zeb wrote:Mind Fuzz, Nonagon, Banana, Fishies and Ice Death.
Probably would pick at least 4 if not all 5 of those. Omnium Gatherum is one i also love more and more each listen. There are maybe 7 more albums in addition that deserve conversation.
For a band that releases so much music, there are only a handful at most that aren’t essential.
zeb wrote:Mind Fuzz, Nonagon, Banana, Fishies and Ice Death.
Probably would pick at least 4 if not all 5 of those. Omnium Gatherum is one i also love more and more each listen. There are maybe 7 more albums in addition that deserve conversation.
For a band that releases so much music, there are only a handful at most that aren’t essential.
OG is a great album but there are some tracks that don't really resonate with me.
I don't care for most of the stuff they were doing for their first few records, and I've never really enjoyed Polygonwanaland or Quarters. Other than that it's all gold, baby.
I really need some more time with this one, but on first glance, the combination of the heavier Nonagon Infinity sound with some of what seemed like the cadence of Flying Microtonal Bananas, and the narration resulted in this album sounding like someone’s worst Halloween nightmares come true. The first part, Altered Beast, really has a Black Sabbath feel to it almost, along with The Lord of Lightning. There are even callbacks to Nonagon Infinity here, so I can’t be too far off. I wish I had more time to chew on the narration, but I guess in due time in successive Octobers. I almost expected the album to end with that maniacal laughter that closes out Thriller.
I never really cared for the narrated parts of this record but when I last saw them live they closed the show with a bunch of MotU stuff and it blew my mind, I really did feel like my soul was leaving my body.
Promising 5 albums in 2017 is delivered on New Year’s Eve with Gumboot Soup, maybe the album most like a collection of songs instead of a single thread, really encompassing all they accomplished in 2017. As excited for Polygondwanaland as I was, I enjoyed this one just as much. The songs are awesome, at times evoking late 60s Beatles while others scratching some heavy rock itches. I really loved every song here but really had an immediate connection with All is Known, and The Wheel. That said, if I were making a KGLW playlist, and that would be near impossible, possibly every song here would get serious consideration. A gem of an album even if it is the least focused since Oddments.
Most days of the year The Wheel is my favourite Gizz.
The first of many albums in this year, Made in Timeland is a cross between EDM and trance like music built around a 60 bpm timing device that ranges from a deep clicking sound to something resembling finger snaps. I happily travel with this band to many places in the last few weeks, though Timeland might be a bridge too far. I mostly feel like this should be playing in the background while I have a conversation with someone or wait for the show to start. It’s not offensive or terrible, just not something I am ever drawn to. Least favorite album of theirs for me thus far.
The last three minutes of The Land Before Timeland are as otherworldly as Zeus' thunderbolts.
Whoops! I thought I posted this, but I must have forgotten. This a particularly humorous in light of the fact that this very well be my favorite album of theirs thus far. This is the second album in a row (after Gumboot Soup) that seems more focused on a collection of really strong songs over a central sonic theme. Fishing for Fishies, Boogieman Sam, The Bird Song, Cruel Millennial, Reals Not Real and This Thing are incredible. This again feels like the center point of their sound and it’s them at their best.
After hearing select singles between 2017-2019 this is the album where I actually got properly onboard.
I get the sense of a central sonic theme, although it does diverge nicely towards the end.
Change
Hate Dancin'
Iron Lung
Kepler-22b
Gaia
Blame It On The Weather
Hell's Itch
Red Smoke
Exploding Suns
Magma
Lava
Evilest Man
Gilese 710
The Dripping Tap
liebzz wrote:This leaves me with The Dripping Tap, an 18 minute epic that is so phenomenal it could have its own post here. Taking one member’s movement, living in it, yelling wooo!, and breaking into a band freakout, and then repeat with a different band member’s space while magically holding it all together cohesively and breezing through so you had no idea you just sat through an 18 minute song? Genius level. Probably one of the top 5 songs I’ve ever heard. Hot damn.
I’ve listened to Dripping Tap probably 50 times in the last year, and yet it still mostly exists to me as legend. I talk about it the way wizards talk about places no one has seen in a thousand ages.
liebzz wrote:This leaves me with The Dripping Tap, an 18 minute epic that is so phenomenal it could have its own post here. Taking one member’s movement, living in it, yelling wooo!, and breaking into a band freakout, and then repeat with a different band member’s space while magically holding it all together cohesively and breezing through so you had no idea you just sat through an 18 minute song? Genius level. Probably one of the top 5 songs I’ve ever heard. Hot damn.
I’ve listened to Dripping Tap probably 50 times in the last year, and yet it still mostly exists to me as legend. I talk about it the way wizards talk about places no one has seen in a thousand ages.
Yeah, I would still say if I had only one song of theirs I could share, that would be it.