+/- (PLUS/MINUS) VS. BLOODTHIRSTY BUTCHERS s/t (TeenBeat) cd 10.98
As the back cover informs us, "+/- covers BB and BB covers +/-". Seems simple enough, don't it? And if you're not familiar with these two bands you'd probably already guess just from the bands' names that this might be a rather odd pairing. So we thought. However, it's not as strange as we initially believed. Seems Blood Thirsty Butchers have gone through something of a transformation in the years since we last heard from them... it has been quite a while. If our memory serves correctly, they used to be a gritty indie hardcore band from Japan. As far as we know they're still from Japan, but they've mellowed considerably. They make dreamy post-rockish pop with angelic female and boyish vocals with a very occasional blast of gnarly guitar aggression. They're so much closer in sound to soft popsters +/- than we could ever have anticipated. Soooo, whatcha get is a pretty consistent half dozen delicious indie pop tunes with feverishly strummed Unrest-style jangly guitars. So at home on the Teenbeat record label.
MPEG Stream: +/- (PLUS/MINUS) "Banging The Drum"
MPEG Stream: BLOODTHIRSTY BUTCHERS "Waking Up Is Hard To Do"

324 Rebelgrind (HG Fact) cd 11.98
Latest and definitely greatest from these old school Japanese grind thrashers. Noisy, heavy, brutal, punishing, and weirdly catchy.

50 FOOT WAVE Golden Ocean (BMG) cd 14.98
Here's the second fiery release from Kristin Hersh's rawked-up band 50 Foot Wave. Whereas the first was a six song ep, this is a full length (however please note that three of the eleven songs were plucked from the ep, the album's lead-off track "Long Painting", "Dog Days", and the ep's highlight "Clara Bow"). When we played this in the store, someone mistook it for L7. Does that give you some idea of what this sounds like? No? Well, how 'bout Hersh's screamed lyric "Shut the fuck up!"? Geeezus! While we wholly support 'gettin' it out' through your music, we're not sure if this style of hissy fit rock really suits Hersh's voice, and well... sometimes her feverish caterwauling just sounds like she's bringing up her lunch or a lung. Uh oh. To boot, Golden Ocean could really have done without the guitar noodly wank-offs that punctuate almost every song. Yikes. 50 Foot Wave were actually more effective on the ep format -- a quick sharp sock in the jaw versus a lengthy ear-tiring onslaught. They should've stuck with the original 50 Foot Wave plan of releasing an ep every few months. Ah well, this review will probably do little to dissuade her loyal fans (and may disgruntle a few), but this album will probably also do little to win her any new ones.
MPEG Stream: "Bone China"
MPEG Stream: "Pneuma"

A QUI AVEC GABRIEL Utsuho (Tzadik) cd 16.98
a qui avec Gabriel is a young female Japanese accordion player with a strange name, who presents her debut recording on John Zorn's Tzadik label. Her playing will remind some of accordionist Theodoro Anzellotti's beautiful interpretations of Erik Satie themes, while on some tracks she's joined by a full band in rock/exotica mode (clarinet, piano, violin, drums). It's a really strange but quite lovely album, made even stranger also by the presence of guest guitarist/vocalist Keiji Haino! (The dark prince of Tokyo psych-improv-rock, y'know.) On top of that, "Utsuho" is a concept-album apparently about the journey of a soul through night-dawn-day-dusk, meeting strange weather and little cats along the way.
RealAudio clip: "Takehaya-Sayat (a blue black storm or a poet)"
RealAudio clip: "Shikku (hard to fade away)"
RealAudio clip: "Hikari No Shizuku"

ABE, KAORU Winter 1972 (PSF) cd 21.00
Free improv alto sax solos. For some folks, this is like having a brain-scrape without painkillers. But others will crawl within the sounds bleating from this guy's horn and bliss out. Here we have a cd reissue of one of thee rarest LPs in the discography of Japanese sax-blaster Kaoru Abe, a legendary, almost James Deanish icon of that nation's happening '70s free jazz scene, who made his recorded debut in 1970 but sadly died of a drug overdose before the decade was out, at age 29. Winter 1972 was originally a bootleg LP that came out in 1973 or '74 on Osaka's Sound Works label, and hasn't been offically reissued on cd until now, commemorating the 27th anniversary of Abe's premature passing.
In the past, we've reviewed some of Abe's reissued output in collaboration with free guitar great Masayuki Takayanagi, but he's got a lot of solo recordings too, and if you're interested in such things starting here would be a fine spot as any. Beautiful (to some) skree, so dark and emotional, sound and silence intensely entwined.
MPEG Stream: "No. 2"

ABSOLUT NULL PUNKT Live In Japan (Important) cd 11.98
Absolut Null (as in Kazuyuki K. Null, of Zeni Geva fame) Punkt hasn't made too many records, and the ones they made are long gone. There were a handful of hard-to-find cassettes, LPs, and one cd recorded between about '84 to '87, before Zeni Geva came into being. But now the original ANP duo of Null and Seijiro Murayama, who was also the original drummer for Keiji Haino's Fushitsusha, have reunited for a live tour and this resultant cd release, 15 years at least after their last performance together. As they did back in the '80s, ANP play a kind of Industrial improv, ofttimes as heavy but way more freeform and abstract than the metal-prog rock dished out by Zeni Geva. With Null manipulating his guitar and "nullsonic" electronics and Murayama playing "drums, metals, tubes" this is some crazy, rhythmic electronic mayhem. Comparing it to the only previous ANP document we've heard (1993's posthumous Ultrasonic Action cd) we can certainly hear how the modern 'glitch' sounds that have crept into Null's solo works have now become a part of ANP's sonic arsenal. The six live tracks (from just over four minutes to more than 21 minutes in length) recorded at clubs in Tokyo and Osaka last year found here are ultra noisy and chaotic, processed and 'decomposed' to the max. Definitely for fans of Null's harsher side. (Hey, Important Records, if your releases are so important, how about a jewel case or a digipak or something next time? This is just packaged in a cardboard sleeve that's no different from all the cheap promos we get sent...)
MPEG Stream: "track 3"
MPEG Stream: "track 4"

ABSOLUT NULL PUNKT Metacompound (Important) cd 14.98
Zeni Geva guitarist KK Null is back with two new cds on Important -- a new Absolute Null Punkt album, and another solo disc as well. (Hey where's the ZG releases, pal?)
After a 15 year hiatus, the '80s industrial improv duo of KK Null (electronics, electro-percussion, voice) and Seijiro Murayama (drums, tubes, voice) known as ANP got back together to do some shows, which resulted in a live album (Live In Japan, Important, 2004). Now they're at it again, going to Russia to record portions of these three tracks of hard-to-describe mayhem. It's another clanking, pipe-fighting, glitched-out, electronically damaged deluge of intense improv beats, drones, and spasms. Chaotic and claustrophobic, maybe even nightmarish. But cool if you've got any inclination towards Japan-noise stuff, amped up and rhythmic and sort of "rock".
And by the way, may we commend Important records for packaging this, and their other new KK title (Kosmista Noisea, also reviewed here), in normal jewel cases this time, rather than in the cheap-o cardboard sleeves that they used for the Live In Japan cd? Not only that, but they hired none other than SUNNO)))'s Stephen O'Malley to decorate these with his trademark fractured prismatic schematic artwork, in metallic inks on cool translucent vellum paper. Nice.
MPEG Stream: "Metacompound 2GA"
MPEG Stream: "Metacompound C"

ACID EATER Virulent Fuzz Punk A.C.I.D. (Time Bomb) cd 17.98
Not to be confused with the Christine 23 Onna record of the same name (although both are fronted by Japanoise legend Masonna), this Acid Eater is a blown out blast of ultradistorto organ drenched spaced out primitive garage rock stomp. We got a little taste of Acid Eater on the Demonic Freak Scene compilation we reviewed last year, and have been hankering for more ever since. 
Imagine the heaviest, most fuzzed out garage rock you've ever heard, now take that and run it through a handful of distortion pedals, a bank of Acid Mothers worthy FX, blast it through a wall of busted old Vox amps, wrap the whole thing in feedback and reverb, and suddenly you're in some alien alternate future where the world is populated exclusively by Japanese noiserock beatniks, who are constantly blasting fuzzed out walls of overblown sixties sounds from their low flying spacecraft...
Imagine if Merzbow remixed your favorite Fuzztones record, or the Stooges released records on PSF and were augmented by some insane drug addled organist with WAY too many amps. Serpentine blues rock riffs, all tangled up with thick warbling organs, the vocals a snarling distorted howl, buried in the mix, and all dubbed out, the drums a crumbling, percussive pound, somehow as in the red as the rest of the instruments, every cymbal crash swallowing up all the other sounds, but it's the riffs, and the organ, and Masonna's wild eyed vocalizing that keep this blacklight space garage party going. Not to mention the killer hooks... Virulent Fuzz Punk A.C.I.D. perfectly captures how intense and freaked out it must be to experience this sound live, super distorted, feedback everywhere, the instruments in your face, the speakers threatening to blow, sweat, blood, spit, a swirling chaotic musical melee, heavy, distorted, fuzzy and funky, wild and woolly, spaced out and gloriously gloriously noisy. 
MPEG Stream: "EYE"
MPEG Stream: "Nothing Can Bring Me Down "
MPEG Stream: "A.C.I.D."

ACID EATER Virulent Fuzz Punk A.C.I.D. (Time Bomb) lp 23.00
Not to be confused with the Christine 23 Onna record of the same name (although both are fronted by Japanoise legend Masonna), this Acid Eater is a blown out blast of ultradistorto organ drenched spaced out primitive garage rock stomp. We got a little taste of Acid Eater on the Demonic Freak Scene compilation we reviewed last year, and have been hankering for more ever since. 
Imagine the heaviest, most fuzzed out garage rock you've ever heard, now take that and run it through a handful of distortion pedals, a bank of Acid Mothers worthy FX, blast it through a wall of busted old Vox amps, wrap the whole thing in feedback and reverb, and suddenly you're in some alien alternate future where the world is populated exclusively by Japanese noiserock beatniks, who are constantly blasting fuzzed out walls of overblown sixties sounds from their low flying spacecraft...
Imagine if Merzbow remixed your favorite Fuzztones record, or the Stooges released records on PSF and were augmented by some insane drug addled organist with WAY too many amps. Serpentine blues rock riffs, all tangled up with thick warbling organs, the vocals a snarling distorted howl, buried in the mix, and all dubbed out, the drums a crumbling, percussive pound, somehow as in the red as the rest of the instruments, every cymbal crash swallowing up all the other sounds, but it's the riffs, and the organ, and Masonna's wild eyed vocalizing that keep this blacklight space garage party going. Not to mention the killer hooks... Virulent Fuzz Punk A.C.I.D. perfectly captures how intense and freaked out it must be to experience this sound live, super distorted, feedback everywhere, the instruments in your face, the speakers threatening to blow, sweat, blood, spit, a swirling chaotic musical melee, heavy, distorted, fuzzy and funky, wild and woolly, spaced out and gloriously gloriously noisy. 
MPEG Stream: "EYE"
MPEG Stream: "Nothing Can Bring Me Down "
MPEG Stream: "A.C.I.D."

ACID MOTHER'S TEMPLE Festival Vol. 5 (Acid Mother's Temple) dvd 21.00
*Acid Mothers Temple alert* *Acid Mothers Temple alert* *Acid Mothers Temple alert*
What do you get for the Acid Mothers Temple fan who already has dozens, if not hundreds, of AMT cds? Well AMT dvds of course! This is, like, their third in a year. You pretty much already know if you want it, if you're a fan of this Japanese band of spaced out hippie freaks -- particularly if you don't get many chances to see them live. This one, filmed live in Nagoya on the 9th of December 2006, is extra special 'cause it's got krautrock drumming legend Mani Neumeier of Guru Guru as a special guest. Also vocalist Jun Kuriyama from a band we don't know is another guest. The usual AMT suspects are also present: Kawabata Makoto of course, Tsuyama Atsushi, Higashi Hiroshi, and Tabata Mitsuru. Tracks include "Pink Lady Lemonade", "La Novia", and Guru Guru's "Bo Diddley" amongst other cosmic hits. There's also a drum solo from Mani, and a "plate solo" too, where he plays small metal plates scattered on the front of the stage. He must feel like it's 1971 all over again. Especially with the wild psychedelic liquid light show that bathes the band in swirling colors.
All regions, NTSC, a professional production shot with five cameras. And limited to 1000 copies only, ever.
(For total overkill, also new in stock, haven't watched it yet: AMT's Never Ending Space Ritual double dvd!)

ACID MOTHER'S TEMPLE Ivan Piskov's Wild Gals A Go-Go (OST) (Eclipse) 2lp 26.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
An out of print Acid Mother Temple cd from four years ago now briefly available on the vinyl format, thanks to the AMT-fan-freaks at Eclipse. Here's what we had to say about it originally: Japanese guitarist/guru Kawabata (Toho Sara, Mainliner, Musica Transonic) and his band return with their third album of avant-hippy insanity. This pretends to be a soundtrack to a supposed "psych-nonsense" film by alleged "Russian mondo film" director Ivan Piskov. "Tumultuous psychedelic trip sound...Potentially massive frontal lobe damage. Real punch-drunk music!" it says here. As always, recommended for fans of epic guitar psych noise weirdness.

ACID MOTHER'S TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. Univers Zen Ou Dfe Zero A Zero (Fractal) 4lp 73.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Uh, ok, AMT-heads, bewarned, this is expensive. REALLY freaking expensive. We're not sure why, I mean, it's imported from France (though, it's not like it's made out of wine), and there's eight sides of vinyl here, and it looks great and all, but $73? Then again, try buying this on eBay a few years hence. And, Univers Zen Ou De Zero A Zero is, by our reckoning and others, one of Kawabata & Co.'s best albums. Furthermore, this deluxe vinyl edition comes with a whole additional LP's worth of live (in Europe 2002) material, previously unreleased. We've got three in stock. You do the math and make your purchasing decisions accordingly. And in case you need it, here's our review of the cd version:
France's Fractal label gets into the Acid Mothers Temple game with this eagerly-awaited new album (we're told it's only their sixth studio effort, though we didn't actually count 'em ourselves). Univers Zen Ou De Zero A Zero starts off with some over the top heavy psych wankery (entitled "Electric Love Machine") that might be leftover from their Electric Heavyland sessions, but as with most AMT releases, you never know what's coming next! Track two marks a shift into more mellow pastures, as Cotton Casino's dreamy voice, acoustic instruments, and gentle synth washes make for a nice interlude, before some seriously droned-out howl comes in on the very next track ("Blues Pour Bible Noire") to hammer you for 20 or so minutes. Later in the disc there's another epic 20+ minute track of medieval psych ("Soleil de Cristal et Lune d'Argent") with Cotton singing/chanting over some lovely Amon Duulish drone rock, worth the price of admission alone. We've really got to admit, that despite their prolific output, Kawabata & Co. rarely disappoint, and this is yet another quite good Acid Mothers Temple release!
Note for serious AMT otaku: there's an unlisted bonus track that we think is the first studio version of their crazy vocal bit "God Bless Acid Mothers Temple", while the disc's very first track features a guest solo from Hiroshi Narazaki (former guitarist of Japanese '70s psych legends Les Rallizes Dénudés).

ACID MOTHERS AFRIRAMPO We Are Acid Mothers Afrirampo (Acid Mothers Temple / Eclipse) cd 19.98
Acid Mothers Temple are, of course, the communal hippie cosmic krautrock lovin' ensemble from Japan led by bearded guitar guru Kawabata Makoto, whose multitude of releases (and live shows) are pretty much always enjoyable trips... we don't have to tell you that. Afrirampo are a newer band, also from Japan, a vocally out-there, wild & wooly female costume-rock duo who sound a heckuva lot like early Boredoms (someone told us that Afrirampo are actually *making fun* of the Boredoms, but we don't believe it). Chances are you probably already know about 'em too, judging by sales here at AQ.
And it seems that most AMT fans have to have *everything* they put out. Likewise with Afrirampo's fans. And fans of AMT are likely to be into Afrirampo, and vice versa (Afrirampo, after all, have guested on several past AMT albums). So they've done EVERYONE a favor and recorded this collaborative release together, so you can cross it off both yr lists when you pick it up!! What a deal. Now, with the many many reviews we have to write impending upon us here we can't say we've sat down and listened to this entire thing all the way through, yet. I mean, c'mon, we don't have time to fully enter into the necessary spirit of this, sitting naked crosslegged in our room, blasting this on 10 while rocking back and forth and mumbling along to the Yoko-inspired babble... But what we've heard here in the store has been what we'd expect, and want. The aforementioned vocal babble backed by droning, swirling psychedelic build ups a la Amon Duul on this three long tracks... Moods vary, from the mystic to the maniacal. These jams drift in and out of focus -- some of it's a bit like being at an AMT or Boredoms show in Japan, listening to the band with one ear while in the other you're hearing a small child nearby begging their parents to take them home. AMT + Afrirampo, a match made in Japanese psych splurge heaven. It's limited too, we're pretty sure...
MPEG Stream: "We're Acid Mothers Afrirampo!"
MPEG Stream: "The Man From The Magic Mountain"

ACID MOTHERS GONG Live In Nagoya (Vivo) cd 15.98

ACID MOTHERS GURU GURU Psychedelic Navigator (Important) cd 14.98
Recently we listed a cd by Diza Star & The Pink Ladies Blues, the French/Japanese psych band formerly known as Acid Mothers Temple & The Pink Ladies Blues, entitled Featuring Mani Neumeier. That particular personage being the drummer from '70s krautrock legends Guru Guru. Well, the REAL Acid Mothers Temple couldn't let their Pink Ladies pals & doppelgangers get away with scooping 'em on jamming with Mr. Guru Guru himself. So here's AMT's Makoto Kawabata (guitar) and Atsushi Tsuyama (bass) teamed up in a cream-dream power trio with ol' Mani. Together they unleash a whole hour of long, lumbering, loud, out-there psychedelic rock, five tracks total, mostly improvised live but winding up with a wild version of the Guru Guru classic "Bo Diddley". We bet Kawabata and Tsuyama were grinning stupidly for weeks afterwards.
MPEG Stream: "Stonerrock Socks"
MPEG Stream: "Bo Diddley"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE 41st Century Splendid Man (tUMULt) picture disc 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
WAREHOUSE FIND!!! ONLY 20 COPIES AND THEN THESE ARE AGAIN GONE GONE GONE!!
We managed to get 20 copies from a distributor who found a stack of these in a corner of their warehouse. This was originally limited to 500 copies and was out of print in a flash, so this will almost certainly be your last chance to pick one of these up at a reasonable price. Here's what we had to say about this one the first time around, a few years ago (with some minor updates and adjustments):
Finally a new sonic missive from Andee's tUMULt label, the latest installment of psychedelic majesty from Japanese avant-hippy heroes Acid Mothers Temple. This was the first in what was planned to be a series of 12" picture discs. While the series is on hold indefinitely, this disc is still something else! Recorded well over a year ago, this is AMT at their absolute prime, featuring special guest star Tatsuya Yoshida of the Ruins! Two extended tracks (35 + minutes) of transcendental psych-drone. Side one has to be the most beautiful track they've ever recorded. Uncharacteristically tranquil and captivatingly beautiful. Droning, shimmering chimes coalesce into some sort of cosmic Ur-drone, punctuated by simple caveman thuds and epic swooshes, resulting in a grand and gorgeous ambience! Side two is a single track separated into two apparent movements. The first sees AMT back on more familiar ground, with swooping synths and freak out guitar. A stumbling kosmic krautrock, with motorik rhythms and free guitar, amidst a swampy wash of rumbling low end and squealing synths. The track erupts into bubbling atonal out-rock exploration splattered with mad scientist synthesisers as the whole thing slowly mutates into 'cosmic slop' of the nth degree, becoming gradually free-er and free-er. The second 'movement' is all slithery free jazz with bubbling cauldrons of synth sputter, wild keyboards and Can-like rhythms until the whole thing gets all dreamy, eventually blissing out completely. When Andee asked AMT to do a 12", they weren't yet Wire cover stars with so many dozens of releases out -- but this is still one of their absolute best recordings!
As you might have guessed, this is EXTREMELY LIMITED. Hand stamped sleeves. A gorgeous picture disc, with a striking flowers/UFO image on one side, and a scintillatingly saucy photo on the other (you'll just have to buy it to see it!). Still only available as a picture disc lp!

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE Born To Be Wild In The U.S.A. 2000 (Acid Mothers Temple) cd 14.98
That *Acid Mothers Temple Alert!* *Acid Mothers Temple Alert!* *Acid Mothers Temple Alert!* emergency warning alarm has been going off pretty much continually here at Aquarius over the past couple weeks, driving us all batty. We thought it must be broken or something but no, there's just been THREE more releases from those hairy Japanese hippies known as AMT plus another Kawabata collaboration (w/ Daevid Allen of Gong). So let's assess the threat.
This one's a cd reissue of a limited, long-gone vinyl artifact, documenting as the title indicates the Acid Mothers Temple (and Melting Paraiso U.F.O., let's not forget) performing their cosmic jams live in the US of A back in Y2K. With all the AMT product out there, do you care about a live album? Well, actually, this is pretty great and we have to recommend it to fans for sure. Straight out of the gate "Acid Tokion 2000" is a hard-rockin' beast, furry with feedback and noisy guitar. Acid space rock for the biker on the cover. Things then take a turn into heavy, Trad Gras Och Stenar style drone-plod with a 13+ minute version of "La Novia". Next up, "Pink Lady Lemonade" calms down the proceedings a bit. The album continues with "Speed Guru" and "God Bless AMT". The recording is a bit murky and distorted, but that's more to do with how the band sounds live than anything else, and is perfect for these '70s worshippers anyway. And they're even replicated the 'bootleg' style paste-on cover of the original vinyl edition on this cd digipak. Nice.
MPEG Stream: "Acid Tokion 2000"
MPEG Stream: "La Novia"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE Day Before The Sky Fell In (Galactic Zoo Disc / Eclipse Records) cd 14.98
Now on cd! Originally a vinyl-only live document from everybody's favorite Krautrock-obsessed and uber-prolific Japanese hippy freak ensemble, recorded September 10th, 2001 (hence the title). There's two long tracks, the first listed as "Space Age Ballad / La Novia (including In E)" and the second "La Novia-Speed Guru". So you can see they're incorporating several compositions beloved by AMT fans, though of course improvisation plays a large part, and these tracks both flow rather seamlessly -- swirling electric mists of psychedelic monkish folk drone near the start gives way to an endless chugging rock distortofest, super spacey and stoned and indulgent. The "classic" AMT line-up is on board, including Cotton Casino with her beer & cigarettes, "Cosmic Joker" Atsushi Tsuyama, "Dancin' King" Hiroshi Higashi, Ichiraku Yoshimitsu on drums and of course #1 speed guru Kawabata Makoto on guitar. Who also appears on the cover, in a drawing paying homage to the cover of Amon Duul II's Yeti, with Kawabata in the role of Shrat, wielding his scythe.
MPEG Stream: "La Novia-Speed Guru"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE Does The Cosmic Shepherd Dream Of Electric Tapirs? (Space Age) cd 15.98
More wiggly, wacky psychedelic hijinx from Japan's number one export: Acid Mothers Temple. These hardworking hippies are back yet again, this time on the UK's Space Age Recordings, who usually release stuff by British psychsters like Spectrum and Spacemen 3. So AMT are right at home. As always, the AMT brand ought to alert y'all to how freaky this is likely to be. And it is, but with interesting twists and turns. The disc is nicely varied and well-programmed. After the chaotic rawk opener "Daddy's Bare Meat", which sounds like live AMT on autopilot, we're treated to something just a little bit different, the doo wop pastiche of "Suzie Sixteen"! That's followed by the very lovely, fucked up folkish Pink Floydian number sung by Cotton Casino, "Hello Good Child" (from the limited Ochre 7" we reviewed not long ago, saying it sounded a bit like Crosby Stills and Nash, but doused in lighterfluid and liquid LSD). That drifts right into another gorgeous acid-folk trip, "The Assassin's Beautiful Daughter". Effects bubble around the gentle, classical guitar and flute... Very krautrock. Then, things get somewhat heavier (but remain quite krautrocky) with the Amon Duul II styled "Dark Star Blues". That's the longest piece on this album by far, clocking in at 25 spaced-out minutes. Although, the next and final track on the album, "The Transmigration Of Hop Heads" is also a drowsy doozy, 18 minutes of slow-building bliss-drone. Nice. So, we've gotta say, this all adds up to another excellent AMT album! If you're a fan, this is one to get...or, if you don't already have a shelf sagging with AMT product, you could do worse than start by checking this one out.
MPEG Stream: "Suzie Sixteen"
MPEG Stream: "Hello Good Child"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE Dokonan (AMT) dvd 24.00
*Acid Mothers Temple alert!* *Acid Mothers Temple alert!* *Acid Mothers Temple alert!* Those alarm bells are ringing extra loud 'cause it's not just ANOTHER always amazing cd release from these Japanese hippie-kraut-psych-prog freaks... no, it's a tour documentary, their first-ever DVD, with live footage of fan faves "Pink Lady Lemonade", "La Novia", and big improv jam... also plenty of off-stage, on-the-road, behind-the-music, culture shock stuff (Japanese band, French filmmakers, USA tour). Bonuses on this DVD include a clip of AMT playing at the WFMU studio, and more. Limited to 1000 copies!

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE Electric Heavyland (Alien8 Recordings) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
I know we're all thinking the same thing: Enough with the Acid Mothers Temple already! Can't Makoto Kawabata and his band of krautrock-obsessed Japanese pyschedelic hippy freaks go on a six-month nature retreat or something, and give us (and our wallets) a break? But, the fact remains, that for fans of psych-rock weirdness, very few of the many AMT releases have been disappointing, really.
So, then, what's the deal with this one? "Electric Heavyland" (one thing Kawabata & co. are NOT good at is titles) is a bit unsubtle, wearing its intentions on its all-black sleeve (or, rather, obi): this is AMT's stab at non-stop, super-heavy rockin'. Alien8 compares it to "Mellow Out", the now out-of-print first album from Mainliner, the High Rise related group that Kawabata played in prior to AMT's debut. (They even point out that "Electric Heavyland" even LOOKS a lot like "Mellow Out", something which hardly seems all that meaningful or significant...I mean, c'mon.) Regardless, it's certainly in the ballpark. Sloppy, noisy, spacey, utterly indulgent, this is the sound of a stoner heavy psych band fully amped up, plugged in, and jacking off. The blown-out, sub-Stooges motorcycle metal of Mainliner (and High Rise) is perhaps more purposeful than this, without the spacey detours, synth fx, and wordless female vocalizing of this disc. But, when you're in the midst of "Loved And Confused" or "Atomic Rotary Grinding God" or "?Quicksilver Machine Head" on this disc (see, decidedly un-subtle indeed), that hardly matters. Not the heaviest ever, but heavy enough. Would Monster Magnet dare take 'em on tour?
RealAudio clip: "Loved And Confused"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE Hello Good Child (Ochre) 7" 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Super limited 7" from everybody's favorite Japanese psych band (and if they're not, they soon will be based soley on their massive, endless output). One side sounds a bit like the Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" or "Baba O'Reilley", only instead of some pimply faced teen smoking pot, blasting it in his souped up Camaro parked behind the 7-11, it sounds more like some teen alien badass, cranked up on some futuristic drug, parked in orbit around a starship, hiding out from interplanetary truancy officers. The other side sounds a bit like Crosby Stills and Nash, but doused in lighterfluid and liquid LSD.

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE Hypnotic Liquid Machine From The Golden Utopia (Acid Mothers Temple) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Here's a 44 minute, two song Acid Mothers Temple cd they released to promote and sell as merch on their 2004 US tour, back in May/June. You get the title track, a jam about a half-hour long that starts off pulsing, swooshing, and tumbling over itself in sheer wonderment of psychedelic excess before calming into a jew's harp driven piece of minimalist electronic drone... however the whole band kicks in again before it's over, bringing things back up to overload levels. Definitely music made by/for dancin' kings, sleeping monks, speed gurus, cosmic jokers, and the erotic underground. And then there's a 16 minute "special bonus track" recorded live at some sort of "70's Rock Tribute" night. Imagine that! More riff/boogie/silly oriented but still super spacey and psychedelic. So if you didn't buy this at one of their shows, now's your chance -- we're really speaking to AMT completists (of which we know there are many) here, not to the more casual AMT consumer, who is probably still digesting "Mantra Of Love" or "A Thousand Shades of Grey" or "Born To Be Wild In The U.S.A. 2000"! And it's in a slim cardboard sleeve so it won't be hard to squeeze into your AMT shelf!
MPEG Stream: "Hypnotic Liquid Machine From The Golden Utopia"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE Last Concert In Tokyo (Acid Mothers Temple) cd 17.98
*Acid Mothers Temple alert* *Acid Mothers Temple alert* *Acid Mothers Temple alert*
Another limited edition AMT label release, live in Tokyo 1999. And why is it (or was it) their "Last Concert In Tokyo" you may ask? Well according to the sleeve notes, although this was just their third ever gig and they didn't have an album out yet, they were soooo disappointed that less than thirty people turned up to see them that they haven't played again in Tokyo since, and say "understandably we have little intention of doing so in the future." Hmm. Hey that was, like, four years ago guys, maybe you should give your hometown another chance. Anyway, they recorded the show and now you can join that meager handful of Tokyoites in hearing what they sounded like that night: wild and wooly and definitely psychedelic enuff to justify song titles like "Golden Bat Blues Dead" and "Satori LSD 1999". Four songs, forty minutes, one track. Fans should note that this was Atsushi Tsuyama's first gig as an official member of AMT, wielding "monster bass" it says here -- and oh yeah, you can hear it!
MPEG Stream: "Astro 69"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE Live Bootleg lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The deluge continues unabated. Lp after lp after cd after double cd after double lp after 12" after picture disc after double 7". Phew. And for those that still need even more, the 'Temple do not disappoint. This is a massive 40 minute slab of live mayhem. From squealing free-noise workouts to relentless Stooges-ish riffing to super distorted, fuzzed out Mainliner style psychedelic freakouts. In an old school, photo-copied faux bootleg style sleeve and of course, it's SUPER LIMITED!
RealAudio clip: "Acid Tokion 2000"
RealAudio clip: "Pink Lady Lemonade"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE Magical Power From Mars Volume One (Important) cd ep 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
I know it seems like we must be joking, but it's true. ANOTHER Acid Mothers Temple record. And not just a new record, PART ONE IN A THREE PART SERIES!!!! But then it wouldn't really be a list without some new sonic missive from these guys on the far away fringes of outer spacerock. But let's start with the packaging. We were all practically stunned into silence by the packaging. Seriously. It is so beautiful. The cover is like one of those vintage 3D sort of multi-layered lenticular postcard, showing a tiny spaceman standing at the edge of a canyon, while a flying saucer swoops down and shines lasers or beams of light and a gorgeous red sunset shimmers in the background. You really have to just see it. And the disc is a 3" cd embedded in a clear 5" cd with some very Yes-like spacescapes. Really nice. Volume two is going to have a lot to live up to. As we seem to be telling you everytime we review ANOTHER Acid Mothers Temple record, although you think that the quality would slip, or this would all get boring and BAD, 'Magical Powers' beats the odds again, and is actually really, really nice. A 20 minute slab of space-y shimmer, buzzing synths and plucked sitars are bombarded by bleeps and blips, reverb and delay, and ghostly female vocals. A futuristic raga, undulating and slowly shifting, a faraway Eastern melody winding subtly through the druggy haze. Blissed out and hypnotic.
RealAudio clip: "Magical Powers From Mars Volume One"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE Magical Power From Mars Volume Two (Important) cd ep 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Okay, this is volume two in Acid Mothers Temple's Magical Powers From Mars series and while we raved about the first one, I'm afraid we have to be a little harsh this time around. Not on the music. No, the music is great, as always. And if you bought the first one, you're gonna need this one too. AMT can do no wrong it seems. This is a thick slab of gorgeous, psychedelic freak out, with wailing female vocals and space-y swooshes and interstellar bleeps and beeps. A 15 minute burst of damaged psych brilliance. But that's where the trouble starts. Fifteen minutes! For $11!! The first volume was nineteen minutes and was also $11. By our thinking, both those tracks, hell, even the forthcoming less-than-twenty-minute volume three could all fit on ONE CD. But that would be fine, conceptually, there's nothing wrong with a series of EP's. And the 3-D lenticular cover on volume one was really something to see. So we resigned ourselves to buying all three. But what's this? Volume two has THE EXACT SAME COVER?! As will volume three we discovered! What the fuck?!? And the cool 3" cd embedded in a 5" plastic disc with crazy space art? EXACTLY THE SAME. Kind of shitty if you ask us. Basically, you're looking at $33 for 50+ minutes of music and three practically identical cases/covers. But of course, if we've learned one thing: liking Acid Mothers Temple is all about COLLECTING, so collect away!!
RealAudio clip: "Diamond Doggy Peggy"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE Mantra Of Love (Alien8 Recordings) cd 14.98
That *Acid Mothers Temple Alert!* *Acid Mothers Temple Alert!* *Acid Mothers Temple Alert!* emergency warning alarm has been going off pretty much continually here at Aquarius over the past couple weeks, driving us all batty. We thought it must be broken or something but no, there's just been THREE more releases from those hairy Japanese hippies known as AMT plus another Kawabata collaboration (w/ Daevid Allen of Gong). So let's assess the threat.
This one's a brand-new studio effort, and is quite appropriately titled "Mantra of Love", starting out as it does with the lovely vocals of Cotton Casino drifting over a dreamy, mellow backdrop, spacey fx gradually building. One of just two loooong tracks here, opener "Le La Lo" is, like their classic "La Novia", one of the fruits of AMT's obsession with traditional Occitan troubadour song. It's a half-hour in length, and ranges from the aforementioned dreaminess to a dose of Kawabata's psych-guitar-heroics and back before it's done. That's followed by "L'Ambition Dans Le Miroir", an AMT original that continues the droning and beautiful medieval spacerock vibe of "Le La Lo". A worthy addition to your (hopefully sturdy) shelf of AMT music.
MPEG Stream: "Le La Lo (excerpt 1)"
MPEG Stream: "Le La Lo (excerpt 2)"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE Minstrel In the Galaxy (Riot Season) cd 21.00
Last list we presented a fab four-cd AMT box set entitled The Penultimate Galactic Bordello Also The World You Made. Now this week we've got Minstrel In The Galaxy for those of you who a) have already absorbed all four hours of the Galactic Bordello box and want more, b) didn't spring for the Galactic Bordello box but still need an AMT fix, or c) got the Galactic Bordello box, haven't even cracked it open, but want to stock up on the AMT cds just in case a nuclear apocalypse arrives and, a few decades down the road in your underground bunker, you run out of other AMT to listen to! Joking aside, this is another spacey trip from everyone's favorite Japanese retro-psych ensemble. Three tracks, one of 'em in the 40 minute range, super droney and druggy and dark and delightful. AMT fans should note that this marks the first studio release from a new AMT line-up, that sees long time fan fave singer/keyboardist Cotton Casino replaced with not one but two women, who themselves are a band, the Osaka duo Afrirampo.
MPEG Stream: "Minstrel In The Galaxy"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE Nam Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo (Ace Fu) cd 14.98
Whoa. This prolific band of Japanese hippies (fresh off a by-all-accounts kick-ass US tour with Mammatus as openers) is back, again, with a new album on Ace Fu. It's one of those one-track, one-hour jobbies, rather overwhelming for those of us trying to write up a quick review! We can tell you that the whole thing is based around an ancient and popular Buddhist mantra, from whence this gets its title. We'll direct you to that font of all knowledge, Wikepedia, for more information (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nam_Myoho_Renge_Kyo). Apparently this mantra has appeared also in a Ludacris song, on an episode of the Monkees, and in Revenge Of The Nerds II! Of course AMT don't just chant it this mantra. They turn it into an epic, outerspace/innerspace, psychedelic rock opera. Whooshing FX, a chorus of voices, droning electronics, guitar overload, ethnic acoustic instrumentation, plodding drums, heavy jams, it's all here. Basically they've fully Amon Duulized their rendition of Nam Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo, as is their usual wont. We don't know if most practicing Buddhists will find this to their liking, but we're loving it! Another awesome automatic "yes, please" for AMT fans.
MPEG Stream: "Nam Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo [excerpt 1]"
MPEG Stream: "Nam Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo [excerpt 2]"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE Never Ending Space Ritual (Swordfish) 2dvd 41.00
This newest Acid Mothers Temple dvd release, a double disc set, is pretty much essential for fans of that prolific Japanese freak-hippy musical commune. And we're not just saying that, like we would about any of their millions of releases. This is extra-essential 'cause it's intended as a "history of" the whole AMT phenomenon. And it pretty much proves them to be a "Never Ending Space Ritual" indeed! Heck, the menu loops alone are pretty cool... naked ladies and explosions and psychedelic effects, all right!
The first disc has two main sections. One features an example of archival live footage from each year of the band's existence, 1998 to 2007, plus an "early years" concert that's remarkably jazzy.
The other section includes video from a bunch of AMT "family" offshoots, including Acid Mothers Temple SWR, Acid Mothers Gong, Acid Mothers Guru Guru, and one we hadn't heard of before, Acid Mothers Temple & The Incredible Strange Band. During the Acid Mothers Gong segment, Daevid Allen pretty much out-freaks the entire band just by dancing (and wearing an outfit handed down from Madonna in her conical bra phase)!
On disc two (the main menu of which features video footage of the Father Moo album cover photo shoot!), you get an interview with Makoto Kawabata (in English), a bunch more live concert footage including performances of such faves as "La Novia" and "Pink Lady Lemonade", and a selection of extras -- among them a "guitar smashing medley"!!
So, even if you don't buy every last AMT thing to come your way, if you're at all into this band, this would be one to seriously consider picking up.

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE Power House Of Holy (Acid Mothers Temple) cd 16.98
Oh yeah, we're not done yet...there's a second Acid Mothers Temple cd on this week's list, another live one. We don't call these Japanese hippies "uber-prolific" for nothing! There's two long tracks here (as is their wont, apparently), the first of 'em "Dark Stars In The Dazzling Sky" which is definitely darker and more intense than the stuff on the Day Before the Sky Fell In cd listed above. Kawabata's clawing guitar gets cranked, honed to a heavy metal edge, and the wild vocals babble and keen like Lucifer's Friend on a bad trip... it's a mean Hawkwindy jam, knives out, grinding away and throwing off sparks.
The second, longer track, "Pink Lady Lemonade" is heavy too, but in a much different, spaced out and blissful way... it drones prettily, Kawabata's guitar still soaring and scrabbling over the droning din, with the overall effect being an uplifting one.
Recorded in 2004 in the US and UK with a four-piece AMT line-up (no Cotton C., and new guy Koizume Hajime behind the drum kit), this release was meant for the merch tables of their 2006 US Tour, and comes packaged in the slim paper sleeves of all AMT-label product, easy to transport on tour, just as the music will easily transport you...
MPEG Stream: "Dark Stars In The Dazzling Sky (aka Dark Star Blues)"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE Recurring Dream & Apocalypse Of Darkness (Important) cd 14.98
This is the new album from Japan's Acid Mothers Temple, that AMT leader Kawabata Makoto contends is heavier than the average heavy AMT release, going so far as to say it's in the league of something like SUNNO))). Well, is it really?? Would he bet his beard on it? (We all ask, salivatin'.)
The answer: holy shit, yes. It's like indeed kinda like SUNNO))) jamming with Amon Duul, in a relentless riff orgy. That heavy. That droney. That creepy. That kosmic. A slow screaming blackened drone-groan vomiting forth from bad trippin' hippy minds, third eyes staring dull and glassy into the spinning vortex of the void. There's about ten minutes of pure bliss-out at the end of the disc, but before that, what you get is psychedelic guitar gunk out the wazoo. Riff after plodding riff, adorned with alien electronics. Dirge, splurge and more dirge. A roar to end all roars. A space-sludge feedback fantasy.
Each clocking in at about 36 and a half minutes, there's two long tracks (with long track names) here: "Eternal Incantation Of Perpetual Nightmare" and "Recurring Dream & Apocalypse Of Darkness". Sound kinda black metal don't they? Actually they do. This is an EXTREME Acid Mothers Temple experience let me tell you. Boris, beware! Ufommamut, watch your backs! Electric Wizard, better take another hit!!
Definitely worthy of the nifty, unmistakable Seldon Hunt cover art. Also, FYI we have this in both digital and analog formats. The vinyl version, a heavy gatefold double LP affair, is limited to 1000 copies, and it includes two bonus tracks!!! So act fast...
MPEG Stream: "Eternal Incantation Of Perpetual Nightmare"
MPEG Stream: "Recurring Dream & Apocalypse Of Darkness "

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE Recurring Dream & Apocalypse Of Darkness (Important) 2lp 26.00
This is the new album from Japan's Acid Mothers Temple, that AMT leader Kawabata Makoto contends is heavier than the average heavy AMT release, going so far as to say it's in the league of something like SUNNO))). Well, is it really?? Would he bet his beard on it? (We all ask, salivatin'.)
The answer: holy shit, yes. It's like indeed kinda like SUNNO))) jamming with Amon Duul, in a relentless riff orgy. That heavy. That droney. That creepy. That kosmic. A slow screaming blackened drone-groan vomiting forth from bad trippin' hippy minds, third eyes staring dull and glassy into the spinning vortex of the void. There's about ten minutes of pure bliss-out at the end of the disc, but before that, what you get is psychedelic guitar gunk out the wazoo. Riff after plodding riff, adorned with alien electronics. Dirge, splurge and more dirge. A roar to end all roars. A space-sludge feedback fantasy.
Each clocking in at about 36 and a half minutes, there's two long tracks (with long track names) here: "Eternal Incantation Of Perpetual Nightmare" and "Recurring Dream & Apocalypse Of Darkness". Sound kinda black metal don't they? Actually they do. This is an EXTREME Acid Mothers Temple experience let me tell you. Boris, beware! Ufommamut, watch your backs! Electric Wizard, better take another hit!!
Definitely worthy of the nifty, unmistakable Seldon Hunt cover art. Also, FYI we have this in both digital and analog formats. The vinyl version, a heavy gatefold double LP affair, is limited to 1000 copies, and it includes two bonus tracks!!! So act fast...
MPEG Stream: "Eternal Incantation Of Perpetual Nightmare"
MPEG Stream: "Recurring Dream & Apocalypse Of Darkness "

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE Soul Collective Tour 2003 (Acid Mothers Temple) cd 18.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

MPEG Stream: KAWABATA MAKOTO "Where Are You Now - Pink Lady Lemonade"
MPEG Stream: TSURUBAMI "Tatoe Kishiroedo"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE The Penultimate Galactic Bordello Also The World You Made (Dirter) 4cd 33.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Jeepers. If the output of the Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. -- everyone's favorite freaky communal Japanese psychedelic spacelords -- wasn't remarkable enough, with a new release or two seemingly sprouting up every time we blink, they had to go and put out this lil' BOX SET. Yup, this one's got four full-length compact discs! Each colorful cd containing a single, approximately hour-long track. That's, like, four hours of music total! Yowza. And the deal is, as we keep saying about these guys (but it's true), it's all pretty great stuff despite how prolific they are. If you're into their trip, we'd say this is a worthwhile purchase. We won't say essential (at this point, what is essential? we all have our faves) but actually a fairly economical deal for fans, when you work out the per-disc price. To be honest, we haven't actually yet listened to the entirety of this release...but what we've heard so far has met our expectations: either jammed-out Hawkwind-meets-Greatful Dead psych-rock or more mysterious, ritualistic dark and droney weirdness. We're really into how this is the "Penultimate" Galactic Bordello, by the way, and not the Ultimate. The implication is, the Ultimate is yet to come. So no need to mope if these four discs leave you wanting more!
MPEG Stream: "The Seven Stigmata From Pussycat Nebula"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. Absolutely Freak Out (Static Caravan / Resonant) 2lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Gorgeous gatefold double lp. The latest in the seemingly endless barrage of recorded output from the mighty Acid Mothers Temple, Japanese hippies whose glorious din has induced pantswetting by psych/drone fans (and label owners, judging by the number of imprints thy've recorded for) the world over. This record, a joint release by the always-dependable British Static Caravan / Resonant labels, starts out as a delicate gossamer drone, hazy and dark and beautiful, slowly gathering momentum until it erupts into a full fledged psychedelic freakout (a lot like the noisier moments on their PSF cds). As always, essential.

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. La Novia (Swordfish) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now on cd with extra tracks! "La Novia" is a dark and droning take on the usual Acid Mothers Temple mix of hippie freak rock and experimental psych weirdness, with lots of faux-throat singing! Apparently this is based on traditional "Occitanian" folk music, which from the album graphics would appear to be a region of France. Hmm? In any event, it's a heavy, forty-minute trip-out mixing everything from distorted guitar and spacey synth to violin and bouzouki. Really great. And now, with this cd version, you don't have to get up and flip the record over halfway through. Plus, as we said, there's two lovely bonus tracks, totalling twenty haunting minutes more. Quite possibly this is our favorite AMT disc yet (and that's saying something, since there are now so many, and most are so good). Makoto Kawabata, Cotton Casino, Atsushi Tsuyama and Co. continue their quest for ultimate psychedelic world domination! (Indeed, look for them on a future cover of The Wire!)
RealAudio clip: "Bois-tu de la biere?"
RealAudio clip: "Bon Voyage au LSD"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. La Novia (Eclipse) lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A dark and droning take on Acid Mothers Temple usual mix of hippie freak rock and experimental psychedelic weirdness, with lots of throat singing! It seems that with their current and ever-increasing volume of releases the Acid Mothers Temple might be poised to challenge the Sun City Girls some day in the discography sweepstakes, although they have a way to go just yet... Regardless of their number of releases, however, Kawabata and his Acid Mothers Temple minions have yet to disappoint!

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE COSMIC INFERNO Another Band From The Cosmic Inferno European Tour 2005 - Cosmic Funeral Route 666 (Acid Mothers Temple) cd 16.98
We were getting worried. After showing up on practically three AQ New Arrivals Lists in a row (221, 223, 224), not to mention a brace of releases a few weeks earlier found on lists 217 and 218, we went three whole lists without ANYTHING new by Acid Mothers Temple to review! Well, there was that excellent Kawabata Makoto collaboration with Up-Tight that we listed on 226, but we're talking about full AMT band albums. So it's a relief to have this show up -- and it's just in time. Y'know, just in case there's a Japanese psych freak on your Christmas shopping list, and you were wondering what to get for 'em, maybe they haven't got this yet!
Despite the "European Tour 2005" designation, this isn't recorded live in Europe, but at home in Japan at the Acid Mothers Temple itself, and was meant for sale as merch on that particular tour. We'd guess these copies are the leftovers, luckily enough for those of us who missed the AMT mothership's descent on Europe! There's but two songs on here (as has been AMT's wont of late), the 38 minute "Cosmic Funeral Route 666" and the 5:42 "Phantom Fire Ball". Lots of spaced-out soundz as you might expect, with "Cosmic Funeral" being an electric procession that chugs along densely before things get hushed and more spacious at about the half-way point... until the 24 minute mark when the cosmic funeral train starts a'rollin' again, and some deep, dark, cavernous guitar is unleashed unto the proceedings. The overall vibe (and that's definitely the term to use) isn't actually all that "funereal", really. This ain't AMT's take on Skepticism. It's just another krautrocky cosmic jam from these modern masters. Following that, the briefer "Phantom Fire Ball" is a bit more energetic and distorted, reminding us of Comets On Fire, with urgent vocals that also make us think (as we already were thinking anyway), "man these guys like Hawkwind don't they!"
Packaged in a slim cardboard sleeve like the other discs on the AMT label, and doubtless limited... though of course if you miss this we're sure they're be another new AMT coming up soon!
MPEG Stream: "Cosmic Funeral Route 666"
MPEG Stream: "Phantom Fire Ball"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE COSMIC INFERNO Anthem Of The Space (Ektro) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Yep, another new Acid Mothers Temple transmission, this one the second to come via their Finnish fans the band Circle's Ektro imprint. And, it's a good one, for those who dig the long-form AMT stuff like La Novia. We think they're serious about this Anthem of THE Space stuff. Like, there's a contest to make the music that will be playing far out in space for all time, if you could only hear it. AMT mean to win that contest! This is a seriously spaced-out AMT effort indeed. A cosmic march into the furthest reaches of where no man (or hippy) has gone before. Except Amon Duul II. 'Cause the main part of this disc, the 44 minute title track, has very much of an Amon Duul II's Yeti vibe going on! (And thus it also reminds us of the recently AQ-reviewed My Solid Ground.) Stoner paradise. Very krautrock. A heavy, mantric riff repeating over and over a loooong time. Super hypnotic. We like! That's followed by the ten minute "Poppy Rock", a track that's more like a spacey hoedown. Kinda jig-like. A quick picker-upper after the "Anthem Of The Space".
Maybe we just didn't realize it before, but it appears that guitarist Tabata Mitsuru is now a member of the ever-evolving Acid Mothers Temple collective. Tabata you may know as KK Null's foil in Zeni Geva, or for being an early member of the Boredoms, or for his excellent solo and collaborative releases in recent years. Well, now he's in the Temple, lending all of his psychedelic skills to the cause, getting co-writing credit alongside AMT "speed guru" Kawabata Makoto on the two tracks here.
Yet again, a winner from the AMT camp.
MPEG Stream: "Anthem Of The Space"
MPEG Stream: "Poppy Rock"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE COSMIC INFERNO Demons From Nipples (Vivo) cd 16.98
Demons From Nipples? Of all of Acid Mothers Temple's most ridiculous titles (eg. St. Captain Freak Out And The Magic Bamboo Request, Hypnotic Liquid Machine From The Golden Utopia, or Does The Cosmic Shepherd Dream Of Electric Tapirs?), that might be the mostest! And the music does its best to live up to that title. It's a heavily effected, way-out Kraut/psych love frolic, howling in space, kinda like an imaginary Can/Hawkwind/Guru Guru acid test jam fest with what sounds like some sort of warped, sci-fi bagpipes thrown in for good measure. That weird bagpipe sound is what's really getting us excited about this (though doubtless some might disagree). It's kinda like Comets On Fire's Echoplex or the 13th Floor Elevators' electric jug. Must be the "uilleann pipe" that a guest is credited with playing in the liner notes! Stirred in there with guitars, drums, electronics, etc. it's part of a pretty wild and dense sound. And when things calm down a bit (like, about a half hour into the title track) the combination of heavy-duty electric guitar splooge and mantric cosmic slop vocal chant is primo, with or without the pipe (any sorta pipe).
This release (imported from Poland, not sure if we'll be able to get 'em again all that easily!) is the third new document in, like, the last three months to be spawned by the latest incarnation of Kawabata Makoto's Acid Mothers Temple troupe (now known as AMT & The Cosmic Inferno), featuring new members including Tabata Mitsuru (Zeni Geva, Boredoms, Leningrad Blues Machine). And like the other two Cosmic Inferno discs, this consists of but two tracks, one long and one really long. If you liked their previous disc Just Another Band From The Cosmic Inferno you'll really dig this one. Ultra-trippy to say the least!
MPEG Stream: "Demons From Nipples"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE COSMIC INFERNO Hardcore Uncle Meat: Live In Croatia 2005 (AMT) dvd 19.98
We shouldn't be surprised. Japanese communal psych rock juggernaut the Acid Mothers Temple just released their first ever Digital Versatile Disc, like, a month or two ago. And while that one quickly sold out and is on backorder at our suppliers (drat!), now they've gone and already released -another- DVD! We have a bunch but probably they'll go quick too... Hardcore Uncle Meat is a document of a live show played by AMT in Zagreb, Croatia, 2005. It's a pro package, shot with three cameras, audio captured in 16-channel digital and mixed by Kawabata Makoto. And of course the performance is wild and heavy. So if you couldn't be there...
The back cover of the DVD, by the way, reminds us of what a "supergroup" AMT have become, as the pedigree of each member of the band is listed. This incarnation of AMT includes past and present members of Zeni Geva, Boredoms, High Rise, Miminokoto, Mainliner, Nagisa Ni Te, White Heaven, Ghost, Subvert Blaze, Andromelos, and more!
NTSC, region free, limited to 1000 copies.

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE COSMIC INFERNO Iao Chant From The Cosmic Inferno (Ace Fu) cd 14.98
Yes it's another Acid Mother Temple album! Apparently as necessary to life as food or oxygen, for some people...or so it would seem from the band's oft-remarked-upon release schedule, which is in fact matched by the demand for their prolific output. Seriously, though, while we joke about how many records these hairies release, we also always have to perk up and pay attention when there's a new AMT opus. 'Cause most of the time, they're well worth hearing -- this one in particular certainly is, we've gotta say.
Consisting of one 50 plus minute long track entitled "OM Riff from The Cosmic Inferno", this actually sounds quite a bit like AQ faves Circle! Andee thought it *was* Circle when he first heard it, actually. The "chant" you hear is all hyper and Magmoid, twinned with a Circle-like, chugging, insistent rhythm that plows through a universe of swooshing bleeping blooping electronic space soundz. It's repetitive and hypnotic and maybe even spiritually meaningful. An electric Buddhist drug thing you wouldn't understand...but it's fun trying. The chanting gives way to purely instrumental, sorta psychedelic soundtracky passages, but then at about 23 minutes a heavy, groovy bassline kicks in, and Kawabata unleashes the motorpsycho darkness of his guitar, getting just a wee bit Keiji Haino on us. Later still the chant resurfaces, even more cranked and intense and things just get crazier and heavier. It's all very kosmic and freaky, reminding us like we said of Circle, and even darker stuff like Yeti and Tarantula Hawk, and of course '70s forefathers Hawkwind. And oh yeah Kawabata busts out the hurdy gurdy on here as well. Recommended, especially to AMT fans who also like Circle (which is, we'd imagine, a lot of you).
[Since this review first appeared, several AQ customers have written in to tell us that the track AMT does here is in fact a cover of a song by Gong, the '70s hippie psych space prog band, although they don't all agree on exactly which Gong song it is...]
MPEG Stream: "OM Riff from The Cosmic Inferno [excerpt]"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE COSMIC INFERNO Just Another Band From The Cosmic Inferno (Important) cd 14.98
Another AQ list, another Acid Mothers Temple. We've certainly said that before, and I'm sure we'll say it again! Along with the usual, "and hey, for a band that puts out an album every fortnight or so, they haven't let us down yet!" comment. A view that Just Another Band From The Cosmic Inferno does not dispel, so long as you're into the Electric Heavyland side of their output. Yep, this one's been billed as kind of a Comets On Fire styled blow-out, a distortion-filled freak fest of rock n' roll mayhem. And so it is, in the Electric Heavyland vein for sure. Two long songs (an exhausting/ecstatic 20 minutes followed by a grueling/godlike 44 minutes) full of riffing and leads and spacey effects and the pounding efforts of not one but two drummers! Fairly indulgent but that's what these guys are all about. And as some kind of nod to how many releases they have, this one comes wrapped in Stephen O'Malley graphics by the way, something that they amazingly enough haven't done before, even though the immediate effect of his design, since it's so striking and ubiquitous, is to make you think you've seen the disc already!
By the way, the sticker on the front of this proclaims that this is the *debut* album from a brand NEW band. 'Cause it's AMT & The Cosmic Inferno, rather than the previous "& The Melting Paraiso UFO". You noticed that, right? And the line-up is different too, featuring new members Tabata Mitsuru (Zeni Geva, Boredoms, Leningrad Blues Machine), Shimura Koji (Miminokoto, High Rise, Mainliner, White Heaven) and Okano Futoshi (Subvert Blaze, Ghost, Cosmic Invention) alongside AMT stalwarts "dancin' king" Higashi Hiroshi and "speed guru" Kawabata Makoto...which means Atsushi Tsuyama is gone, but you'll find him still playing with Kawabata in the Acid Mothers Temple SWR band. With their many combined years of experience playing crazy psychedelic rock music, all these new AMT recruits certainly had no difficulty at all in generating the Cosmic Inferno of sound heard here. Probably could do it in their sleep, not that you could sleep through this, played properly loud!
And of course, the Ektro-released Anthem Of The Space cd on the last AQ list was also from this new AMT & The Cosmic Inferno band, even if this is being billed as their debut. If we had to choose between the two (which true AMT fans would never do), we'd go with the (unfortunately out of stock at the moment tho!) Anthem one 'cause it's just the weighter of the two, gaining in effect from the length of its tracks and the repetition of its riffs where this one seems more like something we've heard before from Kawabata & Co., them just playing 'til the tape runs out 'cause they can. Not that most AMT fans would want to stop 'em sooner!
MPEG Stream: "Trigger In Trigger Out"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARADISE U.F.O. Crystal Rainbow Pyramid Under The Stars (Important) cd 14.98
These musically indulgent heavy-duty hippies from Japan, who have just been thru here on tour with Mammatus and blew the socks off all who seen 'em, have a new album out (hey, what else is new??). Going by the title of Crystal Rainbow Pyramid Under The Stars, we can understand why whomever entered it into the online cd database that iTunes uses decided to classify its genre as New Age. But New Age this ain't, unless the new age is all about deafening yourself with tangled blasts of distorted FX-laden guitar and flailing drums, as heard on the opening track. Which, by the way, marks a new low in the already dubious AMT song-titling tradition -- it's called "Pussy Head Man From Outer Space"! Uh, ok. It's a brief 7:42 in length, giving way to the 22 minute track two, "Crystal Rainbow Pyramid", which is a bit calmer and maybe even, yes, New Agey though it's far from wimpy. Just a big ol' spacious tripped-out jam, pulsing pleasantly along, getting more and more freaky toward the end. A mere warm up for the third and final track, a REALLY long one, over 40 minutes of "Electric Psilocybin Flashback". You'll wonder where the time went. The first six or so minutes are an insistently strummed Amon Duul II style attack, drifting for a while into a space-jazz interlude (saxophone!!) before we're back to the aforementioned ADII-ish krautrockin', graced with some lovely female vox that do a spot-on Renate Knaup impersonation at times (that wavery, wordless high pitched thing). Wow. And there's more: stretches of placid folk and Eastern drone... yep, this one's a doozy, worth the price of admission alone, especially if you like Yeti by ADII, which we hope you do.
Gotta say: another essential AMT purchase for any fan, and if you know someone into cosmic psych kraut stuff who isn't already into AMT (weird, but possible) then try playing track two or three here for 'em and see what they think!
MPEG Stream: "Electric Psilocybin Flashback"
MPEG Stream: "Crystal Rainbow Pyramid"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARADISE U.F.O. Crystal Rainbow Pyramid Under The Stars (Important) lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
These musically indulgent heavy-duty hippies from Japan, who have just been thru here on tour with Mammatus and blew the socks off all who seen 'em, have a new album out (hey, what else is new??). Going by the title of Crystal Rainbow Pyramid Under The Stars, we can understand why whomever entered it into the online cd database that iTunes uses decided to classify its genre as New Age. But New Age this ain't, unless the new age is all about deafening yourself with tangled blasts of distorted FX-laden guitar and flailing drums, as heard on the opening track. Which, by the way, marks a new low in the already dubious AMT song-titling tradition -- it's called "Pussy Head Man From Outer Space"! Uh, ok. It's a brief 7:42 in length, giving way to the 22 minute track two, "Crystal Rainbow Pyramid", which is a bit calmer and maybe even, yes, New Agey though it's far from wimpy. Just a big ol' spacious tripped-out jam, pulsing pleasantly along, getting more and more freaky toward the end. A mere warm up for the third and final track, a REALLY long one, over 40 minutes of "Electric Psilocybin Flashback". You'll wonder where the time went. The first six or so minutes are an insistently strummed Amon Duul II style attack, drifting for a while into a space-jazz interlude (saxophone!!) before we're back to the aforementioned ADII-ish krautrockin', graced with some lovely female vox that do a spot-on Renate Knaup impersonation at times (that wavery, wordless high pitched thing). Wow. And there's more: stretches of placid folk and Eastern drone... yep, this one's a doozy, worth the price of admission alone, especially if you like Yeti by ADII, which we hope you do.
Gotta say: another essential AMT purchase for any fan, and if you know someone into cosmic psych kraut stuff who isn't already into AMT (weird, but possible) then try playing track two or three here for 'em and see what they think!
MPEG Stream: "Electric Psilocybin Flashback"
MPEG Stream: "Crystal Rainbow Pyramid"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARADISE U.F.O. In C In E (Squealer Music) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We didn't know it would come out on cd yet here it is: Acid Mother's Temple playing Terry Riley's famed composition "In C", wherein the musicians are instructed to play a series of 53 repetitive sections over and over as long as they wish. Almost all the renditions of In C that I've heard are light, meditative, and chaotic yet pleasant (due to everything being in the friendly key of C), and this version is no exception -- except that light and meditative are relative terms, and for an Acid Mothers Temple track to be relatively light and meditative still means it's going to be heavier, more chaotic and psychedelic and guitarfilled than any other rendition of In C. Really nice, and the cleverly titled additional jam "In E" will be familiar to those who've seen them live. Heavy and wonderful. For this compact disc edition, they've added a bonus non-LP track, called (guess what) "In D"!
The original Eclipse-label LP version has been repressed as well (with better constructed covers than before) and is also in stock.

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARADISE U.F.O. Magical Power From Mars Volume 3 (Important) cd ep 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Ok then, here's the final volume of the Magical Power From Mars series from everybody's favorite uber-prolific space-psych masters Acid Mothers Temple. And like we say every time, but after so many releases, you would expect the quality to suffer, but it doesn't and this is as good as any other AMT release and if you love them or already have the first two volumes, you will obviously need this. We still have issues with the execution of the series: less than 20 minutes per disc (meaning all three volumes would fit on one disc) at $11 a pop, the same cover and disc artwork on all three volumes, etc...read more ranting about that in the review of volume two. But what does this volume sound like? Well, to be honest, this is our least favorite of the three, it's not bad really, just sounds sort of tossed off, a twenty minute ambient space-scape of swooshing, bleeping, blooping, analog-synthesisers-set-on-dreamy-spaciness, almost new-age, Hawkwind-intro-stretched-as-far-as-it-will-go effervescence. Nice, but just nice. And for you slowpokes we still have a few copies of volume 2 left. Like all three volumes, limited to 1000 copies!
RealAudio clip: "Cosmic Funky Dolly"