King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard: Nonagon Infinity (2LP, Alien Warp Drive edition, splattered vinyl with bonus tracks) [ATO]

Why you'll love it

This Alien Warp Drive edition puts the album on splattered vinyl and adds a full LP of demos, in a gold foil gatefold with a foldout poster. Nonagon Infinity won the 2016 ARIA Award for Best Hard Rock or Heavy Metal Album.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Splattered vinyl
• Alien Warp Drive edition
• Bonus LP of ten demos
• Gold foil gatefold jacket
• Foldout poster included

About the album

Most albums end. Nonagon Infinity was built not to: each of its nine songs runs straight into the next, and the last one loops back into the first, so you can play it front to back to front for as long as your patience and your neighbours allow. The Melbourne band recorded it at Daptone Studios in Brooklyn, and it became the breakthrough that carried them around the world.

"Robot Stop" kicks the door in with a brief dip into microtonal tuning, "Gamma Knife" and "People-Vultures" gallop on wailing harmonica and twin drums, "Mr. Beat" brings in a jazzy organ bounce, and "Evil Death Roll" and "Wah Wah" crank the fuzz higher still. Riffs and lyrics come back around across the record, which is exactly what makes the loop work. The bonus LP here shows the sketches behind "Big Fig Wasp," "Invisible Face" and "Evil Death Roll," plus early takes of ideas the band would chase later, including "Greenhouse Heat Death" and "All Is Known."

Edgar Wright named it one of his favourite albums, and Metacritic logged universal acclaim. We put it on in the shop once to test the loop and can confirm it works; we're still trying to find the off switch.

Also at Kops: more King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard on vinyl · browse Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On ATO / KGLW (cat# ATO0660), a reissue of the 2016 album.