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Flying Microtonal Banana, (Explorations into Microtonal Tuning, Volume 1) by King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, from 2017, is an album recorded with microtonal instruments, appropriately modified in order to achieve a groovy and psych-rock mood, thanks to the microtonal tuning.
What it's about: microtonal tuning involves the use of musical intervals smaller than a semitone, unlike the standard system of 12 tones per octave. In this case, the octave is divided into 24 or 31 parts, so the notes played are “between the traditional keys” of an instrument. There are instruments specifically designed (or specifically tuned) to play in these intervals, which allows for scales and harmonies not present or possible in conventional music.
On this album we find the microtonal guitar, microtonal bass, microtonal harmonica, together with traditional instruments like piano, synth, drums, and a plethora of percussion, naturally the voice, and to top it all off, the zurna, a double-reed wind instrument used in the Middle East that has a loud and piercing sound,
The structures of the tracks on this album are also repetitive and based on jams and stylistic changes between tracks, so it's an album suitable for those who love and appreciate experimentation. In fact, microtonal tuning creates a sound different from anything heard before, all within a groovy psychedelic rock atmosphere with influences of acid jazz, Middle Eastern, and stoner metal. The result is a lack of fluidity in the album and an apparent lack of coherence, but since this is intentional, it should be taken as a fact and not as a flaw in my opinion.
In this mood we find "Rattlesnake" and "Nuclear Fusion," which are exceptional tracks with amazing grooves.
Many of the tracks, on the other hand, are very catchy and enjoyable like "Melting" and "Sleep Drifter"
An album that in its uniqueness has become a classic of King Gizzard in their experimental "face," which has no weak tracks, an album that stands out in the psychedelic scene. Unique and unrepeatable, which I recommend to lovers of psychedelic and experimental rock.
Tracklist
1. Rattlesnake (7:48)
2. Melting (5:27)
3. Open Water (7:13)
4. Sleep Drifter (4:44)
5. Billabong Valley (3:34)
6. Anoxia (3:04)
7. Doom City (3:14)
8. Nuclear Fusion (4:15)
9. Flying Microtonal Banana (2:34)
Duration 41:53
LineUp
- Stu Mackenzie - vocals (1-4,7,8), microtonal guitar (1-8), piano (1,5,9), synthesizer (2,3,8,9), microtonal bass (2,8), percussion (1-3,9), zurna
- Joe Walker - microtonal guitar (1,3,4,6,8,9), microtonal bass (5), vocals (6)
- Cook Craig - microtonal guitar (1,3,7), microtonal bass (4,6)
- Ambrose Kenny-Smith - microtonal harmonica (1,4,7-9), vocals (5)
- Lucas Skinner - microtonal bass (1-3,7)
- Michael Cavanagh - drums (1-8), bongos (3-5,8,9), percussion (9)
- Eric Moore - drums (1,3), bongos (9)
Note: All links to the musicians' works are in the TAGS below the article title or on the "Artists" page
