King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Sketches Of Brunswick East (2017) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Sketches Of Brunswick East (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 37:25 minutes | 428 MB | Genre: Psychedelic Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Heavenly Recordings

“Sketches of Brunswick East” is the eleventh studio album by Australian psychedelic rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. The title is a reference to the Melbourne suburb of Brunswick East and Miles Davis’ 1960 LP Sketches of Spain, which inspired the album’s jazz-orientated sound. The album was generally well received by professional music critics upon its initial release.

Trying to make sense of, and/or keep up with, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard can be a daunting prospect. They are nothing if not prolific, and nothing if not willing to throw curve ball after curve ball. After releasing two albums already in 2017, the microtonal experiment Flying Microtonal Banana and the synth prog epic Murder of the Universe, they hooked up with Alex Brettin of the soft rock weirdos Mild High Club to concoct the smoothed-out psychedelic jazz album Sketches of Brunswick East. It proves to be a winning combination all around, with Brettin’s warped pop sensibilities mingling nicely with the sonic exploration that the lads of Gizzard do so well. The album comprises small snippets, where the warm keyboards team with woozy samples and piping flutes to conjure up mental images of warmly lapping waves and trippy colors, and more fleshed-out songs that have a perfect blend of imaginative arranging and melodic charm. The instrumental segments are nice moments of cool-breeze Zen, helping the listener achieve the perfect state of relaxed calm, while the actual songs have the opposite effect and really get the blood flowing, not in the usual sense that King Gizzard albums do – it’s not a raging volcano of excited blood – but in a more laid-back, happy-all-over way that fills the body and mind with warmth. The lovely “Countdown” has a nocturnal groove and cocktail bar feel, turned strange by Stu Mackenzie’s treated vocals; “Tezeta”‘s warped waltz and odd vocals can’t hide the swooningly sweet melody, which sounds like something a Wilson brother might have come up with while on a three-day bender; “The Spider and Me” finds them effortlessly hitting the sound bands like Tame Impala work way too hard to reach; and the stuttering African jazz-rocker “The Book” brings in some of their previous microtonal theory and stretches it out into a very satisfying jam. It’s fun to hear Gizzard being reshaped by Brettin’s soft rock wizardry, and in the process making their third album of the year the most listenable so far. Conversely, working with the Australian wildmen gives Brettin’s work an unpredictable nature not found on Mild High Club albums. This mutual benefaction means Sketches of Brunswick East is a collaboration that works wonders for both sides and will also make fans of both groups very happy.

Tracklist:
01. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Sketches Of Brunswick East I (01:20)
02. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Countdown (03:22)
03. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – D-Day (01:39)
04. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Tezeta (03:30)
05. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Cranes, Planes, Migraines (01:15)
06. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – The Spider And Me (03:16)
07. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Sketches Of Brunswick East II (03:25)
08. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Dusk To Dawn On Lygon Street (03:02)
09. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – The Book (04:59)
10. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – A Journey To (S)Hell (02:16)
11. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Rolling Stoned (03:18)
12. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – You Can Be Your Silhouette (03:49)
13. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Sketches Of Brunswick East III (02:08)

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