Item Details

‘Nonagon infinity opens the door!’: Formation of a cross-album concept through motivic interrelation in the music of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard

Issue: Vol 20 No. 1 (2019)

Abstract:

The re-use of motifs is relatively common as a method of structuring concept albums. These motifs can appear in several different formats, but generally are musical or lyrical references that serve to generate a sense of cohesion across a release. Australian band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard have created what is referred to as the ‘Gizzverse‘—a collection of musical, lyrical and extra-musical motifs that are referenced across several releases. Their extensive re-use of motifs, discussed using Gérard Genette’s frameworks for understanding multi-textual references, or transtextuality, creates an interconnected mythology that this article argues ultimately constitutes a kind of uber-concept album.

Author: Paul Ballam-Cross

View Original Web Page

References :

Arvidson, Mats. 2016. ‘An Imaginary Musical Road Movie: Transmedial Semiotic Structures in Brad Mehldau’s Concept Album “Highway Rider”’. Lund Studies in Arts and Cultural Sciences 10: 59.

Bailey, Michael. 2017. ‘King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Review: Kings of Psych-rock are Ego Free’. https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/king-gizzard--the-lizard-wizard-review-kings-of-pyschrock-are-ego-free-20171124-gzs6ii.html (accessed 5 April 2018).

Barnes, Shane. 2016. ‘King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard: So Post-Music Not Even the Lead Singer Can Describe It’. Flavorwire, 29 April.

Berman, Stuart. 2016. ‘King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard—Nonagon Infinity Review’. Online at https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/21853-nonagon-infinity/ (accessed 19 March 2018).

—2018. ‘King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard—Gumboot Soup Review’. Online at https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/king-gizzard-and-the-lizard-wizard-gumboot-soup/ (accessed 19 March 2018).

Burkholder, J. Peter. 2001. ‘Borrowing’. Oxford Music Online. https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.52918

Burns, Lori. 2016. ‘The Concept Album as Visual–Sonic–Textual Spectacle: The Transmedial Storyworld of Coldplay’s Mylo Xyloto’. Journal of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music 6/2: 91–116. https://doi.org/10.5429/2079-3871(2016)v6i2.6en

Castonguay, Roger. 2018. ‘Genettean Hypertextuality as Applied to the Music of Genesis: Intertextual and Intratextual Approaches’. In The Pop Palimpsest: Intertextuality in Recorded Popular Music, ed. Lori Burns and Serge Lacasse, 61–82. Michigan: University of Michigan Press.

Dwyer, Michael. 2018. ‘Why King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard Released Five Albums in a Single Year’. Online at https://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/king-gizzard-lizard-wizard-inside-their-music-factory-w516648 (accessed 19 March 2018).

Echard, William. 2017. Psychedelic Popular Music: A History through Musical Topic Theory. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

Fusco, Jon. 2016. ‘The Auteurs of Music Video: Jason Galea, Future Jodorowsky’. Online at https://nofilmschool.com/2016/auteurs-music-video-jason-galea (accessed 28 March 2018).

Genette, Gérard. 1997. Palimpsests: Literature in the Second Degree. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.

Jackson, Josh. 2010. ‘The 18 Best Concept Albums of the 21st Century (So Far)’. Online at https://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2010/11/the-18-best-concept-albums-of-the-21st-century-so-far.html (accessed 12 April 2018).

Joffe, Justin. 2017. ‘King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard Expand Their Universe by Murdering Ours’. http://observer.com/2017/04/king-gizzard-and-the-lizard-wizard-interview/ (accessed 11 April 2018).

Johnson, Ann, and Mike Stax. 2006. ‘From Psychotic to Psychedelic: The Garage Contribution to Psychedelia’. Popular Music and Society 29/4: 411–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/03007760600787440

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. 2017. ‘Han-Tyumi, the Confused Cyborg’, track 18 on Murder of the Universe. Flightless Records FLT-033.

Lacasse, Serge. 2018. ‘Towards a Model of Transphonography’. In The Pop Palimpsest: Intertextuality in Recorded Popular Music, ed. Lori Burns and Serge Lacasse, 9–60. Michigan: University of Michigan Press.

Lena, Jennifer C., and Richard A. Peterson. 2008. ‘Classification as Culture: Types and Trajectories of Music Genres’. American Sociological Review 73/5: 697–718. https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240807300501

Letts, Marianne Tatom. 2010. Radiohead and the Resistant Concept Album: How to Disappear Completely. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

Martin, Bill. 1998. Listening to the Future: The Time of Progressive Rock, 1968–1978. Chicago: Open Court.

Moore, Allan F. 2009. ‘Introduction’. In Analysing Popular Music, ed. Allan F. Moore, 1–15. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

—2012. Song Means: Analysing and Interpreting Recorded Popular Song. Oxfordshire: Routledge.

Moskovitch, Greg. 2016. ‘Inside King Gizzard’s Secret Melbourne Headquarters’. Online at https://tonedeaf.com.au/inside-king-gizzards-secret-melbourne-headquarters/ (accessed 19 March 2018).

Osborn, Brad. 2013. ‘Subverting the Verse–Chorus Paradigm: Terminally Climactic Forms in Recent Rock Music’. Music Theory Spectrum 35/1: 23–47. https://doi.org/10.1525/mts.2013.35.1.23

Perpetua, Matthew. 2010. ‘Janelle Monáe—The ArchAndroid Review’. Online at https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14271-the-archandroid/ (accessed 12 April 2018).

Safi, Radi. 2018. ‘5 Albums in 1 Year: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard Actually Fucking Did It’. Online at https://hhhhappy.com/5-lps-in-a-year-king-gizzard-and-the-lizard-wizard-actually-fucking-did-it/ (accessed 19 March 2018).

Sheinbaum, John J. 2008. ‘Periods in Progressive Rock and the Problem of Authenticity’. Current Musicology 85 (Spring): 29–51.

Straw, Will. 1984. ‘Characterizing Rock Music Cultures: The Case of Heavy Metal’. Canadian University Music Review / Revue de musique des universités canadiennes 5: 104–22. https://doi.org/10.7202/1013933ar

True, Everett. 2015. ‘Interview: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard: We Should Have Started a Taxi Service’. The Guardian. Online at https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jun/12/king-gizzard-and-the-lizard-wizard-we-should-have-started-a-taxi-service (accessed 21 March 2018).

Waters, Cheryl. 2019. ‘King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard—Full Performance (Live on KEXP)’. KEXP, Seattle. Recorded 18 August 2019, uploaded 25 October 2019. YouTube video, 37:19. https://youtu.be/EnmFKS2eDBA

Wilson, Zanda. 2017. ‘King Gizzard Confirm the Existence of a Parallel “Gizzverse”’. Online at http://musicfeeds.com.au/news/king-gizzard-confirm-existence-parallel-gizzverse/ (accessed 12 April 2018).