Taking Acid - First Dose
* Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso UFO: Suzie Sixteen (5 mb) | Hello Good Child (9.5 mb)
From Does the Cosmic Shepard Dream of Electric Tapirs? : Space Age Recordings : ORBIT041 CD
[Note: This is the first in a three part series on the phenomenon that is the Acid Mothers Temple "Soul Collective"]
The Acid Mothers Temple “Soul Collective” is a group of over 30 musicians, dancers, and artists based out of Japan that have banded together to create incredibly beautiful art/music that protects them from this cruel world. The flagship (and most productive) band of this “Soul Collective” is most definitely the (now possibly defunct?!?!) Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso UFO.
This band was formed back in 1995 by ring leader Kawabata Makoto to celebrate good old rock ‘n’ roll, and since then they’ve been blowing minds open with their many recordings and live shows. There’re so many different facets to their sound that it would be virtually impossible to describe. The common theme running through it all though, is that it’s all completely over-the-top to the point of almost being crazy stupid. But not quite. Their sound is so unique because they have equal amounts of love for hard core psychedelic music, traditional Occitan music, minimal drones and almost everything in between.
The Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso UFO have had a pretty constant line up over the years of Kawabata Makoto (electric guitar, speed guru), Tsuyama Atsushi (monster bass, vocals) and Higashi Hiroshi (synthesizer, dancin’ king). They’ve gone through a couple of different drummers and even existed for a short time with two drummers. And then there’s Cotton Casino (vocals, beer & cigarettes). Unfortunately, Cotton left not too long ago and it appears that this record may be the last one to have her incredible presence on it. She was definitely the wildest of the bunch and lent an air of unpredictability to their live shows. My favorite Cotton Casino moment was seeing her try and set up her synthesizer. She was kneeling on the floor, with the cord in her hand and ever present cigarette in mouth. And she was just staring at her synthesizer for about ten to fifteen minutes with a totally bemused look on her face. And then she just started laughing and laughing.
For those new to the Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso UFO it can be a daunting task to dive into their catalogue. They’ve released dozens of albums on as many record labels and released even more limited edition cd-rs on their own label. They’ve released limited edition vinyl, only to go back and release it on cd with more tracks and vice versa. To some, this confusion only adds to their mystique and to others, it just pisses them off.
The songs featured here exhibit their more quiet and introspective sides. The first track, Sweet Sixteen is an incredibly strange vocal/doo-wop piece. The second starts out almost Pink Floydian in tone and ends with sci-fi synth over drones.
—–+—–
J said,
May 10, 2005 @ 6:03 am
This piece is very close to some Holy Modal Rounders &/or late Stampfel & Weber work. I know from your earlier High Rise post that these records were in Japan; more influentiual there than in US, I guess.
I enjoy your work here; a very high percentage of enjoyable music. Thanks.
su said,
May 10, 2005 @ 12:51 pm
AMT is second only to the Boredoms (btw, whose new export re-pressings on vice-recordings.com are to die for!). i’ve loved AMT for the longest time, and briefly met mr. Kawabata once.
i tend to prefer the heavier/prog side of AMT, as well as their long Occitan pieces. unfortunately, i am not so into the drone pieces although a lot of people seem to love that stuff. definitely, the catalog is daunting and you can never tell what you’re getting into from the cover alone. for beginners, i would recommend my faves:
* Pataphisical Freak Out MU!! (their “breakthru” release, has overdriven garage rock plus a few softer, groovier garage numbers)
* La Nòvia (basically two long Occitan pieces, if i remember correctly. totally prog! one catchy riff to infinity!)
* Absolutely Freak Out “Zap Your mind!” (naked women on the cover seals the deal, don’t it? this one has lots of sweet psychedelic sound experiments.)
* Electric Heavyland (what the title says! there are excerpts here: http://www.alien8recordings.com/aliencd34.php3)
* In C (their most critically acclaimed drone album)
ooh, also, it would’ve been a darned shame that Cotton left the band except that her solo album “We Love Cotton” is amazing! melodic synth/vocal work that’s eerie and freakysexy!
shit, i should’ve just posted this on my own blog, huh? ha ha, i’m so out of it. i’m out.
Loki said,
May 10, 2005 @ 2:18 pm
always loved the Hello Good Child track…for me, the Acid Mothers are always best when they slow things down or go acoustic…the heavier stuff is better live but on record it turns to sludge…
j said,
May 10, 2005 @ 4:10 pm
i recommend the album “the new geocentric world of the acid mothers temple” it has a good mix of their various styles of music, so i’ll have at least one track that people can get in to right away. also recommended is “wild girls a-go-go” which is tripped out to the extreme.
the new album, officially by “acid mothers temple SWR” is a marvelous spontaneous jam-session/freak-out with the guitar bass and drums. it has the advantage of being clear and well produced.
there are several acid mothers temple live shows on archive.org which are very recommended. Check particularly the live la novia.
dark said,
May 11, 2005 @ 2:02 pm
yeah, su, Absolutely Freak Out is top-notch. “Incipient Light of the Echoes” is probably my personal fave, outside of the In C record. They’re pretty monumental live, too. I believe they’re coming back stateside sometime this summer.
Jeremy B. said,
May 12, 2005 @ 12:01 pm
I was a little disappointed by their version of “In C,” if only because they deviate pretty quickly from Terry Riley’s rules for performance of the piece; instead using it as just the launching pad for yet another space-rock jam. Granted, AMT brings the space-rock better than just about anybody else, but I was really hoping for a more faithful adherence to Riley’s modules.
My favorite record from Kawabata is his collaboration with Richard Youngs, a truly odd (and very beautiful) hybrid music…
hfkjhs » Blog Archive » the of mirror eye said,
April 4, 2006 @ 1:02 pm
[...] really enjoying the Acid Mothers Temple trilogy): High Rise Galaxie 500 Fermented Reptile Acid Mothers Temple “Soul Collective” - Part One Acid Mothers Temple [...]