along for over twelve minutes and probably left the Belgian audience euphoric.

It’s another great slice of the King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard pie and does what any good live album should do – make you want to see them live as soon as possible.

Keep your mind open.

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