''Polygondwanaland'' () is the twelfth studio album by Australian

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

band

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard are an Australian rock band formed in 2010 in Melbourne, Victoria. The band's current lineup consists of Stu Mackenzie, Ambrose Kenny-Smith, Cook Craig, Joey Walker, Lucas Harwood and Michael Cavanagh. They a ...

. The album was released under an

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licence—the band uploaded the master tapes online for anyone to freely use. The fourth of five albums released by the band in 2017, it was released on 17 November 2017.

Background and conception

The album's title is a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordspolygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed ''polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two toge ...

and

Gondwanaland Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final stages ...

. ''Polygondwanaland'' first appeared as a partial leak on the band's demos for the album. The leak was uploaded to SoundCloud, but was soon taken down. As a result, news of the album was scarce and mostly involved rumors, one of which stated that it would be the last of the five albums released in 2017. The track "Crumbling Castle," which appeared on the demo, was performed live by the band as early as September 2016, albeit in a much shorter form. However, it lay dormant for many months during an especially prolific period for the band, leading to speculation that the track might have been scrapped. Both the track and the music video were finally released on 18 October 2017, exactly one year after the first performance of the song was uploaded to YouTube. The legitimacy of the demos were all but confirmed at this point, as not only did the track feature the album's name in the lyrics, but it also contained lengthy musical passages equal in duration to the demo.

Release

''Polygondwanaland'' was officially announced on the band's

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page on 14 November 2017. The release date and cover art were publicized by the band, who stated, "This album is FREE. Free as in, free," encouraging fans to make their own copies and bootlegs of the album. The band said that they would not be selling the album in any shape or form, even going so far as to put the master tapes online (including a vinyl master) for free use. The album was uploaded to streaming services such as

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and

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on 18 November. Masters and artwork files can be downloaded from the band's website for personal use or for pressing

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and

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl m ...

. On the day of the announcement, multiple labels announced they would be producing their own physical copies of the album. Among these were ATO Records, Blood Music, Needlejuice Records, Fuzz Cult Records and Greenway Records. Fans also started crowdfunding campaigns on sites like Facebook and Kickstarter to produce their own versions of the album. After being released by 88 labels worldwide in 188 different variants, they announced an 'official Flightless pressing' of ''Polygondwanaland''. Versions of the album downloaded from the band's website are sometimes accompanied by a lyrics

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translated into

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and an ASCII Banner of the band's name at the top.

Music

The album has been described as

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

and

Reception

''Polygondwanaland'' was generally well received by professional

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

upon its initial release. In a 4 out of 5 star review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, writer Tim Sendra claimed "Hearing them incorporate all the different sonic flourishes they've employed in the past in pursuit of good songs and not some higher concept means the album may slip past unnoticed, but it will sound great to anyone not scared off by the lack of theatrics. Tracks like the spookily restrained "Searching," the rampaging "The Fourth Colour," the tribal "The Castle in the Air," or the thrumming title track are the work of a band in full command of their process and results." ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

'' gave the album a score of 7.2/10 and ranked it 17th in their list of the 20 best rock albums of 2017.

Track listing

Vinyl releases have tracks 1-4 on Side A, and tracks 5-10 on Side B. Track titles adapted from diymag.com Writer information from Flightless Records' LP label

Personnel

Credits for ''Polygondwanaland'' adapted from Bandcamp album credits. King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard * Michael Cavanagh – drums , percussion , glass marimba *

Cook Craig Nicholas Roderick "Cook" Craig is an Australian musician, singer and songwriter and is a part of groups King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard and the Murlocs. Craig releases music under the name Pipe-Eye. Pipe-Eye's debut EP ''Cosmic Blip'' was re ...

– electric guitar , synthesizers * Ambrose Kenny-Smith – harmonica , vocals * Stu Mackenzie – vocals , electric guitar , bass guitar , acoustic guitar , synthesizers , flute , glass marimba , mellotron , percussion * Eric Moore – management * Lucas Skinner – bass guitar , synthesizer * Joey Walker – electric guitar , acoustic guitar , bass guitar , synthesizers , vocals , percussion Additional musicians * Leah Senior – spoken word Production * Casey Hartnett – recording * Stu Mackenzie – recording , additional recording, production * Ryan K. Brennan – recording * Joey Walker – additional recording * Sam Joseph – mixing * Joe Carra – mastering * Jason Galea – artwork and layout

Charts

References

External links

{{Authority control 2017 albums King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard albums Albums free for download by copyright owner ATO Records albums Heavenly Recordings albums Progressive rock albums by Australian artists Psychedelic rock albums by Australian artists Math rock albums by Australian artists