STACK #138 Apr 2016

MUSIC REVIEWS

visit stack.net.au

KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD NONAGON INFINITY

A nother hour, another King Here, kids, the concept is that you can loop the entire nine-track release and you’ll never hear the joins; an endless jam if you will. Brilliant, I tells ya! With sweat flyin’ off the needle, Robot Stop Gizzard album, but of course.

opens to an urgent flurry of multi- instrumental madness. We continue down this jagged road throughout Big Fig Wasp until single Gamma Knife out-psyches any wizard likely to float by. Not until People-Vultures (track four) does the energy let up, but even that’s only for a mere 30

seconds, and once again we’re thrust into a spiralling vortex of colour and overwhelming passion for immersion. This band is not human… clearly.

STACK Picks Robot Stop, Gamma Knife, Wah Wah

(Flightless/Remote Control) Chris Murray

SUMMER FLAKE HELLO FRIENDS

PARQUET COURTS HUMAN PERFORMANCE

MUSIC

“S hoot and score, take what’s yours,” is a lyric from Summer Flake’s fresh album Hello Friends . It’s also a neat summation of what the Australian artist Stephanie Crase achieves here. Song after song hits the mark, pinpointing the best elements of raw rock and dreamy garage, and combining them

W ith a golden triangle of mood and sonic similarity possessed within this one outfit (Modern Lovers, The Strokes, Talking Heads), Parquet Courts are easily one of the most exciting

imagine-Iggy-singing-it-late- at-night of Steady On My Mind , you’re soon thrust into the sermonic urgency of Berlin Got Blurry , complete with a Shadows guitar and a knowing snarl Elvis Costello

in a way that is uniquely hers. The harmonious guitar arrangements and slightly ‘90s-inflected nostalgia of previous EP and album releases are all present, bringing the full songwriting skills and dynamic range of Summer Flake into panoramic view. The music ebbs and flows with the lyrics, in turns contemplative and calm, or vast and vehement. (Rice Is Nice) Simon Winkler

indie outfits active today. There’s a sublime maturity to the punkish fun

could relate to. Fans may find this album perhaps a tad too evolved, although the opener Dust sounds like it’s

always present: “Mid-sentence tremors, mind at its weakest – one way of shaking the thoughts that it sleeps with” is just one of the poetic ditties from the title track, which has to be watermarked as the most complete and enduring song of their six-year career. Dancing between avant-garde ( I Was Just Here ) and the squint-and-you-can-easily-

straight off Light Up Gold (as does Two Dead Cops ) with its joyous ode to the depressing nature of the constant maintenance involved in life. A flag-waving addition to the prolific output of these creative anomalies, and one that will be pored over for many years to come. (Rough Trade/Remote Control) Chris Murray

APRIL 2016

10

jbhifi.com.au