LIZARDS EXIST

Towards the end of 2014 I decided I was going to review as many new albums by new (less known) artists as I could. Unfortunately, too many albums that I "forced" myself to listen to ended up being a regrettable inwastement of emotional energy .. well, at least I can get some solace from the fact that a few hundred dollars went towards the noble cause of "supporting art" .. whatever.

Thankfully, the Lizards Exist turned out to be a real treat - and the only 2014 debut album I really liked and am going to listen to again (and again). Here is why, in broad strokes:

- The quality of production leaves nothing to be desired - The songwriting is absolute top-notch - In the "taste and measure" category, the Lizards score as high as Pink Floyd in their heyday - The album is fully instrumental, which is a huge plus in my eyes - You can call me a weirdo to my face, but album titles are important. Lizards Exist is one of the best album titles "prog" artists have ever come up with. Ever. - The Lizards plays very well in the car and other less-than-hifi circumstances

Here is one and only thing that keeps me from awarding the Lizards 5 stars: boy, do I wish the bass and the drums (especially on "58") were a little jazzier .. can't feel them groove (I guess?).

Please, please get this album out on a physical carrier, with proper album art. I would definitely love to have it on vinyl.

This album is the result of the work of four talented and dedicated musicians who uniquely and rather nobly have decided to go back to analog - not necessary but it makes for a treat. And luckily enough, the actual music on this record is some of the finest instrumental space in a long time. They know what their doing both in songcraft and in production, so their magnificent soundscapes and guitar work come out strong and warm. This is just killer and beautiful at once. "58" sticks out as the best track, but the other three, least of all the seventeen minute long "Anunnaki Dance", are not slackers. Simply a wonderful listen that comes out like a lost gem of '70's space dug out from some record company's basement, set to finally blow minds. Highly, highly recommended.

2015 started with a great surprise, when this new Croatian band appeared on the forum with a very strong debut album.

The album starts with 'Bamija', that sounds a bit like Soft Machine and Pink Floyd jamming together, with highly delayed electric guitar, nice jazzy Rhodes and some sweet Mellotron near the end.

The beginning of 'Ljetni Hit' reminds of Can, with really skilfull drumming and groovy bass guitar. The guitar joins the song with a vibrant clean solo and then the very spacey synthesizer. After a great but brief drum solo, the song ends with a cool organ led funky part.

'58' shows how great the band's songwriting and musicianship is, with great interplay between the musicians. It reminds a bit of Gong's fusion sound, and the synthesizer sounds of Ozric Tentacles.

The album ends greatly with the 17 minute epic 'Anunnaki Dance', that starts with a great bass riff, murky electric piano and guitar with very warm 60's tremolo. All of a sudden the music is invaded by a goose bumping wave of Hammond organ and a great guitar solo that goes with it. After a while everything collapses to give way to the psychedelic interlude, in a very Floydian fashion. The song finishes by reemerging, sounding a bit like early Eloy, and reprising its beginning.

Besides the quality of the music itself, the production and mastering are stellar, matching with the completely analog way it was played and recorded.

There isn't a single wasted note here and I can't rate this mind-blowing album with less than 5 stars.

(I really hope they release it on vinyl someday)

Beaming down from Croatia in 2010, the bafflingly named Lizard's Exist made an instant splash on the psychedelic and spacerock scene with their privately released self-titled debut four years later. The four piece band offer a vinyl-length jammy, improvised mix of extended instrumentals loaded with mind-warping keyboard melts, heavy guitar grooves and delirious unhinged drumming full of spontaneity, and even some refreshingly sly little winks of humour! Taking in influences from early Pink Floyd, Nektar, little traces of the Ozric Tentacles and even modern improvised spacerock acts like the Oresund Space Collective, the Lizard's take it one step further by bringing unpredictable driving, gutsier, punchier bursts of power and energy hurtling through the slowly unfolding and drifting expansive cosmic atmospheres...or something like that!

Right from the opener, it's clear that the album perfectly captures a genuine 70's vibe, which is due to the band only using vintage equipment that was available in that era. `Bamija' jumps back and forth between slow-burn mystery and up-tempo runs of frantic eruptions, sounding like a blend of the first tiny cosmic Sixties steps of the Pink Floyd and perhaps even the first Nektar album. Ponderous bass, propulsive drumming and shimmering Fender Rhodes organ pin-pricks and fiery wailing electric guitar simmer slowly one minute and rage in a sucking vacuum-like vortex of distortion the next, and be sure to listen out for the whispering Mellotron veils that grow into a choir in the finale. Mellow guitar blues and disorientating splintering shards cut through `Ljetni Hit', and just as the piece seems to come to a rather clunky abrupt ending, it's all a tease as the band tears straight back into a noisy psychedelic freak-out with funky wah-wah guitars, nimble-fingered infernal Hammond organ runs and the obligatory wild Seventies extended drum solo!

`58' is full of an infectious and frequently playful bouncing energy with rapid-fire interplay between funky guitars, manic drumming, scratchy Hammond organ and pulsating bass, plus some Ozrics- like synth bubbles for good measure - never a bad thing! The band then close on the seventeen minute `Anunnaki Dance' that travels through a wide range of moods and environments. A slow psych build over glistening keys around chiming guitars, perfectly controlled drums slowly building in tempo, murmuring bass snaking along the background, rising and falling synth washes and electric piano fingertips tickling the horizon. The warmest of Hammond organ blankets envelope bluesy smouldering guitar wailing, before the band head for deepest space with echoing freeform sonic Glissando explorations that trickle like raindrops. A howling vacuum of feedback has the band escaping the black hole as confident thick droning Hammond organ and driving guitars swirl to a powerful climax.

If there is one complaint to make, it's that the bass is mixed far too low in some parts of the album. Where it should be upfront and making its presence known, it almost vanishes altogether to become a fairly non-descript barely audible thud in the background. Should the Lizard guys get picked up by a label who plan to re-release the album commercially, get that bass mixed way up and all will be right with the world!

But as it is, this self-titled debut from Lizard's Exist is still an exceptionally well-performed and exciting, lively take on all sounds jammy and psychedelic, and best of all, their music never comes across as aimless, instead always still remaining melodic and focused within the realms of improvisation. The four years the band have spent honing their skills have paid off with an exceptional debut album that already shows so much talent and even more potential to come. It's currently available on CD and download from their Bandcamp page at an absolute bargain price that puts many full-priced and established albums and artists to shame, so there's no excuse for not exploring this wonderful new young band!

Four stars.

2014 has turned out to be one of my favourite years for Prog and you can certainly add this album to my list of favs from that year. LIZARDS EXIST are from Croatia and they have that relaxed Psychedelic sound that I love so much, often reminding me of AGITATION FREE during those laid back moments. They also can play really well as heard on the times they break out and let loose. Although I must admit I much prefer those spacey guitar and keyboard led sections.

"Bamija" features bass and cymbals early on with some atmophere as this beautiful laid back guitar comes in. Drums join in as it picks up some, then it picks up even more before kicking some ass 5 minutes in. A calm arrives a minute later with atmosphere, I like this. "Ljetni Hit" is darker with drums, atmosphere and that great sounding guitar being picked. Some spacey keyboards as it picks up. I like the bass before 3 1/2 minutes that comes to the fore. A drum solo before 6 minutes seems out of place along with the keyboard solo, but it's okay. Laughter ends it. "58" has outbursts of power early on as the bass throbs and drums pound. It settles back as picked guitar and melancholic synths lead the way. Contrasts continue and we get some ripping guitar 2 1/2 minutes in along with prominent keyboards. The tempo and mood continue to change. Not a fan of the final minute although they are having some fun.

My favourite tune is the 17 1/2 minute closer called "Anunnaki Dance". Bass, a light beat and a spacey atmosphere standout early on as that amazing sounding guitar arrives. I'm reminded of SIDDHARTHA from Turkey here and elsewhere with that guitar and keys that echo. Liquid keys come and go then the organ floats in around 5 minutes as the guitar plays over top. So good! An experimental calm arrives before 8 1/2 minutes that is very spacey. Some crazy guitar changes all that then it kicks in before 13 minutes. The guitar starts to solo a minute later then it settles back again late.

Man i've enjoyed spinning this one, and take away the bombast and I might be giving this 5 stars.

Croatian band LIZARDS EXIST was formed in 2010, and the line-up completed in 2013. The stated aim of the band is to spread their influences from the 60s/70s Kraut and British progressive rock scene to the audience by using only 100% analog vintage equipment (pre 1976). Their self-titled debut album was self released towards the tail end of 2014.

In the realm of instrumental, retro-oriented space rock Lizards Exist comes across as a quality band with excellent musicians that truly masters what they attempt to do, and I hope they will reappear with more material at some point in time. If you tend to fancy music of this kind, this album should be regarded as a quality addition to your music collection -perhaps not an amazingly brilliant album, but at least a high quality and solid release in my book.

In the existential quandaries of the world of space rock, questions are posed that may seem obvious yet nothing is what it seems in the Twilight Zone where everything must be questioned and validated under totally new paradigms of reality. Do LIZARDS EXIST or are they holographic manifestations of a program known as The Matrix? While these questions may not be answered in musical form it hasn't stopped this Croatian psychedelic space rock band from the city of Karlovac from pondering these enigmatic concepts that may or may not be beneficial to the psyche.

Anyways, this band which may or may not still exist (unlike lizards of course!) and has so far released only one self-titled album which emerged in the year 2014 as a mere CD-R but has found perpetual vitality on Bandcamp, YouTube and other musical formats. This so far only musical representation of these trippy Croatians features a mere four tracks at a traditional album's playing time of just around 40 minutes. The first three tracks all race past the seven minute mark but the grandaddy of them all is the closing 17-minute "Anunnaki Dance" which showcases the band's true psychedelic prowess in flying colors.

The lineup consists of Boris Brozović (drums, percussion), Sini?a Mraović (guitar), Roko Margeta (keyboards, synthesizer) and Tihomir Zdjelarević (bass) who provide a rock based jamming session. Unlike lots of modern space rock like Ozric Tentacles for example, LIZARDS EXIST features the guitar and bass as the dominant instrumentation although the keys and drums are just as prominent. This isn't the dreamy kind of space rock in the vein of the most lysergic Krautrock trips to be heard but rather based on a jazzy rock sort of underpinning that are decorated with trippy guitar effects, keyboard sound excursions and other musical accoutrements but overall this is highly accessible jam rock with guitar sounds ranging from funk and jazz to reverb rich Floydian escapism.

I can't say there is a tremendous difference between tracks. They all sort of blend together like good space rock should. This is the kind of psychedelic music that works both actively and passively therefore you can either zone out and let it all soak in or you can follow the individual instruments and experience the musical tapestry in action directly. This is an all instrumental experience unmarred by substandard vocals or bad accents so there is a timeless universal beauty to LIZARD'S EXIST that also delivers a brand of space rock purity. There are really no bells and whistles to offer. This music is promulgated by hypnotic bass grooves, warm guitar tones and ample doses of keyboards.

The highlight is the 17-minute closer "Anunnaki Dance" which features some excellent guitar playing. Based on blues and jazz guitar riffing the instrument is allowed off its leash and delivers some crazy solos while the bass, drums and keys dance around the main riffing framework. The track is composed of two separate parts and after the guitar dominated first half concludes then things really dip into the lysergic zone. Think of Can's "Aumgn" or "Peking O" on "Tago Mago" and you're on the right track, however this section doesn't outstay its welcome and the rock based guitar / bass / keys / drum jamming session resumes and ushers the album out much as it began, namely with guitar-led melodic cyclical loops that conspire to create a larger psychedelic journey through sound.

Not as "out there" as many space rock bands but carefully calculated to deliver just enough psychedelia without leaving the mainframe space rock behind. The music drifts from super mellow to the closing heavier rock freakouts with crazy guitar pick slides and the drums and bass bantering on. The organs are always in the mix adding the proper doses of spaciness to the overall scene. I would definitely consider LIZARD'S EXIST a more retro sounding band mining its sounds from the fertile 70s scene. Think the more guitar oriented jams in the world of Krautrock and you're on the right track. Well done without sounding derivative of any other band. Hopefully these LIZARDS will crawl out into the sun for another round of space rock.