
If you are bummed out that Edgar Winter, Thin Lizzy, Tower of Power, Chicago, Traffic, and Wings stopped making records, I have just the salve to soothe your aching soul.
Phantom Island, the new release from Melbourne's King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, ticks all the boxes on the 1970 AOR rock radio playlist checklist, and does it in their own voice and with style. Horns, flutes, strings, fuzzed out electric guitars, vocal harmonies, and mystical lyrics all play a grand role in the band's twenty-seventh (!!!) release. Recorded at roughly the same time as their 2024 release, Flight b741, Phantom Island's collection of songs are the more mellow and laid back companion to the rowdier Flight b741.
The band keeps proving over and over again that genre construct does not apply, and it is this very point that keeps me coming back for more. Their live shows are a journey through metal, kraut rock, electronic dance music, Turkish psych-rock, '70s inspired jam band jams, boogie-rock, and more.
Phantom Island was produced and mixed by KGLW frontman Stu Mackenzie [Tape Op #149], recorded by Sam Joseph, orchestral recordings by Lachlan Carrick and Ross Cockle, and mastered by Joe Carra.
Tape Op is a bi-monthly magazine devoted to the art of record making.
Or Learn More
MORE ENTRIES

BLOG
Alan Sparhawk with Trampled by Turtles
June 24, 2025
BLOG
Ronan's Recording Show features Jerks Behind Tape Op mag
December 24, 2009
BLOG
Vinyl Lives?
November 3, 2009
BLOG
MICS FEATURED IN THE BEATLES?: ROCK BAND? VIDEO GAME
October 26, 2009

BLOG
Damian Wagner and the Sound of the Earth?
October 21, 2009

BLOG
Meeting Your Maker
October 17, 2009
BLOG
This happens EVERY week
October 7, 2009

BLOG
Nashville Recording Summit Nov. 13-15
October 7, 2009
BLOG
The solution, clearly, is more dissonance
October 2, 2009