King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard have shared a snippet of new music that seems to indicate a turn toward a techno-driven sound on their upcoming album.
- READ MORE: King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard: “If something is shit and no one likes it, you just put out another one the next month”
The prolific Melbourne psych rock band confirmed Saturday (April 25) that their 28th studio record is finished, taking to Instagram to share a clip that sees the band members positioned behind wired-up synths as what appears to be a high-octane techno beat rings out.
The video was accompanied by a simple caption announcing that the album was done. The brief glimpse at their new material marks a notable sonic shift from 2025’s ‘Phantom Island’, which drew heavily on orchestral arrangements.
That said, the band have worked through various genres from album to album, and their fans are currently convinced that they’re also working on a bluegrass record with Billy Strings, although there’s been no confirmation on those rumours.
As with their recent output, their forthcoming album is expected to arrive through the band’s own p(doom) Records imprint.
It comes after the band hit out at their apparent AI replacement on Spotify late last year. It came after they announced that they were pulling all of their music from the platform over their opposition to the company’s founder, Daniel Ek, funding the Helsing corporation.
Ek co-founded the investment company Prima Materia, which has invested over €600million in Helsing, a Munich-based company creating drones and artificial intelligence for military operations, per the Financial Times.
Following their withdrawal, a series of songs were uploaded to a Spotify page named King Lizard Wizard, with some believing they were AI-generated. King Gizzard frontman Stu Mackenzie was credited as the composer on the tracks.
On their alleged AI replacement, Mackenzie told The Music: “Trying to see the irony in this situation. But seriously wtf we are truly doomed”.
Mackenzie later explained their decision: “We’ve been saying fuck Spotify for years. In our circle of musician friends, that’s what people say all the time, for all of these other reasons which are well documented.”
He went on to explain that while he doesn’t consider himself an activist and was not comfortable “soapboxing”, it felt like “a decision staying true to ourselves, and doing what we think is is right for our music, having our music in places that we feel all right about.”
“The thing that made it hard was I do want to have our music be accessible to people,” he added. “I don’t really care about making money from streaming. I know it’s unfair, and I know they are banking so much. But for me personally, I just want to make music, and I want people to be able to listen to it. The hard part was to take that away from so many people.”
Since their decision, King Gizzard have put their albums up for sale on Bandcamp, allowing fans to name their price – and you can access their records here.
