I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD-Nonagon Infinity (2016).

A nonagon is a 9-sided shape.  Infinity is endless.  This album has nine songs that flow seamlessly into the next one.  Including the final song, which flows seamlessly into the first.  It’s a nine-track album designed to loop forever.  Riffs and choruses are repeated throughout (including the frenetic guitar solo riff that starts the album and is sprinkled throughout).  But even though the songs are connected and there are repeated parts no two songs sound alike–it’s not a 41 minute song by any means.

It is a pretty intense and relentless rocking good time, though, with all kinds of catchy melodies and bizarre lyrics.

This album launches with “Robot Stop,” a maniacal riff and a super fast beat .  It’s non-stop intensity of distortion, drums and vocals.  There’s distorted whoops and hollers.  There’s a distorted harmonica solo and more and more guitars.  It also introduces the repeated chorus:

Nonagon infinity opens the door
Wait for the answer to open the door
Nonagon infinity opens the door

It’s not always clear if the lyrics have meaning [Any wasp that I see / It’s a fig wasp / Pearly guillotine] but I love singing along with those that I can understand.  Or just chanting “Big Fig Wasp” when it comes around.

“Gamma Knife” encourages us to “come on through the door, see, it’s your unborn self.”   All the while, the guitars are rocking and the vocals are whooping.  Things do finally settle down near the end of the song, where everything drops out but the two guitars playing the riff.  It’s interrupted by some pretty wild drum soloing (from both drummers) before seguing into the moderately slow introduction of “People -Vultures.”  It’s slow for the first three lines before the line “What else have I got left to spew down?” prompts a breakneck resumption of the album’s pacing.

“Mr Beat” seriously slows things down for one of the catchiest songs on the record.  It’s a cool groovy chugging song with organs amid the guitars.   It has an instantly memorable melody and is easy to sing along to “Once I missed a beat – only missed a beat.”  Even the verse has a sweet sing-song melody.

Things do come to almost a complete stop as Mr Beat slows down, but before you can take a breath, “Evil Death Roll” takes off.  It is 7 minutes long, full of staccato chants during the chorus.   But midway through the song a new riff enters–a happy, almost boppy riff that reconciles itself into a version of the original main riff.  And after a few minutes of electronic manipulation, a new bridge comes around.  It’s musically unique to the album, but while that music is playing the nonagon infinity refrain returns.  And then the song returns to the main “Evil Death Roll” chorus before jumping into the staccato “Invisible Face” which shifts midsong into a gentle jazzy jam.

The ending riff segues seamlessly into the wah wah of “Wah Wah” which starts with a harmonica solo and then switches to a downbeat verse with a screaming noisy bridge of “Wah Wah Wah Wah.”   It ends with some distortion and a drum beat that sounds like a train, hence the album closer “Road Train.”

Road Train hearkens back to their more Western songs, but with all of the metal and garage trappings that are consistent on the album.  So the song about a train is rather dark:

The spawn of Satan’s back
It’s made of steel and black
It comes to bring you pain
It comes again and again
Road Train!

The song is 4 minutes but after a bout 3 minutes, it starts a new chanting of Nonagon Infinity–a new way of doing it that speeds up until the last ten seconds which return to the opening of the album.

There is so much originality in this album and so many ideas that it’s kind of a blur.  But repeated listens show just how much excellence is on display here.

[READ: February 25, 2019] Cottons Book 1

Wow, I loved this book (part 1 of a trilogy).  The story was fascinating (if a little murky in some places), but the artwork was simply tremendous.

Arnhold’s drawing style is so realistic, and the rabbits are so lovingly drawn, it’s really beautiful.  (In her bio she says she loves drawing rabbits, and volunteers at the Georgia House Rabbit Society).

This is the story of Bridgebelle and the rabbits in her warren.  They live in the Vale of Industry within the World of Lavender.  But their’s is not a happy life.  Bridgebelle is an artist and no one appreciates artists in this time of Industry.  But even worse, this is a time of fear for all of the World of Lavender.  Fear of predators, or fire and of the end of their existence.

As the story opens we see Bridgebelle and her co-worker/secret crush Glee fleeing from foxes.  The two of them hide in a stump when suddenly they see that Glee’s sister Soozie is snatched up and killed by Marrow, a ruthless fox.   It is devastating.  (The drawing is very sad, but not bloody or disgusting).

Worse yet, the murderous fox just did it to get the rabbits’ attention.  He wants control of their factory.

The factory is where all of the rabbits work.  They produce Cha, which is a concentrated carrot extract.  It has magical properties and, as it turns out, it is an addictive substance to the foxes.  Some artists have also learned that by using cha, they can make Thokchas, magical. power-infused art.  But no one wants to waste cha or rabbit-power on them.  Even if the best artists can make very powerful Thokchas which some believe can be turned into weapons.

Those with the gift can make very powerful Thokchas.  The purest Cha/Thokcas is called The Black Sun.  It has a power of 92 roots, although some even doubt that it exists.

Bridgebelle’s Thokchas are stunning, although she seeks validation from Thom Croquet, her artist mentor.

But no one, especially the factory boss (a hilarious fat rabbit who says, “I say, I Say, what’s going on here” and the like (I can imagine the blustery way he talks) cares about any of that.  They just need  to make more cha.

This s not just a story of rabbit workers and foxes.  There is also a fascinating religious component.  And here is where I will give a quibble with the book.  The end pages give a whole bunch of really interesting background information that is not included in the story.  Obviously, it would totally ruin the flow if this stuff was put in the middle. But some of this information is really helpful to understanding what the heck is going on.  Like the religion of the rabbits and the whole history of the world.  Perhaps a note directing us to this information would have been helpful.

The religion is called Windist Curatus and all leaders of this group (which is practically a secret society) have their ears bound down in a cool braided headdress.  This is meant to show that you no longer trust yourself (and your hearing), because you trust the god Satya’kon entirely.

After some time, the foxes gather.  Marrow meets with Sylvan, a silver fox who has tricks up his sleeve and Vor a thug who is addicted to cha.  Sylvan suggests that rather than killing rabbits, they need to take hostages.  He maintains that f they kill all the rabbits there will be none to make cha.  By taking a hostage they have more bargaining power.

On the next run, they grab Thom Croquet.  When Croquet’s dad finds out, he assumes he is dead and tries to kill himself.  It is an incredibly sad sequence.  But he is rescued by the Gralala, a mythical creature that everyone knows is just something rabbit use to scare their kids.  Gralala walks on two legs and is made of fire.  He strikes fear in all who hear his name–except those who believe he is a benevolent spirit of the forest.  But what would he want with the elder Croquet?

While Wampu, the head of the factory is discussing things with Bridgebelle and Glee, he says something which Soozie told Glee about the flow being slow.  They realize that she must have been talking about Whisper Creek–a creek that is mostly dry but occasionally get s slowly flowing water in it.

As this first book ends, the rabbits find the secret that Soozie was talking about, but once they grab it they are startled to see Thom Croquet crawling to them.  Bridgebelle goes to help him, but when she turns around Glee is gone.

What a great, suspenseful ending.

The end pages include the full history of the two Vales of Lavender, including nice drawings of all of the landmarks.

There’s a character page, as well as a full explanation of cha, Windist Curatus, and the Five Distinct Epochs:

1. The Dark Age:  Prior to the recorded history of Lavender–this is when rabbits developed speech and civilization.
2. The Wind Age:  The period of enlightenment where they composed the Holy Book of Windism.
3. The Tooth Age: Industrialization and the refining of carrots into Cha.  This led to currency and materialism.
   1. This led to the wars–The Great Gnash I, II and III which lead to much death and destruction and of course, rich rabbits getting richer and more powerful.
4. Then Cold Age.  After the wars came Sunfall and apocalyptic times.  This was a time when rabbits regressed to a simper stage of existence, losing all of their advancements.  It was 500 years ago but no rabbit can forget it.
5. The New Dark Age.  The current time.  Historians do not like this name, but most rabbits call it this.  They now live with “old, broken, ‘futuristic’ technology with an almost mythic sense of renewed naturalism.

Man this story was great–and it looks amazing.  I can’t wait for part two.

My other minor quibble is actually with the art.  It’s very hard to tell which rabbits are male or female.  I don’t know if it matters or not, but there were a couple of times when I thought the gender might be significant, and it was hard to know who was what.  Also, and this might be me, it’s sometimes hard to tell the rabbits apart.  Which is true in nature as well.  Some have distinctive markings, but there are quite a few simple brown ones.  That’s why dialogue is important too.