King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – 12 Bar Bruise (From the Vault)
hey folks, welcome to some discography reviews. i’ve been writing music reviews for some friends in a discord server for a few years now in various forms, but i figured i’d like to get them all in a more centralized space, so here we are! this first series of reviews is a review of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s discography, starting in 2011 with Willoughby’s Beach and running right into 2021 with Butterfly 3000. this review was originally written in August 2021.
12 Bar Bruise is KGLW’s first full studio album, and was released a year after Willoughby’s Beach.
this album, like the previous EP, starts off with straight FIRE. Elbow is a fantastic lead off track, and Muckracker is just so so smooth. Nein got some good vibes, but loses me in the last minute as it steps down into 12 Bar Bruise, which i go in and out of. Real nice smooth style, kinda not a huge fan of the vocal style, and it feels like such a big shift after the high energy opens. oh but don’t worry Garage Liddiard brings that vibrant high energy vibes i liked so much outta the start, haha. i hadn’t remembered before this record, but Sam Cherry’s Last Shot reminded me that i had actually heard their next album, Eyes Like the Sky. I am coming around to this song – it’s a chapter from a memoir about the settling of the west, so some of the parts i find more objectionable are views expressed by folks in that time period, and the ending feels a little more self-aware than i’d expect. the second half of the record is way more mellow than i normally prefer, but all of the songs were really smooth – Cut Throat Boogie def rewards a lil closer listen tho. The closer is a wild flailing energetic sendoff to the crew, which is a really fun style of song.
faves – Elbow, Muckracker, Garage Liddiard
dislikes –
overall, i honestly didn’t mind the continued pattern of short, repeated lyrical segments for the songs as a style of music. as a first full record, it has such a fun and wide range of styles that it definitely foreshadows the discography i know is coming, lol.
12 Bar Bruise – 6/10
next on the list is Eyes Like the Sky
support the band by buying this record on Bandcamp
the first is the previous: Willoughby’s Beach | next: Eyes Like the Sky
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