King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Fishing For Fishies (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.
after an extremely busy 2017, KGLW took 2018 off from recording, and came back in 2019 with Fishing For Fishies –
Fishing For Fishies is a wonderful, fun little song. i love the bright energy, and i really like the dual-vocalist stuff here. Ambrose’s segments shine through really nicely, haha. a great intro to the album. love the strong guitar hooks and performance in the early part of Boogieman Sam, and i think it’s appropriate that it kinda meaders off into the harmonica heavy outro. it took me a sec to pin down what it was, and i’m still not sure i have the song its reminding me of correct, but The Bird Song gives me MAD Chicago vibes. love that really funky intro to Plastic Boogie. also, i was wondering where the environmental disaster on the cover was, haha. the crowd noises that shift into backing vocals but don’t lose the chatter in the background are great. man its wild that this album was what, a year early to nail the fortnite reference on The Cruel Millenial huh. lyrically i think its real interesting, i definitely feel the split they’re talking about – a bunch of folks my age and slightly young still skew a little towards the previous generation, depending on how they were raised, and even though i personally feel a little more connected to the zoomer from being terminally online, i get the split. it’s wild to grow up right in the middle of one of the largest and fastest changes to information technology, and not be firmly on either side of the change. makes you :thonk:. interesting to see them dip their toes a little heavier for the intro and the ending for Real’s Not Real, haha. the rest of the track is still giving really strong Chicago vibes – my dad listened to a lot of bands that give off that kinda vibe. man the harmonica hook from This Thing feels so familiar. pretty solid track about a falling out with a friend. Acarine is a WILD shift, but it feels like a good bridge – lyrically it feels more in line with the tone of the rest of the album, but instrumentally its a nice preparation for the ending track. Cyboogie’s a really cool ending – after an album musing about environmental threats and displacement, to have it all come together in a story about a different cyborg thats been fucked up by human action and neglect. plus its got a real sick beat! if i hadnt looked it up, i wouldntve caught that the ending dialogue is Han-Tyumi.
faves – Fishing For Fishes, Plastic Boogie, Cyboogie
dislikes –
on the whole, this was a really neat album. it feels a little like a return to Paper-Mache Dream Balloon vibes, but more in theme and intention than in the literal instrumental limitations. its also nice to have an album that’s mostly lighter tracks after a lot of the 2017 albums being like, real intense. dunno! i don’t think i have a ton of other thoughts than what i mentioned above – Cyboogie was a neat addition, and def feels different than the other boogie tracks so i can see why they had Acarine act as a transition, but Acarine still feels a little outta place, even with the slight ramp up to it Real’s Not Real and This Thing. good album.
Fishing For Fishies – 6/10
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first: Willoughby’s Beach | previous: Gumboot Soup | next: Infest the Rats’ Nest
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