Acid Mothers Sunday Vol 39: Kawabata Makoto and Kengo Iuchi Live April 4 1999 Nagoya Tokuzo

Dug out some CDrs from old trades while doing some spring cleaning and discovered this 30 minute duo performance from Acid Mothers Temple main man Kawabata Makoto and Japanese "noise folk" artist Kengo Iuchi from 1999. Noisy and thick and sometimes bleak.

Not sure where I got this or the lineage, but this one is in FLAC format. Enjoy!

Kawabata Makoto & Kengo Iuchi Live April 4 1999 Nagoya

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Ok it looks like some old links are no longer valid, so here is a repost redux of Acid Mothers Sunday Vol. 3.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 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!

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)

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 Sunday Vol 31: Mainliner - Attack Nog

What? Two Acid Mothers Sundays in two days!? Halloween spirit or something. Anyways, this one is only one song and clocks in under 4 minutes, so don't get your hopes up. I was bumbling around the music library closet and happened upon Freakout Revisited, "The bootleg of the bootleg La Musica Box Set Psychedelic Freakout (LMB 041-050)..." Might as well let the liners for this 10 CD set continue:

"... described as: '1980-1990s studio & live, unreleased materials - heavy, garage, space, avant-garde, mondo & folk.' The collection is, in fact, compiled at least 90% from Galatic Zoo Dossier cassettes 1-4 and various other cassettes supplied to Nanjo Asahito by Plastic Crimewave... Asahito did not ask or tell Plastic Crimewave about this box set..."

So, anyways, Plastic Crimewave reissued this on his own with anointed/correct liners, etc. and it looks like it is still available. Tons and tons of great stuff from Mr. Crimewave himself, plus Fursaxa, Warrior Pants II, Musica Transonic, Maher Shalal Hash Baz and more.

One of the few songs Nanjo added to the box is this totally in the red Mainliner jam, "Attack Nog." One of their most High Rise moments for sure. This one is from the "Trouble Fill My Spoon" disc.

Mainliner - Attack Nog (Freakout Revisited)

Acid Mothers Sunday Vol 30: Kawabata Makoto - Jisetsu (AMCD-019)

It is a slow, sconed day today at the compound and this ulta minimal Kawabata Makoto release from 10 years ago is really hitting the spot, so why not celebrate Acid Mothers Sunday Halloween a day early? It certainly is a dark one.

Jisetsu is solo Kawabata playing suruthibox, "an Indian drone machine" according to the AMT website. A single, 40+ minute drone, this one is as barely there as it gets, but still a rewarding listen when in the right vibe/mood/imbalance. A low throb that goes back and forth with pulses and delay and variating highs and lows. Not sure if the Drone-on readers poll was still around in 2000, but this one shoulda placed high for sure.

According to the same data sheet "is this what's left once you rip all musical form away from Toho Sara!?" and that seems as good a place to start/end with this one. Released on CDr in an numbered edition of 100 on AMT's label with the catalog number AMTCD-019 as part of the Acid Mothers Temple Gold Disc Series. Mellow Out!

Kawabata Makoto - Jisetsu (AMTCD-019)

Acid Mothers Sunday Vol 29: AMT & The Melting Paraiso Early Recordings Disc 3

Ok, this time around we dig back into the vaults for some Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso tracks from 1995-96. These two long jammers were originally released on a cassette in an edition of 10 and then reissued on the triple LP version of Synesthetic Recordings' The Early Acid Mothers Temple Recordings 1995-1997. As far as I can tell that edition (pressing of 100) is sold out, so I am posting those tracks here. It looks like the two LP version is still available though. If you dig the early extra noisy AMT sound, I can't recommend this one enough, so classic. The songs posted here are taken from the LP, not the cassette.

I don't think "Freakout Mu" appeared anywhere else, but it is a great 18 minute slice of the noisy pre-Tsuyama AMT, so much synth and effects, insane! "Speed Guru" is quite different than the version that wound up on the first AMT PSF release. Absolutely dizzying backwards riffing, hypnotizing and swirling and shit, harsssh at times, but still a fucking celebration!

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. - Early Recordings LP #3

Acid Mothers Sunday Vol 28: Okhami No Jikan - Black Tape (LA-068)

The connection to Acid Mothers Temple on this installment is a bit tenuous, as the lineup to Nanjo Asahito's Okami No Jikan was supposed to be secretive and clouded in black mystery and such, we can only speculate. I honestly hear/don't hear some of Kawabata's playing on these jams, so there is the disclaimer. "May not contain any AMT"

A friend bought this tape at a High Rise show in 1999 at the Khyber Pass to the best of my recollection. I borrowed and transferred to CDr around the same time, but neglected to scan in the cover, so this one is coverless. My apologies. I am sure it was black. This one contains two more versions of their signature tune, "Israel." Both clock in at 15 minutes plus with the second version sounding more like a live recording than the first. It also sounds a bit more like Nanjo's guitar playing. Both jams feature the slow/heavy drums and bass riffage with insane amounts of guitar + effects just blown the fuck over top. And some quiet vocals in there at points. Here is what the La Musica catalog from the time had to say:

068. OHKAMI NO JIKAN / Black Tape
Complete reisue of a mysterious cassette that was only sold at gigs in 1992. Their earliest cool and heavy studio demo recordings featuring the original line-up. The original release was limited to 30 copies.

Man, I wish Nanjo wasn't missing from action. There really seems to be no one like him and in spite of the rumored rip offs and stuff, he did an amazing amount of work to popularize the Japanese underground world wide. I await his return with some sort of black metal superfuzz kill group. Mysterious to a fault? Anyone with more Ohkami or the awesome sounding spin off groups Ohkami No Bohyo or Ten No Ohkami, please post them somewhere and drop me a line or leave a comment. Thanks and enjoy!

Ohkam No Jikan - Black Tape (LA -068)

Acid Mothers Sunday Vol 27: Musica Transonic - Euro Speed Freedelic Boogie

This time around we have a CDr of studio recordings from Musica Transonic, the awesome trio of Nanjo (High Rise, Mainliner, etc.), Kawabata (Acid Mothers Temple, Mainliner, etc.) and Yoshida (Ruins, Sax Ruins, etc.). With the none more true title of Euro Speed Freedelic Boogie, this one was part of the Steal Space Underground box (LMB 051-060) on Nanjo's La Musica label. According to the photocopied data sheet, these jams were recorded at Abbey Road studios. Not sure if these songs ever made it on to any other releases, but here you go.

Musica Transonic - Euro Speed Freedelic Boogie CDr

Acid Mothers Sunday Vol 26: Miminokoto - That Spiral Orbit

Happy Father's Day all you dads and such... This time around, we have an mp3 from long time Japanese Psych'sters, Miminokoto. The Acid Mothers Temple connection is drummer Shimura Koji, currently behind the kit for AMT and Miminokoto.



Miminokoto has been through line up changes and have a bunch of records out on PSF and Last Visible Dog, but this track comes from their 2010 release Chofu, Ekoda, Koenji: Live In & Around Tokyo on Plunk's Plan Records. Dreamy psych and great guitar playing from long time Nice Pooper pal, Suzuki Junzo (you can also catch Suzuki playing with Kawabata on the Astral Traveling Unit CD on Archive). Suzuki Junzo also creates some incredible psych folk with the Cosmic Inferno's Tabata in 20 Guilders. Whew!

Anyways, I love the weird ass bass or whatever it is on this song, almost as confusing as the first hearing of the jug on the 13th Floor Elevators' songs. A off kilter almost "Shakedown Street" wah wah plink wamp while the rest of the song reminds me of... David Crosby's "Cowboy Movie." Something of a trend in this house recently. Loose and trippy and awesome, a bit dark and still that weird hopefulness I get from the best of Japanese psych. Definitely something for fans of the more mellow side of White Heaven.

I think Eclipse carries this one, but if not, get in touch directly with Suzuki via his blog, Tapes-Echoes. I have ordered lots of stuff from him over the past few years and the turnaround is always quick and the music is always awesome!

Miminokoto - That Spiral Orbit

Acid Mothers Sunday Vol 25: Tsurubami KFJC May 19 2003

Hey now, a tad early, but for this Mothers' Day edition of Acid Mothers Sunday we have a live set from Tsurubami recorded and aired on May 19 2003 via KFJC. Must have been a treat to see/hear them live, hopefully us East Coasters will get the chance someday. Anyways, the AMT connections are Kawabata on guitar and Hiroshi on guitar and keyboards (I think) with the drumming of Nobuko Emi. Anyways, two long, dark swirling and piercing pieces, apologies for a bit of digital noise here and there.

Here are some words from Kawabata on Tsurubami from the liners of the Do Whatever You
Want... compilation:

As long as we three have life on this planet the group will continue to exist. Here's a summary of our mission:
According to the theory of Inyo Gogyo, everything that exists in the world can be expressed by Yin and Yang, the two principles. (even computers work in this way). Everything is created from Yin and Yang, and the interactions of the Five Elements - wood, fire, earth, metal, water. The workings of the universe can be understood through a knowledge of the Two Principles and Five Elements. The form of everything on Earth and in the heavens is created by Yin and Yang, while the workings of the world occur through the Five Elements. If we take it that sound is one particle of time, then the energy of sound flows from the deepest past into the far future. And that also suggests that the purpose of ritual and prayer is to recreate the energy that existed at the beginning of the cosmos. Rituals and prayer function to reawaken that which existed at the beginning, to open the doors of this world, and to make that energy flow once more. Through the holy sound of Ohm, can we glimpse the eternal, escape the constraints of time (past, present, and future), and come to meet the Buddha?
For us, Tsurubami is a place of eternal spiritual training, a place where everything must be laid bare. This band itself is the last and greatest stronghold of group existence. I see it as a place where we can experiment with a form of improvised playing based on paranormal communication which has existed since the time of the troubadours.

Yep!

Tsurubami - Live May 19 2003 KFJC

Acid Mothers Sunday Vol 24: Zu-Kanka live March 15 2001 Nagoya Japan

I am not sure when or with whom I traded for this one, but I got this in the early 2000s and digitized it around then as well. Not much info to to go on, but a great live recording (soundboard? I have no idea of the lineage, sorry) of a short-lived Makoto Kawabata project featuring Shoji Hano on drums and Koji Shimura on bass.

The sound is jazzy, which makes sense considering Hano's background (Derek Baily, Peter Brotzmann, Nicky Scopelitis), though he also played and toured with High Rise. Similar to Musica Transonic but much less fuzz frenzy and lots more fluid. It sounds improvised as riffs get teased and taken over and under, jamming if you will. And yes, that is the Latino Cool of current Melting Paraiso drummer, Koji Shimura on bass! Definitely a surprise, but some searching reveals he did some time as White Heaven's bass player in the nineties. His playing is bouncy and deft, very different from Nanjo/Musica Transonic's bludgeon bass. Kawabata's playing is very clean, Fender Strat with little effects. Almost funky in parts. They also do a few songs twice, not really sure why on that either. If anyone knows anything more about this, please drop a line. Otherwise, enjoying some of the more trad end of Kawabata's playing with two of Japan's best drummers (though one is playing bass).

Zu-Kanka - Live March 15 2001 Tokuzo Nagoya Japan

Makoto Kawabata - Guitar
Shoji Hano - Drums, Vocals
Koji Shimura - Bass

Acid Mothers Sunday vol 23: Take Up Thy Kaleidoscope (excerpt)

For this this Acid Mothers Sunday, we go back to the originals, Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. and an excerpt of the bonus track to the should-be-in-this-week double vinyl version of Are We Experimental? on Prophase Music. "Take Up Thy Kaleidoscope" clocks in at 20 minutes or so, taking up one side of the double vinyl reissue (mastered for vinyl by Yoshida Tatsuya).

This is the first five minutes, a slow building, bluesy (for AMT) jam that gets more and more insane as the track goes on. Lots of panning and craziness and even some references to past AMT classics near the end. Kind of the opposite of a lot of the proper album (which featured shorter songs and more music concrete and less actual jamming), making it a great edition to the regular CD. Once again, they save some of their best stuff for vinyl only bonus tracks, it seems.

The double LP gatefold colored vinyl deal will be ready for the AMT show at SXSW so you can get it there (and AMT will have it on their USA/Canda 2010 Tour). As soon as a purchase link goes up on the Prophase site I will post it (here). 500 of these pressed and pretty much going insanely fast, so get 'em while you can. Dig some of the color schemes below:






(sorry for the goofy song naming by the way)

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. - Take Up Thy Kaleidoscope (excerpt)

UPDATE: I received my copies this week and they look amazing. The green/orange record is the most psychedelic looking slab of vinyl I have ever seen. UNREAL!!! Anyways, you can now buy one via Prophase, these are going super fast so get on board now!

UPDATE II: A reader asked about the colored vinyl counts, 500 total pressed:
150 on Blue
150 on Green
200 on Luscious Purple

Acid Mothers Sunday Vol. 22: Mainliner - Troop (LA -039)

And for the first AMT Sunday of 2010, here is one I said I would post ages ago, but it somehow slipped my mind (and thanks for the reminder, dear readers). This is Mainliner's awesome Troop cassette from Nanjo's La Musica label with a catalog number of LA-039. This one contains different versions of the jams on the ultra pound fuzz Mainliner debut CD, Mellow Out. This one is the original Mainliner with Kawabata, Nanjo and drummer Hajime Koizumi. For a good overview of Mellow Out, check out Julian Cope's take.

Here is the scoop on Troop from the La Musica catalog:

Psychedelic heavy group, aka High Rise II, that reinterprets High Rise's concept on an eve heavier plane. Compilation of special acid takes, comprising an acid cool mix version of the first album and 3 bonus tracks.

You will note on my rip of the cassette, I somehow left off "Cockamamie (Take II)," I am not sure why this is the case, but please forgive. Hopefully there is enough in the red riffness to distract you from the incompleteness.

Mainliner - Troop (LA-039)

Acid Mothers Sunday vol 21: Penguin House Dec 18 2009

Full on blizzard mode here on the East Coast USA... so here is an AMT Sunday a day early. This time around, we have three sets from basically last night at Penguin House in Tokyo Koenji. Miminokoto (with Kawabata), Leningrad Blues Machine and Tsurubami recorded and uploaded by AMT message board poster Fuyuki. Great sets and awesome recordings with an AMT tie in for each band. Kawabata sits in with Miminokoto, Leningrad Blues Machine is Cosmic Inferno bassist Tabata's psych band (and of course we all recall Leningrad Psychedelic Blues Machine) and Tsurubami features Kawabata and Hiroshi from AMT. Whew!

Miminokoto with Kawabata - Live Dec 18 2009 Penguin House

Leningrad Blues Machine - Live Dec 18 2009 Penguin House

Tsurubami - Live Dec 18 2009 Penguin House

(can I just mention the awesome jam about 6 minutes into the Leningrad Blues Machine set sounds like Legion of Mary? Wow.. amazing.)

Thanks again, Fuyuki!

Yesterday I received the new AMT label disc, Acid Mothers Temple with with Ichiraku Yoshimitsu, AMT Festival Vol 7, a 16 track live recording that sounds phenomenal, but wow... check out the artwork!!

Acid Mothers Sunday Vol 20: Blues for the Narcotic Kangaroo

This one is one of my all time favorite Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO tracks. "Blues for the Narcotic Kangaroo" is a 20+ plus minute jam that is one of the most unique songs in the AMT cannon. This one was only released on the tour vinyl that AMT were selling on their 2007 Crystal Rainbow Pyramid tour. Released by Important Records on splattered vinyl in an edition of 1000. The regular CD of Crystal Rainbow Pyramid Under the Stars is one of my fave AMT releases and it is a slight shame that "Blues For the Narcotic Kangaroo" is not on the CD, but hell, the vinyl looks and sounds fantastic.

In addition to the "regular" AMT members, this song includes Kitagawa Hao on vocals and Ono Ryoko on saxophone. Ono Ryoko also plays with Sax Ruins and she plays in O-jazz with Tsuyama.

I just can't stress enough how much I love Ono's playing with AMT, it is a match made in heaven. She has the power and control to make some fantastic noise and washes of free squawk. But... as the blues of the title refers, this one features some rather trad playing, big Clarence Clemons storm clouds of emotional wow. Things get weirder and weirder with Ono and Kawabata way out front on this recording and the interplay between his guitar and her sax is just incredible. Things get super chaotic and the only thing holding on is a one note "Interstellar Overdrive" style plink while everything else swirls and pans from left to right at a dizzying pace. Things get more "Speed Guru" as the song goes on, faster and extreme, Ono keeping up most of the time. Unreal. I wish they would tour the USA with her, would love to hear her playing on a whole AMT set, especially "Pink Lady Lemonade." Oh man! Anyways, check it out and enjoy. It seems the LP is still available, so pick it up if you can.


Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO - Blues For the Narcotic Kangaroo vinyl rip @ 320

(photo is from AMT 2007 at the Unitarian Church Philadelphia, their only tour with vocalist Kitagawa Hao)

Acid Mothers Sunday: Vol. 19: Live In Occident

Wow, I haven't done one of these in ages. Anyways, for this one, I have uploaded a rip of the Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO's first live vinyl, Live In Occident.

The seemingly gone Detector put this 2 LP colored vinyl gatefold in 2000. Decent live recordings of Acid Mothers Temple's various live shows in 1999, though unfortunately the Philly show at the Khyber that was my first AMT live show is not represented. If anyone has a recording of that one, please get in touch!

Anyways, this is the classic line up with Kawabata, Cotton, Higashi, Tsuyama and Koizumi Hajime tearing through America and the UK. It features the weird ass free jazz spazz jams like "Rising From the Cool Fool Inferno" that this line up squeezed in between the earlyish versions of "Pink Lady Lemonade" and "Speed Guru." And of course the over the top improv jam of "Acid Milk Milky Way Also Jupiter 888."

The highlight on this one for me is the sublime and beautiful "Astrological Overdrive." Cotton's vocals may be the most missed aspect of modern AMT and this performance gives a solid reason why. Her vocals mix perfectly with Tsuyama's, especially when he gets demonic and she remains angelic. It is a one of the great lost Acid Mothers songs, appearing no where else to the best of my knowledge, but it is 18 minutes of swirling but simple psych, foreshadowing jams like "La Novia" and "Soleil de Cristal et Lune d'argent" and even "Cometary Orbital Drive." Another mandatory jam on this one is another kinda lost song, "Blue Velvet Blues." This one didn't survive the AMT set list much after the first two tours it seems, but such a great song, again, another showcase for Cotton's vocals. While the ultimate version of the song is on the 2LP reissue of Pataphisical Freak Out Mu!!, this version is heavy and deep features a weird clapping jam with the audience not to far into the song, hazy and totally strange, almost like the "Chanting" on this Dead show. The super pretty main riff is colored by very light guitar playing and then crushing synth noise blasts. Totally incredible.

Detector didn't seem to last too long, though they did release a 7" and a 10" by Cotton's pre AMT band, Mady Gula Blue Heaven. This one has been out of print for a pretty long time and if it ever gets reissued I will pull it down, of course, but it is a key part to the AMT puzzle for sure.


This one is loaded at 256. Enjoy.

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO - Live In Occident (Detector Records, 2000)

1. Acid Milk Milkyway Also Jupiter 888
2. banter
3. Rising From The Cool Fool Inferno
4. Astrological Overdrive
5. Pink Lady Lemonade
6. Blue Velvet Blues
7. Speed Guru
8. Lucille

UPDATE: The fine folks at Essence Music have reissued this in a remixed version on CD, limited to 500 copies in a gatefold sleeve. The sound is great, highly recommended!