King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s Butterfly 3000

The next edition of Merriam-Webster’s dictionary should probably feature a photo of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard next to the definition of “prolific.” Since 2012, the Australian collective have released 18 (!) albums in a dizzying array of psychedelic and adjacent styles, the bulk of which have been unqualified successes that traverse garage rock, microtonal pop, pastoral folk and thrash metal. Their latest, Butterfly 3000, finds the group embracing synthesizers like never before to produce a bright and breezy brand of dream pop. Compositions like the airy “You,” acoustic kraut epic “Interior People,” hypnotic “Catching Smoke” and glimmering “Ya Love” are among the Aussie’s freest and most concise work to date, while others, like the exploratory “Blue Morpho” or hazy “Black Hot Soup” showcase a continued commitment to experimentation. King Gizzard has always been among a rare cadre of bands adept at adding stylistic wrinkles that deepen and rarely detract from their sound. Butterfly 3000 represents yet another creative leap for a band with a seemingly inexhaustible well of worthy ideas. As listeners, we would do well to reward the new standard the band has set here. It’s almost their finest work to date.

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If you like Butterfly 3000, check out:

• Merriweather Post Pavilion by Animal Collective

• Congratulations by MGMT

• Jams From The Sun by Oregon Space Trail of Doom

• SHYGA! The Sunlight Mound by Psychedelic Porn Crumpets

• Impression by Sugar Candy Mountain