I’m in Your Mind Fuzz - King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard 2014

Today I will be doing a song-by-song review of the 2014 album I’m in Your Mind Fuzz by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. It is my favorite Gizzard album. If you don’t know of them, they are one of Trey Anastasio’s (and my) favorite bands. Note: The original track list and timings are as follows:

1. I’m in Your Mind - 3:35
2. I’m Not in Your Mind - 2:58
3. Cellophane - 3:10
4. I’m in Your Mind Fuzz - 2:51
5. Empty - 4:12
6. Hot Water - 3:24
7. Am I in Heaven? - 7:06
8. Slow Jam 1 - 2:56
9. Satan Speeds Up - 3:38
10. Her and I (Slow Jam 2) - 8:16

But https://www.reddit.com/r/KGATLW/comments/jyq53e/evidence_for_an_alternate_tracklist_for_mind_fuzz/ shows that the tracks flow better if we flip Am I in Heaven? and Slow Jam 1, and add the B-side to the Cellophane single, The Wholly Ghost, after Satan Speeds Up. It would read like this:

1. I’m in Your Mind - 3:35
2. I’m Not in Your Mind - 2:58
3. Cellophane - 3:10
4. I’m in Your Mind Fuzz - 2:51
5. Empty - 4:12
6. Hot Water - 3:24
7. Slow Jam 1 - 2:56
8. Am I in Heaven? - 7:06
9. Satan Speeds Up - 3:38
10. The Wholly Ghost - 3:20
11. Her and I (Slow Jam 2) - 8:16

I will be reviewing the album with the original track list in mind. There are no real outtakes from the album. Here is the individual-song review, describing all 11 tracks.

I’m in Your Mind

The album opens with 3.5 minutes of an exact drum and bass pattern that never changes through track 4. The song is an upbeat garage rock thrasher, and showcases Gizzard’s “more is more” approach to production and layering, with a full-on assault of distortion, high delayed guitar runs, and screaming. The song has a few riffs recycled in the next three songs. The ending jumps seamlessly into…

I’m Not in Your Mind

…the Middle Eastern guitar lines of this song. The bass and drums are the exact same as the last track, and never break. This song is slightly less of a metal assault, but has way more feedback, and no vocals. The ending, after the big feedback line, is just the bass and drums, which moves directly into…

Cellophane

…the slight guitar delay lines over the bass and drum pattern, again not stopping at all. This one has a different melody and chords, but is in the same key. It has the same screaming as I’m in Your Mind, though, and more vocals. This song was released as the only single from Mind Fuzz, backed with The Wholly Ghost (to come). The song has a little bass riff at the end which, with a huge guitar delay slide/bang, leads right into…

I’m in Your Mind Fuzz

…the title track and basically a reprise of track 1. The bass and drums don’t break, again, but at the end it crossfades with the same recording as the verse of I’m in Your Mind, muted a little more. The end gets more reverb-y, and on “When I’m in your mind”…

Empty

…what sounds like a delay-ridden recording of a tape being inserted into a machine. By now the fadeout of Mind Fuzz is completely out, and the bass and drums jump in. Soon some faded in guitar swells and keyboards come in, and the vocals. Then the middle section with the flute is repeated over the next verse. The coda fades right over…

Hot Water

…the fade-in of this flute and bass-driven song. Go listen to Robot Stop off the later Nonagon Infinity and you will find this insanely cool riff in there. This may be my favorite song off the album. It is so cool, with the verse chord progression’s key changes, and the fadeout includes the first main appearance of the trademark “melting” pitch effect used on much of this album. It is used briefly on Empty, though. The fadeout slowly gets more reverb, and a scratching guitar is heard, which leads right into…

Slow Jam 1

…the strumming of this song, which is very laid-back. The rest of the band jumps in impeccably, and this groove isn’t too long, but very cool. The end takes, again, some reverb, though not with a fadeout, and…

Am I in Heaven?

…some messy, offbeat harmonica and acoustic guitar noodling is heard. Then Stu starts strumming and sings some lyrics, and flute is heard. Then, it abruptly switches to more distorted vocals, and electric guitar, and jumps into an evil, thrashy metal section. Then perhaps the best example of a full assault sound comes with the chorus, which is just freaked-out repetitions of the title. Then a big jam comes, with more lyrics, then the beginning over the metal instrumentation. Then the other lyrics come, with the acoustic, solo Stu instrumentation. Then some of the aforementioned pitch-melting brings us evilly back to the metal jam. Then it ends soon after another chorus, with some very reverb-y guitar flourishes, then some scratching, and Stu is heard to slide down to…

Satan Speeds Up

…the riff from this song. Then the band joins in, on one of my other favorites from this album. The riff is great, very Hendrix-esque, then it, again, melts up to a very peaceful, beautiful section, with falsetto vocals. Then some cliffhanger lyrics and a melt-down lead us back to a shorter repetition of the riff. Then it melts to the verse again, and the lyrics are extended slightly, so instead of the last line being “When I stop to think of all that…”, it is extended to “When I stop to think of all that we’ve done, Satan’s at the door”. The riff, slightly more menacing, comes back for longer, then, instead of melting, takes a pretty flute riff to go back to the verse, which adds “Who’s he looking for?” to the lyric above, which in my opinion is the creepiest lyric on a very evil album. It goes back for one more riff repetition, then some meltdowns and guitar sliding around, we hear…

The Wholly Ghost

…a distorted, sped up voice calling “One, two, three, four!” Then a guitar riff and some “ghost” noises come in with the whole band. Then the most noticeable sped up vocals on the album come with some cool riffs and progressions. After the verses, a really cool chorus comes, then goes back to some extended repetitions of the riffs, and then an extended chorus, to round out a great penultimate song. The end has some melting-up, which ends a fourth higher than the beginning of the melting. This fades to…

Her and I (Slow Jam 2)

…some radio tuning noise, then perhaps the most chill song on the record. At 8 minutes, I think the song overstays its welcome, but is very good for when you aren’t really paying attention to the music and just need some relaxing stuff. I love the extended jam, which ends peacefully with some reverb that cuts off. This makes me think that the album was designed to loop infinitely, as a precursor to Nonagon Infinity. The reverb could definitely loop to the abrupt reverb and drums that open the album.

So there. I love this album and so should you. As stated earlier, there are no outtakes. If you want a review of the way it was released originally, just flip tracks 7 and 8 back, and erase 10. Read the Reddit link at the beginning for the evidence on this whole thing.