Just when you think that King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard got stuck on psychedelic rock and progressive hard rock, using recursive motives, the most prolific band of modern day releases their 11th album that is different from everything else they have ever made.
The name of the album Sketches of Brunswick East is a double reference: to a suburb of Melbourne (Brunswick East) and Miles Davis album Sketches of Spain. Why is this important for the story about the record? Because that's exactly how it sounds. I believe many people perceive Australia as ideal country where you play with Santa Claus on the beach while it's 35C in the shade, and that is the type of atmosphere King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard have provided us with on Sketches of Brunswick East - easy and seductive jazz improvisation. If Miles was born in Australia instead of the north of United States, he would also have these easy tunes with bird tweets in the background. Gizzards have combined the best of Australia and jazz and psychedelic rock like no one else has done before them. Ofcourse, there is not a lot of psychedelic rock here but the genre allowed them to creatively express themselves and implement dozens of improvisations and ample unusual sounds.
Just as with Murder Of The Universe,there are no hits here that would bring them YouTube fame, but they have showed their fans that they still dare to experiment and explore endless hallways of sonic castles. The album is meaningful and coherent whole where nothing stands out, neither in the good nor in the bad direction. Sketches of Brunswick East continues the streak of creative madness that King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard are capable of delivering consistently. This is one of their coolest albums in which they played with jazz fusion in an impressive manner. On the other hand, they totally resemble Omar Rodriguez Lopez with this record, as he is also capable of pulling off such innovative outburst.
This is definitely not the album with which you should start investigating King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard, and it is probably not going to be a commercial success. Still, Sketches of Brunswick East is another evidence that this is the most creative band today.
