King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard launched its new album, Laminated Denim, last night (Oct. 11) against the backdrop of two marathon three-hour performances at Red Rocks outside Denver. The vinyl (with an actual denim cover) was available early at the merch stand yesterday, and the music itself was debuted over the PA during each show’s intermission.
The origins of Laminated Denim are linked with the historic mountain venue. When the Red Rocks shows were postponed from May 2020 due to the pandemic, Gizzard decided to make special music to surprise audiences during the set breaks. What resulted was Made in Timeland, a 30-minute album with two quirky, genre-jumping, 15-minute songs. But when the Red Rocks shows were postponed again until this month, the band opted to release Made in Timeland as a vinyl-only one-off in March (it was finally added to DSPs for the first time at midnight).
Enter Laminated Denim, which shares the “two 15-minute songs” concept with Made in Timeland and the same intent: it was made specifically for the Red Rocks shows, which continue with a third and final appearance on Nov. 2. The material was recorded during jams and edited by group leader Stu Mackenzie, with flashes of some of Gizzard’s deepest grooves (“The Land Before Timeland”) and most wicked guitar licks (“Hypertension”).
The first two sold-out Red Rocks shows featured nearly six hours of music and 59 distinct songs. By the time Gizzard returns for the final show, it may have even worked up material from its third album of the month, Changes, which will be released on Oct. 28.
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Tagged: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, NEWS