I'd love to see something from Golden Earring (their guitarist of over 50 years was diagnosed with ALS recently) or Thank You Sceintist (Tom Monda is a BEAST and uses a fretless).
They went Turkey to learn about microtones, and sleep drifter is actually a version of song called 'Kara Toprak' by Aşık Veysel (Tradititonal Turkish Musician) If you are up to microtonal music, you can look for some scales called 'Makam' in Turkish Music which (Hicaz, Hüseyni, Segâh etc.)
Its not rocket science people, King Gizzard is just paying an homage to turkish folk/anatolian rock and also experimenting with it. The guitars are fretted in the same way as the turkish string instrument saz and you can find many riffs and melodies they use in old turkish folk songs. That being said, i worship King Gizzard as a Turk because of how insanely fresh and creative their mixture of this old style with garage rock is. Cant get enough of it. It took an Australian band to make anatolian rock cool again.
Thanks for watching and helping me get introduced to even more of this type of music. I had no idea what anatolian rock was until i made this video. Are there any bands in particular from this genre you'd recommend?
@@LieLikesMusic Its always so thrilling to find out about a new genre of music. Anatolian rock started out in the 70s combining elements from rock and funk with traditional turkish tunes. I read in an interview that Stu is a particular fan of Erkin Koray. At the time many anatolian rock bands used normal fretted guitars and turkish saz but i remember Erkin Koray having a microtonally fretted electric guitar, i dont know if he was the first though. Others that come to my mind from that time are Baris Manco, Cem Karaca, Ersen ve Dadaslar, Mogollar, 3 Hürel. You can actually just check this youtube channel called Anatolian Rock Revival Project, they post remastered versions from this genre. Also there is a new band called Altin Gün, which got very popular in Europe lately, due to their new spin on old turkish folk/Anatolian rock songs, really recommend it. Hope this helps. I really appreciate your videos man, you put a lot of work into them, i myself am also very interested in history of music and really enjoy your videos, keep it up! Cheers:)
Yes and no, king Gizzard is an universal concept of music and anticategorise band just like Zappa making he’s own music. They don’t want fame they want experimental music.
@@LieLikesMusic There is a youtube channel called " Anatolian Rock Revival Project" i just can't recommed enough. Also i have a playlist called "Kukumav", you can find 200+ examples from different eras, genres and artists. I will put the link below. Link to my playlist: ua-cam.com/play/PL2bGUKMxCL0frLSQCpjiXvXTODXzeWPDI.html
@@mrwoodchuck94 i quite liked L.W, i think its probably my favourite of the trio, and some of the early songs from the Demos 1+2 album is a jam too, but thats just me
@@emmarossignol4445 Thats just in the latest albums i believe. All the previous Catalog is in E. Fishies, Nonagon, Quarters are all in E. Infest, Murder, and K.G.L.W are in C# mostly i believe.
Sorry for the late reply but they’ve actually been using different tunings since the Mind Fuzz Era. They usually use either C# standard or E. You can hear E standard on 12Bar, ELTS, FAFYL, Quarters (some songs are in Eb standard), PMDB, Nonagon, MOTU, sketches and parts of Fishies and Gumboot. C# is on Mind Fuzz, Gumboot, Rats nest, fishies and poly. The tuning they use on microtonal albums is (C# F# C# F# b e), but sometimes they use a capo
@@harry_mair I have no idea what for. Fantano talked about them not being as creative for these couple of albums which I find to be a load of horseshit. The way they experiment with microtones on this album for a variety of sounds and the like is unreal. Just because they return to a style they used before doesn't mean they're lacking in creativity and I can't think of another group that standard would be applied to.
@@TheVanillaQueen I get what fantano said in that review to an extent cos automation sounds like something theyve done before (even though I still think it's great) but songs like Intrasport, Honey and Straws in the Wind show a lot more experimentation than on FMB. Personally I prefer LW to KG cos I think it has less meh songs, on KG I wasn't amazed by some of us and hungry wolf and to an extent oddlife too but on LW the only songs I feel kinda meh on are pleura and Ataraxia, and I still think they are better than some of KG
@@GoogleUser-ms6hr Pleura was my number 3 on LW. Ataraxia I think requires a couple listens but it's really good. Supreme Ascendancy and Static Electricity were my one and two respectively. K.G. had some absolute bangers but it didn't really blow me away. LW is a verifiable masterclass in microtonal rock.
@@TheVanillaQueen totally agree on what u said on kg and LW, LW is pretty amazing. I think the choruses on Ataraxia and Pleura are really nice, it's just I don't really like the rest of Ataraxia and Pleura doesn't seem as creative as most of their other microtonal stuff. Supreme ascendency and static electricity were definite standouts for me on first listen, but we can't forget the absolute beast of the KGLW outro, holy fuck
Nice work Lie, but how is it possible not to mention the Arabic/Turkish scales (maqams). Or at least any of the microtonal instruments that have been there since forever, like Oud or Saz (Baglama) for example. And btw KGLW is so inspired by folk Middle-Eastern music! Just wanted to clear this out.
Thanks. And yes i glossed over a lot of the instruments and inspiration here. So thanks for adding this in the comments for people who are more interested.
Really good explanations of microtones! I would like to say that the song "O.N.E." definitely does have microtonal notes in it - all of the songs on Flying Microtonal Banana, K.G. and L.W. have them because of the scales they're written in. I guess it just shows how seamlessly the band fits the notes into their songs, as it sounds so natural and you don't notice them!
A note on tunings - as others have pointed out, Joey and Stu have used C# F# C# F# B E from FMB through KGLW. In the FMB-era days, Cook and Lucas used a standard tuned guitar/bass with a different fret system to the others. As of 2021, Cook seems to have adopted the C# F# C# F# B E tuning and fret system and Lucas has begun to use a custom built 5-string bass (still in standard) but with an entirely different fret system, including half/fifth frets !!
Microtonal instruments are so impressive producing those captivating low & slow vibrating frequencies. Microtonality is wondrous as opens up space for endless explorations, experimentations & unexpected fusion of so many different styles. It’s a core of Gizzard’s creativity. Sounds so revolutionary. 🎸 🎹 🎷
man the editing is so great I almost believed you and the drummer were in the same room haha this is way beyond my knowledge or skill in guitar, but it was amazing to watch regardless!
6:30 They arent doing anything new. Dont get me wrong i like king gizzard. But their music is heavily based on 70's anatolian (turkish) rock music. The song Sleep drifter is a version of "kara toprak" which is a song by the turkish poet, Asik Veysel. I just find it wrong to say that they are doing something new and conventional, whilst not mentioning the roots and heavy influence of anatolian music on KG's music
I agree that it was wrong not to list the influences, especially the Kara Toprak song. Although I would say that it is innovative bringing these tones and influences into modern western rock. Every idea comes from something that came before after all. Cheers!
@@gamestvandmore Oh yeah for sure! I really like the way theyre approaching the music. However the way this video phrased how theyre using microtones in a new way just felt wrong :)
@@LieLikesMusic have you guys ever heard of this band called AC/DC? They're kind of underground not sure anyone knows them but they're def Australian. Actually some of their early works influences Gizz they cover Let There Be Rock
Can you please do a video on the band Slint? Their second album Spiderland celebrated its 30-year anniversary a few days ago and despite only having 2 albums, they've become a massively influential band for a variety of genres.
When you are talking about the history of microtones I was shocked that you did not include their use in Eastern music. Microtones are extremely prevalent in Middle Eastern, Asian, and other music and the fact that you did not mention this seems like a huge oversight. You even say that it gives KGatLW's music a middle eastern feel and still focused on western music somehow.
That's true. I glossed over a huge part of the history. Thankfully there are a lot of people here in the comments that provide tons of info on Anatolian and turkish rock as well as some insight into the history of the 24TET system. Maybe there will be another video in the future where i go more in-depth on that part.
Ronnie Le Tekro TNT 1/4 stepper, Uli Roth, Derek Frigo Enuff Znuff would often bend to a1/4 steps; Duane Allman(slide) was either way out of tune or playing 1/4steps, maybe, lifted off of BB King albums
Saw 'the Gizz' last week on their Micro tour, and they are one of the best live acts I have ever seen. They didn't even play songs from my favourite album 'Infest the Rats Nest' and it was still phenomenal.
Awesome. I've seen some of their live performances on UA-cam. And they look and sound sick. If i was there in person i bet the experience would be 10x better.
@@LieLikesMusic I sincerely hope you get a chance to see them, and soon! We had to sit and have 1 seat between us, but still, musically it was a 5 star performance. Stu was awesome, and Ambrose's voice actually blew me away, especially for the song 'Straws in the wind'. Goosebumps. Keep up the great work. Subscribed \m/
@@TheShanlou Thanks for subscribing! It means a lot. And yes i hope to see them soon too. Straws In The Wind is one of my favorite songs from the KG album.
great video! I saw Gizz live a few months before the pandemic hit and they were phenomenal. one of my favourite things about their sound is Stu's crazy delay sound, it just adds such flavour to the music!
@@LieLikesMusic It was sick, they played a whole set of microtonal music so very in keeping with your vid. Mostly from KG and LW, some Flying Microtonal Banana too. Stu said they were stoked to play for a crowd again (we don't have any covid cases in Western Australia, fingers crossed it'll stay that way). I hope you get to see them when they're around your neck of the woods next, their live shows are phenomenal.
seeing them this Thursday in Fremantle, last time i saw them they just released Flying Microtonal Banana in 2017, now they got two more under their belt
@@abaker2921 - Us Aussies are just in a different situation to other countries OS, so we deal with the Covid thingi in accordance to our particular circumstances. We Are pretty lucky though, compared to other OS countries.
It would be great to add a part 2 mentioning the Radif and Dastgah systems of Persian music and Muqams of Arabic and Turkish music. They have names for those scales you don’t have names for!
Great video, really well researched and presented. I remember hearing Doolittle for the first time on a visit to my sister in London back in 1990, she had the album on cassette and it totally shook me. It gave me the feeling of coming home, that this music was made for me, it had so many ingredients from the music that been in the soundtrack of my life to that point, it was a really profound moment. It certainly cut my journey time into university on my skateboard 🛹 it was an exciting time to be alive.
I have fully committed to nano-notes. And my accuracy has skyrocketed. Many can't understand the brilliance. They're just haters...trying to say the music is out of tune. Wrong. Oh so wrong. And I've started to explore quantum tones. Finding I seem to have a knack for it. 🙃
Love the new concept! Did not know his bass also had some extra frets. Wonder if more guitar/bassists play like this, I'll dig into it! Thanks for the information Lie.
Great video man. I don't think I've seen someone talk as effectively about what it's like to play one of these. You're going to make me buy a microtonal neck 🤣
@@tpguitars I may just go that. I built a telecaster deluxe from random parts last year. I'm using an old squire strat neck as a temporary thing. The more I think about it, the more I'd like a microtonal one. I saw when Charles got his last year (his channel is great too) so that's two positive reviews.
Awesome video! My only criticism is that i wish you explained why the different tuning system sounds so middle eastern. That aspect would've been cool to learn more about
There is a name for the microtonal music they're making, it is middle eastern music (Turkish/Iranian/Azeri/Armenian/Arab/Greek etc. they all have their own flavor yet similar) and they have names for the tones and microtones, modes(maqams), odd meter beats (aksak) and more complex rhythm patterns (usul) in that music teaching system (I'm using the names from Turkish music, because King Gizzard directly took from that flavor). The folk instrument on which their guitar frets are based, is saz/baglama.
It blows my mind to think of the possibilities of using microtonal melodies with harmony, check out Julian Carrillo, Mexican composer/ scientist, composer, violininst and conductor who carried out research on microtonalism since the end of the 19th century and developed the Sound 13 theory, the first attempt to formalize the systematic study of microtonalism. He was director of the National Conservatory of Music and the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico and founded the Beethoven Symphony Orchestra and the Sound 13 Orchestra, based in New York. He designed and built microtonal pianos and harps to perform his compositions, in an effort that brought together knowledge of acoustics, strength of materials, and music theory.
A lot of Turkish Psych bands and Saharan bands seem to get the same sounds from standard guitars. Does anyone know what tunings are used to achieve this?
Ahh microtonal sounds so much like the Sitar music of my yoof. The fret layout gave me the clue. Mind you there are some very complicated and beautiful Ragas out there.
Cool video. :D Just some thoughts of mine: a) Droning was heavily used in european music as well; think of bagpipes and even many classic organ pieces feature a drone in some parts. b) Until the invention of the 12TET system around 1799, europed used several intonations including an approach of 19 tones to approximate the major third 5/4 frequency ratio at around 387 Cent better at the expense of perfect fifths being shrunk down to something between 697 or even 666 instead of 702. This major third is notably lower than the regular 400C third we are used to torture our kids ears with and i never liked any major scale at all... until i found a turkish guy on youtube covering King Gizzard on a microtonal guitar with small frets added for those lowered thirds and additional microtones. Also, on the 19-well tempered tuning the third gets streches up to 310C which is farther away from the perfect pythagoran 295 C of frequency ration 32/27. And it sounds... kinda awefull. Poor Mozart and all the other composers couln't write propper sad songs because their Cembali were hunted with weirdly sharpened minor thirds in favour of the less sharpened major third. So the 12TET is indeed better at approximating fifthts and minor thirds... I feel like this is the reason why music theorists are continuing to brabble about how every music listener has a "major bias" and how C-major is "the prototype for scales" when clearly, the 12TET major scale sounds childish and aweful and oh god, i can't stand this melodic torturing sharpened bullshit, please somebody get me a post punk band with distorted guitars and a minor third! Jeez! My point is: The 12TET was never "the best compromise", it was just the "least worse" in terms of practicability for western music. And since "the west" like to justify its historic roots by means of weird math, there was the idea that the 12TET was somehow "the most natural system to use" and it stuck that way for about a century until the artists tried to re-open the field of tuning systems and microtones. One weekend i sat down and tried to build up my own scale in an exel spread sheet from microsteps of 20, 21 and 30 in a simple pattern such that i would get 20+21+30=71 augmented prime and 71+21=92 small demi-tone, 92+20=112 diatonic demi-tone, 112+71=183 small whole tone, 183+21=204 big whole-tone... these are the "natural" small intervals known since ancient times. It worked wuite well and in the end i got 53 microtones where most fifths, major and minor thirds were perfect and... then i found out that there exsists a 53TET system which approximates the fifthts even better than i did at the expense of approximating the demi-tones... because of course somebody had already done that. :/ i adjusted my system slightly and i'm now going to write regular western harmony music with it, but seemingly random floating up or down a comma while doing so and it just feels soooo natural to use this system... but i get that most people don't want 53 keys per octave or play fretless all day long. But my computer doesn't care... So, yeah, there is more to microtonality than just adding quarter-tones in between the demitones of 12TET. :)
Lie, I don’t wanna be that guy and idk if someone pointed this out yet. You said (13:50) that it gives it a Middle-Eastern feeling, and then said like a sitar. The sitar is a SouthEast Asian instrument, used primarily in India. A more suitable example would be an Oud. It’s a lute-like instrument that’s fretless and most performances on it requires droning. I hope you check it out.
When I listen to you play , I hear a lot of cords and sound of the band Tool ! I really like this sound a lot and want to explore it more ! Thank you for sharing this !
You can play some chords too based on the 11th harmonic, which is a quartertone, like C - F‡ (F# - 50 cents), maybe with an extra octave thrown in. If you have "6th tone" frets, you can do 7th harmonic chords like C - A‡‡ (A# - 30 cents). It's easy to do this in an open chord tuning. Even a regular major 3rd is 15 cents too sharp compared to the 5th harmonic (9th fret). Eddie Van Halen used to detune the B string to play just major triads on some songs.
It‘s true that western music theory is having a hard time explaining microtones, but as oriental music has used them for a long time, it would have been logical to include arabian music theory. Especially the maqams, because thats where you find the scales they used or borrowed.
One thing so would like to add, is that these microtones are not ones based off of “true” tuning per intervals, only equal, unlike a lot of eastern music. On Sitar for example, they can adjust intonation extremely accurately.
There's nothing new about the usage of microtones by KGLW except that the genre which is rock. It's clearly heavily influenced by Turkish folk music. For those folks who want to dig deeper I recommend searching the terms "bağlama" and "türkü".
I've been trying to make melodies with microtones, and it's very interesting, but how do u built a microtonal scale like in "major/minor terms"?? I know that eastern music use other systems to built scales and melodies, and i would like to know if there's a way to make an scale adding these microtones, thank u :D
Apparently there's a whole genre of Anatolian rock (turkish rock) that i didn't know about until i published this video. They might be using such scales. It's worth googling and checking out. I'm very new to this as well, so i'm not familiar with any of those scales yet.
look up “Disoriented Ghost - Metamorphic” for some more modern microtonal psych, definitely gizz inspired although they use a different scale/fret placement and incorporate more world instruments, couple records on youtube that come up first when u search
Thanks for this awesome video, you allowed me to finally access this band. I was trying to listen to them a few times over the last few years and it never clicked, it just sounded too far out. But this video actually was the first time I learned about microtonal and I'm giving them a closer listen and it's been really cool. Thanks bud
That's awesome man! Then my work is done hehe. I experienced the same thing though. I found out about them back in 2017. But i'm way more into them nowadays after more exposure.
12:25 - I think I remember hearing them say that they use F# tuning on the whole guitar (F#, A#, C#, F#, C#, F#). Not 100% sure, but you could experiment with it!
@@LieLikesMusic There's some good stuff in the old Turkish prog catalogue! Like most people, I discovered that genre after listening to King Gizzard, haha :-)
This was an interesting video, but as a musician actually practicing traditional and classical eastern microtonal music, I feel like a huge part is missing. The whole point of maqam is not breaking existing intonation into more pieces, but using the natural scales that emanate from the first few harmonics of your base note. Just intonation is a western invention (and a very useful one), that made symphonic music, western harmony and many more possible, but the natural scales existed before that. There are also many different intonation systems, some sounding more "just" and some sounding more "wrong". In many cases, when playing a fretless instrument, the actual interpretation of a specific note depends on so many things, like personal style and the player's mood. Someone with a solid understanding of maqam might had been a much better consultant for your research than anyone with a degree in western harmony. However, being bitter is not the point here, so I suggest to anyone interested the best book that I know of existing on an English translation for Turkish classical music. www.goodreads.com/book/show/15762253-turkish-music-makam-guide , and I will also suggest some bands that are experimenting with fusion/modern approach to traditional sounds. (Don't forget, there is a whole musical world behind these 😅😅) (Laço Tayfa, Hudna,Ibrahim Maalouf, New York Gupsy All Stars are some examples)
(12:45) King Gizzard have a video out that discloses the tunings they use for their microtonal stuff which is defo worth checking out! ua-cam.com/video/bC-cJvIZiRo/v-deo.html
Some drummers do but most don't. Even if not tuned to specific notes, drums are still tuned in pretty standard intervals. By tuning say the rack toms to be very close intervals and the floor tom to be a big interval they could be considered to be microtonal.
Thanks for suggesting King Gizzard. What band or artist should be next? 🎸🎶
Black Midi or Black Country, new Roads !
The Melvins \m/
The Weeknd, Cage The Elephant, Tame Impala, Elvis Presley, The Beach Boys (Brian Wilson), Gorillaz, and Daft Punk.
Psychedelic porn crumpets!
I'd love to see something from Golden Earring (their guitarist of over 50 years was diagnosed with ALS recently) or Thank You Sceintist (Tom Monda is a BEAST and uses a fretless).
They went Turkey to learn about microtones, and sleep drifter is actually a version of song called 'Kara Toprak' by Aşık Veysel (Tradititonal Turkish Musician)
If you are up to microtonal music, you can look for some scales called 'Makam' in Turkish Music which (Hicaz, Hüseyni, Segâh etc.)
www.maqamworld.com/en/maqam/bayati.php
This video is really ignorant of the maqam system-older than Western European music, not invented by King Gizzard.
thats very interesting! :O
@@MrDavidBHarrisyes ,, the frets on bağlama(saz) was invented 1000 years before these Lizzards band 😅.
THE FUTURE OF ROCK BABY
Hells yeah
YESSSSSSSS
I concur!
They’re also the present of rock. They are eternal.
Microtones are the future of music in general.
Its not rocket science people, King Gizzard is just paying an homage to turkish folk/anatolian rock and also experimenting with it. The guitars are fretted in the same way as the turkish string instrument saz and you can find many riffs and melodies they use in old turkish folk songs. That being said, i worship King Gizzard as a Turk because of how insanely fresh and creative their mixture of this old style with garage rock is. Cant get enough of it. It took an Australian band to make anatolian rock cool again.
Thanks for watching and helping me get introduced to even more of this type of music. I had no idea what anatolian rock was until i made this video. Are there any bands in particular from this genre you'd recommend?
@@LieLikesMusic Its always so thrilling to find out about a new genre of music. Anatolian rock started out in the 70s combining elements from rock and funk with traditional turkish tunes. I read in an interview that Stu is a particular fan of Erkin Koray. At the time many anatolian rock bands used normal fretted guitars and turkish saz but i remember Erkin Koray having a microtonally fretted electric guitar, i dont know if he was the first though. Others that come to my mind from that time are Baris Manco, Cem Karaca, Ersen ve Dadaslar, Mogollar, 3 Hürel. You can actually just check this youtube channel called Anatolian Rock Revival Project, they post remastered versions from this genre. Also there is a new band called Altin Gün, which got very popular in Europe lately, due to their new spin on old turkish folk/Anatolian rock songs, really recommend it. Hope this helps. I really appreciate your videos man, you put a lot of work into them, i myself am also very interested in history of music and really enjoy your videos, keep it up! Cheers:)
Yes and no, king Gizzard is an universal concept of music and anticategorise band just like Zappa making he’s own music. They don’t want fame they want experimental music.
@@DickiMonster I know, they are creating music in many different genres etc. I was just talking about the microtonal stuff.
@@LieLikesMusic There is a youtube channel called " Anatolian Rock Revival Project" i just can't recommed enough. Also i have a playlist called "Kukumav", you can find 200+ examples from different eras, genres and artists. I will put the link below.
Link to my playlist: ua-cam.com/play/PL2bGUKMxCL0frLSQCpjiXvXTODXzeWPDI.html
i’m a simple man i see King Gizzy and i clicky
Thanks for being simple
I hear about the Gizz, I jizz.
@@cactaceous lol me too
@@cactaceous king gizzy makes the glizzy jizzy
Love how the drummer also included the wallet on the snare
I love that too. It was not in the job description lol
@@LieLikesMusic he did his research then 🤘
A man of culture
its really common
@@ECOGtheMC You spoiled the fun.
My favorite band that release albums like their actual lives depend on it
Sadly not anymore, right no they just released live albums and 2 pretty mediocre ones
True. If they keep up this momentum they might beat Zappa.
@@mrwoodchuck94 the new album is pretty solid ngl, its hard to make like 15 groundbreaking albums
@@urosmaric4329 I dunno, I don't like live album they are just the same songs in bad quality
@@mrwoodchuck94 i quite liked L.W, i think its probably my favourite of the trio, and some of the early songs from the Demos 1+2 album is a jam too, but thats just me
This is literally the best band ever
- A completely unbiased Australian
The tuning that king gizz use is: C# F# C# F# B E, i also built a microtonal guitar, the "HYBRID MICROTONAL MILKSHAKE", damn good video btw :)
Is that just for Infest The Rats Nest? I didn't think that they tuned that low.
@@emmarossignol4445 The tuning is similar to the one used in ITRN, which is C# Standard, C# F# B E G# C#
@@emmarossignol4445 Thats just in the latest albums i believe. All the previous Catalog is in E. Fishies, Nonagon, Quarters are all in E. Infest, Murder, and K.G.L.W are in C# mostly i believe.
Sorry for the late reply but they’ve actually been using different tunings since the Mind Fuzz Era.
They usually use either C# standard or E.
You can hear E standard on 12Bar, ELTS, FAFYL, Quarters (some songs are in Eb standard), PMDB, Nonagon, MOTU, sketches and parts of Fishies and Gumboot.
C# is on Mind Fuzz, Gumboot, Rats nest, fishies and poly.
The tuning they use on microtonal albums is (C# F# C# F# b e), but sometimes they use a capo
That's a cool name for a guitar, what color is it?
"we dont have names for these modes"
maqams: *sad quarter tones*
Right? There’s a whole culture of music based on it but you didn’t bother to look.
Fantastic video! Thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks for having me be a part of it!
Also.. 17:10 😂
Probably the best rock band available right now
tbh want to watch them live. it's going to be lots of fun. their stage performance is always incredible
OH SEES anyone?
@@tituus96 There's also daughters, idles, swans etc there are many more and i love em all (including oh sees ofc)
@@tituus96 Absolutely. I'm listening to Panther Rotate every day at the moment.
@@rainardzulfanp319 Gimme more Daughters and Swans related stuff, good Sir.
KG's microtonal music is probably my favorite out of their discography alongside Polygondwanaland. L.W. might just be their best yet.
People have been shitting on KG but I like it for its consistency and it's ability to vary enough
@@harry_mair I have no idea what for. Fantano talked about them not being as creative for these couple of albums which I find to be a load of horseshit. The way they experiment with microtones on this album for a variety of sounds and the like is unreal. Just because they return to a style they used before doesn't mean they're lacking in creativity and I can't think of another group that standard would be applied to.
@@TheVanillaQueen I get what fantano said in that review to an extent cos automation sounds like something theyve done before (even though I still think it's great) but songs like Intrasport, Honey and Straws in the Wind show a lot more experimentation than on FMB. Personally I prefer LW to KG cos I think it has less meh songs, on KG I wasn't amazed by some of us and hungry wolf and to an extent oddlife too but on LW the only songs I feel kinda meh on are pleura and Ataraxia, and I still think they are better than some of KG
@@GoogleUser-ms6hr Pleura was my number 3 on LW. Ataraxia I think requires a couple listens but it's really good. Supreme Ascendancy and Static Electricity were my one and two respectively.
K.G. had some absolute bangers but it didn't really blow me away. LW is a verifiable masterclass in microtonal rock.
@@TheVanillaQueen totally agree on what u said on kg and LW, LW is pretty amazing. I think the choruses on Ataraxia and Pleura are really nice, it's just I don't really like the rest of Ataraxia and Pleura doesn't seem as creative as most of their other microtonal stuff. Supreme ascendency and static electricity were definite standouts for me on first listen, but we can't forget the absolute beast of the KGLW outro, holy fuck
Nice work Lie, but how is it possible not to mention the Arabic/Turkish scales (maqams). Or at least any of the microtonal instruments that have been there since forever, like Oud or Saz (Baglama) for example. And btw KGLW is so inspired by folk Middle-Eastern music! Just wanted to clear this out.
Thanks. And yes i glossed over a lot of the instruments and inspiration here. So thanks for adding this in the comments for people who are more interested.
I think KG&LW influenced by traditional turkish music if you listen Sadık Yarim Kara Toprak by Aşık Veysel you can hear sleep drifter riff
Thanks for that recommend. Yet another path to walk down.
Thanks for having me! Great video as always man 😃
No problem dude. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on such short notice :)
Really good explanations of microtones! I would like to say that the song "O.N.E." definitely does have microtonal notes in it - all of the songs on Flying Microtonal Banana, K.G. and L.W. have them because of the scales they're written in. I guess it just shows how seamlessly the band fits the notes into their songs, as it sounds so natural and you don't notice them!
A note on tunings - as others have pointed out, Joey and Stu have used C# F# C# F# B E from FMB through KGLW. In the FMB-era days, Cook and Lucas used a standard tuned guitar/bass with a different fret system to the others. As of 2021, Cook seems to have adopted the C# F# C# F# B E tuning and fret system and Lucas has begun to use a custom built 5-string bass (still in standard) but with an entirely different fret system, including half/fifth frets !!
Microtonal instruments are so impressive producing those captivating low & slow vibrating frequencies. Microtonality is wondrous as opens up space for endless explorations, experimentations & unexpected fusion of so many different styles. It’s a core of Gizzard’s creativity. Sounds so revolutionary. 🎸 🎹 🎷
Finally!!! I've been waiting on this for over a year.
Hehe me too ;)
man the editing is so great I almost believed you and the drummer were in the same room haha
this is way beyond my knowledge or skill in guitar, but it was amazing to watch regardless!
Lol that's very kind of you. I'm glad you liked it :)
"If your snare sounds bad... Put your wallet on it..." - Eric
6:30 They arent doing anything new. Dont get me wrong i like king gizzard. But their music is heavily based on 70's anatolian (turkish) rock music. The song Sleep drifter is a version of "kara toprak" which is a song by the turkish poet, Asik Veysel.
I just find it wrong to say that they are doing something new and conventional, whilst not mentioning the roots and heavy influence of anatolian music on KG's music
I agree that it was wrong not to list the influences, especially the Kara Toprak song. Although I would say that it is innovative bringing these tones and influences into modern western rock. Every idea comes from something that came before after all. Cheers!
@@gamestvandmore Oh yeah for sure! I really like the way theyre approaching the music. However the way this video phrased how theyre using microtones in a new way just felt wrong :)
Best band out of Australia ever
(cough) Tame Impala (cough)
@@LieLikesMusic have you guys ever heard of this band called AC/DC? They're kind of underground not sure anyone knows them but they're def Australian. Actually some of their early works influences Gizz they cover Let There Be Rock
King Gizz, Tame Impala and AC/DC are proudly represented in my CD and LP collections. Long live Oz Rock \m/
The Chats have joined the chat.They also use microtones but not intentionally.And yeah no cuz like dude said AC/DC.Cmon
Besides Nick Cave, tropical fuck storm
Can you please do a video on the band Slint? Their second album Spiderland celebrated its 30-year anniversary a few days ago and despite only having 2 albums, they've become a massively influential band for a variety of genres.
I second this
I'll see what i can do. I have a few other video ideas in the pipeline, but a lot of people have asked for this. I'll write it down for later.
When you are talking about the history of microtones I was shocked that you did not include their use in Eastern music. Microtones are extremely prevalent in Middle Eastern, Asian, and other music and the fact that you did not mention this seems like a huge oversight. You even say that it gives KGatLW's music a middle eastern feel and still focused on western music somehow.
That's true. I glossed over a huge part of the history. Thankfully there are a lot of people here in the comments that provide tons of info on Anatolian and turkish rock as well as some insight into the history of the 24TET system. Maybe there will be another video in the future where i go more in-depth on that part.
The guitarist Gabe from Consider the source uses a double necked guitar, one neck being fretless to dig into that micro tonal feel.
Ronnie Le Tekro TNT 1/4 stepper, Uli Roth, Derek Frigo Enuff Znuff would often bend to a1/4 steps; Duane Allman(slide) was either way out of tune or playing 1/4steps, maybe, lifted off of BB King albums
Saw 'the Gizz' last week on their Micro tour, and they are one of the best live acts I have ever seen. They didn't even play songs from my favourite album 'Infest the Rats Nest' and it was still phenomenal.
Awesome. I've seen some of their live performances on UA-cam. And they look and sound sick. If i was there in person i bet the experience would be 10x better.
@@LieLikesMusic I sincerely hope you get a chance to see them, and soon! We had to sit and have 1 seat between us, but still, musically it was a 5 star performance. Stu was awesome, and Ambrose's voice actually blew me away, especially for the song 'Straws in the wind'. Goosebumps. Keep up the great work. Subscribed \m/
@@TheShanlou Thanks for subscribing! It means a lot. And yes i hope to see them soon too. Straws In The Wind is one of my favorite songs from the KG album.
Thanks for the shoutout!! Loved the vid man great editing :) Sounds awesome x #microtonalgang
No problem dude. Thanks for helping out :)
Charles your a legend!!
@@brucemacdonald5624 xx
Charles you are the BEST!
12:40 they are normally in C#,F#,C#,F#,B,E
Be sure to check out Charles Meriot's Gizzard songbook! i am proud to have helped it along!
Ey a friend of Charles! Did you notice that i had his book in the background of some of the shots? 3:57
Cheers for using my live footage at the start of your video. Was a nice little suprise 🙂
great video! I saw Gizz live a few months before the pandemic hit and they were phenomenal. one of my favourite things about their sound is Stu's crazy delay sound, it just adds such flavour to the music!
Thanks. Yeah they have their very own way of using effects as well. They use that on The Hungry Wolf of Fate. And it sounds so badass.
I'm seeing them on Thursday, great timing :P
I’m seeing them in Brisbane on the 23rd! I’m excited
Oof that's today. Hope you have a great time. And i wish they come to Norway when the rona is over.
@@LieLikesMusic It was sick, they played a whole set of microtonal music so very in keeping with your vid. Mostly from KG and LW, some Flying Microtonal Banana too. Stu said they were stoked to play for a crowd again (we don't have any covid cases in Western Australia, fingers crossed it'll stay that way). I hope you get to see them when they're around your neck of the woods next, their live shows are phenomenal.
@@k-majik i wanted to go to that so bad but by the time i got paid all the tickets were gone
That must have been 🤔 in Fremantle. How were they and how was Tropical F Storm? I'm seeing them at Brisbane Riverstage 🦎🐊🦖
I'm going to see them on thier 2021 Micro tour in Brisbane Australia 🦖 Yay! Thanks for the Video. It was great! 💚
seeing them this Thursday in Fremantle, last time i saw them they just released Flying Microtonal Banana in 2017, now they got two more under their belt
Let’s just hope the covid outbreak in Brisbane goes away
@@scoobert2074 is there an outbreak, or are you aussies just WAY too subservient to your rulers?
@@scoobert2074 - it has. Let's hope it doesn't come back.
@@abaker2921 - Us Aussies are just in a different situation to other countries OS, so we deal with the Covid thingi in accordance to our particular circumstances. We Are pretty lucky though, compared to other OS countries.
It would be great to add a part 2 mentioning the Radif and Dastgah systems of Persian music and Muqams of Arabic and Turkish music. They have names for those scales you don’t have names for!
Great video, really well researched and presented. I remember hearing Doolittle for the first time on a visit to my sister in London back in 1990, she had the album on cassette and it totally shook me. It gave me the feeling of coming home, that this music was made for me, it had so many ingredients from the music that been in the soundtrack of my life to that point, it was a really profound moment. It certainly cut my journey time into university on my skateboard 🛹 it was an exciting time to be alive.
Thank you for this video - very informative. I just learned about the existence of microtones this morning ad you've given me lots to explore!
I saw them live last Saturday, it was insane. Now i fell down the KG rabbit hole and here we are, studying microtones 😂
That’s awesome. They are a great and interesting band in many ways. Thanks for sharing and watching 👍
I have fully committed to nano-notes. And my accuracy has skyrocketed. Many can't understand the brilliance. They're just haters...trying to say the music is out of tune. Wrong. Oh so wrong. And I've started to explore quantum tones. Finding I seem to have a knack for it. 🙃
🤣
Microtonals takes me straight back to Ancient Sumer, desert missions on Camel back.
You should talk about Lighting Bolt The Bass player uses banjo stings for his strings. It be fun to watch ya play a bass with said strings.
Oh i've listened to them before. I didn't know that though. I'll consider it.
Yes absolutely do it !!!
Microtonal music is interesting and I love it
It sure is. Me to!
Great video, and such a knowledgeable comment section. hehe
i love the editing in this! great explanation :)
Sleep drifter is very Television sounding, sounds awesome
Haven't listened all that much to Television honestly. I'm more of a Modern Lovers fan. I've heard they're a bit similar in sound.
Love the new concept! Did not know his bass also had some extra frets. Wonder if more guitar/bassists play like this, I'll dig into it! Thanks for the information Lie.
Thanks Jackie. Yes they're definitely an anomaly with their wacky instruments. Really cool and interesting though so it's worth the listen.
@@LieLikesMusic found this: ua-cam.com/video/eZpMIn6GyBk/v-deo.html
Great video man. I don't think I've seen someone talk as effectively about what it's like to play one of these. You're going to make me buy a microtonal neck 🤣
Check my link in the description. I can get you set up!
@@tpguitars I may just go that. I built a telecaster deluxe from random parts last year. I'm using an old squire strat neck as a temporary thing. The more I think about it, the more I'd like a microtonal one. I saw when Charles got his last year (his channel is great too) so that's two positive reviews.
Awesome video! My only criticism is that i wish you explained why the different tuning system sounds so middle eastern. That aspect would've been cool to learn more about
There is a name for the microtonal music they're making, it is middle eastern music (Turkish/Iranian/Azeri/Armenian/Arab/Greek etc. they all have their own flavor yet similar) and they have names for the tones and microtones, modes(maqams), odd meter beats (aksak) and more complex rhythm patterns (usul) in that music teaching system (I'm using the names from Turkish music, because King Gizzard directly took from that flavor). The folk instrument on which their guitar frets are based, is saz/baglama.
It blows my mind to think of the possibilities of using microtonal melodies with harmony, check out Julian Carrillo, Mexican composer/ scientist, composer, violininst and conductor who carried out research on microtonalism since the end of the 19th century and developed the Sound 13 theory, the first attempt to formalize the systematic study of microtonalism. He was director of the National Conservatory of Music and the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico and founded the Beethoven Symphony Orchestra and the Sound 13 Orchestra, based in New York. He designed and built microtonal pianos and harps to perform his compositions, in an effort that brought together knowledge of acoustics, strength of materials, and music theory.
A lot of Turkish Psych bands and Saharan bands seem to get the same sounds from standard guitars. Does anyone know what tunings are used to achieve this?
Ahh microtonal sounds so much like the Sitar music of my yoof. The fret layout gave me the clue. Mind you there are some very complicated and beautiful Ragas out there.
Nice mars volta reference at the end! 😁
You're the first one to notice and make a comment on it. Awesome!
@@LieLikesMusic haha I saw it and was like "hey wait a minute...nice!!" 😁
@@cygnusx211268 Yeah well it's there for a reason ;)
@@LieLikesMusic ooh, exciting!
Also, wicked work on the video! I enjoyed it greatly and subbed. :)
BEST MODERN BAND OUT THERE
Cool video. :D Just some thoughts of mine:
a) Droning was heavily used in european music as well; think of bagpipes and even many classic organ pieces feature a drone in some parts.
b) Until the invention of the 12TET system around 1799, europed used several intonations including an approach of 19 tones to approximate the major third 5/4 frequency ratio at around 387 Cent better at the expense of perfect fifths being shrunk down to something between 697 or even 666 instead of 702. This major third is notably lower than the regular 400C third we are used to torture our kids ears with and i never liked any major scale at all... until i found a turkish guy on youtube covering King Gizzard on a microtonal guitar with small frets added for those lowered thirds and additional microtones. Also, on the 19-well tempered tuning the third gets streches up to 310C which is farther away from the perfect pythagoran 295 C of frequency ration 32/27. And it sounds... kinda awefull. Poor Mozart and all the other composers couln't write propper sad songs because their Cembali were hunted with weirdly sharpened minor thirds in favour of the less sharpened major third. So the 12TET is indeed better at approximating fifthts and minor thirds... I feel like this is the reason why music theorists are continuing to brabble about how every music listener has a "major bias" and how C-major is "the prototype for scales" when clearly, the 12TET major scale sounds childish and aweful and oh god, i can't stand this melodic torturing sharpened bullshit, please somebody get me a post punk band with distorted guitars and a minor third! Jeez!
My point is: The 12TET was never "the best compromise", it was just the "least worse" in terms of practicability for western music. And since "the west" like to justify its historic roots by means of weird math, there was the idea that the 12TET was somehow "the most natural system to use" and it stuck that way for about a century until the artists tried to re-open the field of tuning systems and microtones.
One weekend i sat down and tried to build up my own scale in an exel spread sheet from microsteps of 20, 21 and 30 in a simple pattern such that i would get 20+21+30=71 augmented prime and 71+21=92 small demi-tone, 92+20=112 diatonic demi-tone, 112+71=183 small whole tone, 183+21=204 big whole-tone... these are the "natural" small intervals known since ancient times. It worked wuite well and in the end i got 53 microtones where most fifths, major and minor thirds were perfect and... then i found out that there exsists a 53TET system which approximates the fifthts even better than i did at the expense of approximating the demi-tones... because of course somebody had already done that. :/ i adjusted my system slightly and i'm now going to write regular western harmony music with it, but seemingly random floating up or down a comma while doing so and it just feels soooo natural to use this system... but i get that most people don't want 53 keys per octave or play fretless all day long. But my computer doesn't care...
So, yeah, there is more to microtonality than just adding quarter-tones in between the demitones of 12TET. :)
Poor bastard typed all that for 1 like. Here's another
@@yommmrr thanks. it is appreciated.
kult å se noen ta på seg oppgaven å forklare microtonalitet, you got skills 🌸
Takka dude. Digger å lære nye ting.
Lie, I don’t wanna be that guy and idk if someone pointed this out yet. You said (13:50) that it gives it a Middle-Eastern feeling, and then said like a sitar. The sitar is a SouthEast Asian instrument, used primarily in India. A more suitable example would be an Oud. It’s a lute-like instrument that’s fretless and most performances on it requires droning. I hope you check it out.
Or a saz in Turkey
What a fantastic vidéo, so much work involved, thank you !
When I listen to you play , I hear a lot of cords and sound of the band Tool ! I really like this sound a lot and want to explore it more ! Thank you for sharing this !
I don't know a lot about music, but I found this video really interesting and enlightening. Well done man!
What song did he play @14:59 ?
You can play some chords too based on the 11th harmonic, which is a quartertone, like C - F‡ (F# - 50 cents), maybe with an extra octave thrown in. If you have "6th tone" frets, you can do 7th harmonic chords like C - A‡‡ (A# - 30 cents). It's easy to do this in an open chord tuning. Even a regular major 3rd is 15 cents too sharp compared to the 5th harmonic (9th fret). Eddie Van Halen used to detune the B string to play just major triads on some songs.
Actually like C - A‡ (A# minus a quartertone) approximates a harmonic 7th interval or "7/4" (within 19 cents).
i’d kill for a microtonal guitar, but i don’t have the cash to get one. the creativity that 24 tet gives is so cool
Slide
It‘s true that western music theory is having a hard time explaining microtones, but as oriental music has used them for a long time, it would have been logical to include arabian music theory. Especially the maqams, because thats where you find the scales they used or borrowed.
I love when he talked to himself in that interview
The Kings of Modern Rock
@8:00 Mode of a mode... sounds like a derivative in calculus. And now I shall think of the Gizz as Modal Calculus.
Saw them live last month! legendary band
Oh maaaan. I'd love to see them live sometime.
Fantastic. I like the way the micro tones give the guitar a Turkish, eastern sound, very similar to the Saz.
Because the scales they use are based on Turkish makams.
Well done. Thanks for an awesome video and helping me further understand microtones.
Not sure if it's just my ears but O.N.E. DEFINITELY sounds like it has microtonal notes in it. I don't think the version played at 16:50 is accurate.
Check out the Uighur Dutar...also, I've always called the semi-tones "green notes". I first noticed them while listening to Miles Davis.
One thing so would like to add, is that these microtones are not ones based off of “true” tuning per intervals, only equal, unlike a lot of eastern music. On Sitar for example, they can adjust intonation extremely accurately.
What’s he playing at 15:00?
There's nothing new about the usage of microtones by KGLW except that the genre which is rock. It's clearly heavily influenced by Turkish folk music. For those folks who want to dig deeper I recommend searching the terms "bağlama" and "türkü".
I just watched charles video and got this in recommended
Cool thanks for watching. And yes Charles has a great channel too!
I've been trying to make melodies with microtones, and it's very interesting, but how do u built a microtonal scale like in "major/minor terms"?? I know that eastern music use other systems to built scales and melodies, and i would like to know if there's a way to make an scale adding these microtones, thank u :D
Apparently there's a whole genre of Anatolian rock (turkish rock) that i didn't know about until i published this video. They might be using such scales. It's worth googling and checking out. I'm very new to this as well, so i'm not familiar with any of those scales yet.
@@LieLikesMusic thank u very much!!!
ive been waiting for this.
It's your lucky day then. Any other bands you'd like to see me cover in the future?
@@LieLikesMusic even if you don't do a video, you should definitely check out Goat! great band
Outstanding explanation and deep dive !
We love KGLW…!
look up “Disoriented Ghost - Metamorphic” for some more modern microtonal psych, definitely gizz inspired although they use a different scale/fret placement and incorporate more world instruments, couple records on youtube that come up first when u search
Thanks for this awesome video, you allowed me to finally access this band. I was trying to listen to them a few times over the last few years and it never clicked, it just sounded too far out. But this video actually was the first time I learned about microtonal and I'm giving them a closer listen and it's been really cool. Thanks bud
That's awesome man! Then my work is done hehe. I experienced the same thing though. I found out about them back in 2017. But i'm way more into them nowadays after more exposure.
Thanks so much for making this video! Very cool stuff! Wouldve never learned about microtones otherwise.
Thanks Chris. That's very kind of you. Keep on rockin!
Dude really put a wallet on his snare
Lmao
For that wallet'y sound
Good stuff! Faleminderit shume
String bending for microtonal ?
Scalloped fretboard for microtonal?
10:43 song?
Did ur camera freeze while having that conversation with ur friend?
I saw secret chiefs 3 use these guitars. Maybe 20 years ago. Cool stuff.
Do you plan to make a video about Igorrr? He has quite interesting material too.
Explains why I couldn't play LW licks on my regular guitar
Amazing trip into microtonality ! Thank you ;)
How is it that there seem to be a few 'missing' extra frets on your microtonal neck ?
12:25 - I think I remember hearing them say that they use F# tuning on the whole guitar (F#, A#, C#, F#, C#, F#). Not 100% sure, but you could experiment with it!
On a playthrough of Minimum Brain Size, Joey said that most of the microtonal stuff is tuned C# F# C# F# B E
@@nickbarthram1112 and cookie plays in standard
@@tpguitars Yeah, Cookie and Lucas (I think) both still play in standard
Thanks for pointing that out. It's worth trying out.
MAXA!!! best collab
Yeah he's a cool dude :) I'm glad you liked it.
Great video! Looks like a lot of fun playing that guitar, I kinda want one now :-)
Hehe well you can always buy one. But it's worth being into King Gizzard's music first i guess. Or some turkish anatolian rock.
@@LieLikesMusic There's some good stuff in the old Turkish prog catalogue! Like most people, I discovered that genre after listening to King Gizzard, haha :-)
Can you link the Gizzverse image from 1:02
MInd = Blown. How people figure this shit out will always amaze me.
This was an interesting video, but as a musician actually practicing traditional and classical eastern microtonal music, I feel like a huge part is missing.
The whole point of maqam is not breaking existing intonation into more pieces, but using the natural scales that emanate from the first few harmonics of your base note. Just intonation is a western invention (and a very useful one), that made symphonic music, western harmony and many more possible, but the natural scales existed before that.
There are also many different intonation systems, some sounding more "just" and some sounding more "wrong". In many cases, when playing a fretless instrument, the actual interpretation of a specific note depends on so many things, like personal style and the player's mood.
Someone with a solid understanding of maqam might had been a much better consultant for your research than anyone with a degree in western harmony.
However, being bitter is not the point here, so I suggest to anyone interested the best book that I know of existing on an English translation for Turkish classical music. www.goodreads.com/book/show/15762253-turkish-music-makam-guide , and I will also suggest some bands that are experimenting with fusion/modern approach to traditional sounds. (Don't forget, there is a whole musical world behind these 😅😅) (Laço Tayfa, Hudna,Ibrahim Maalouf, New York Gupsy All Stars are some examples)
The links to amazon products only lead to amazon home page, not the products.
Any video for Black Metal? My favorite is Emperor
I wanna see a video on Mayhem hahaha
(12:45) King Gizzard have a video out that discloses the tunings they use for their microtonal stuff which is defo worth checking out! ua-cam.com/video/bC-cJvIZiRo/v-deo.html
Yea quite a few people mentioned this video. Should've checked it out before. Thanks for sharing
Drums tuned to play microtones!! :D He was joking i believe! Drums are pretty hard to tune even in a standard notes
I'm not too sure. Maybe it was a joke, maybe it wasn't. If it was he's not exactly a connoisseur of irony.
Some drummers do but most don't. Even if not tuned to specific notes, drums are still tuned in pretty standard intervals. By tuning say the rack toms to be very close intervals and the floor tom to be a big interval they could be considered to be microtonal.