I was going through some old 7"s and dug out these two, featuring the massively awesome Michio Kurihara, one of my fave guitarists of all time. Kurihara is probably known best for playing with Ghost and Boris, but almost anything with his name on it is "worth it" in this house. His stun gun/swarm of bees Cippolina/Jacks sustain style is so damn psychedelic it boggles the mind. At turns beautifully melodic, other times harsh riff damage.
These were both released by Japan's HG records (?) back in the 90s, the White Heaven 7" is from '94 and Loud Machine 5000 (also known as Loud Machine 2000) is from '92. The Loud Machine 5000 tracks remind me somewhat of the angular sound of Heroin and Clikitat Ikatowi, but not quite as frenzied. The vocals are a bit pro, but worth it for the Kurihara pyrotechnics for sure. The White Heaven jammers are not on any of their other releases as far as I can tell. Enjoy and check out this awesome Kurihara discography and start filling in the gaps! Oh yeah, photo is from Ghost's May 8 2009 show at Johnny Brenda's. LINKS REMOVED
One of my fave bands of that last few years is 20 Guilders, the duo of Suzuki Junzo (Miminokoto, Pouring High Water) and Tabata Mitsuru (AMT & The Cosmic Inferno, Zeni Geva, Leningrad Blues Machine). I first became of aware of Junzo from his work on the Archive CD release of Astral Traveling Unity. I think he posted on the AMT message board, but we have been emailing for a few years now and his work is always incredibly diverse and interesting, from his solo releases to his group releases with Miminokoto and others. His inverted raw blues sound is always identifiable seems equally informed by Takashi Mizutani and Jerry Garcia as well as Loren Connors, Dock Boggs and Mississippi John Hurt. One of these days I hope he and Kawabata do some duo recordings! Tabata of course needs no introduction, his guitar squall is an institution. Of course my first non Zeni Geva exposure to Tabata was his awesome turn in the Leningrad Psychedelic Blues Machine's heavy cover of "Dark Star," still a complete and utter mindfuck. And of course, he is the bassist in Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno.
Mason Jones posted a song from 20 Guilders on his great Ongakublog and it was an instant hit in this house. I had to track down their self released CDrs and their cassette on Sloow Tapes. Dreamy, spacey and somewhat Syd, I was hooked on the relatively gentle sounds from these two multi dimensional guitarists (plus other sounds). Their first "real" (silver CD) release comes from the oddball Gyuune Cassette label, a self titled eight song trip that contains new versions of some of their older songs as well as new jams. Most of the songs contain some drums and bass and make the sound fuller, more of a band than a duo, an unexpected surprise and making the songs heavier without losing the delicate touch of the earlier releases. The deep head swirl dual guitars are still there and better than ever, the song writing is top notch. The track I am featuring here is "Except Emanuel," one of the harder rocking jams on the CD. Definitely some windblown Crazy Horse, guitars pushed high in the mix, washing against each other, while the drums are slight and way in the back. Great singing, distorted guitars, boiling. I wish it was 20 minutes long.
Suzuki Junzo's recent solo release on Plunk's Plan, Buried Sky, Spider Torn to Pieces is a fantastic distillation of Junzo's various influences and mostly features him on solo electric guitar with some vocals and some drums from LSD March's Ikuro Takahashi. Junzo's eclectic style makes more sense than ever on this one, for me it is his most rewarding solo work yet. The nods to country and Venus blues, plus the highwater marks of Japanese underground guitar damage are many and often coming out of nowhere, but the whole makes perfect sense. I get the feeling that this album will be rewarding for years to come, I keep picking up new phrases and sounds with each listen. For Acid Mothers Sunday, I am posting Junzo's "Black Pendulum." This is a bit of an oddity for the album as it features almost techno/Krautrock propulsion, but not as much jarring ragged guitar lines as a lot of the tracks. But damn, it is such a good atmospheric head nod for driving in the snow, and that is how we roll this month.
Both artists will also be on the upcoming Grateful Dead covers release I am curating, Left Hand Monkey Wrench on Prophase Music sometime in 2011. Junzo's drone project Pouring High Water tackle "Franklin's Tower" and Tabata plays bass on the Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno version of "Eyes of the World." Both are mindblowingly awesome.
Here are some videos of 20 Guilders live, tracks for download below.
Hey all... welcome to 2011, once again sorry for the lack of posts, but you know how it goes. I was going to try to work up a best of 2010 list, but until I get that together, here is a new Acid Mothers Sunday, which I am sure you all prefer anyway. That said, the Purling Hiss album Public Service Announcement is probably my fave release of 2010, so check it out if you care.
Anyway, on to the meat. This time around we have a live set from Makoto & Pikachu. Makoto is of course, Makoto Kawabata from Acid Mothers Temple and Pikachu is Pikachu from the sadly split Afrirampo as well as Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno. This one was on a split (with Human Shower) CDr Kawabata was selling on the 2010 AMT tour. 20 plus minutes of noisy spaced out weirdness from these two. Drums and drum machines, yelling, glissando guitar, laughter and hard rock riffs. A very what the fuck release in the tradition of (a much more fun) Hanatarash. Not sure when or where this was recorded or the limitedness of the CDr, but it is an enjoyable slice of Japanese pie for sure. And the main reason I am putting this one up is because Makoto and Pikachu will be touring the USA in May with Mugu Guymen. It looks like the Philly show will be May 13 2011. They are looking for venues and such, so if you are on facebook, check out this event and get in touch if you can help 'em out.
Wed 03/23 @ Spaceland Los Angeles CA Thu 03/24 @ Bottom of the Hill San Francisco CA Sat 03/26 @ Doug Fir Lounge Portland OR Sun 03/27 @ The Wild Buffalo Bellingham WA Mon 03/28 @ Chop Suey Seattle WA Tue 03/29 @ Biltmore Cabaret Vancouver BC Thu 03/31 @ Broken City Calgary AB Fri 04/01 @ The Badlander Missoula MT Sat 04/02 @ Urban Lounge Salt Lake City UT Sun 04/03 @ Larimer Lounge Denver CO Mon 04/04 @ Bourbon Theatre Lincoln NE Tue 04/05 @ 7th Street Entry Minneapolis MN Wed 04/06 @ Empty Bottle Chicago IL Thu 04/07 @ The Strutt Kalamazoo MI Fri 04/08 @ El Mocambo Toronto ON Sat 04/09 @ Il Motore Montreal QC Sun 04/10 @ Great Scott Allston MA Mon 04/11 @ Daniel Street Milford CT Tue 04/12 @ Knitting Factory Brooklyn Brooklyn NY Wed 04/13 @ Johnny Brendas Philadelphia PA Thu 04/14 @ Red Palace Washington DC Fri 04/15 @ Ottobar Baltimore MD Sat 04/16 @ Local 506 Chapel Hill NC Sun 04/17 @ Pilot Light Knoxville TN Mon 04/18 @ The Earl Atlanta GA Tue 04/19 @ One Eyed Jacks New Orleans LA Wed 04/20 @ Fitzgeralds Houston TX Thu 04/21 @ The Loft Dallas TX Fri 04/22 @ Red 7 Austin TX Sun 04/24 @ Solar Culture Tucson AZ Mon 04/25 @ Casbah San Diego CA
