NONAGON INFINITY
opens the door
nonagon infinity opens the door
(WAIT) for the answer to open the door
NONAGON INFINITY OPENS THE DOOR
1, 2, 3.
halloween 2021, a day i don't remember in the slightest... aside from one thing.
that was the day i was introduced to king gizzard, and Robot Stop (see above) was the first song i ever heard from them. hooked in by the music video (which is one of my favorites), and subsequently the music, i... only fully listened to THIS album for a few months.
yea i didn't really dare venturing into their other stuff (aside from one half-listen to Rattlesnake) until january of the next year. but, HONESTLY, can you blame me? at that point i think they were at 18 albums, with Butterfly 3000 being their latest one... where was i to even start with that?
ANYWAYS! Nonagon Infinity is a psychy-prog rock concept album based around infinity. the album has nine interconnected songs, Road Train (the last track) goes into Robot Stop (the first track). and many tracks sonically reference eachother through shared musical elements, for example:
- Robot Stop incorporating the riff from Big Fig Wasp during the instrumental
- the Robot Stop motif being utilized in Big Fig Wasp and Evil Death Roll
- Evil Death Roll outright teasing the lyrics of Invisible Face in the middle
but what REALLY matters is that all of these songs are fucking earworms.
though i don't consider it my favorite song ever, Robot Stop is currently my most-listened-to track on my last.fm account, It That Good.
and while, this album IS still one of my absolute favorites, it more importantly (and fittingly) opened that door for me.
now, almost 3 years later, i am equally as pumped about nearly every release as i was back then; verbose words fail to convey just how much this band's music means to me.
king gizzard has a very peculiar way of making music that perfectly clicks with my brain, it's like there's a hole in it i can only plug with a cork, and y'know the cranium - very sensitive thing - so, all my life i've plugged it with corks that were either too big or too small, and then the king gizzard cork came along and turned out to be a perfect fit, down to the atomic level. maybe a weird analogy, idk, but that should get the point across.
the cherry on top of this band's work is the huge variety they have while being highly consistent in both output and quality.
going back to the cork analogy, imagine that hole in the brain changes size every now and then
(it's not every day that i feel like listening to heavy prog rock);
the king gizzard cork will resize accordingly and keep fitting just as well, as despite
their insane variety in genres, there is still that distinct "gizz" feel in each of their albums.
i could genuinely live off JUST their existing library. not that i'd like to, but at this point if you're on this site, it's more likely than not that i'm either listening to a king gizzard song or have most recently listened to one (check last.fm tab to confirm)
A NIGHT TO REMEMBER
i was most fortunate to have the honor to attend one of their concerts back in march of 2023, the very day after my birthday. to this day i cherish it as probably the best day of my entire life.
and that's despite the fact i'm not really one to attend such events! crazy how much more enjoyable a concert can be when you're actually like... enjoying the music?
i even bought a fucking awesome poster which now hangs up on my wall:
(yea i know it's slightly crooked, i'll fix that one day)
and you bet your ass when there's another king gizzard concert in poland that i'll be there. so if you wanna come find and kill me, you'll have to wait until then.
quick thoughts about each album (chronologically)
- 12BB: the title track is grating to my ears
- ELTS: epic western narrative in musical form. R.I.P. broderick smith
- FAFYL: head on/pill is a musical masterpiece, their first
- ODDMENTS: I LOVE I LOVE MY VEGEMITE
- IIYMF: absolute classic, a lot of people recommend this one if you don't know where to start with gizz simply because of its sort of "contained" variety
- QUARTERS!: if i ever do shrooms, this is playing. wonderful psychy jazz-rock, and some really beautiful cover art. was my favorite at one point
- PMDB: this helped me get off a panic attack once
- NONAGON INFINITY: ...IS COMING!!!
- FMB: i used to be partial to it, but now i recognize the amazing sound this album has... microtones. oooopen, waaater... wheeere's the, shoooore gone?
- MOTU: this is my favorite album of all timeand i mean it. very heavy, a lot of spoken word, very narrative-focused. all 3 chapters are amazing, but han-tyumi's story is easily the best and most memorable.
- SKETCHES: a very soft sound that give your ears a big ol' warm hug, underrated? maybe!
- POLYGONDWANALAND: one of their most musically complicated albums! full of odd signatures and polyrhythms. a lot of people say this is their magnum opus.
i just think it's really good. - GUMBOOT: very underappreciated album, a mix of a bunch of different sounds, like oddments. first time they did metal!
- FFF: once you accept that cruel millennial's first verse is what it is, it's a very catchy blues rock album. "This Thing" is very relatable to me
- ITRN: their first big foray into metal, thrash to be specific. absolutely stuck the landing if you ask me. "PART OF ME WANTS TO BREATHE ETERNALLY, PART OF ME WANTS TO CUT OUT MY HEAAAAARRT!"
- K.G.: another microtonal album, can feel a bit disjointed at times (first time they had to record apart from eachother) but that's what makes it special
- L.W.: the cooler K.G.
- BF3K: first album without gruesome themes. very synthy and upbeat
(and equally as complicated as poly) - MIT: i used to vehemently hate this album, and i still don't think it's all that great. BUT! it's not bad, and the last minute and a half of Timeland goes hard
- OG: as the title implies, Omnium GatherumA miscellaneous collection; a hodgepodge.. also a double LP! dripping tap is fantastic; candles is underrated.
- IDPLMAL: interesting concept on this one, each song uses a different diatonic mode. i'm sure that means more to somebody who knows music theory more than i, all i can tell you is that Ice V is a jam.
- LD: MIT's gimmick but it's prog rock. one of my favorites, but my one pet peeve is that it DESYNCS!!! IT'S NOT EXACTLY 30 MINUTES!!!! GRAAAHH!!!!
- CHANGES: this album was 5 years in the making. on-and-off, but still.
as opposed to everything else that gizz does, this is a very carefully crafted album - every little detail has been thought through, and it shows.
(Exploding Suns -> Short Change never fails to give me goosebumps) - PDA: another metal album. this one is so good that there was a period of time where i liked ITRN less because of it. i hope to experience Gila Monster live
- TSC: for this one they decided to use ONLY synths. not as weird as MIT is, but it's up there! the extended mix is definitely better
- FB741: the least gizz-sounding album so far, but that's not necessarily a bad thing! the vocals are amazing on this one. the fun they had making this one is definitely felt when you listen to it
obligatory album tierlist:
(like a bell curve but shifted to the right)
TL;DR: i like king gizzard