FEATURE: Bootlegger: The Wonderful Wizards of Oz: Another Big Innovation from the Melbourne Band

FEATURE:

 

 

Bootlegger: The Wonderful Wizards of Oz

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 IMAGE CREDIT: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard 

Another Big Innovation from the Melbourne Band

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MAYBE this requires a bigger feature…

regarding the way artists are promoting and marketing their music in new ways. I always love it when musicians go beyond the ordinary and find these innovative ways of getting their music to fans. Whether it is something like offering cassette versions or a surprise album release, through to something similar to what Radiohead did with In Rainbows in 2007 with a pay-what-you-want option. The Melbourne band, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, have come up with a great idea that allows fans and labels a chance to ‘bootleg’ their material – releasing it how they want and, I guess, being able to release albums of the band’s work and combining all sorts of different tracks together. NME explain more:

“King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard have launch a new bootleg program, which will allow fans, indie labels and more to release the band’s music how they wish.

The prolific Aussie psychsters have launched a new ‘Bootlegger’ section of their official website to house the new scheme.

On the website, the band have uploaded master files for nine full-length albums, including live and demo recordings, a new rarities album called ‘Teenage Gizzard’ and their 2017 free download album ‘Polygondwanaland’.

Fans, labels and more are then allowed to download the files from the website and package them into new releases however they see fit, on vinyl, CD, tape and beyond, as long as they send the band copies to sell on their online store.

“Yo indie labels, bootleggers, fans, weirdos. We’ve got a deal for ya…” the page says. “If anyone wants to release these albums, you’re free to do so. Below you’ll find links to audio master files and cover art. Feel free to get creative with it if you like – it’s yours.

“Only deal is you’ve gotta send us some of them to sell on GIZZVERSE.COM –  whatever you feel is a fair trade is cool with us. Ideas: double LPs, 7”, remix, reimagined cover art, bizarre looking wax, live show box sets, tapes. Or keep it simple – that’s totally ok. Anyone keen?!”

“HOLY SHIT thanks everyone who hit us up with a plan to bootleg records already! We’ll write everyone back ASAP,” the band wrote on Twitter the day after the scheme was announced.

“Oh, and don’t forget you gotta send us copies for us to sell on gizzverse too. Whatever you feel is a fair trade for the use of our tunes”.

Over the past few weeks, I have been thinking about ways that artists can engage with their fans more through fanzines. I think so often we get albums and songs released with a lot of digital promotion - and it can get quite boring. I appreciate the fact that artists need to promote in the most effective way that they can but, looking at what King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard are doing, and it is a typically interesting step from them!

Before moving on, I want to bring in a review for their most-recent studio album, K.G. The Line of Best Fit were keen to express their praise and admiration:

“Anyone would think that a band releasing two albums a year on average for 8 years would eventually become uninspired and want to take some sort of a break. Australian rock band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard haven’t stopped since the release of their debut album 12 Bar Bruise in 2012 – yet they’re still teething with innovative ideas.

This is proven with their new 16th studio album K.G. which serves as a sequel to their 2017 album Flying Microtonal Banana, now one of their most highly regarded albums. Recorded and produced remotely with the band scattered around Melbourne thanks to the ongoing pandemic, K.G. shows that the band were built to swiftly adapt to new situations and not lose their creative spark. Not a single drop of that unnamed alchemical-something that makes King Gizz so special is missing on this album.

K.G. opens with a short western-inspired instrumental track titled “K.G.L.W” that slowly builds up to the track “Automation” – a classic King Gizzard tune full of their iconic fuzzy guitars and psychedelic instrumental fills.

Much like the album’s 2017 prequel, K.G. was recorded using a microtonal musical scale that is traditionally used in Turkish and Arabic music that requires quarter tone tunings on custom made instruments. “Automation” is one standout track full of brilliant microtonal guitar riffs. The album continues with high-energy microtonal tracks that tirelessly animate the middle of the album. Despite being surrounded by some of the album’s weaker tracks, “Straws in the Wind” contains brilliant acoustic guitar and drumbeats that sound unearthly but wonderful in the microtonal scale.

“Intrasport” is undoubtedly the best track on K.G. that projects the aesthetic of an '80s pop song with its synth-based hooks and groovy melody. It’s the track that truly proves the endless amounts of inspiration and ideas King Gizz continue to pump out - as it’s a track that’s nothing like they’ve ever done before.

The album closes with the penultimate and beautifully melodic acoustic-based lead-single “Honey”, wetting the listeners appetites for the heavy and dramatic final track “The Hungry Wolf of Fate” which is an outstanding close to the album.

Overall, it’s clear that King Gizz’s tireless effort over the past 8 years still has no end in sight as they release yet another radical and innovative album which doesn’t fall short of the endless inspiration that King Gizzard continue to shine”.

The band have released an incredible sixteen studio albums since 2012 and they always do things differently. From 2015’s Quarters! – consisting four tracks that are each 10:10 in length - to 2016’s Nonagon Infinity -  the album was designed to play as an ‘infinite loop’, where each song segues into the next –, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard are subverting expectations. Take 2017’s Flying Microtonal Banana and its unique concept: it was recorded in quarter tone tuning, where an octave is divided into twenty-four (logarithmically) equal-distanced quarter tones. It doesn’t surprise me that the guys have come up with another interesting proposition with their Bootlegger website section.

I appreciate that other artists are doing similarly original things, but I wanted to highlight the Australian band as they are endlessly fascinating. I have been thinking about something like bootlegger or releasing an artist’s work how you want. Maybe it ties into my love of a mixtape, but I have always wanted to compile my own selection/album of a particular artist’s work and then put it out into the world in a really cool way. With King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, they are urging people to send their compilations to them so they can sell on their website. Because the band’s catalogue is so extensive, rich and varied, I am not surprised there is already a huge reaction where so many people want to get involved! I am familiar with their albums but, learning of their Bootlegger initiative, and I am tempted to get involved…as it not only allows closer dialogue and connection with King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, but I feel other artists might do something similar. It can be hard to have a relationship with an artist when most music is digital. I am fascinated to see how the Bootlegger idea takes off. I really love news stories like this, and I hope that 2021 is filled with unexpected ways of releasing albums and artists bonding with their fans through great, new concepts and twists. I love, whether it is through sonic genius or giving fans a chance to release King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s work in their own way, the hugely prolific Australian band are always ahead of the game with their…

 PHOTO CREDIT: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard

SUPERB magic and wizardry.

Sam Liddicott