If you were to ask me for examples of all the wonderful things that have come out of Australia, I feel confident that I would need go no farther than the television soap opera Neighbours (spelt the proper way with a ‘u’ and pronounced the usual way with a silent ‘q’), which wended its way onto the UK’s television screens from 1986 to 2008. The story-lines were Shakespearian in scope, while the acting surpasses my ability to describe. I particularly liked the way in which each episode left us with a cliff-hanger — one could barely sleep at night in anticipation of discovering if Mabel would learn what Darlene had told Sheila about Lucy’s unfortunate encounter with Shane, for example.
Well, I think we can add the Australian rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard to the list of wonders from Down Under. I was just watching this video of their relatively recently released single O.N.E.
I feel it’s safe to say that this is a band you either love or loath. Personally, I have a soft spot for their Flying Microtonal Banana album from 2017, which has been described as psychedelic rock, acid rock, and experimental rock, all mixed with Middle Eastern/Turkish music. There are also elements of Krautrock reminiscent of groups like Amon Düül II, Neu!, and Tangerine Dream.
From what I understand, this was King Gizzard’s first-ever experience in microtonal tuning, which involves using intervals smaller than a semitone that are not customarily found in Western tuning octaves. In the case of Flying Microtonal Banana, each octave is divided into 24 (logarithmically) equal-distanced quarter tones. I’m sure I don’t need to mention (but I will) that this schema was originally conceived for playing on a 7-stringed bağlama, which is the most commonly used string folk instrument in Turkey (you’re welcome).
The first track is called Rattlesnake, which is thoughtfully presented in this video on YouTube (you might also be interested to see the informational video titled Peeling the Microtonal Banana).
Once again, it has to be acknowledged that King Gizzard isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. For example, some comments posted to the Rattlesnake video were a tad harsh, like “Two minutes in and I have listened to this song for five hours” and “Australians with a song about the only venomous snake that doesn’t exist in Australia” and “They write their lyrics like the song is an essay they didn’t study for” and “This song removes unwanted people from the room” and “It’s quite hard to miss, but if you listen really well and digest the lyrics carefully, you may be able to figure out that is song is about the rattlesnake.”
On the other hand, there are also some staunch supporters, like the person who commented, “Kids 20+ years from now are gonna say that they were born in the wrong generation and wish they were around when King Gizzard was at their peak…”
How about you? Are you a King Gizzard groupie or a Down Under detractor?
Well I live “Down under” and I have to admit I never heard of these guys. But listening, it’s not difficult to see why. I am quite a big fan of Aussie music, some is really good and some is mediocre, and this would fall towards the bottom of the second category.
Were this Australian wine instead of music, Monty Python would say “This is a wine for layin’ down and avoidin'” 😃
The funny think is that if I had only heard a snippet of King Gizzard I would tend to agree with you — but if you listen to more of it — and to the same pieces multiple times — it grows on you. Remember that a lot of people disparaged the English progressive rock supergroup Emerson Lake & Palmer (ELP) when then arrived on the scene in the 1970s. The cacophony of sound like their “Pictures at an Exhibition” (https://youtu.be/4igIQ2TOASg) took some getting used to, but once you were a fan, you couldn’t get enough of it.
I liked ELP the first time I heard them. And Yes, and Led Zep, and Pink Floyd…. The only band that ever grew on me was AC/DC, due to the fact that a workmate who was a BIG fan used to crank it up loud whenever it came on. So maybe if I come and visit you Max and you’re playing KG&LG all day then I’d get to like them…..
When I looked at “rattlesnake” I skipped through it after about 20 seconds and every time (except one) that I paused they were just singing “Rattlesnake, Rattlesnake, rattlesnake…” Even “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” is a little more mentally challenging.
Talking of AC/DC, for a good laugh have a listen to this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH0ja5mb-Mc
But it’s the way they sing it LOL
“I live ‘Down under’ and I have to admit I never heard of these guys” — which is why you read my Cool Beans Blog — educating my antipodean audience is just one more service I offer (you’re welcome).
That’s akin to me saying “Max, there’s this cool guy there called Donald Trump, have you heard of him?”
Who?