Upcoming Awesomeness: ANTiSEEN, Limecell, Bad Vibes at the M Room Dec 10 2011

Yep, the mighty ANTiSEEN make their way back to Hostile City USA in less than a week! The M Room with Limecell, the Bad Vibes, Scareho and Eat the Turnbuckle.

Acid Mothers Sunday Vol 38: Leningrad Psychedelic Blues Machine - Dark Star (LA-054)

Ok it looks like some old links are no longer valid, so here is a repost redux of Acid Mothers Sunday Vol. 3. This time, instead of just the title cut, here is the full cassette, also in FLAC. Kawabata, Nanjo, Tabata and Koizuma Hajime tackle the Grateful Dead's "Dark Star" and more. Needless to say, this is one of my favorite releases ever.

FLAC deleted... sorry.

Leningrad Psychedelic Blues Machine - Dark Star mp3

Acid Mothers Sunday Vol 37: La Musica Mystery Box Discs 1 and 9

Ok, I am still having trouble figuring out what the hell this box set is. While I am fairly certain it is La Musica Tapes Vol. 3, I am really no closer to figuring out what is what. Here is the only description of the box I have been able to find online:

LMB 061-070 LA MUSICA TAPES vol.3/V.A.
This miracle box set is a comprehensive collection of roots of Japanese psychedelic beatniks
musicians since 50's. SAKAKI NANAO & NIPPONIA NIPPON / KUKURI GAKUDAN /
MENZAIFU / YAMASA / MANJI / HOLY ANGELS / BUZOKU / SUWANOSE
MANDALLA / KAMINARI AKAKARASUZOKU / JIYUH MINKEN.
Cult groups & their sects (who indeed desert from society & act underground without
relations from any scene) are introduced. Japanese representative psychedelic underground
musicians are fully gathered.
Studio & live recordings.
Limited edition of 50 copies.

Here is disc 9 from the box. I am posting this under the Acid Mothers Sunday banner just because... maybe Kawabata is on this? Plus, I posted the other disc under this, so... yeah, let's get as confusing as possible!

Anyways, on first listen this sounded a bit like Holy Angels, but I don't think it is. That said, not sure what this matches up to from the above (and of course there are 10 discs and 11 bands listed on the description). Regardless, the first track has some saxophone on it and sounds way spacey. The second track is a little more free jazz spazz and sounds Kawabata to me.

If you have any ideas about this stuff, please leave comments! Thanks!

La Musica Mystery Box Disc 9

I decided to add disc one as well. This one is all over the place, murky tribal psych, birds chirping, chopped and screwed vocals, violins or something... doesn't really sound like one group. All the more perplexing with Nanjo's habit of putting different groups on one CDr. Help!

La Musica Mystery Box Disc One

Acid Mothers Sunday Vol 36: Mainliner Live July 17 1999

Yep, close to Halloween, so why not feature some more live Mainliner, this time from Chicago's Empty Bottle, July 17 1999. Seems this is from the Ruins/Mainliner/Toho Sara/Splendor Mystic Solis tour of that year (did it make it to Philly?). Recording sounds fucking awesome, great mix. Of course it is not the total in-the-red house fire of the studio recordings, so that part of the Mainliner deal is missing, but Kawabata's guitar is nice and high in the mix, so commence the leveling!

Anyway, I assume this is the touring trio of Nanjo Asahito on bass and vocals, Kawabata Makoto on guitar and Yoshida Tatsuya on drums. Not sure if this was ever put out in one of those 10 CD box sets on La Musica, but it is safe to assume that it was.

Man, I love Kawabata's "bluesy" playing during "Ride Blue." Fuck yeah. And yeah, "Black Sky" is still the urrrrrh riff of inverted doom. Or somethin' tss tss.

Mainliner Live July 17 1999
1. Tsukisasaru
2. Attack
3. Static
4. Ride Blue
5. Black Sky

FLAC

256 mp3

Acid Mothers Sunday Vol 35: NipponiaNippon & Sakaki Nanao (?)

As I mentioned in the previous post I recently dug out some CDrs and cassettes I haven't checked out in ages. One of finds is a 10 CDr La Musica box I traded for around the millennium. Unfortunately I am not sure what it is exactly, the CDrs are only labeled by number, no info sheets, group names, etc. Nor do I recall who I traded with for this one.

All of the evidence points to La Musica Tapes Vol. 3. Here is a rundown on it:

LMB 061-070 LA MUSICA TAPES vol.3/V.A.
This miracle box set is a comprehensive collection of roots of Japanese psychedelic beatniks musicians since 50's. SAKAKI NANAO & NIPPONIA NIPPON / KUKURI GAKUDAN /
MENZAIFU / YAMASA / MANJI / HOLY ANGELS / BUZOKU / SUWANOSE
MANDALLA / KAMINARI AKAKARASUZOKU / JIYUH MINKEN.
Cult groups & their sects (who indeed desert from society & act underground without
relations from any scene) are introduced. Japanese representative psychedelic underground musicians are fully gathered. Studio & live recordings. Limited edition of 50 copies.

I honestly can't be 100% sure this is the same as the 10 unlabeled CDrs I found, but all things point that way. Some of the recordings are very professional studio sounding and kinda commercial and some are live bootleggy sounding jams. Quite the variety. Since this is the return of Acid Mothers Sunday, it is only fitting to post the one disc (labeled disc 8 on the discs I have) I am fairly certain on, as it contains guest guitar from Makoto Kawabata. Pretty sure this is the NipponiaNippon & Sakaki Nanao disc from La Musica Tapes Vol. 3. The droning sound is very similar to the other NipponiaNippon I have heard. Lots of spaced out, echo'd percussion and stringed instruments with some Japanese spoken word over top, which I assume is poet Sakaki Nanao. Here is some info from Kawabata's web site:

Forms the improv group NIPPONIANIPPON with Yokoyama Mabo and other musicians with links to the Japanese beatnik scene. The group plays mainly outdoors and at temples. They also perform with Japanese beat poet Nanao Sakaki.

And here is some info on the cassette they released:

Collaboration between Japan's only beat poet Nanao Sakaki, and the beatnik improvisation group Nipponianippon. A collection of hymns to the unverse, giving thanks to all the gods for earth, sun, sea, the cosmos.

Not sure if this was released in any other fashion, but this one is two tracks, one clocks in at 20 minutes, the other around 10. Anyway, lots of deep psych and mystical mysticalness. Enjoy! I will be posting some other discs from this box for help identifying. If anyone has this box and knows more about it, please get in touch or leave comments. Definitely get in touch if you have the info sheets that came with La Musica Tapes Vol 3, of if you think this is another La Musica Box, lemme know!

La Musica Mystery Box - Disc 8 - NipponiaNippon & Sakaki Nanao

And for our European friends, don't forget to check out Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO's current tour here!

Psychedelic Crazy Horse - Short Cuts (cassette)

Re-found a bunch of CDrs and cassettes recently and found this little gem from the late 90s Tokyko underground. Eric laid this on me after the XplanetbethX year plus tour of Japan. Thanks, man! A goofy trio with an amazingly great name, Psychedelic Crazy Horse turn out to sound nothing like Neil Young's best band. Their improv spazz tunes kinda remind me of Caroliner for some reason. Has to be that fake boulder bass or something, because the frenzied guitar isn't very dayglo. I remember the name popping up in various zines around the mid to late 90s and finally hearing this self released cassette (direct from Japan!) during those heady days of Japanese psych discovery I was a bit taken aback at the free-ness. A tad more Ruins than Marble Sheep, but still occupying a very individual space. Not sure whatever happened to the band, not much online about them, though Mason Jones' Ongakublog does have some info on this release. They were on some of the later Tokyo Flashback comps, but that is about it. Here is Raw Pogo on this cassette:

for all the PSF label fanatics, this is an obvious must. Awesome psych guitar that just soars. A bass so slippery you’d start doing the invisible beachball dance like a dead head too, and jazzy drums. Jamming improvisations and songs that start to fall apart from the spaciness just like MOSS ICON did. In fact if this were given to me with out info, I would have guessed it was recorded in 1988 during The Summer Of Beads, at some secret fire hall show in Virginia or Maryland or Eastern PA, with MOSS ICON, THE UPTOWN BONES, THE TAR BABIES, DIE KRUEZEN ’88, DINOSAUR, SHUDDER TO THINK and DAS DAMEN all on the bill. With lots of Birkenstocks and beads and sst shirts and pot and lenghthening hair. A show avoided like plague by all the hooded sweatshirt dorks and ‘posi’s, during that segregated summer. But alas these jams are from Tokyo clubs about as far removed from a hall show as you can possibly get. But if any of this review regurgitates any of yr secret history then youre welcome and we know what side you were on back then, and you have already sent the money for this fucking cassette right?

FLAC:

Short Cuts part 1

Short Cuts part 2

We Have Heaven and Shinji Masuko @ Good Weekend Oct 5 2011

UPDATE: Great show, some video here:

High Rise Live March 15 2000 Khyber Pass, Philadelphia

Been on a crazy High Rise kick lately for some reason. Sometimes nothing clears the brain like Narita's riff from "Ikon." Anyways, this one is from their only visit to the Khyber Pass as far as I can tell. I honestly don't remember that much of the show, just that they were loud as fuck and awesome and the Major Stars opened up. And that Nanjo had to put on his shades before he would pose for pics with us. It was the day before my birthday so I blame that for my hazy memory.



I am not sure who recorded this, etc. Kinda sounds like a soundboard. I traded for this not long after the actual show, but I see that it was also available on the High Rise Psychedelic Atmosphere Beatnik Tour 2000 CDR box set. Be sure to check out the awesome and informative Bleak Bliss blog, lots of High Rise, La Musica and more. I am not sure if the track list/recording is exactly the same as that found on the box set. The band at this time was Asahito Nanjo on bass and vocals, Munehiro Narita on guitar and Shimura Koji on drums.








Not sure what the exact track list is either, but here you go. I did these in FLAC format (3 parts) as it is a live recording and sounds pretty killer.


High Rise March 15 2000 Khyber Pass, Philadelphia Part One

Part 2

Part 3

1. Induced Depression
2. Ikon
3. Disallow
4. Psychedelic Speed Freaks
5. ?
6. ?
7. Right On (part 1)
8. Right On (part 2)
9. crowd noise
10. ?

Doodles - Disc One (PLDR-2001)

Caught a great set the other night from Kawaguchi Masami's New Rock Syndicate at the Empty Space (Sept 14 2011) and picked up some CDrs after a nice brainwash. Two of 'em were on the Purifiva label and it jogged my memory about this awesome slice of pop psych, also on Purifiva. I don't know much about Doodles, but this is their first CD(r) and they wound up putting out a few more as well as having two songs on the landmark Night Gallery compilation on Alchemy Records. I know that Mischishita from LSD March was in the band in a later incarnation (or something), and the drummer on this release wound up playing with New Rock Syndicate as well as on that LSD Pond double CD on Archive.

Six songs of strummy psych with off key vocals and great guitar breaks. Gotta admit, it reminds a bit of 90s Philly's O Mighty Isis. Recorded live and in studio, released in 2001 I think? A CDr in a jewel case with color copy sleeves. I am sure I snagged this from Eclipse Records back around then. While not quite as intricate and deep as Angel N Heavy Syrup (who I am sure the description name checked), this is a cool batch of femme voiced Japanese basement psych pop kloud wrap. Enjoy!

Doodles - Disc One (Purifiva, PLDR-2001)

Kawabata & Pikachu USA Tour 2011

On the heels of the current Acid Mothers Temple tour, Kawabata keeps on going with ex-Afrirampo and current Cosmic Inferno drummer Pikachu!



April 28 Oakland CA @ Disco Volante, 347 14th St.

April 29 San Francisco Ca @ Hemlock Tavern

April 30 Portland Or

May 01 Seattle Wa @ Josephine

May 02 Spokane Wa @ warehouse!

May 04 Minneapolis Mn, @ MeXXXa w/ lots

May 05 Iowa City, IA @ The Wherehouse

May 06 Chicago Il @ Rubens Palace

May 07 Detroit Mi @ Scrummage Fest w/ lots

May 08 Cleveland OH, Boo Box

May 09 Bard College @ SMOG w/ bubbly mommy gun, quiet hooves

May 10 Boston MA @ Yes Oui Si Gallery w/ bubbly mommy gun, quiet hooves

May 11 Brooklyn @ Monster Island (ToddP) w/ Prince Rama, bubbly mommy gun, quiet hooves

May 12 Brooklyn Ny @ Death by Audio w/ bubbly mommy gun, Alien whale (colin from usaisamonster), PC Worship, Guardian Alien (greg from liturgy), Perfect Bitch (brooklyn promoter band)

May 13 Philadelphia @ Marvelous Records w/ Dick Neff, bubbly mommy gun -- 208 S. 40th, byob

May 14 Baltimore Md @ Floristree w/ bubbly mommy gun, quiet hooves

May 15 Richmond Va @ Couch Heaven w/ caves caverns, articulate chewbacca

May 16 Chapel Hill @ Night Light w/ Clang Quartet and Three-Brained Robot

May 17 Athens ga @ Farm255 w/ bubbly mommy gun

May 18 Atlanta Ga @ 529 w/ bubbly mommy gun

May 19 Pensacola, FL via Balder- @ 720 Studios

May 20 New Orleans LA @ SIBERIA

May 21 Austin Tx..

May 22 Las Cruces @ house party

May 23 Albuquerque Nm @ The Kosmos w/ Tendorizer, Rainbow Pyramid Ensemble

May 24 Phoenix, AZ @ Trunk Space w/ Wet Hair, Rene Hell

May 25 San Diego Ca

May 26 Los Angeles Ca @ women o crenshaw party

Here is some live stuff from the duo.

UPDATE: Here is the Oakland show.

Acid Mothers Temple Spring Tour: Philly and Baltimore

Two great shows two days apart for me on this year's Space Ritual 2011 Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO tour, Johnny Brenda's in Philadelphia (April 13) and the Ottobar in Baltimore (April 15). AMT spring tours are becoming as reliable as the Grateful Dead's spring tours of yore.

First up, the Philly show was a powerhouse. I rolled up with Trust Aquarian to a sold out Johnny Brenda's and greeted Hiroshi and Tsuyama and AMT's killer driver, Justin! I ducked out for a quick one hit smoke and ran into the Cosmic Commander of Wrestling and my pal Susannah for some babble and such before Acid Mothers took off. I was riding a wonderful mellow buzz with some Sly Fox porters and such, but as a short guy, I had to wander around the balcony waiting for a space to open up. The sound was fantastic and not being able to see the band really had my head spinning. This tour Tsuyama has been looping his vocals over and over for maximum psychedelic overdrive, and the sound man was spinning that shit all over the room, it felt like the throat singing was right behind my left ear. I dopeily turned around a few times, like "What?" At one point I thought I heard a tenor sax, but it was just Kawabata abusing his effects pedals. Whew!

The jams were great, very beefy, very intricate and totally over the top. A gorgeous version of long time fave "La Novia" was a highlight, with looped vocals, shimmering bass and then that monster guitar riff burn. Ah! Prophase Music is reissuing La Novia on vinyl soon, too. A classic!

A very long "Pink Lady Lemonade" with lots of peaks, Tsuyama going insane on the bass, super fast, super fuzzed. After that, the three note trance out of "Cometary Orbital Drive" and a riotous encore of "Dark Stars in the Dazzling Sky." The Philly crowd was all in, loving it. Lots of hippie dancing and old heads, plus the kids... and a dude I swear to god was a narc from a Dead show parking lot circa 1990. Yeah! One of the better AMT shows I have seen, everything seemed to come together and blast out like a big bang, insane! Unfortunately the live shots I took didn't come out. Alas. Some photos with Kawabata and a trip to the Shopzone and we were off for an easy ride home, the last sight of Johnny Brendas saw two folks laying down on the steps, wiped out!

Friday night, it was Trust's turn to drive to Baltimore. This time with me and Dana in tow. Friday night traffic to Baltimore? No problem. Wait... lots of problems. Alas, we got there too late to see Mopar Mountain Daredevils featuring Cotton Casino! Damn! Dana and I had some chocolate and rolled up to see a sweaty Bill from Mopar outside having a smoke. Argh! Great to see Bill and Cotton, but really bummed I missed the band. One of these days.

We grabbed some National Bohemians and cruised around the Ottobar and smoked and all that jazz, blabbed with some folks and got ready for AMT. Another great set, similar to Philly but a tad less energy. During "Pink Lady Lemonade" I ran into Philly ex-pat, John Boothman from Vibrolux, Gelcaps, etc. His new band, Tsarship Unicorn opened up the show, but we totally missed them. Damn! Great to see John, totally crazy surprise!





But the highlight for Baltimore was Cotton Casino playing with AMT for the first time since 2003 as far as I can tell. She joined them for a killer, long encore of "Dark Stars in the Dazzling Sky." I was geeking out like crazy, never thought I would see this and was happy to rush up front all zonked out and rock out! Cotton rules!! So much fun to see everyone so stoked, so happy.







More babble with the various AMT folks, and goodbyes and yet more merch and we were off for a Trust driven long ass drive back to PA. Thanks a million to Justin for hooking us up and such! AMT keep it going and keep it amazing, year in, year out. Go see them!


UPDATE: Thanks to king taper, Zapenguin, you can download these shows here (and be sure to read his hilarious and spot on reviews, too!):

April 13 2011 Philadelphia Johnny Brenda's

April 15 2011 Baltimore Ottobar

Acid Mothers Temple 2011 Tour, SF Show...

Awesome, Thursday's AMT show in SF was uploaded to archive!

Here are the tour dates, just got the word that Mopar Mountain Daredevils (featuring ex-AMT vocalist Cotton Casino) are opening the Baltimore show:

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

Acid Mothers Sunday Vol 34: Okami No Jikan - Psychedelic Atmosphere Beatnik Tour '98

Back in 1998 Nanjo Asahito brought High Rise to the USA and played the Astrocade in Philadelphia, probably my all time fave Philly venue. An anything goes warehouse with great vibes and friendly hosts... and video games. Some of my best memories of those times took place in that warehouse, including the insanely good vibes of the Dealers/Photon Band/Lenola show.



I am pretty sure this was the first of two times I saw High Rise, but I was super duper excited for the "special opening set by Mainliner," whom I had seen in NYC in 1997 and I was (and still am) obsessed with their heavy duty debut Mellow Out, perhaps the be all end all of noiserock (with an emphasis on rock). As they set up... Nanjo strapped on a Rickenbacher guitar (!) and Ed Farnsworth, who was drumming for Bardo Pond at the time was behind the kit... the wild haired guitarist, Kawabata was no where to be seen, so I was a tad "eh" as this was not really Mainliner. I didn't have my Japanese psych trading cards complete set yet, so I didn't know anything about Nanjo's floating lineup slow jamming mystical project, Ohkami No Jikan. While not sounding like Mainliner at all, I was totally hooked on Nanjo's ultra echo'd and effected guitar, insanely loud and filling up tons of space in the warehouse, wind tunneling that shit, yo! My buzzed out brain was hypnotized by the fuzzed out, icy cold sounds from deep space. Shimura Koji is on bass and you may know him from drumming with the recent line up Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Parasio UFO. The rest of the night was great, Bardo and Mikey Wild were awesome and High Rise were punk as hell, but that opening set was the highlight for me and stuck with me for years. Fast forward a few years and I picked up Steal Space Underground CDr boxset on Nanjo's La Musica label and this set was included on the Psychedelic Atmosphere Beatnik USA Tour 98 disc. Not sure who recorded it, but the sound is quite good and totally Nanjo'd. Also on this disc was another Ohkami Set from 1998 with Nice Pooper pal Mason Jones and Chris Van Huffle sitting in with Nanjo and Shimura. I have included that set as well.

These are FLAC files as I have been getting requests for those recently, split into three parts:

Ohkami No Jikan - Unforgiven (Live Nov 16 1998, Cocodrie, SF, CA + Flyers)

Ohkami No Jikan - Aruji (Live Nov 1 1998 Astrocade Philadelphia)

Ohkami No Jikan - Koko (Live Nov 1 1998 Astrocade Philadelphia)

Residents Spring 2011 Tour

Wooo hoo... more of Randy's Ghost stories... April Fool's Day in Philly!

The Residents Spring 2011 Tour Dates
Tuesday, March 15 - Lunario del Auditorio Nacional - Mexico City, Mexico
Thursday, March 17 - Wonder Ballroom - Portland, OR
Friday, March 18 - Neumo's - Seattle, WA
Saturday, March 19 - Rickshaw Theater - Vancouver, BC
Monday, March 21 - Myer Horowitz Theater - Edmonton, ALB
Tuesday, March 22 - Uptown Theater - Calgary, ALB
Thursday, March 24 - West End Cultural Center - Winnipeg, MN
Friday, March 25 - Cedar Cultural Center - Minneapolis, MN
Saturday, March 26 - Museum of Contemporary Art - Chicago, IL
Monday, March 28 - The Mod Club - Toronto, ONT
Tuesday, March 29 - Club Soda - Montreal PQ
Wednesday, March 30 - Somerville Theater - Boston, MA
Thursday, March 31 - Highline Ballroom - New York, NY
Friday, April 1 - World Café Live - Philadelphia, PA
Monday, April 4 - Variety Playhouse - Atlanta, GA
Tuesday, April 5 - Republic New Orleans - New Orleans, LA
Wednesday, April 6 - Mohawk - Austin, TX
Thursday, April 9 - El Rey Theater - Los Angeles, CA
Friday, April 15 & Saturday, April 16 - Bimbo's - San Francisco, CA
Saturday, May 14 - The Roundhouse - London, England *Mute Festival

Seven Inches: White Heaven and Loud Machine 5000

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

Loud Machine 5000 7" - Go Grace Go/Lord of Nothing Part I

White Heaven 7" - Threshold of Pain/4 Hours (In The Afternoon)

Acid Mothers Sunday Vol 33: 20 Guilders and Suzuki Junzo

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.

You can buy both of these releases direct from Suzuki Junzo here. Highly highly recommended.

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.






20 Guilders - Except Emanuel (From 20 Guilders on Gyuune Cassette)

Suzuki Junzo - Black Pendulum (From Buried Sky, Spider Torn to Piece on Plunk's Plan)

Acid Mothers Sunday Vol 32: Makoto and Pikachu - Live

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.

And of course, don't forget that Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso will be touring the USA and Canada in March/April of 2010.

Makoto and Pikachu - Live

Acid Mothers Temple USA and Canada Tour 2011

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