Australian psychedelic rock band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard released a new single, “Automation” back in October. It hit Spotify about a month before the Nov. 20 release of their latest album, K.G., featuring nine other songs. “Automation” carries a microtonal, ethereal sound, not unlike much of their previously released music. It is reminiscent of their Flying Microtonal Banana album for which they built their own yellow microtonal guitar (hence “Banana”).
While I enjoyed the colourful and catchy new song, I couldn’t help but feel like I had heard it from them before. I even went as far as to search through their old music to try and match the opening guitar riff because I could swear I had heard it in one of their songs before. (Note: I couldn’t actually locate the track, so if you know this song’s twin please let me know because it’s driving me nuts.) Regardless, I thoroughly enjoyed “Automation”; not surprisingly, as King Gizz never fails to impress and come out with groovy tunes.
Their new album K.G. is also worth the listen; they bust out some Middle Eastern sounding acoustic guitar work in this album which, coupled with the microtones, provides a distinctive and diverse smorgasborg for your ears to chew on. (Ears chew, right?) I suggest popping some headphones in and listening while you grocery shop if you want the experience to feel like an epic video game quest.
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard album cover.
[Correction: This article was originally incorrectly attributed to Chandy Dancey. The author of this article is Darien Johnsen.]
Darien Johnsen is a UFV alumni who obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree with double extended minors in Global Development Studies and Sociology in 2020. She started writing for The Cascade in 2018, taking on the role of features editor shortly after.
She’s passionate about justice, sustainable development, and education.
