It's a balmy 3° (feels like 0°) in the garage this morning.
Who's excited to spin?
I suppose I should be somewhat relieved I guess, given that's not -retarded° this morning for a change.
Regardless, what it all boils down to is that I don't really have any excuses for not getting this weekend's planned spin in the garage accomplished, along with my intended audio motivational soundtrack of course, which today happens to be this Butterfly 3000 album by King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard.
Butterfly 3000 is the eighteenth studio album by Australian psychedelic rock band, released in June of 2021. It is the band's first album not released on Flightless Records, instead being released on the band's own label KGLW.
Butterfly 3000, might be their most fearless leap into the unknown yet; 10 songs that began life as arpeggiated loops composed on modular synthesizers, before being fashioned into addictive, optimistic and seductive dream-pop. It sounds simultaneously like nothing they've done before, yet unmistakably King Gizz, down to it's climactic neon "psych-a-tronic" flourish.
There are hints of Panda Bear at his poppiest, overt references to the Beach Boys, and general vibes that can best be described as chill AF. It's a big change from some of their most recent work -- especially the thrash metal concept album about the death of the planet -- and it feels like the band have stepped out of a gloomy place and straight into a burning-hot summer afternoon.
It may seem strange to say that about a record dominated by synthesized sounds, but the keyboards and loops are as bubbly as soda pop and as light as helium-filled balloons. Tracks like Dreams and Yours have a gently uplifting feel, 2.02 Killer Year rambles merrily as the electronic oscillations and Mackenzie's falsetto have a pillow fight, and Ya Love glitters like a coin reflecting the sun. Anyone fearing that all the breeziness means the band have lost their experimental edge will be mollified by songs like Blue Morpho, which adds some hazy psychedelia to the mix, or Black Hot Soup, which comes off like a blend of their acoustic albums and microtonal jaunts with a little bit of electric guitar noise added.
King Gizzard may have taken yet another creative leap, but as with all their other daring jumps into the abyss, they haven't left behind the questing spirit, sonic adventurism, and inspired songwriting. Anyone thinking that they might finally be running out of steam will have to readjust their timetables; Butterfly 3000 is the work of a band with a million ideas and the skills to make them all work like a dream.
In this case, a shiny, happy dream that leaves the sleeper (or in this case: spinner) feeling refreshed and at peace upon awakening.
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