Feb 24 17

King Gizzard’s Flying Microtonal Banana is Out Now! Stream FULL live show via Pitchfork

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are the most exciting head-spinning, third-eye opening, double-drumming goddamn rock ‘n’ roll band on the planet.

Following the frazzled freakbeat of 2016’s Nonagon Infinity, the endlessly inventive septet return in 2017 with new album Flying Microtonal Banana, their ninth studio album in five years, out now. Watch the band’s sold-out Webster Hall show via Pitchfork now:

Get Flying Microtonal Banana Now: Official Store | iTunes | Amazon

Flying Microtonal Banana marks another shift in sound as King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard drive deep into trance-inducing drones, inventive jazz flourishes, non-Western musical scales and metronomic rhythms that motor along like a well-oiled engine. So unique and evolved is the album’s sound that it necessitated a total reinvention of the band’s instruments after they began experimenting with a custom microtonal guitar made for frontman Stu Mackenzie.

Get Flying Microtonal Banana Now: Official Store | iTunes | Amazon

Inspired by the movable frets of the Turkish bağlama, three cheap old guitars and a bass were customized in order to explore a new set of musical notes. A keyboard and mouth organ followed suit and so Flying Microtonal Banana was born.

Recorded in their own studio Brunswick East in Melbourne, the album also incorporates liberal use of the stirring tones of a Turkish horn called a zurna, as heard on the likes of ‘Billabong Valley’, the purple smoke-enshrouded, sub-Sabbath ‘Doom City’ and the moving musical miasma that is the album’s utterly transcendental title track. “The zurna’s notes are really malleable,” says Stu. “It’s a bendy, wobbly-sounding instrument, and blends perfectly with the secret notes on the guitar”.

After celebrating Flying Microtonal Banana’s release with a string of sold-out shows in Melbourne where they’ll be playing the album in full, King Gizzard will be headed back to North America! Check out the full tour schedule and get tickets below:

Wed March 9 – Washington DC @ 9:30 Club

Thurs March 30 – Philadelphia PA @ Trocadero Theater

Fri March 31 – New York NY @ Webster Hall

Sun April 2 – Boston MA @ Royale

Mon April 3 – Portland ME @ Port City Music Hall

Tues April 4 – Montreal QC @ Fairmount Theatre

Wed April 5 – Toronto ON @ Danforth Theater

Thurs April 6 – Detroit MI @ Magic Stick

Fri April 7 – Cleveland OH @ Beachland Ballroom

Sat April 8 – Chicago IL @ Metro Chicago

Sun April 9 – Seattle WA @ Neumos

Mon April 10 – Vancouver BC @ Vogue Theatre