Quarters! is the sixth studio album by Australian psychedelic rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. It was released on 1 May 2015[1] on Heavenly Records, peaking at No. 99 on the ARIA Charts.[2]
| Quarters! | ||||
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| Released | 1 May 2015 | |||
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| Length | 40:40 | |||
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| King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Quarters! | ||||
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The album was nominated for Best Jazz Album at the ARIA Music Awards of 2015, losing to Barney McAll for Mooroolbark.
Background
editThe album features four songs, each running for ten minutes and ten seconds[3] making each song a quarter of the album - hence the title. Drawing upon jazz-fusion and psychedelic rock, the album's more laid-back sound was described as "unlike anything they’ve released before" and as "an album more likely to get your head bobbing and hips shaking as opposed to losing footwear in a violent mosh".[1]
Stu Mackenzie described how the composition of the album came around in an interview in 2015:
"I wanted to make a record where I didn’t have to yell, as well as exploring some longer, repetitive song structures.” Four tracks, four quarters, each one precisely 10:10 minutes long, each one an extended jam teeming with melodies, the occasional trickle of water, space funk, laughter like Pink Floyd and deliciously unfussy grooves. I also didn’t want to use any brutal guitar pedals or sing through blown-out guitar amps as I usually would."[4]
Reception
edit| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 68/100[5] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
| The Guardian | |
Upon its release, Quarters! received generally positive reviews by music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 68, based on 8 reviews, indicating "generally favorable".[5]
Writing for The Guardian, Everett True claimed during the album that "King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard unravel mysteries, perform magic, tease melodies out of intricately formed musical patterns and do it all with a face that would be straight except it’s taken too many mind-altering substances."[7]
Music
editThe album consists of four psychedelic pop songs, all running exactly ten minutes and ten seconds.[6] "The River" is a Traffic-style jazz-rock song with Santana-esque congas.[6] It is the second song by the band to feature an odd time signature, with the majority of the song in 5
4.
Tim Sendra of AllMusic described the album as a "jazz-prog epic."[8] Mike Katzif of NPR described the album's music as "jazz-inflected prog rock."[9]
Track listing
editVinyl releases have tracks 1–2 on Side A, and tracks 3–4 on Side B.[10]
All tracks are written by Stu Mackenzie.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The River" | 10:10 |
| 2. | "Infinite Rise" | 10:10 |
| 3. | "God Is in the Rhythm" | 10:10 |
| 4. | "Lonely Steel Sheet Flyer" | 10:10 |
| Total length: | 40:40 | |
Personnel
editCredits for Quarters! adapted from liner notes.[11]
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard
- Michael Cavanagh – drums, conga
- Cook Craig – guitar
- Ambrose Kenny-Smith – harmonica, vocals
- Stu Mackenzie – vocals, guitar
- Eric Moore – drums, percussion
- Lucas Skinner – bass
- Joey Walker – guitar, bass
Production
- Stu Mackenzie – recording (track 2), additional recording, mixing
- Wayne Gordon – recording (tracks 1, 3, 4)
- Joe Carra – mastering
- Jason Galea – cover, layout, photo
Charts
edit| Chart (2015) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA)[2] | 99 |
References
edit- ^ a b Weiley, Meaghan (30 April 2015). "King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard's 'Quarters!' Reviewed In Quarters". Tone Deaf. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
- ^ a b Wallace, Ian (1 June 2015). "Week Commencing ~ 1st June 2015 ~ Issue #1318" (PDF). The ARIA Report (1318). Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA): 8. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 June 2015. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
- ^ "King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard* - Quarters!". Discogs. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
- ^ True, Everett (11 June 2015). "King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard: We should have started a taxi service". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
- ^ a b "Reviews for Quarters! by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard". Metacritic. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
- ^ a b c Sendra, Tim. "Quarters! - King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
- ^ a b True, Everett (29 May 2015). "King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard: Quarters! review – mind-altering musical patterns". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
- ^ Sendra, Tim. "Nonagon Infinity - King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
In 2015 alone they released Quarters, a jazz-prog epic featuring four songs that were each exactly ten minutes long...
- ^ Katzif, Mike (21 April 2016). "Review: King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, 'Nonagon Infinity'". NPR. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- ^ Quarters! at Discogs (list of releases)
- ^ Track listing and credits as per liner notes for Quarters! album