SOUNDTRACK: KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD-Willoughby’s Beach (2011).
After releasing five new albums in 2017, KGATLW spent 2018 re-releasing their first five releases. These were out of print and hard to find. And now they’re back.
Back in 2011, KGATLW was more of a goofy side project (hence the name). But they coalesced as a seven-piece band and proceeded to make an EP–Willoughby’s Beach. At nine songs in about 25 minutes, this garage rock/dirty blues project pretty well flies past. Lyrics are an afterthought (most songs repeat one line) and most of the songs are under 2 and a half minutes. It is great zipping fun with fuzzy guitars, fuzzy harmonicas, fuzzy vocals and an all around DIY feel.
“Danger $$$” is a fast, crazy blues with a wild harmonica solo and the repeated shouted lyrics of “danger money” between lots of whoops and screams. “Black Tooth” opens with a similarly fast riff but it immediately slows down into a slower but still rocking riff. “Lunch Meat” is a crazy fast and catchy song with the full lyric: “They made me get up in the morning morning morning morning.”
“Let it Bleed” is the longest song on the disc at 3:14. It’s slower and the repeated lyrics are far more comprehensible (I want to see my lover again). The wonderfully titled “Crookedile” has a kind of a spy theme for its music dark with echoing squealing guitars and chanted vocals. What “just say god is on your side, he’s on your side” has to do with the title I have no idea. “Dead Beat” is also (relatively) long, but it is much faster with lots of whoops and a simple but addictive guitar line.
“Dusbtin Fletcher” is a fun punk song with lots of big backing vocals–like The Monkees doing punk. Oohs and oh ho ohs make this an incredibly poppy song. “Stoned Mullet” has two sets of lyrics: “jack it” and “green out.” Your guess is as good as mine. It’s fast and catchy with a wonderful chorus.
“Willoughby’s Beach” is quick and catchy, a wonderful end to the disc. The song is the definition of three-chord rock and features the lyric: “Just because I like you, it doesn’t mean I like you.” Superb stuff.
[READ: January 31, 2019] Secret Coders: Monsters & Modules
This book ends the Secret Coders storyline.
It begins with the boys feeling very calm as they work out a code that will get them to travel to Flatland. But Hopper doesn’t understand why they aren’t freaking out since as soon as they work out the code they will be travelling to a world with one fewer dimension!
Using a simple repeating code, the turtle makes the opening and they fall into the second dimension. Eni turns into a square, Josh turns into a triangle and Hopper turns into a line! And we learned in the previous books that lines (and women in general) were considered nothing.
They are immediately bothered by circles–the most superior shape in Flatland. After some altercations, Josh and Eni are thrown in jail. Hopper is able to hide because she is just a line and is therefore very hard to see. (more…)