Saturday, June 16, 2012

Djin Aquarian and Plastic Crimewave Sound - Save the World LP (Prophase Music)

Damn, our friends at Prophase Music sure have been busy! Hot on the heels of the amazing reissue of Acid Mothers' La Novia comes a brand new release from Yahowha 13's Djin Aquarian and Chicago psych punks Plastic Crimewave Sound called Save the World!!


An album three years in the making (you dig my pics and words from their East Coast tour here), this one was worth the wait. Truly the ohhhmmm/duhhhh you (I) were (was) hoping for! Deep, swirling jams that blend a perfect mix of spontaneous and telegraphed moves in a headwash/rush of super fucking psychedelic tightrope walking. The original material is superb (especially the 15 minute+ "Ride My Merkabah") ; Djin tends to play an acoustic through a battalion of effects pedals (I am a sucker for such things) and it meshes perfectly with the tasteful electric sitar of Hands of Hydra as the rhythms keep some sense of reality intact.  When the band revisits the Father Yod classic "I'm Gonna Take You Home" things really take off and it is hard not to get all whirling dervish caught up in it.

These jams are housed in an absolutely gorgeous gatefold sleeve with art from Mr Plastic himself, the inner sleeve is triptastically amazing and apparently black light friendly. The pics do not do it justice! Looks like this is limited to 500 copies with an equal split between gold vinyl and blue vinyl (don't quote me on that, discogs). Get on it!

Monday, June 4, 2012

Acid Mothers Temple - La Novia vinyl available now!

What is the best Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. album? Fuck if I know, but one of my faves is their 2000 album La Novia. Originally issued on LP by Eclipse Records and then on CD (with bonus tracks) by Swordfish, both versions have been out of print for a few years now (the LP sold out almost immediately over 10 years ago). A forty minute work out of the Occiatian song "La Novia" was an early example of Tsuyama's awes throat singing on record and still the most amazing and the band continues to perform the song regularly at their live shows. And of course that riff! God! At long last, Prophase Music's long planned vinyl reissues is here! The sound is amazing and full, the reissue comes in a beautiful gatefold sleeve and four colored vinyl combos! Holy shit! Anyways, limited pressing of 1000 units and this is the best La Novia ever sounded. I am not sure how many of each color were pressed (your intrepid reporter is working on it), but the Gold and Yellow Swirl version is "super limited" and available only from the band or from Prophase Music if you buy the other three color combos... whew! Here is what the label has to say:
The sprawling 40 minute title track is based on an Occitanian folk tune, and the unearthly acoustic opening with its overtone singing sounds like something that might have made its way on to a Werner Herzog soundtrack. Indeed once the guitars come in and the band stoke up their mighty drone, the effect is that of an amped up Popul Vuh, the German band who soundtracked many Herzog films. Ashra Tempel or Amon Duul are other reference points. At times, it's impossible to believe that this wasn't recorded in Berlin in 1972, such is the authenticity of the enterprise. But Kawabata's crew aren't merely K-tel Krautrockers; La Novia shows a deep respect for the traditional folk form and integrates it completely with the long forays into deep space...