Words by Chase (aka yoshigem), artwork by grey_locke
Greetings patrons of the great kglw.net. My name is Chase (or yoshigem if you only know me online) and I am bringing you the fourth entry into the Nice V monthly column, where contributors to the site highlight five tracks, performances, or anything else from the wider King Gizzard world in hopes of bringing delight to your lovely lives. This entry will be entirely dedicated to some of my favorite performances of King Gizzard’s microtonal music from the past few years.
I doubt I have to explain microtonality to someone reading a kglw.net blog post, but for comprehensiveness’ sake I’ll give my best shot at an explanation before we get into the tracks.
Western scales of music typically utilize 12 equal intervals of frequencies, or pitches, from one C to the next. This is known as the 12-tone equal temperament (or 12-TET) scale. This makes the smallest movement on a Western scale a half step, or semitone; think C to C#. However, that doesn’t mean pitches between those two notes don’t exist, and through adding extra frets on guitars or programming keyboards in certain ways, it is possible to explore those pitches in between. On King Gizzard’s “Explorations Into Microtonal Tuning” series - which includes 2017’s Flying Microtonal Banana and the sister albums K.G. and L.W. - they employ a 24-TET scale, effectively doubling the notes available compared to most Western music. In practice, this allows the band to utilize half-sharps and half-flat notes to explore a wider sonic playground than a normally-fretted guitar would allow. The band uses alternate tunings of their instruments (their guitars are usually tuned to C# F# C# F# B E) that resemble those of instruments like the bağlama or traditional Persian lutes.
There is a wide, fascinating world of “alternative” (to Western music) scales beyond just 24-TET. The band themselves released a demo titled “9-TET” that sees a brief exploration of its titular 9-tone equal temperament scale. There’s also microtones that exist far beyond 24-TET, as there’s historical precedent of a 72-TET system. In fact, many believe the 12-TET system came out of a simplification of said scale. It’s really a seemingly endless rabbit hole, but none of that is entirely relevant to the three King Gizzard albums that are centered around microtonality. All three are firmly playing in a 24-TET world.
As the fretboard for their microtonal guitars has an entirely different note map than standard tuning - and a far bigger change than drop-D or even an open tuning like the DADGAD tuning used on “Float Along – Fill Your Lungs” - I don’t think it would be entirely out of line to say that as their familiarity with the microtonal material increased, so did their ambition and dexterity when it comes to improvising within said tracks. Most 2017 and 2018 performances of FMB material stayed pretty close to the studio renditions of the songs, but by 2019 the band had begun to find their legs and take more liberties with the material quite regularly. 2021’s “Micro-tour” celebrated the release of K.G. & L.W. and saw the band play entire shows with only their microtonal instruments, something that certainly helped them continue to hone their musicianship.
There are a lot of performances I weighed for this post, so I wanted to spread my choices across various tours as much as possible. All of the following picks are performances that I think stand tall above - or at least shoulder-to-shoulder with - the best live versions of these songs.
10/6/2022 Sleep Drifter
The first pick hails from the iconic “Gizztober” tour, specifically the Seattle show at the Paramount Theater. This “Sleep Drifter” is not only one of the longest ever at over 9 minutes but also features some of the slickest playing and cleverest teases of that entire fall tour.
Towards the beginning of the show, the track opens with some “Honey” teases and a slow build into the “Sleep Drifter” drum-beat. Joey lays down “O.N.E.” and “Billabong Valley” teases as Stu and Cookie play fun accompanying rhythms. After about two minutes of jamming, the band then hits the descending melody and begins “Sleep Drifter” properly.
The song’s saccharine lyrics are juxtaposed with some occasionally growled vocals from Stu as the band works through the main composition. At the 5-minute mark the band launches into an exploratory jam with funky wah rhythms leading the charge. Joey plays some “Rattlesnake” teases while the band begins to subdue the energy a bit and the three guitarists weave clever lines around each other. More “Honey” teases emerge, Lucas joining the fun this time, with Stu jumping in for some quotes. The band meditates on “Honey” for a few minutes before hitting a strong finish and transitioning directly into “Minimum Brain Size.”
Easily the most low-key performance of the list, I still find this “Sleep Drifter” to be a particularly lively one. The song has been a vehicle for some more energetic jams in its time - 11/1/24 comes to mind as having some really satisfying harmonica playing from Ambrose - but the somewhat less flashy approach here suits the song remarkably well. A super rewarding listen for big fans of the microtonal material.
6/8/23 Rattlesnake
I spent a lot of time going through pretty much every “Rattlesnake” the band played from 2022 to 2025 while working on this piece and I simply could not find another that is quite as interesting to me as this one.
This performance opened the band’s third of three shows at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, CO. While tuning, the band remarks on how profoundly grateful they are to be playing as the show was significantly delayed due to lightning in the area. The song seems to reflect this gratitude by kicking off with tight playing and a frenetic vocal delivery from Stu.
The band chugs right along through the first verses and bridge with aplomb, with some particularly inspired melodic ideas from Joey and Stu punctuating the song’s “Rattle, rattle, rattle...” refrain.
Around the 8:20 mark the band breaks out into a frenzied cacophony before calming into some “Sleep Drifter” teases and quotes with “Honey” teases following shortly behind. A prominent call-and-response refrain between Stu and Ambrose emerges while the rest of the band begins rebuilding back into a driving, turbulent jam that explodes around 13:20. The band reaches one of their most satisfying peaks to date before taking it back into the bridge before closing.
This “Rattlesnake” may on the surface appear a little unassuming but it features some of the band's most defined and interesting improvised ideas across any microtonal performances. More than anything else on this list, this one has to be heard to be understood. At almost 15 minutes, it’s decidedly the longest “Rattlesnake” performance of 2023 and one of the longest in the band’s history - an even more impressive feat when many of the song’s other longest performances see the band slipping into long medleys of other microtonal tracks, like their 10/10/22 performance at the same venue not even a year prior. I would like to give a nod to 10/4/22 for having my personal favorite of these medleys, however I find the musicianship on 6/8/23’s rendition to simply be second to none. With very few teases, the band still manages to keep the performance engaging, exciting, and surprising from start to finish. I’ve listened to this version probably hundreds of times since the shows and I still don’t find myself the slightest bit bored with it.
8/16/24 Doom City
And on a similar note, I don’t think I will ever get tired of NYC ‘24’s “Doom City.” Its key feature is an extended intro jam that makes it the longest version of “Doom City” by a staggering margin of about three minutes, nearly twice as long as an average performance.
The band launches directly into the jam with the three guitarists layering fuzzy, bouncy riffs. About a minute in, Cavs drops in and Lucas follows suit, laying down a sludgy 4/4 groove. Around 1:50, Stu begins to play the song’s signature ‘doom riff’ while the rest of the band continues to build for about another minute until everyone but Stu falls out. He continues to play the riff at a slower and slower tempo and the band comes back in before launching into the song proper around the 4:00 mark.
From here on out this rendition isn’t particularly different from other performances as its considered changes from the verses to the chorus don’t leave much space for jamming - although Cookie’s playing in the verse sections does stick out as particularly fun and inventive to me. It is, however, performed as exceptionally well as it has ever been, with very united playing from the band and some fantastic and impassioned vocal delivery from Stu. One of those performances that feels like the band is a living, breathing organism rather than a group of six.
There isn’t a heaping lot to say about it -the beauty of this performance might in part come from its simplicity. Intro jams are hardly a groundbreaking idea for King Gizzard - let alone the wider world of music - but similar to 6/8/23’s “Rattlesnake,” it's the masterful execution that earns this performance its spot. Ending with some fun noodling as the band tunes back up for “Nuclear Fusion,” this performance highlights the strength of the composition of “Doom City” while bookending it with rare and incredibly satisfying improvisation.
8/17/25 Billabong Valley
Perhaps showing a little bias, next up is another pick from a CO show. This “Billabong Valley” was about halfway through the third night of 2025’s inaugural Field of Vision in Buena Vista. Starting in May 2024, the band began to keep Stu on guitar during “Billabong” rather than hand off the Flying Microtonal Banana to Ambrose, which opened the door for more jamming and led to some pretty varied performances over the past couple years. While Amby would occasionally use this opportunity to leave the stage and roam the venues - 8/17/24 and 9/4/24 see him getting up to particularly entertaining antics - the most recent performances have focused a little more on the band’s musicianship and nowhere is this on better display than 8/17/25.
Preceded by some amusing banter referencing the infamous Australian rapper RAED, a short but sweet intro jam breaks out for about a minute. Following the intro, profoundly wah-riddled guitar lines beneath Ambrose’s impassioned vocals create an extremely textured and colorful palette for the song’s first verse. After the first chorus, Stu immediately begins to play subdued rhythms with Lucas, Cookie, Joey, and then Cavs subsequently joining in.
Slowly building in intensity, Stu begins to solo while Joey and Cookie provide a more colorful wah-ified rhythm underneath. Interestingly enough, the jam is less intent on microtonality than it is with its dark yet groovy vibe as there are far fewer notes outside of the Western scale here than most other jams within microtonal songs. It’s certainly still microtonal at its core, however, and in the unmistakable droning “FMB tuning.”
Joey directs the band to “slow it down” and a bit more noodling makes way for the iconic half-time (sometimes seemingly quarter-time live) reintroduction of the “Billabong” riff. As usual, the song explodes into Amby’s second verse and hook. Scuzzy guitars and deep basslines ring as Ambrose paces the stage with a lit cigarette in hand and brings the song to a climactic, cacophonous finish. It’s not the most lengthy nor the even the most exploratory performance of “Billabong Valley” but still a unique one filled with personality.
12/5/25 Straws in the Wind
Finally, looking at a performance that didn’t take place in the US, the most recent appearance of “Straws in the Wind” in Sydney is one of the most interesting renditions the song has ever seen. Since its introduction to the live show, “Straws” has been a mainstay of the microtonal material and often used as the primary jam vehicle when it comes to Ambrose-led songs, with its length regularly extending twice as long as the studio version.
The Enmore Theater’s performance begins the same way most do, with a tom-driven intro that sees Stu and Joey trade guitar lines while flirting with the song’s melody. They drop into the song’s first verse in usual fashion and while the song is played relatively straight, staccato guitar playing under the third verse begins to make way for the improvisational section.
About five minutes in, the band kicks into the jam, with growled backing vocals from Stu while Ambrose jumps down to the crowd for a small call-and-response section. Upon his return to the stage, Joey begins playing a distorted, chugging, metal-esque rhythm part, veering the jam into a heavy direction. After Joey lets up a bit, Stu reprises the song’s chorus riff before following suit as double-time playing from Cavs pulls the jam in a decidedly even heavier direction. The band doesn't linger too long as after a couple minutes of intensity, they bring the performance to a close.
Far from the longest performance in the “Straws” history but that’s to its benefit, all things considered, as many longer performances see a lot of noodling while Ambrose’s vocal improv becomes the focus. Many of those more meandering performances have their merits - 8/16/24 “Straws” is another personal favorite with its intense vocal effect manipulation - but there is something carnal and satisfying about hearing the song taken in a more aggressive direction.
That’s all I have for today. Thank you for reading and for visiting kglw.net. I am very grateful to be able to say I am a small part of the great team here. Stay tuned for more Nice Vs and other editorials, as well as everything else this great site has to offer! Cheers.