Tag: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays The Murlocs Share Soulful “Queen Pinky”

Melbourne-based psych punks and JOVM mainstays The Murlocs — King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard‘s Ambrose Kenny-Smith (vocals, guitar, harmonica) and The Orb‘s Callum Shortal (guitar), Beans‘ Matt Blach (drummer), Crepes‘ Tim Karmouche (keys) Pipe-Eye’s and King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard’s Cook Craig (bass) — will be releasing their highly-anticipated sixth album, Calm Ya Farm Friday through their longtime label home ATO Records.

Calm Ya Farm derives its title from “something my partner always says to me when I’m feeling stressed-out or anxious. It made sense with the whole country theme of the record, but it’s generally a good reminder for day to day life,” The Murlocs’ Kenny-Smith explains. Fittingly, the album, which sees the band twisting their sharply crafted psych-punk sound with country rock-conventing and pairing it with pointed commentary on the vicious tone of current political discourse, the brain-addling effect of conspiracy theories, and more. Arguably, their most collaborative effort to date, the album features more elaborate and sophisticated arrangements and sees the band’s individual members creating space to pursue their own eccentric impulses. With this record we tried to steer away from all the distortion and dirt and grit, or at least let the grit come off a bit more clean-sounding,” says Kenny-Smith.

While they still deal with the frenzied tension they’ve long been known for, the album’s material also meant to ease the listener into a much-needed and more serene state of mind. The album’s last single before its release, “Queen Pinky” is built around a funky strut, twinkling keys and Kenny-Smith’s yearning vocal, Calm Ya Farm is slow-burning, Quiet Storm-like take on their sound — and arguably, the most earnest and sincere song of their growing catalog: The song is Kenny-Smith’s sprawling, spacey and heartfelt serenade to his newlywed wife. And as a result, it exudes an enviably deep contentment.

Directed by Hayden Somerville, the accompanying video for “Queen Pinky” sees the members of the JOVM mainstays classing it up, performing the song in suits at a jazz club-like performance space along with an evil Kenny-Smith and good Kenny-Smith

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Babe Rainbow Shares Breezy “Super Ego”

Founded back in 2015, acclaimed Aussie psych pop outfit Babe Rainbow — Jack Crowther (a.k.a. Cool Breez), Angus Dowling and Elliot O’Reilly — can trace their origins to back to when the trio worked for John Cuts, a local grower near Tropical Fruit World in Duranbah, Australia.

Initially, the band’s sound was rooted in ’60s psych pop and ’70s French surf-pop, but since their formation, their sound has evolved to include elements of woodland bop, folk disco, dub, dance and international grooves while maintaining the Aquarian Age quality that has won them attention across the globe.

2015’s debut effort, The Babe Rainbow EP was recorded at an office space in Murwillumbah, and received airplay from triple j and support from King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s Flightless Records. The band signed with Columbia Records‘ 30th Century imprint, who released their Stu Mackenzie-produced 2017 full-length, self-titled debut. The trio supported the album with international touring with Allah Las, Tomorrow’s Tulips and JOVM mainstays King Gizzard and La Femme.

2018’s Double Rainbow and 2019’s Today were also released through 30th Century, which completed their three-record deal. The band now owns all of their masters — and will be releasing future released through their own label Eureka! with the assistance of AWAL Music.

The acclaimed Aussie psych pop outfit’s latest EP, the Timon Martin-produced Fresh As A Head Of Lettuce is slated for a June 16, 2023 release. Their collaboration with Martin can be traced back to a random encounter between the band and BENEE on a festival stage last year. This lead to Martin joining the band on their sold-out Stateside tour last year, which ended with recording sessions at Brooklyn’s Figure 8 Studios. Fresh As A Head Of Lettuce EP reportedly sees the Aussie outfit bringing their counter-culture vibes to a new level.

The forthcoming EP’s first single, “Super Ego” is a lush and breezy bit of psych pop built around a laid back and buoyant groove and shuffling rhythms paired with a dreamy vocal and reverb-soaked, fluttering synths. While being a dub-like beach friendly jam, “Super Ego” manages to possess a subtly wistful air of summer memories yet to come and quickly gone.

Directed by Kristofski, the accompanying video for “Super Ego” was shot on grainy Super 8 film and follows a kite flyer, getting a ride for thrills and adventures on a glorious afternoon.

Babe Rainbow will be embarking on a short Stateside town to celebrate the release of the new single that includes a stop at this year’s Shaky Knees Festival. Check out the tour dates below.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Los Bitchos Share Mischievous and Boozy Cover of “Tequila”

London-based instrumental outfit Los Bitchos — Australian-born, Serra Petale (guitar); Uruguayan-born Agustina Ruiz (keytar); Swedish-born, Josefine Jonsson (bass) and London-born and-based Nic Crawshaw (drums) — can trace their origins to meeting at various late-night parties and through mutual friends. Inspired by their individual members’ different upbringings and backgrounds, Los Bitchos have developed a unique, genre-blurring and retro-futuristic sound blends elements of Peruvian chicha, Argentine cumbia, Turkish psych, surf rock, and the music each individual member grew up with: 

  • The Uruguayan-born Ruiz had a Latin-American music collection that the members of the band fell in love with. 

  • The Swedish-born Jonsson “brings a touch of out of control pop,” her bandmates often joke. 

  • Aussie-born Serra Petale is deeply inspired by her mother’s 70s Anatolian rock records. 

  • And the London-born Crawshaw played in a number of local punk bands before joining Los Bitchos.

“Coming from all these different places,” Los Bitchos’ Serra Petale says, “it means we’re not stuck in one genre and we can rip up the rulebook a bit when it comes to our influences.”

Los Bitchos’ Alex Kapranos-produced full-length debut, last year’s Let The Festivities Begin! was recorded at Gallery Studios, and saw the band further cementing heir reputation for crafting maximalist, trippy, Technicolor instrumental party starting jobs — with a cinematic quality.

The London-based JOVM mainstays capped off a momentous year with with two singles “Los Chrismos,” their first Christmas-themed composition and “Tip Tapp, which were co-produced by the band’s Serra Petale and Javier Weyler and recorded at 5db was released digitally and physically on a flexi-disc, bundled with a red vinyl re-press of their debut. “Los Chrismos” is a celebratory party-starting romp built around a psych rock-inspired, dexterous, looping guitar line, atmospheric synths cheers and shouts paired with cumbia rhythms. The end result is a much-needed joy and hope bomb that’s just pure unadulterated joy.

Los Bitchos’ forthcoming two-track EP PAH! is slated for a digital and 7″ release in mid-March through their label home City Stand — and the EP coincides with their upcoming UK and European tour opening for JOVM mainstays King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard. PAH! features a mischievously rowdy and boozy cover of The Champs‘ “Tequila,” a song that has become a fan favorite during the band’s live shows. The EP also features a reworking of the Gizz’s “Trapdoor.”

Filmed by Los Bitchos and Lea Emmery, the accompanying video for “Tequila” follows the members of the JOVM mainstay act stopping at a liquor store to buy a bottle of tequila, which they bring with them through a night of partying with friends new an old. And much like the cover, it’s a mischievous, rowdy night through London.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: The Murlocs Perform “Living Under A Rock” at The Forum

With the release of their first four albums, The Murlocs  — King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s Ambrose Kenny-Smith (vocals, guitar, harmonica) and Cook Craig (bass) along with ORB’s Cal Shortal (guitar) and Crepes‘ and Beans’ Matt Blach (drums) and Tim Karmouche (keys)— firmly established a reputation for crafting fuzzy psychedelic blues, which they supported as an opener for the likes of Gary Clark, Jr., Mac DeMarco, Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, Pixies, Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks, Wavves and of course, Kenny-Smith’s and Craig’s primary gig, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard — and as a headlining act, as well. 

Recorded at Button Pushers Studio, last year’s Tim Dunn-produced, 11-song Bittersweet Demons found the band lovingly reflecting on the people, who have left a profound impact on their lives — the saviors, the hell raisers and other assorted and mystifying and complex characters they’ve come across. While being among the most personal and complex batch of material they’ve written in their growing catalog, the album saw the band bouncing between and around sun-blasted pop, blues punk and wide-eyed psychedelia. 

Rapscallion, The Murlocs’ sixth and latest album was released last month through ATO Records. Self-produced by the band during the early stages of the pandemic, Rapscallion‘s 12 songs were recorded in the home studios of the band’s Kenny-Smith, Shortal, Blach, Cook Craig and Karmouche. Conceived and written as a coming-of-age novel in album form, the album’s material is partly inspired by Kenny-Smith’s adolescence as a nomadic skate kid. The album’s world is wild and squalid, populated by an outrageous cast of misfits — teenage vagabonds, small-time criminals, junkyard dwellers and truck-stop transients among others. The end result is an album that thematically — and narratively — is steeped in danger, delirium and wide-eyed romanticism of youth. 

Sonically, Rapscallion is reportedly a marked departure from Bittersweet Demons‘ garage rock leanings, with the album’s material featuring strains of stoner metal and post punk. And while darker and more formidable, the album’s songs are still fueled by the same freewheeling energy they’ve brought to the stage. 

In the lead up to the album’s release, I wrote about three of its singles:

  • “Virgin Criminal,” a decidedly post-punk song centered around buzzing and angular guitar attack, a forceful motorik groove, Kenny-Smith’s punchy and breathless delivery paired with the band’s unerring knack for rousingly anthemic hooks. And at its core is a tale of an unnamed protagonist, who describes his first crime, an ill-fated convenience store robbery, which ends in murder — and the wild thrill the narrator gets from being an outlaw. 

  • “Compos Mentis,” a slow-burning and pensive ballad featuring fuzzy and distorted guitars, twinkling keys and a motorik-like groove paired Kenny-Smith’s imitable delivery. While seeing the band exploring a more contemplative — and perhaps even softer — side, “Compos Mentis,” asks a far deeper, far more vexing question: Are we in control of our own minds?

  • “Bellarine Ballerina,” a roaring and rollicking, mosh pit friendly ripper centered around buzzing power chords, thunderous drumming ad a relentless motorik groove. But the song is underpinned by a never-heard-before sense of malice and unease.

The JOVM mainstays will be embarking on a headlining fall North American tour that includes a November 9, 2022 stop at Webster Hall. As always tour dates are below. You can check out the following link for ticket information and to purchase: https://unclemurl.com/shows. To celebrate the occasion, the Aussie JOVM mainstays shared live footage of the band performing album track “Living Under a Rock” at The Forum: The live footage offers fans and critics, who haven’t seem them, a taste of their explosive and rollicking live show– while capturing the band playing a furious ripper. “Some people live a sheltered life by choice and some people are born into it,” The Murlocs’ Ambrose Kenny-Smith says. “‘Rapscallion’ has had enough of living under a rock. It’s time for a fresh start.”

Fans will also have an opportunity to connect with the band directly at their Reddit r/indieheads AMA taking place, Sunday November 6, 2022 at 7:00PM ET/9:00am Melbourne.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Murlocs Share Wild and Surreal VIsual for Roaring “Bellarine Ballerina”

With the release of their first four albums, The Murlocs  — King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s Ambrose Kenny-Smith (vocals, guitar, harmonica) and Cook Craig (bass) along with ORB’s Cal Shortal (guitar) and Crepes‘ and Beans’ Matt Blach (drums) and Tim Karmouche (keys)— firmly established a reputation for crafting fuzzy psychedelic blues, which they supported as an opener for the likes of Gary Clark, Jr., Mac DeMarco, Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, Pixies, Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks, Wavves and of course, Kenny-Smith’s and Craig’s primary gig, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard — and as a headlining act, as well. 

Recorded at Button Pushers Studio, last year’s Tim Dunn-produced, 11-song Bittersweet Demons found the band lovingly reflecting on the people, who have left a profound impact on their lives — the saviors, the hell raisers and other assorted and mystifying and complex characters they’ve come across. While being among the most personal and complex batch of material they’ve written in their growing catalog, the album saw the band bouncing between and around sun-blasted pop, blues punk and wide-eyed psychedelia. 

The Murlocs’ sixth album Rapscallion is slated for a Friday release through ATO Records. Self-produced by the band during the early stages of the pandemic, Rapscallion‘s 12 songs were recorded in the home studios of the band’s Kenny-Smith, Shortal, Blach, Cook Craig and Karmouche. Conceived and written as a coming-of-age novel in album form, the album’s material is partly inspired by Kenny-Smith’s adolescence as a nomadic skate kid. The album’s world is wild and squalid, populated by an outrageous cast of misfits — teenage vagabonds, small-time criminals, junkyard dwellers and truck-stop transients among others. The end result is an album that thematically — and narratively — is stepped in danger, delirium and wide-eyed romanticism of youth. 

Sonically, Rapscallion is reportedly a marked departure from Bittersweet Demons‘ garage rock leanings, with the album’s material featuring strains of stoner metal and post punk. And while darker and more formidable, the album’s songs are still fueled by the same freewheeling energy they’ve brought to the stage. 

So far I’ve written about two of the album’s singles:

  • “Virgin Criminal,” a decidedly post-punk song centered around buzzing and angular guitar attack, a forceful motorik groove, Kenny-Smith’s punchy and breathless delivery paired with the band’s unerring knack for rousingly anthemic hooks. And at its core is a tale of an unnamed protagonist, who describes his first crime, an ill-fated convenience store robbery, which ends in murder — and the wild thrill the narrator gets from being an outlaw. 

  • “Compos Mentis,” a slow-burning and pensive ballad featuring fuzzy and distorted guitars, twinkling keys and a motorik-like groove paired Kenny-Smith’s imitable delivery. While seeing the band exploring a more contemplative — and perhaps even softer — side, “Compos Mentis,” asks a far deeper, far more vexing question: Are we in control of our own minds?

The album’s third and last single before its release, “Bellarine Ballerina” is a roaring and rollicking, hook-driven, most pit friendly ripper centered around buzzing power chords, thunderous drumming and a relentless motorik groove. But underneath is a sense of malice and unease unlike any of their previously released work.

Directed by frequent collaborator Guy Tyzack, the accompanying video for “Bellarine Ballerina” is a surreal romp that fits the rollicking and roaring air of the song. “Growing up on then Victorian surf coast, I’d often find myself hitching rides up and down the Bellarine Highway. ‘Rapscallion’ finds himself experiencing this for the first time, and is picked up by a trucker that’s been behind the wheel for a little too long,” The Murlocs’ Kenny-Smith explains in press notes. “Whilst being away on tour when it came time to shoot the video, our good friend and collaborator Guy Tyzack took this concept in a different direction by hiring actors and even Michael Jackson impersonators to capture the chaotic mayhem of the song.”
 

“’Bellarine Ballerina’ follows a hapless wannabe ballerina, cast off to dirty street corners as no ballet school would have him. He spends all day busking, trying to impress passers-by, but to no avail… only to receive threats and the occasional beer can to the head,” Tyzack shares. “After a pathetic day of pirouettes on street corners, he catches the eye of a mysterious lady beckoning him into a red-lit underground tunnel. With nothing to lose, he follows her in, unbeknownst to him that a motley crew of sewer-dwelling street performers and celebrity impersonators have been watching him with a keen eye, ready to initiate him into their dangerous and secretive world, deep in the bowels of the city.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard Share Their Funkiest Jam to Date

Formed back in 2010, the acclaimed, genre-defying Aussie psych rock and JOVM mainstays King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard — Stu Mackenzie (vocals/guitar), Ambrose Kenny-Smith (harmonica/vocals/keyboards), Cook Craig (guitar/vocals), Joey Walker (guitar/vocals), Lucas Skinner (bass) and Michael Cavanagh (drums)– have developed and maintained a long-held reputation for being a restlessly experimental and prolific act that has released material that has seen them zip back and forth between psych rock, heavy metal, thrash metal, thrash punk, prog rock and Turkish pop.

In 2022, the Aussie JOVM mainstays have added two more albums to their rapidly growing catalog, Omnium Gatherum and Butterfly 3001. Continuing upon their wild prolificacy, the Gizz will be releasing three more new albums in October: Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava, which will drop first on October 7, 2022; Laminated Denim, which will drop on October 12, 2022, unconventionally a Wednesday; and lastly, Changes, their fifth album on October 28, 2022. Coincidentally, all of this will be happening when the Gizz will be embarking on a North American tour that will see the band playing some of their largest venues to date, including three shows at Red Rocks Amphitheater (two of which are currently sold-out) and Forest Hills Stadium on October 21, 2022. As always, all tour dates are below.

Limited stock of Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms And Lava will be available at their Greek Theater show in Berkeley, copies of Laminated Denim will be available at Red Rocks, and Changes can be obtained at the Orpheum in New Orleans. Additionally, bundles of all three albums can be pre-ordered through the band’s homepage: https://kinggizzardandthelizardwizard.com

With an outfit that’s so wildly prolific, things often move very quickly: Before Mackenzie and company had finished work on Omnium Gatherum, they’d started sketching out the next album. Album single “The Dripping Tap” had begun as a handful of ideas and riffs that had arisen at pre-pandemic soundcheck and demos recorded during lockdown. But for Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms And Lava, the band didn’t bring in any pre-written songs or ideas; instead, they planned to completely improvise the album’s material in the studio and on the spot. “All we had prepared as we walked into the studio were these seven song titles,” says Mackenzie. “I have a list on my phone of hundreds of possible song titles. I’ll never use most of them, but they’re words and phrases I feel could be digested into King Gizzard-world.”

Mackenzie selected seven titles from this exhaustive list that he felt “had a vibe” and then attached a beats-per-minute value to each one. Each song would also follow one of the seven modes of the major scale: Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydina, Aeolian and Locrian. Over a week-long period, the band recorded hours and hours of jam, dedicating a day to each mode and BMP. “Naturally, each day’s jams had a different flavor, because each day was in a different scale and a different BPM,” Mackenzie says. “We’d walk into the studio, set everything up, get a rough tempo going and just jam. No preconceived ideas at all, no concepts, no songs. We’d jam for maybe 45 minutes, and then all swap instruments and start again.”

The band ended each day with four-to five hours of new jams in the can. Mackenzie auditioned those jams after the sessions were done, stiching them together into the songs that would comprise their 21st — 21st! — album, Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms And Lava, a mnemonic for the modes employed in the material’s composition and recording.

Having assembled full working compositions from those jam sessions, Mackenzie and company then began overdubbing flute, organ, percussion and extra guitar over the top. The lyrics were a group effort. “We had an editable Google Sheet that we were all working on,” says Mackenzie. “Most of the guys in the band wrote a lot of the lyrics, and it was my job to arrange it all and piece it together.” The end result off this wildly experimental creative process is reportedly one of the densest, most unpredictable statements from a band, whose work always rockets back and forth in unexpected angles — and accompanied by a wealth of subtext and theorems behind it.

Clocking in at a little over 10 minutes, “Ice V,” IDPLML’s latest single is centered around a tight, shuffling and relentless Afrobeat-like groove, wah wah-drenched guitars, fluttering flute, twinkling Rhodes paired with Mackenzie’s imitable delivery. While arguably being the grooviest track I’ve heard from the Gizz in some time, it also features some of the most infectious hooks as well.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Murlocs Share Slow-Burning and Pensive “Compos Mentis”

With the release of their first four albums, The Murlocs  — King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s Ambrose Kenny-Smith (vocals, guitar, harmonica) and Cook Craig (bass) along with ORB’s Cal Shortal (guitar) and Crepes‘ and Beans’ Matt Blach (drums) and Tim Karmouche (keys)— firmly established a reputation for crafting fuzzy and distorted psychedelic blues, which they supported as an opener for the likes of Gary Clark, Jr., Mac DeMarco, Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, Pixies, Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks, Wavves and of course, Kenny-Smith’s and Craig’s primary gig, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard — and as a headlining act, as well. 

Recorded at Button Pushers Studio, last year’s Tim Dunn-produced, 11-song Bittersweet Demons found the band lovingly reflecting on the people, who have left a profound impact on their lives — the saviors, the hell raisers and other assorted and mystifying and complex characters they’ve come across. While being among the most personal and complex batch of material they’ve written in their growing catalog, the album saw the band bouncing between and around sun-blasted pop, blues punk and wide-eyed psychedelia. 

The Murlocs’ sixth album Rapscallion is slated for a September 16, 2022 release through ATO Records. Self-produced by the band during the early stages of the pandemic, Rapscallion‘s 12 songs were recorded in the home studios of the band’s Kenny-Smith, Shortal, Blach, Cook Craig and Karmouche. Conceived and written as a coming-of-age novel in album form, the album’s material is partly inspired by Kenny-Smith’s adolescence as a nomadic skate kid. The album’s world is wild and squalid, populated by an outrageous cast of misfits — teenage vagabonds, small-time criminals, junkyard dwellers and truck-stop transients among others. The end result is an album that thematically — and narratively — is stepped in danger, delirium and wide-eyed romanticism of youth. 

Sonically, Rapscallion is reportedly a marked departure from Bittersweet Demons‘ garage rock leanings, with the album’s material featuring strains of stoner metal and post punk. And while darker and more formidable, the album’s songs are still fueled by the same freewheeling energy they’ve brought to the stage. 

Last month, I wrote about Rapscallion‘s first single, “Virgin Criminal,” a decidedly post-punk song centered around buzzing and angular guitar attack, a forceful motorik groove, Kenny-Smith’s punchy and breathless delivery paired with the band’s unerring knack for rousingly anthemic hooks. And at its core is a tale of an unnamed protagonist, who describes his first crime, an ill-fated convenience store robbery, which ends in murder — and the wild thrill the narrator gets from being an outlaw.

“Compos Mentis,” Rapscallion‘s second and latest single is a slow-burning and pensive ballad featuring fuzzy and distorted guitars, twinkling keys and a motorik-like groove paired Kenny-Smith’s imitable delivery. While seeing the band exploring a more contemplative — and perhaps even softer — side, “Compos Mentis,” asks a far deeper, far more vexing question: Are we in control of our own minds?

“After a long day of truck stop fights, hitchhiking and getting kicked off trains, our beloved rapscallion protagonist decides to spend the night in an abandoned junkyard,” The Murlocs’ Ambrose Kenny-Smith told the folks at Flood. “Finding peace within the garbage that surrounds him, he begins to question his purpose in life and whether or not he’s in control of his own mind.”

Created by Guy Tyzack, the accompanying video for “Compos Mentis” follows a dirty, Oscar the Grouch-like Kenny-Smith wandering around an abandoned suburban factory and a junkyard. He comes across four garbage bags, which oddly enough contain his equally dirty bandmates. It’s surreal and almost childlike fantasy of being a filthy, n’er-do-well kid forever.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Murlocs Dive into a Seedy and Gory World of Crime in “Virgin Criminal”

With the release of their first four albums, the Melbourne-based outfit  The Murlocs  — King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s Ambrose Kenny-Smith (vocals, guitar, harmonica) and Cook Craig (bass) along with ORB’s Cal Shortal (guitar) and Crepes and Beans’ Matt Blach (drums) and Tim Karmouche (keys)— established a reputation for crafting fuzzy and distorted psychedelic blues, which they supported as an opener for the likes of Gary Clark, Jr., Mac DeMarco, Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, Pixies, Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks, Wavves and of course, Kenny-Smith’s and Craig’s primary gig, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard — and as a headlining act, as well. 

Recorded at Button Pushers Studio, last year’s Tim Dunn-produced, 11-song Bittersweet Demons found the band lovingly reflecting on the people, who have left a profound impact on their lives — the saviors, the hell raisers and other assorted and mystifying and complex characters they’ve come across. While being among the most personal and complex batch of material they’ve written in their growing catalog, the album saw the band bouncing between and around sun-blasted pop, blues punk and wide-eyed psychedelia.

The Aussie outfit’s sixth album Rapscallion is slated for a September 16, 2022 release through ATO Records. Self-produced by the band during the early stages of the pandemic, Rapscallion‘s 12 songs were recorded in the home studios of the band’s Kenny-Smith, Shortal, Blach, Cook Craig and Karmouche. Conceived and written as a coming-of-age novel in album form, the album’s material is partly inspired by Kenny-Smith’s adolescence as a nomadic skate kid. The album’s world is wild and squalid, populated by an outrageous cast of misfits — teenage vagabonds, small-time criminals, junkyard dwellers and truck-stop transients among others. The end result is an album that thematically — and narratively — is stepped in danger, delirium and wide-eyed romanticism of youth.

Sonically, Rapscallion is reportedly a marked departure from Bittersweet Demons‘ garage rock leanings, with the album’s material featuring strains of stoner metal and post punk. And while darker and more formidable, the album’s songs are still fueled by the same freewheeling energy they’ve brought to the stage.

Rapscallion‘s first single, “Virgin Criminal” is a decidedly post punk-like song centered around buzzing and angular guitar attack and a forceful motorik groove paired with Kenny-Smith’s punchily breathless delivery and the band’s unerring knack for rousingly anthemic hooks. The song’s narrator is initiated into a crew of young criminals and throughout the song, he describes his first crime, an ill-fated convenience store robbery, which ends up with the clerk getting shot to death — and the wild thrill the song’s narrator gets from being an outlaw. And continuing with the album as novel, the song is full of novelistic details that puts the listener right there with the song’s narrator.

Created by Guy Tyzack and featuring cinematography by Lucas Haynes and James Ruse and VHS efforts by Jason Galea, the accompanying video for “Virgin Criminal” is a frenetic and fuzzy account of the song’s narrator descent into a gory world of crime.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard Perform “Robot Stop” and “Hot Water” at Levitation

Levitation Festival (initially founded as Austin Psych Fest) can trace its beginnings to a simple idea devised by the members of JOVM mainstay act The Black Angels in the back of a tour van back in 2007: “Let’s invite all of our favorite bands and all of our friends for our version of a music festival.” 

The inaugural Austin Psych Fest was in March 2008 — and by popular demand, the festival expanded to a three-day event the following year. Within a relatively short period of time, Austin Psych Fest became an international destination for psych fans across the globe, with the festival featuring lineups that included up-and-comers, cult favorites, legendary and influential acts and a headlining set from the festival’s founders, The Black Angels. A few years ago, the festival was renamed Levitation in honor of Austin psych rock pioneers The 13th Floor Elevators, but in in its almost 15 year run, the festival has helped spark a new, international psych rock movement while inspiring the creation of similar events across the globe, including Levitation Festival events in Chicago, Vancouver, France and a SXSW showcase, as well as other special events in Europe and Latin America.

Late last year, Levitation Festival’s record label, The Reverberation Appreciation Society announced the launch of a new live album series, Live at LEVITATION. Comprised of material played and recorded throughout the festival’s history, the live album series specifically captures and documents key artists in the contemporary psych rock scene. Of course, many of these moments were also important moments of Austin’s live music scene. 

  • The live series’ first album Kikagaku Moyo — Live at LEVITATION featured two different Kikagaku Moyo sets — their 2014 Levitation Festival set, which was one of the Japanese psych rock act’s first Stateside shows and their return to Levitation back in 2019, during a sold-out Stateside tour, which included a stop at Warsaw that year with Japanese krautrockers Minami Deutsch.
  • The series’ second album The Black Angels — Live at LEVITATION featured the festival’s founders The Black Angels. The Black Angels live album is comprised of material recorded at Austin Psych Fest 2010, 2011 and 2012, and captures a rare glimpse of the festival’s earlier, more humble days. And of course, for Black Angels fans, like myself, the album features live version of six songs from their first two albums — Passover and Directions to See a Ghost. 
  • The series third album Primal Scream — Live at LEVITATION features the legendary and influential British psych rockers — currently, Bobby Gillespie (vocals), Andrew Innes (guitar), Martin Duffy (keys), Simone Butler (bass) and Darrin Mooney (drums) — during their career spanning 2015 LEVITATION set. The set featured hits from landmark albums like  Screamadelica, Give Out But Don’t Give Up, XTRMNTR and others

The Reverberation Appreciation Society surprised psych rock fans with the surprise release of the fourth installment of their Live at LEVITATION series — King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard — Live at LEVITATION. The double LP features the acclaimed JOVM mainstays’ 2014 and 2016 Levitation Festival appearances.

The Aussie JOVM mainstays’ 2014 appearance is presented in full on the first LP. That set is historic because it’s their first North American show, ever — and it includes a live performance of their then-unreleased “I’m in Your Mind Fuzz” suite. The rest of the set includes early versions of material loved by fans today while offering a look into the creative process of a band that was just about to explode into the global scene. After their 2014 North American tour, the band spent the summer in Brooklyn recording I’m Not Your Mind Fuzz and Quarters.

The second LP consists of King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard’s 2016 Levitation Festival appearance: The band returned to celebrate the release of that year’s critically applauded, mind-bending effort Nonagon Infinity. Unfortunately, that year’s festival was canceled because of severe weather; but the recording on the second LP is one of two shows Gizz played at Barracuda thats weekend. Sadly, Barracuda is no longer.

Both shows were recorded by Craig Lawrence and mixed by the band’s mastermind Stu Mackenzie at their Melbourne-based studio — and specifically mastered for vinyl. To celebrate the live album’s release, The Reverberation Appreciation Society and the band released some blistering live footage of the band playing Nonagon infinity rippers “Robot Stop” and “Hot Water.” Play loud and then rock out.

The vinyl release will feature four unique colorways, each limited to 2000 in a matte gatefold featuring unique gold foil embossed numbered jackets numbered 1-8000. The first run will be the only one with those features — and a special record for anyone who collects records.

The album is also bundled with a super limited edition of tees, tie dyes and screen printed foil prints featuring artwork by Alan Forbes from the 2016 show and the long lost 2014 poster by C.M Ruiz.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Murlocs Release a Surreal Visual for Melancholy “Bittersweet Demons”

With the release of their first four albums, The Murlocs  — King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s Ambrose Kenny-Smith and Cook Craig with Cal Shortal, Matt Mlach and Tim Karmouche — have released four albums of fuzzy and distorted psychedelic blues. which they’ve supported as an opener for the likes of Gary Clark, Jr., Mac DeMarco, Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, Pixies, Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks, Wavves and of course, Kenny-Smith’s and Craig’s primary gig, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard — and as a headlining act, as well.

The Aussie psych blues outfit’s fifth album. the Tim Dunn-produced Bittersweet Demons is slated for a June 25, 2021 release through their longtime label home ATO Records. Recorded at Button Pushers Studio, the 11-song album finds the band lovingly reflecting on the people, who have left a profound imprint on their lives, the saviors, the hell raisers and other assorted mystifying and complex characters. Arguably, the most personal and complex batch of material they’ve written to date, the album reportedly finds the band bouncing around and between sunny pop, blues punk and wide-eyed psychedelia informed by John Lennon‘s Plastic Ono Band and Harry Nilsson‘s Lennon-produced Pussy Cats. 

In the buildup to the album’s release, I’ve managed to write about two of Bittersweet Demons’ singles:

The Tim Karmouche penned “Francesca,” a rousingly upbeat, hook-driven ripper with a subtle New Wave polish written for Kenny-Smith’s mother, who found a new lease on life through newfound love. 
“Eating At You,” a slow-burning and melancholic sing-a-long that subtly recalls “I Got Friends in Low Places,” with the song being an ode to those deeply troubled friends and erstwhile n’er-do-wells of life that you can’t help but love.

Bittersweet Demons’ third and latest single is the mid-tempo, piano-driven, jangling blues and album title track “Bittersweet Demons.” And unlike its immediate predecessor, the song is one of those melancholy, pour some of your booze out for the dead homies jam that becomes sadly all too common when you get older.

“I was messing around with the tune on the piano for a while but never knew where to take it lyrically,” The Murlocs’ Kenny-Smith recalls in press notes. “Over time the bones of the song sat away in the back of my mind waiting for the right time to come back out and be pieced together properly. Whilst we were on tour in America in 2019 one of my sweetest and dearest friends Keegan Walker passed away. His presence was unlike any other I have ever experienced. That kind of person that’s forever filling you up with joyous excitement. Someone that always took the time and effort to be in your life and support you through the thick and thin no matter what. Every time I came home from tour he was always the first to contact me and come by with some croissants and a handful of lavender that he’d pick from my front garden. Keegan was always there for his friends. A few days after the funeral I sat back down to play at the piano and the words started to come out and feel right. I reckon Keegan would’ve loved this song, he loved this kind of soppy stuff cause he’s a softie just like me.”

Directed and edited by Guy Tyzack, the recently released video for “Bittersweet Demons” was shot on grainy Super 8 Film and follows the adventures and memories of a lonely house that misses his human friends — and at one point is looking for a human to inhabit it.