ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE COSMIC INFERNO Hotter Than Inferno: Live In Osaka 2007 (AMT) dvd 21.00
We only managed to grab a small handful of these, the latest dvd document of everyone's favorite Japanese psych rock unit doing their cosmically infernal thing. Like it says, live at the Bears club in Osaka, August 3rd, 2007, performed by an AMT lineup including new female recruit Pikachu from Afrirampo. Also, there's a guest appearance by Masonna! He's credited with synthesizer, vocal, and rock'n'roll star...
NTSC, region free dvd.

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 Journey Into The Cosmic Inferno (Very Friendly) cd 17.98
Here we go once more, (yet) another journey into the cosmic inferno. One worth taking, again and again. We're already pretty darn tanned from it. It seems like just last week (actually, on list #299, so four weeks ago) we had a new live AMT disc, Pink Lady Lemonade on Riot Season. Now here's the first studio document from this latest AMT lineup, featuring new drummer/vocalist/cosmic shaman/etc., Pikachu, also of Afrirampo. Those who have Pink Lady Lemonade will note that, on the back cover of this, the band's still wearing those ridiculous matching Hawaiian shirts/shorts (in Pikachu's case, a dress) with palm trees, flowers, sailboats, and beaches on 'em. Weird. As always.
And as always, they deliver the psychedelic hippie rock freakout goods. And this time, with a fair amount of structure. It's divided into several "movements" which make it seem especially composerly.
Track one, "1st Movement: Cosmic Inferno's Gate" is perhaps so titled not only 'cause it's the first track, the entrance to the album, but also 'cause a good portion of it features a scraping string-drone (or is it a squealing horn?) of some sort that sounds a bit like a creaky door being slowly, very slowly opened.
Then -boom- the 2nd Movement kicks in. A heavy, lumbering riff and lotsa spacey FX. Vocals eventually enter the fray, singing the praises of the "Master Of The Cosmic Inferno". It's starting to sound a lot like a J.A. Caesar album from the '70s, one of those wild psychedelic theatrical soundtrack productions. If you're a Japanese psych nerd you may have heard of 'em. Solar Anus covered one of their songs, as well. Someday hopefully we'll list some reissues. But we digress. Anyway, this track goes a lot of places over its nearly 23 minute length, ranging from frenzied guitar squiggle to gentle female vocal lullaby. Quite the tour de force.
Then, a mellow interlude. This third movement is called "Cosmic Blood Feast". Sounds like half a Roger Corman double feature, or their tribute to Herschell Gordon Lewis. Droning horn and plinking bells. Quite nice. It's the calm before the storm of "4th Movement: Ecstasy Into The Cosmic Inferno", a whirling dervish buildup of distorted snake charmer guitar and ecstatic (indeed) vocal chant. Which brings us to track, er, movement 5: "Usisi", much more folky and melodic. And then the album wraps up with "6th Movement: Shalom Cosmic Inferno" and it's back to the acid guitar wailing from Kawabata that really pays the bills. Whew! Altogether, it's about everything you could want from a journey into the cosmic inferno. Even if you haven't been on board the AMT train this whole time for every last release, this one might be a good one to pick up, though your tolerance for some of the more wild vocal excesses here, when Pikachu really gets riled up, might be a factor in that decision.
MPEG Stream: "Master Of The Cosmic Inferno - Heart Of Earth"
MPEG Stream: "Ecstasy Into The Cosmic Inferno"

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"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARADISE UFO / ESCAPADE A Thousand Shades of Grey (Funfundvierzig) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
As if they didn't already have enough releases of their own, now Makoto Kawabata's Acid Mothers Temple have begun popping up on split releases with other bands -- recently with Kinski, and now with NY's Escapade. This should do wonders for Escapade's profile within the wider indie-rock community as they're a band definitely stuck in a geeky space/prog rock ghetto that most AMT fans probably don't venture into. A place where bands have names like... 'Escapade'! But Escapade are definitely better than their name. They occupy two lengthy tracks here, bookending an even longer, single contribution from everyone's favorite Japanese hippy freaks (well, second favorite maybe now that Ghost is back...) entitled "European Sun". It's a 28 minute drone-out doozy featuring electric sitar, violin, bamboo flute, voice and electronics. Minimalist repetition with ethnic and sci-fi synth frills. Meanwhile, Escapade's two tracks are slow-building spacerock synthfeasts, that fans of AMT, Kinski, Subarachnoid Space, Circle, and the like oughta dig.
MPEG Stream: ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE "European Sun"
MPEG Stream: ESCAPADE "Transformation 2"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARADISO U.F.O. Live At Occident (Detector) 2lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Side A consists of two songs, entitled "Acid Milk Milky Way Also Jupiter 888" and "Rising From The Cool Fool Inferno". Side B is "Astrological Overdrive"...you get the idea. Japan's freakiest modern psych rock combo, with members of Mainliner/Musica Transonic/Toho Sara, Mandy Blue Heaven, and Omoide Hatoba, among others, brought their trippiness to the US of A not long ago and this lovely-looking double LP is the document. Although the record starts out trippy and spaced out, most of the record leans more toward the heavy psych of Mainliner or White Heaven.

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. 41st Century Splendid Man Returns (Essence) cd 14.98
It's taken 6 years, but finally, one of our favorite Acid Mothers Temple records is available again, with fancy new artwork and lots of extra music!
Originally released as the first (and only) installment in tUMULt's aborted picture disc series, 41st Century Splendid Man still ranks as one of AMT's finest moments as far as we're concerned. This stuff comes from WAY before these Japanese avant-hippy heroes began pumping out a brand new release every few weeks. When this psychbomb dropped, these guys were still cloaked in mystery, some fucked up weirdo psychrock commune whose sound was as mysterious and indescribable as whatever strange corner of the universe these guys and gals called home.
The sound is epic and tripped out and druggy, blown out and blissfully psychedelic, AMT at their absolute prime, and one of the tracks features special guest star Tatsuya Yoshida of the Ruins! The original was three extended tracks (35 + minutes) of ultra divine transcendental psych-drone. "41st Century Splendid Man" has to be the most beautiful track AMT have 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! The other two tracks from the original 12", "Genesis Of Humanity" and "Dalai Gama", are almost like a single track separated into two 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.
For this cd reissue, from Brazilian label Essence, there are two extra tracks tacked on that perfectly compliment the three originals. The cd opener, "Ruck Zuck", is an unhinged Hawkwind style heart of the sun, black hole freaked out space jam, a motorik krautrock groove, buried in FX and clouds of shimmer and skree, strange squealing vocals, streaks of feedback and dense swaths of whir and bloop and bleep.
The disc closes with the bizarrely titled "Hell Eskimo Or Polyhedral Mu", a 14 plus minute abstract ambient epic, that twists and contorts, slithers and creeps, beginning as a full on brain melting drug jam eventually transforming into a blissy jazzy post rocky slither that floats hypnotically through glistening clouds of glimmer and shimmer and sparkle, a super nova dappled interstellar drift that sounds a bit like a more damaged psychedelic Necks. Fuck yeah.
Super gorgeous deluxe packaging, a full color Stoughton style paste on gatefold, with the original cover art subtly altered on the cover (sorry, no naked ladies) and some awesome psychedelic liner notes on the inside. And just to avoid any collector confusion, the notes mention the original 41st AMT being a 10", but as mentioned above it was in fact a picture disc 12"! This cd reissue, while not nearly as limited as the 12", is still limited, this time to only 1000 COPIES!
WAY WAY WAY recommended!!
MPEG Stream: "41st Century Splendid Man"
MPEG Stream: "Hell Eskimo Or Polyhedral Mu"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. 41st Century Splendid Man Returns (Essence) cd 14.98
BACK IN STOCK!
It's taken 6 years, but finally, one of our favorite Acid Mothers Temple records is available again, with fancy new artwork and lots of extra music!
Originally released as the first (and only) installment in tUMULt's aborted picture disc series, 41st Century Splendid Man still ranks as one of AMT's finest moments as far as we're concerned. This stuff comes from WAY before these Japanese avant-hippy heroes began pumping out a brand new release every few weeks. When this psychbomb dropped, these guys were still cloaked in mystery, some fucked up weirdo psychrock commune whose sound was as mysterious and indescribable as whatever strange corner of the universe these guys and gals called home.
The sound is epic and tripped out and druggy, blown out and blissfully psychedelic, AMT at their absolute prime, and one of the tracks features special guest star Tatsuya Yoshida of the Ruins! The original was three extended tracks (35 + minutes) of ultra divine transcendental psych-drone. "41st Century Splendid Man" has to be the most beautiful track AMT have 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! The other two tracks from the original 12", "Genesis Of Humanity" and "Dalai Gama", are almost like a single track separated into two 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.
For this cd reissue, from Brazilian label Essence, there are two extra tracks tacked on that perfectly compliment the three originals. The cd opener, "Ruck Zuck", is an unhinged Hawkwind style heart of the sun, black hole freaked out space jam, a motorik krautrock groove, buried in FX and clouds of shimmer and skree, strange squealing vocals, streaks of feedback and dense swaths of whir and bloop and bleep.
The disc closes with the bizarrely titled "Hell Eskimo Or Polyhedral Mu", a 14 plus minute abstract ambient epic, that twists and contorts, slithers and creeps, beginning as a full on brain melting drug jam eventually transforming into a blissy jazzy post rocky slither that floats hypnotically through glistening clouds of glimmer and shimmer and sparkle, a super nova dappled interstellar drift that sounds a bit like a more damaged psychedelic Necks. Fuck yeah.
Super gorgeous deluxe packaging, a full color Stoughton style paste on gatefold, with the original cover art subtly altered on the cover (sorry, no naked ladies) and some awesome psychedelic liner notes on the inside. And just to avoid any collector confusion, the notes mention the original 41st AMT being a 10", but as mentioned above it was in fact a picture disc 12"! This cd reissue, while not nearly as limited as the 12", is still limited, this time to only 1000 COPIES!
WAY WAY WAY recommended!!
MPEG Stream: "41st Century Splendid Man"
MPEG Stream: "Hell Eskimo Or Polyhedral Mu"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. Absolutely Freak Out (Zap Your Mind!!) (Static Caravan / Resonant) 2cd 18.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The out of print, year 2000 vinyl-only double LP release from everyone's favorite Japanese communal hippy band finally makes it to compact disc! Two compact discs, actually, which makes room for 44 minutes of bonus track action!! Kawabata Makoto, Cotton Casino, Ichiraku Yoshimitsu, Magic Aum Gigi, Tsuyama Atsushi, and the rest of their large cosmic clan do their acid freakout krautrock-inspired thing all over these two discs, it's so fried and psychedelic it's hard to comprehend. From heavy Hawkwind-style rock jams to gentle ambient drift, it's all here, and it's all sooo very psychedelic. The crude, crazy tape edits in the midst of the pounding "Magic Aum Rock" jam on disc two will indeed zap your mind. Acid Mothers Temple, they can't be stopped! As much as we'd like to razz this band for putting out way too many releases, it seems that with AMT too much is never enough. Certainly their recent live show here in SF (you may have caught them elsewhere on tour) proved they're the real deal, absolutely. 21st century, get out of the way!
RealAudio clip: "Supernal Infinite Space"
RealAudio clip: "Stone Stoner"
RealAudio clip: "Magic Aum Rock"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. Acid Motherly Love (Riot Season) cd 17.98
*Acid Mothers Alert* *Acid Mothers Alert* *Accccidd...Moowaaaaa....whrwhrwhrwhrrrrrr...* Oops, better replace the batteries in that thing. Our Acid Mothers alert siren is getting worn out by the pace of this Japanese psych commune's ridiculously prolific output. But as always, we're not complaining.
Acid Motherly Love, boasting both naked ladies (2) and UFOs (1) in the front cover photo, has a LOT going on, it's a delirious mishmash of wild wah wah psych throb, absurd exotica chant, druggy tomfoolery, and paranoid drones. The influence of bassist and "cosmic joker" Atsushi Tsuyama seems strong on Acid Motherly Love, it's got more goofy eccentricies even than usual, reminding us a bit of old stuff by Tsuyama's other band, Omoide Hatoba. Especially puzzling is the inclusion of what sound like weird spoken word samples in a male American voice (Rod McKuen??) which, after perusing the liner notes, we figure is probably the contribution of guest "king of beer" Stoo Odom (of Graves Brothers Deluxe and Subarachnoid Space). We confirmed this with a quick internet search, which turned up an admission of guilt in the midst of Mr. Odom's Graves Brothers Japan Tour Diary, wherein it is also revealed that he was told this new AMT album has "something to do with the Plastic Ono Band and a sperm cell that fails". Hmm.
To wrap up, we must say, as much as we like the music, ol' AMT has really reached a nadir in the song-title dep't. This one's got typical head scratchers like "Astro Elvis E.S.P." and "Johnny Johnny Jerusalem", but also a 20 minute, 3-part suite entitled "Douchebag" (part b of which is called "Sometime In Your Pussy"). Well, we bet they were laffing it up around the bong when they came up with these... but it sounds like they're actually chanting "Douchebag" during that track, did they really have to do that?
MPEG Stream: "Che Gia Si Fa"
MPEG Stream: "Douchebag"
MPEG Stream: "Santa Sanrodriguez"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. Goodbye John Peel: Live In London 2004 (Dirter) 2lp 24.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Just found a little satsh of these in the back room. Only a handful so act fast...
We somehow miraculously got another little batch of these in for those of you who missed out last time, but once these are gone, you definitely won't get another chance. Super limited (500 copies worldwide, we got a fraction of that) double live album recorded in London in 2004 from the Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. packaged in a plain white sleeve with a photocopied insert like the classic old Stones and Zeppelin bootleg lps and pressed on gorgeous opaque white / red / black / brown swirled vinyl. This is supposedly the final release for the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. incarnation of AMT, and what a way to go, four sides of deliriously spacey and fully freaked out psychedelic Ur-rock, from kaleidoscopic bursts of druggy space rock, to long stretches of almost meditative otherworldy drone, haunting chants, bizarre soaring operatic trills, pulsing relentless dirges, and wild free epic OUT THERE musical explorations, all drenched in swirling distorted guitars and clouds of hazy psych rock splatter. Very lo-fi recording, it all sounds like maybe it was recorded with one mic, set right in the middle of the room, but it just makes the whole thing sound that much more immediate and chaotic and furious and alive. Again, VERY LIMITED. Already out of print so this is most definitely the last time we will have these!

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. Have You Seen The Other Side Of The Sky? (Ace Fu) cd 14.98
Y'know, if we somehow kept EVERY Acid Mothers Temple (or AMT related) release in stock, we'd have to move to a bigger store! Perhaps we'd be forced to annex the bead shop next door (that would be cool) and then somehow fit several miles of additional shelving in there. One could peruse the endless aisles of this expanded, comprehensive Acid Mothers Temple section on foot, but that would be tiring. Probably it would be a better idea if we installed a moving sidewalk, or invested in a fleet of those motorized, up-right Segway scooters for customers to use. Each equipped with a very large basket, of course. But that's not going to happen anytime soon. In the meantime, we'll have to be realistic and simply maintain a small selection of our AMT faves, and of course stock their new releases as they (ahem) trickle in. Such as this one!
Have You Seen The Other Side Of The Sky? is Ace Fu's follow-up to AMT's excellent Gong-tribute Iao Chant From The Cosmic Inferno, but unlike that fairly focused record this is more of a psychedelic smorgasbord of all the usual, unusual AMT ingredients -- spacey shortwave transmissions, one-legged flute freakery, acoustic folk balladry a la Ghost, goofy song titles, droning fake ragas, throat singing, heavy fuzzed-out mayhem, and more... all good stuff we like! Well, except for the goofy song titles ("Asimo's Naked Breakfast: Rice and Shrine"? "I Wanna Be Your Bicycle Saddle"?).
There's six diverse tracks here, including a killer half-hour epic, that all really deliver on the established AMT aesthetic. Fans will be pleased. And even though our building plans for an Acid Mothers Temple dedicated wing of Aquarius Records remain a pipe dream, we'll certainly make space for this particular AMT release in our crowded racks for the foreseeable future, it's a good one!
MPEG Stream: "Interplanetary Love"
MPEG Stream: "Attack From Planet Hattifatteners"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. In C (Eclipse) lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The heavily lauded, AQ fave, psychedelic hippie Japanese collective led by Makoto Kawabata now graces us with two excellent side-long pieces on this LP-only release. The first is a well-executed version of Terry Riley's famous conceptual composition "In C", wherein the musicians are instructed to play a series of 53 repetitive sections over and over as long as they wish (the 53 patterns are conveniently printed here on the back cover). 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 flipside jam "In E" will be familiar to those who've seen them live. Heavy and wonderful.
That said, we have a bone to pick with the packaging of this album. If you're going to fetishize a band (and let's face it Acid Mothers Temple is the fetish band of the moment), then for heavens sake do the packaging right! It's not bad looking, just shoddily constructed. Eclipse pressed the album on impressively weighty vinyl, and it boasts commendably pretty artwork, but unfortunately the gatefold cover is printed on glossy yet flimsy cardstock that doesn't fold right, will not lay flat, and is already coming apart at the seams. Furthermore, there's only one LP but two empty compartments in the sleeve, making for an inevitable small disappointment when said empty sleeve doesn't even have an insert or anything. Sigh. Of course, it would have cost more to do the packaging better, but for the $17 we have to charge for this you think Eclipse could have afforded it! Oh well, maybe they didn't know that it was going to turn out so poorly. And packaging aside, this *is* a great AMT album.

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. Ivan Piskov's Wild Gals A Go-Go (Swordfish) cd 22.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
One of our favorite Acid Mothers Temple records available again thanks to the kind folks at Swordfish. Originally released on the band's own label and long out of print (we reviewed it originally way back in 2000), this new version is ultimately the same with a few minor alterations, different liner notes, now in a jewel case instead of a cardboard sleeve, but it's the music that matters, and the music is mind blowing.
Ivan Piskov's Wild Gals A Go-Go was these Japanese space travellers' third album and is jam packed with freaked out avant-hippy insanity. "Tumultuous psychedelic trip sound...Potentially massive frontal lobe damage. Real punch-drunk music!" is what it says inside. And that's pretty right on. Ultra epic psychedelic guitars blown into fuzzy druggy psychedelic space rock madness that we can never seem to get enough of.
This pretends to be a soundtrack to a supposed "psych-nonsense" film by alleged "Russian mondo film" director Ivan Piskov, but we're pretty sure that's all a put on. Regardless, check it out, especially if you need your fix of outerspacepsychrock!!
MPEG Stream: "Reverse Of Universe. 1"
MPEG Stream: "Space Bambino / Interstellar Over Dope"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. La Novia (Swordfish) cd 21.00
Previously released as an LP on the Eclipse label long ago in 2000, then on cd by Swordfish in 2001 with 2 bonus tracks, this album has been out of print for some time now, which is a shame 'cause we always want to recommend it to folks looking for the AMT essentials. Thankfully now at last Swordfish has repressed it!
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? (Later AMT projects have continued to make this particular, peculiar ethnic connection.) In any event, it's a heavy, forty-minute trip-out mixing everything from distorted guitar and spacey synth to violin and bouzouki. Plus another twenty haunting minutes, via the bonus tracks. Really great, heavy duty stuff. One of our all-time-favorite AMT discs -- and that's saying something, since there are now so many, and most are so good. On La Novia, Makoto Kawabata and Co. (this album including erstwhile member Cotton Casino) certainly furthered their quest for ultimate psychedelic world domination!
MPEG Stream: "La Novia"
MPEG Stream: "Bon Voyage au LSD"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. Live In Japan (Eclipse) cd 22.00
Here's another digital document to add to your sagging shelf of Acid Mothers Temple releases! Kawabata Makoto & co.'s brand of Japanese psychedelic hippy freak rock excess is presented here live (i.e. totally in their element) with great sound. Wild and wooly rockin', featuring two drummers for maximum pounding overdrive. The air the drummers churn up teems with spacey sci-fi synth phaser sound fx, acid flashback guitar riffage and some cosmic vocalizations. Monks with bells seem to enter the stage at one point, before AMT kicks into a fuzzed out Blue Cheerish monster jam...this actually occurs a couple times during the 40+ minutes of the disc's final, third track "La Novia ~ Speed Guru". They also do live fave "In E" (track 2) and a kinda mellow eight minute intro (track 1). Wish we'd been there, but this is the next best thing. Originally released as a limited cd-r on the Acid Mothers Temple's own label, now reissued in the States by Eclipse in probably equally limited numbers. We've only got a few...
RealAudio clip: "La Novia"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. Myth Of The Love Electrique (Riot Season) cd 16.98
*Acid Mothers Temple Alert!*
Only the second AMT album to be released by UK's Riot Season label (the first being 2004's Minstrel In The Galaxy) but, oh, maybe the ten thousandth AMT album overall, right? But we're beginning to think that if AMT were to stop (or even slow down) releasing records, the Universe might end. It just could be that it's their continual championing/channelling of the '70s psychedelic krautrock freakout sound, with their typical overload of druggy electronics and crazy guitars and seductive space whispers, that's keeping the great Cosmic pulse from petering out. Certainly there's enough energy on Myth Of The Love Electrique to power a cosmos or two. This is one of those all-bases-covered AMT releases, with the band utterly rockin' and kicking out the jams on two of the four lengthy tracks here, "The Man From Giacobinid Meteor Comet" and "Love Electrique", while also mellowing out for the acoustic-kraut-folk-drone mystery of "Five Dimensional Nightmare" and a beyond-blissful 20+ minute version of live staple "Pink Lady Lemonade (May I Drink You Once Again)?"
Yep, thanks to albums like this, you can count on the Universe not crapping out anytime soon. A very worthy AMT effort indeed.
MPEG Stream: "The Man From Giacobinid Meteor Comet"
MPEG Stream: "Five Dimensional Nightmare"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. New Geocentric World (Squealer) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
More weirdness from our favorite Japanese avant-hippy musical commune. Starting off with some heavy, throbbing electric psych jamming ("Psycho Buddha"), and then calming down into the folky drone-chant of "Space Age Ballad", this disc promises to be as varied and trippy as any of their past efforts. And indeed it is (more so, really, than their last cd, the relaxed "Troubadours From Another World"). The spacey "Universe of Romance" is followed by the noisily freaked out astro-stomp of "Occie Lady", and so forth. Exciting, eclectic, experimental acid-rock demonstrating that the secrets of the '70s cosmic krautrockers weren't lost, as Kawabata Makoto and Co. seem to have channelled them quite well.
RealAudio clip: "Psycho Buddha"
RealAudio clip: "Space Age Ballad"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. New Geocentric World (Squealer) 2lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now available on vinyl with a bonus track (from a tour-only single) that was not included on the cd. The fourth official record from our favorite Japanese avant-hippy musical commune. Starting off with some heavy, throbbing electric psych jamming ("Psycho Buddha"), and then calming down into the folky drone-chant of "Space Age Ballad", this disc promises to be as varied and trippy as any of their past efforts. And indeed it is (more so, really, than their last cd, the relaxed "Troubadours From Another World"). The spacey "Universe of Romance" is followed by the noisily freaked out astro-stomp of "Occie Lady", and so forth. Exciting, eclectic, experimental acid-rock demonstrating that the secrets of the '70s cosmic krautrockers weren't lost, as Kawabata Makoto and Co. seem to have channelled them quite well.
RealAudio clip: "Psycho Buddha"
RealAudio clip: "Space Age Ballad"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. Pataphysical Freak Out MU!! (PSF) cd 16.98
Appearing much like Yahowah 13's Father Yod, Kawabata Makoto (the leader of the Japanese collectivist family of artists, musicians, farmers, dancers, etc. known as Acid Mother Temple) finds himself draped in a big black cape and surrounded by nubile naked women, as the band freaks out on reverb drenched neo-psychedelia guitar blasts and super mellow stoner folk. Kawabata's resume includes membership in Mainliner, Musica Transonic, and Toho Sara, while other new members of the collective include vocalist Haco (from After Dinner) and bassist Atsushi Tsuyama (from Omoide Hatoba). Recently toured the US (well, at least SF and NYC) but we all missed the show here somehow, arrgh!

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. Pataphysical Freak Out MU!! (Eclipse) 2lp 23.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This essential document of Acid Mothers Temple's early years is finally released on vinyl. Nice and thick and in a gorgeous gatefold with a bonus track, the side long 'Blue Velvet Blues Coda'. This record starts with AMT at their most rocking, dreamy velvety guitarscapes over sexy spoken French eventually erupt into shredding, drugged out Jimi Hendrix/Uli Roth worship. Guitars wail and squeal over a hyper distorted bashing and crashing rhythm section. Track two blisses out a bit with fingerpicked acoustic guitar and heavily reverbed female vocals, while space sounds beep and blip and bleep in the distance, Track three is a sixteen minute three part ambient sixties folk free-jam, sloppy strummed guitar, wailing anguished female vocals and crashing stumbling percussion. Track four starts out serene and sleepy, with gauzy strands of softly strummed guitars and slowly expanding space echo ripple. But within seconds, the entire band is bashing away in a free-jazz out-rock free for all. Psychotic guitar jams and a rhythm section careening out of control. Noisy avant-rock splatter. Track five is an almost 30 minute slow burning, volcanic slow jam. With incendiary emotive guitars squealing and spitting fire, while the drummer plays a simple slow motion 2/4 beat. This endless jam goes on and on and on and on, further and further out until it dissolves into nothingness. The bonus track on the vinyl is a gorgeous 20+ minute spaced out drone version of track five. The same melody is stretched to its breaking point as AMT pile layer after layer of suffocatingly rich guitars and warm buzzing synths, creating a monstrous, totally transcendent ur-drone. Quite possibly one of their best recordings, especially with the addition of the bonus sixth drone track.
RealAudio clip: "03"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. s/t (PSF) cd 22.00
Japanese avant-psychedelic heavy freakout band, a hippy tribe led by Makoto Kawabata. If you like his work in Toho Sara, Musica Transonic, and Mainliner, you shan't be disappointed with this. It starts into a seemingly-endless energy trance-groove ala Boredoms "Super Roots 5," but before it's over your mind will also be blown by all kinds of other kosmische weirdness.

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. s/t (PSF) cd 22.00
Japanese avant-psychedelic heavy freakout band, a hippy tribe led by Makoto Kawabata. If you like his work in Toho Sara, Musica Transonic, and Mainliner, you shan't be disappointed with this. It starts into a seemingly-endless energy trance-groove ala Boredoms "Super Roots 5," but before it's over your mind will also be blown by all kinds of other kosmische weirdness.

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. St. Captain Freak Out And The Magic Bamboo Request (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.
If Acid Mothers Temple overload hasn't caught up with you yet (what? never!) then we've got something you'll want: ANOTHER new and, let's face it, quite excellent album from Kawabata Makoto and freaky friends, this one coming to us courtesy of Circle bassist Jussi Lehtisalo's Ektro imprint in Finland!
First off, look closely -- the cover's not a Sgt. Pepper's homage at all, but a Frank Zappa one. Then, start listening. From fx-laden spaced-out rock jams with witchy Ono-esque female vocal babble to entrancingly beautiful acoustic folk psych to *more* spaced-out jams to angular no-wavy guitar pop improv instrumentals to gonzo rock n' roll tributes to just plain weird vocals-and-effects interludes, this runs the gamut of AMT indulgences. Seventy plus minutes of Hawkwind-meets-Boredoms madness, with punning titles like "Man On The Holy Mountain" and "Porks' Bomb In Aztec part.O"! All the synth swirls and zaps on here make this sound a bit like a cheesy radio commerical (minus the voice that would be announcing a monster truck rally), a kitschy reference that these pro wrestling lovin' hippies would certainly embrace!
So, yet another cosmic, fun-filled trip to the Temple. If we had to choose, maybe we'd give the edge to last week's AMT release "Univers Zen Ou De Zero A Zero" (for being somewhat less, how shall we say, confusing), but who has to choose?
RealAudio clip: "Sweet Lucille or Lick My Milk Off, Baby"
RealAudio clip: "Cosmic Magic Of Love Part.2"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. Troubadours From Another Heavenly World (PSF) cd 21.00
The night before recording this album Father Moo (aka Kawabata Makoto) took his handmaidens and lackeys on a lysergic excursion of metaphysical proportions. We'll spare you the details of the trip (as most acid recollections have little literary worth). Nevertheless, "Troubadours From Another Heavenly World" is the result of said trip, leaving the Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO nursing a collective hangover resulting from too little sleep and too many chemicals. With sore muscles that have never been sore before, they vaguely recall making an album of lugubrious psych rock, like a really good Bardo Pond record, that oozes out thick walls of mellow cosmic jams and half conscious female vocals. Certainly not as incendiary and crazy as some previous Acid Mothers Temple recordings, but this provides some worthy psychedelic exploration nonetheless.
RealAudio clip: "She Is A Rainbow In Curved Air"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. Troubadours From Another Heavenly World (Eclipse) 2lp 22.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
One of Japanese hippy rock impresario Makoto Kawabata's more blissful exercises now makes the all-so-appropriate jump from compact disc to vinyl. As with Eclipse's vinyl version of AMT's "Pataphysical Freak Out MU!!", we're faced with bonus material, the title track in fact. Plus the record is pressed on 180 gram vinyl, and it's in a swank gatefold package. Deluxe in other words.
Here's what we had to say about the original cd version of this album, released on PSF in 2000:
The night before recording this album Father Moo (aka Kawabata Makoto) took his handmaidens and lackeys on a lysergic excursion of metaphysical proportions. We'll spare you the details of the trip (as most acid recollections have little literary worth). Nevertheless, "Troubadours From Another Heavenly World" is the result of said trip, leaving the Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO nursing a collective hangover resulting from too little sleep and too many chemicals. With sore muscles that have never been sore before, they vaguely recall making an album of lugubrious psych rock, like a really good Bardo Pond record, that oozes out thick walls of mellow cosmic jams and half conscious female vocals. Certainly not as incendiary and crazy as some previous Acid Mothers Temple recordings, but this provides some worthy psychedelic exploration nonetheless.
RealAudio clip: "She Is A Rainbow In Curved Air"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. Univers Zen Ou De Zero A Zero (Fractal) cd 17.98
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).
RealAudio clip: "Ange Mecanique de Saturne"
RealAudio clip: "Soleil de Cristal et Lune d'Argent"

ACID MOTHERS 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 TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO UFO The Day Before The Sky Fell In America (Galactic Zoo Disc / Eclipse Records) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARDISO U.F.O. Glorify Astrological Martyrdom (Important) cd 14.98
*Acid Mothers Temple alert* *Acid Mothers Temple alert* *Acid Mothers Temple alert*
Whew, glad that still works. It's been XXX since the last AMT cd, Journey Into The Cosmic Inferno, after all. We were getting worried. (Though, we did have a dvd from them on the last list...). But never fear, AMT is here, again. Actually, AMT is probably out on tour somewhere in the world, and this new cd is more product for their groaning merch table. Ensconced inside a package boasting swank Seldon Hunt cover artwork, you get three new, long, studio recorded tracks, with (as usual) fairly absurd titles. Try these on for size: "Phantom Utopia Or Suicidal Star Warriors", "Cosmic Soul Death Disco", and "Stargate Of The Hell"!!
When the 22 minute track one starts off, you'll be like, woah, heavy. It's a ploddingly paced, lumbering grey grinding dirge, claustrophobically encumbered with swirling, spaced out FX. Definitely in the AMT tradition, and not far from the SUNNO)))-like heaviness of their Recurring Dream & Apocalypse Of Darkness album earlier this year. The second track, however, while equally awash in FX, and just as amped in the guitar dep't, is more of a rocker, throbbing (and babbling, there's vox on this one) a bit like Circle, on their way down the rabbit hole. Kawabata's acid rock guitar dances (or does battle) for the duration with the synthy zips and zaps swooping about, it's another long (29 minute), loud trip indeed.
After all this glorious sprawling psychedelic mayhem, what do we get for a coda? A concentrated dose of the same! The third and final track is a mere 5 minutes but crams in even more frantic FX and acidic guitar squiggle, before the final 30 seconds or so reminds us what bliss a simple vibrating hiss can be, as it fades out and leaves the listener waiting for their next transmission. This one, though, is good for many more spins as well, in fact it's practically spinning by itself even when not in the cd player due to all the cosmic chaos contained within it.
MPEG Stream: "Phantom Utopia Or Suicidal Star Warriors"
MPEG Stream: "Cosmic Soul Death Disco"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE PINK LADIES BLUES Featuring The Sun Love And The Heavy Metal Thunder (Fractal) cd 21.00
*Acid Mothers Temple alert* *Acid Mothers Temple alert* *Acid Mothers Temple alert*
Of sorts... for, despite the name, this is not exactly the same Acid Mothers Temple by whom you already have a dozen albums. AMT & The Pink Ladies Blues, unlike AMT & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. or AMT & The Cosmic Inferno, doesn't feature Kawabata Makoto! Yet this is one of the best AMT releases we've heard in a while (and it's not like we didn't like Starless & Bible Black or Iao Chant From The Cosmic Inferno, either). AMT & The Pink Ladies Blues is a trio consisting of guitarist Magic Aum Gigi (whose solo LP MMMM we also have in stock, though it's not been reviewed on our site yet), drummer Mai Mai, and guitarist Tsuchy, presumably all members of the extended Acid Mothers Temple communal family.
AMT always can be counted on to indulge in an orgy of FX-overloaded heavy guitar jamming when desired, and THIS Acid Mothers Temple, even without the presence of Kawabata, definitely live up to that reputation! A goodly part of this is primitive, fucked up, bluesy, choppy, podding clangor, heavy and damaged like they're trying to outdo krautrock obscurities Zippo Zetterlink in that dep't. Opening track, the 19 minute "Sandoza Death Blues" sets the tone: utterly raw geetar/drums/electronics (Magic Aum Gigi and Mai Mai being both credited with thermin) riff-stomp, with weird drop outs and/or edits (??). Bearing a dedication to the late great Link Wray, this album knows how to "Rumble"! But they have their blissful space-out side too...
Aside from two brief interludes of ambience and effects, the tracks on this 72 minute album are all lengthy jams. The longest at over 28 minutes is called "Freaks Your Mind & Your LSD Piss Will Follow". Geez, those psychedelic punsters! Ain't that a VERY Acid Mothers Temple title, though? They liked it so much they chant it a bunch, which while unfortunate fails to detract from the enjoyable Brainticket-style bad trip they conjured with this track.
We kinda wish that they hadn't included "Acid Mothers Temple" in the band name, which could cause this to be overlooked amidst past, present and future massive AMT output. This supreme lysergically inspired rock dementia deserves its own designation! Though it also fits in perfectly with the AMT aesthetic that's for sure.
MPEG Stream: "Sandoza Death Blues"
MPEG Stream: "Acid Mothers Rock n' Roll"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE PINK LADIES BLUES Featuring The Sun Love And The Heavy Metal Thunder (Fractal) 2lp 48.00
*Acid Mothers Temple alert* *Acid Mothers Temple alert* *Acid Mothers Temple alert*
Of sorts... for, despite the name, this is not exactly the same Acid Mothers Temple by whom you already have a dozen albums. AMT & The Pink Ladies Blues, unlike AMT & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. or AMT & The Cosmic Inferno, doesn't feature Kawabata Makoto! Yet this is one of the best AMT releases we've heard in a while (and it's not like we didn't like Starless & Bible Black or Iao Chant From The Cosmic Inferno, either). AMT & The Pink Ladies Blues is a trio consisting of guitarist Magic Aum Gigi (whose solo LP MMMM we also have in stock, though it's not been reviewed on our site yet), drummer Mai Mai, and guitarist Tsuchy, presumably all members of the extended Acid Mothers Temple communal family.
AMT always can be counted on to indulge in an orgy of FX-overloaded heavy guitar jamming when desired, and THIS Acid Mothers Temple, even without the presence of Kawabata, definitely live up to that reputation! A goodly part of this is primitive, fucked up, bluesy, choppy, podding clangor, heavy and damaged like they're trying to outdo krautrock obscurities Zippo Zetterlink in that dep't. Opening track, the 19 minute "Sandoza Death Blues" sets the tone: utterly raw geetar/drums/electronics (Magic Aum Gigi and Mai Mai being both credited with thermin) riff-stomp, with weird drop outs and/or edits (??). Bearing a dedication to the late great Link Wray, this album knows how to "Rumble"! But they have their blissful space-out side too...
Aside from two brief interludes of ambience and effects, the tracks on this 72 minute album are all lengthy jams. The longest at over 28 minutes is called "Freaks Your Mind & Your LSD Piss Will Follow". Geez, those psychedelic punsters! Ain't that a VERY Acid Mothers Temple title, though? They liked it so much they chant it a bunch, which while unfortunate fails to detract from the enjoyable Brainticket-style bad trip they conjured with this track.
We kinda wish that they hadn't included "Acid Mothers Temple" in the band name, which could cause this to be overlooked amidst past, present and future massive AMT output. This supreme lysergically inspired rock dementia deserves its own designation! Though it also fits in perfectly with the AMT aesthetic that's for sure.
MPEG Stream: "Sandoza Death Blues"
MPEG Stream: "Acid Mothers Rock n' Roll"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE PINK LADIES BLUES The Soul Of A Mountain Wolf (Fractal) cd 16.98
Before you go, geez ANOTHER Acid Mothers Temple album alreddy?? remember that this AMT isn't that AMT. Acid Mothers Temple & The Pink Ladies Blues is a totally different band, in fact, one of the members of this trio isn't even Japanese, he's the French guy who runs Fractal. But that doesn't stop him (or them) from sounding like they should all be wearing big Makoto Kawabata beards! Their music's definitely THAT hairy. This second album of theirs, The Soul Of A Mountain Wolf, is all about heavy and droning riffage. It's like "Rumble" on LSD. All-instrumental, nothin' but far-out guitar wailin' action, supported by pounding drums and bass. Any AMT fan, of any AMT, is gonna be pleased. One thing though, this isn't that long of a cd. "Sandoza Death Blues" from their debut was almost as long as this whole disc, which is just under 20 minutes total. Hmmm. But it's good stuff, if blown-out, acid-fried bluesy psych geetar stomp is your thing!! Ain't it??
MPEG Stream: "The Soul Of A Mountain Wolf: Anger"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & ULTRASOUND In G (Time Lag) 10" 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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.
Collector-types might want to pick up this one first, as it's a limited-to-600 copies vinyl only release, probably not long for this world. Recorded live at an Austin radio station in collaboration with Texas psych-minimalists Ultrasound, this AMT record is definitely on the wonderfully spacey side. Ultrasound lay the foundation, a dark and droning Stars Of The Lid-like rumble, throbbing and pulsing, while AMT show great restraint, weaving a sweet tapestry of melancholy, sun-dappled, gentle lilting gypsy folk. Things get a little more intense on the b-side as both groups' sounds coalesce into a propulsive slab of murky neo-Krautrock.
Clear 10" vinyl, with no labels, packaged in "invisible" 100 percent inkless sleeves (with dry letterpressed transparent film covers).

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE / CIRCLE split (Verdura) 7" 4.95
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Split single from two AQ faves that by now, if you're a reader of this list you are quite familiar with. You get a burst of fuzzed out, spaced out extraterrestrial Japanese mayhem from AMT ("The Tombstone Phantom Drifter") and a blast of droning, hypnotic krautrock-inspired Finnish ur-rock from Circle ("Riemukaari"). Only a few in stock.

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE AND THE COSMIC INFERNO Ominous From The Cosmic Inferno (Essence) cd 14.98
*Acid Mothers Temple alert* *Acid Mothers Temple alert* *Acid Mothers Temple alert*
Heck, Acid Mothers Temple overload! Essence Music of Brazil has brought us not one but TWO Acid Mothers Temple discs this week: the expanded reissue of 41st Century Splendid Man originally released as a picture disc on Andee's tUMULt label, and also this brand new album. Well AMT fans are always ready for more product, aren't they? Better be! 'Cause the cosmic vibes of which Makoto Kawabata and friends are but the earthly vessels for are not waiting for you to pay off those student loans or get that raise... No, they mean to be heard NOW and probably again next week, even if their devotees need to start selling their plasma to keep up with AMT's releases. If you have to choose between paying the rent and picking up another AMT cd like this one, we're confident you'll make the right choice. And if it makes you feel any better, this IS a pretty great AMT album! Great song titles too, and we're not being sarcastic: "Na Na Hey Hey From The Cosmic Inferno", "Nipples In The Dream Woods", and "Golem Rock" are but three of 'em. These Japanese neo-kraut psychedelic voyagers offer up the jams to go with such titles, that's for sure. If AMT's Electric Heavyland is one of your faves, this ought to be right up your acid rock alley.
The disc opens with the wild, wah-wahed guitar excess of "Ecstasy In Hell" and really never lets up, pounding on through the nearly 19-minute "Nipples...", spacey fx in full effect. A darkly droned-out detour is however taken on the next 17 minute track, "Omen Amen", kind of a ceremonial-sounding, folky trance ritual, followed for the next 13 minutes by the riff-repetition of "Dark Side Of The Apocalypse", sounding something like a hypothetical Hawkwind / Les Rallizes Denudes summit. That brings us to "Golem Rock", a garagey number that cranks up the FUZZ big time. And then "Na Na Hey Hey..." provides a surprisingly quiet, spaced-out, and sorta silly coda to the whole thing, with electronically effected voices chanting you know what...
And this gets extra bonus points for the awesome packaging, the miniature LP-styled gatefold sleeve opening up to reveal a rad pop-up book style gimmick inside!
MPEG Stream: "Ecstasy In Hell"
MPEG Stream: "Golem Rock"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE AND THE COSMIC INFERNO Ominous From The Cosmic Inferno (Essence) cd 14.98
BACK IN STOCK!
*Acid Mothers Temple alert* *Acid Mothers Temple alert* *Acid Mothers Temple alert*
Heck, Acid Mothers Temple overload! Essence Music of Brazil has brought us not one but TWO Acid Mothers Temple discs this week: the expanded reissue of 41st Century Splendid Man originally released as a picture disc on Andee's tUMULt label, and also this brand new album. Well AMT fans are always ready for more product, aren't they? Better be! 'Cause the cosmic vibes of which Makoto Kawabata and friends are but the earthly vessels for are not waiting for you to pay off those student loans or get that raise... No, they mean to be heard NOW and probably again next week, even if their devotees need to start selling their plasma to keep up with AMT's releases. If you have to choose between paying the rent and picking up another AMT cd like this one, we're confident you'll make the right choice. And if it makes you feel any better, this IS a pretty great AMT album! Great song titles too, and we're not being sarcastic: "Na Na Hey Hey From The Cosmic Inferno", "Nipples In The Dream Woods", and "Golem Rock" are but three of 'em. These Japanese neo-kraut psychedelic voyagers offer up the jams to go with such titles, that's for sure. If AMT's Electric Heavyland is one of your faves, this ought to be right up your acid rock alley.
The disc opens with the wild, wah-wahed guitar excess of "Ecstasy In Hell" and really never lets up, pounding on through the nearly 19-minute "Nipples...", spacey fx in full effect. A darkly droned-out detour is however taken on the next 17 minute track, "Omen Amen", kind of a ceremonial-sounding, folky trance ritual, followed for the next 13 minutes by the riff-repetition of "Dark Side Of The Apocalypse", sounding something like a hypothetical Hawkwind / Les Rallizes Denudes summit. That brings us to "Golem Rock", a garagey number that cranks up the FUZZ big time. And then "Na Na Hey Hey..." provides a surprisingly quiet, spaced-out, and sorta silly coda to the whole thing, with electronically effected voices chanting you know what...
And this gets extra bonus points for the awesome packaging, the miniature LP-styled gatefold sleeve opening up to reveal a rad pop-up book style gimmick inside!
MPEG Stream: "Ecstasy In Hell"
MPEG Stream: "Golem Rock"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE AND THE COSMIC INFERNO Starless And Bible Black Sabbath (Alien8 Recordings) cd 14.98
Japan's Acid Mothers Temple posse is laying their cards on the table with this one. With that title, which references both King Crimson and Black Sabbath, and the album cover, which sees AMT leader Kawabata Makoto standing in for the mysterious woman on the front of the first Black Sabbath album, they're paying tribute to two bands they love and also raising our expectations to perhaps unattainable levels, 'cause we love those bands too. I mean, are they REALLY gonna do the spirit of the Sabs and KC justice on this disc? Well being AMT I guess we shouldn't take them all that seriously. And no, they don't cover either band here or even end up sounding much like them. But this IS a pretty darn heavy and freaked out AMT album (moreso than usual, that is!). Kinda along the lines of their Electric Heavyland opus released a few years back on the same label, Starless And Bible Black Sabbath is a monster jam of epic, amped-up proportions that seems more like a tribute to heavy Hawkwind or maybe Monster Magnet than the two bands alluded to by the title. And that's fine by us! Kawabata isn't a riffmeister like Tony Iommi anyway, nor do his albums usually attain the level of compositional complexity for which King Crimson were noted. But both Sabbath and Crimson had their improvisational sides as well (better known in KC's case but definitely a big part of early Sabbath too) and that's perhaps what's inspiring the always jam-ready AMT here! You get two tracks, "Starless And Bible Black Sabbath" being a mammoth, mostly instrumental 34 and a half minute workout full of plodding, heavy riffage and gibbering gobs of spaced out FX. Again, although one bit reminds us of Sabbath's "Children Of The Grave", this could just as easily be a tribute to Hawkwind or Guru Guru or even Soundgarden (isn't that the "Outshined" riff in there?), but whatever, it's the sort of cosmic, crushing chaos which we love from Kawabata and Co., and would be the perfect AMT track to attract fans of bands like Electric Wizard and Ufomammut. Though exhausting enough by itself, they don't stop with that, as a second, six minute track -- the sloppy, speedy, frenzied "Woman From A Hell" -- finishes off the album like the Pink Fairies in a race with the devil. Dunno, even though we had our doubts 'cause of the cheekiness of the title/cover, this might just be our favorite AMT release in a while!
MPEG Stream: "Starless And Bible Black Sabbath"
MPEG Stream: "Woman From A Hell"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE FAMILY COMPILATION Do Whatever You Want (Earworm) 3cd 24.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Here's that long-rumored Acid Mothers Temple THREE cd set, at last! Is it the Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. release to end all Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. releases? Not likely -- I mean, I'm sure there'll be another one before the month is out! -- but it IS one of the more desirable entries in these freaks' prolific output so far.
Furthering their status as a Grateful Dead for Japanophiles and krautrock nerds, this set kicks off with disc one's SIXTY MINUTE version of the AMT standard "Pink Lady Lemonade" (which appeared on their debut cd, as well as on the Live In Occident LP, and is now a staple of their live set). This new studio version, recorded in London, is yet another variant of the "Pink Lady Lemonade" template: it starts off with lots of spacey guitar and synth, sci-fi effects, and lovely bliss-out vocals from Cotton Casino. At about the half-way mark, after a jazzy interlude, the song gets a bit noisier, and dronier. But the mild feedback eventually gives way to a restatement of the song's initial theme, as everything comes full-circle to a mellow & pretty close at the end of the hour. Nice, but not a patch on their previous epic, the much heavier 40-minute "La Novia".
Disc two is where the "Family Compilation" part of the title comes in. The eighteen tracks found here are from a variety of artists, some featuring members of AMT, some simply being things AMT leader Kawabata Makoto liked enough to release on AMT's limited edition cd-r label, including two bands from the USA: San Diego's psychedelic indie-rockers Maquiladora, and Philly's female acid-folkie Fursaxa. Others include: the "mood cosmic sound unit" Pardons featuring AMTers Cotton Casino and Higahi Hiroshi, Kawabata's "shamanic acid-folk trio" Floating Flower, the acoustic, improvisational and not entirely serious Zoffy duo of Kawabata and Atsushi Tsuyama, the driving fuzz-punk of the Cosmic Riders (several original AMT members), the French solo guitar/vocal "acid chanson" of Frederic ... plus Father Moo & The Black Sheep, Seikazoku, Ueh, Alien Social Dance Party, Nipponianippon, The Wild Riders, and several more -- too many to describe. It all flows quite nicely -- there's no duds -- and all the selections, with or without members of AMT performing, definitely share the AMT acid-kraut-freak-pysch vibe. It's the best sort of compilation in two ways: 1) it's a "complete" listen, and 2) you'll probably want to hear more from all the artists on it (which may actually be a frustation 'cause it's going to be hard to find much else from some of 'em).
Disc three continues the compilation, but consists entirely of tracks featuring Kawabata Makoto projects or collaborations, including a Space Machine cut (Kawabata with Yamazaki "Masonna" Maso). Also: Kawabata solo, Uchu, Shogo-nari, Tsurubami, Kawabata with Miyamoto Naoaki, and an AMT track. With the big K on every track, this disc is somewhat more guitar-oriented than disc 2, tending towards darker, heavier, dronier, scarier stuff (disc 2 being a bit more "fun" and/or "folky", to generalize). On both discs two and three, quite a few of the tracks are unreleased or at least remixed, so even if you've managed to obsessively collect the various AMT-issued limited-edition cd-rs and so forth, you won't have all of these. And if you are such a collector, you'll be first in line to buy this anyway! And for most people, this will be your first and onl

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE SWR Stones, Women & Records (Magaibutsu) cd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It's an ***Acid Mothers Temple alert*** and also a ***Ruins alert*** with this one. Japanese underground music devotees, look alive! The clumsily-named Acid Mothers Temple SWR unit is a power trio consisting of drummer Tatsuya Yoshida (Ruins, etc.), guitarist Makoto Kawabata (AMT, etc.), and bassist Atsushi Tsuyama (AMT, etc.). They've released one album under this moniker previously (and several together under other names -- this is the same lineup as Seikazoku). And as before, this time around they've created a crazed, semi-improvised rock tribute to three of their favorite things: Stones, Women, and Records (SWR)!! The cheesecake cover photo sorta says it all. Who else would pose a woman in a bikini on a rock holding a record?
Anyway, there's 18 confusional tracks here ranging from spastic jazz noodlings to country-pop parodies to plenty of out-n-out freek-rock, all of it played with hella chops and tongues, we think, planted firmly in cheek (which doesn't stop them from accomplishing all sorts of insane vocals). They jump from one musical idea to the next without warning, somehow managing to cram outbursts of heaviness, interludes of genuine beauty, Black Sabbath quotes, and even kazoos all onto this same perverse prog platter! The song titles are incomprehensible in-jokes ("Very Very Very Jazz - deer cries with 'KAGYEEYO' in the breeding season", "Fairy music of foolish sushi bar - country singer NARENA BAYSTAR", "Ahla Hassanbeck Lamborghini rock"...????) and these guys are as silly as they are psychedelic, but AMTSWR don't mess around at messing around, even the most humorless avant-listener (of a psych bent) should walk away impressed at this music. Think Acid Mothers Temple meets old Omoide Hatoba and Boredoms... Yeah. "Forever stones, Forever women, Forever records"!
MPEG Stream: "Uzumgayu - Just George Benson"
MPEG Stream: "Beyer"

ACKAMOOR, IDRIS Music Of Idris Ackamoor 1971-2004 (EM Records) 2cd 29.00
As with every review of a release on EM records, we feel obligated to gush just a little. WHAT AN AMAZING LABEL! Most definitely the coolest reissue label going. Completely off the wall releases dug up and given new life. Amazing packaging, killer liner notes, tons of photos. So much love and passion obviously goes into each and every release we'd almost buy every one regardless of the music. Thankfully, pretty much everything we've heard so far is absolutely amazing, and well deserving of a deluxe reissue treatment.
You may remember a while back we reviewed a 1976 disc from a free jazz ensemble called the Pyramids, whose sound was not just jazz, but a strange swirling mix of Funkadelic, Don Cherry and the Art Ensemble Of Chicago, all with a groovy, funky, spaced out vibe. Chaotic and completely mesmerizing, some of the sounds as we described them in the Pyramids review: "Wild Eastern sounding tribal rhythms, shuffling jazzy post bop, fluttering flutes and skronking horns, chanted vocals, droning buzzing ragas, seventies psychedelic free folk, propulsive krautfunk jams, totally chaotic free jazz, octopoidal drumming, wild shrieking sax and haunting percussive soundscapes"! And those disparate elements were all wrapped up, in and around more traditional sounding African music. Wow! A total revelation for sure.
And it appears to have been a revelation for everyone else as well. There's a massive box set planned for the near future, and then there's this, a sort of career retrospective of Pyramids mainman Idris Ackamoor, drawing equally from the Pyramids albums Lalibela (1973), King Of Kings (1974) and Birth, Speed, Merging (1976), as well as a track a piece from three of Ackamoor's solo albums. As if that weren't already enough, there are six unreleased tracks, over an hour of music! One track from Ackamoor's pre-Pyramids group The Collective, three unreleased Pyramids tracks, one unreleased track from the Idris Ackamoor Quartet and finally a recording of Ackamoor and his wife at the time (1973) playing with King's Drummers Of Tamale, Ghana!!
Disc one is drawn from the earliest years, 1971 to 1974, and is completely mind blowing. Absolute free jazz nirvana! But with plenty of soul and groove. Long long tracks, heavy on the percussion, very tribal and experimental, but still soulful and jazzy. Fluttering flutes drift over dense beds of percussive shimmer, some tracks explode into full on drum solo percussion jams, others drift serenely, while still others careen wildly between the two. Modern ears will of course hear No Neck Blues Band and Sunburned Hand, Avarus and Kemialliset, it's hard not to, after all this is where that sound came from!! Disc one would be worth the price of admission alone, and definitely has us excited to see these whole records reissued in their entirety. But lucky for us there's a whole other disc!
The first two tracks on disc 2 are from Birth, Speed, Merging (1976) and if you don't have it already, these tracks should easily convince you that you absolutely NEED TO OWN IT! Gorgeous long form, slow burning jazz epics, horns skronk and shimmer, the bass is slippery and serpentine, the drums are wild and all over the place, utterly mesmerizing, extended blasts of controlled chaos. So goddamn good. The unreleased track is a killer too. Nearly twenty minutes. The stuff from Ackamoor's solo records is a lot less far out, but still really great, from straight up Bop, to groovy sort of cinematic jazz, to some softer Cuban style jazz (the final track taken from his album Cubana).
It's hard to believe a band could be this amazing, and revolutionary and so brilliantly far out and not be spoken of in the same breath as groups like the Art Ensemble and Sun Ra's Arkestra, but here's hoping that this, as well as past and future reissues takes care of that! Absolutely essential!!!!!!
Like all EM releases, the packaging is fantastic. A Japanese style extra thick jewel case, a printed obi as well as a MASSIVE booklet full of rare photos, and liner notes penned by Ackamoor himself, in both English and Japanese!
MPEG Stream: "The Shepherd's Tune"
MPEG Stream: "Land Of Eternal Song Suite Part 3"
MPEG Stream: "Lalibela"

ACME NOVELTY LIBRARY Spring 2000 (Fantagraphics) comic 12.95
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Oh happy day, another issue of Chris Ware's always-amazing publication is here! This time, the final installment of the Jimmy Corrigan, Smartest Kid On Earth saga: sad, funny, and exquisitely rendered of course.

ACOUSTIC GUITAR TRIO s/t (Incus) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
But not just *any* acoustic guitar trio: this is Nels Cline (a big AQ-favorite), Rod Poole (likewise), and Jim McAuley. Nels is best known for his jazz meets Sonic Youth style skronk, Rod Poole for his mesmerizing explorations in just-intonation guitar improv. McAuley we're not so familiar with, but he's apparently an expert classical guitarist, specializing in Renaissance and Baroque music. Together these three improvise wonderfully, producing a beautiful bramble of picking, strumming, and (from Poole) bowing. Although released on Derek Bailey's Incus label, this isn't as woolly as you might expect. While full of complexities and abstractions, it's not "difficult" listening at all.
RealAudio clip: "Inclusive"

ACQUAYE, SAKA & HIS AFRICAN ENSEMBLE Ghana: High-Life and Other Popular Music (Nonesuch) cd 12.98
Those expecting a Fela Kuti / Tony Allen spin off will be disappointed by this recording as, unlike Nigerian high life, there's not a trace of James Brown or "funk" to be found here. It also is completely different than the Latin infused sounds of the Kinshasa style high life the Congo. Utilizing both traditional Ghanaian instruments and European flutes, saxophones, trumpets, vibes, kit drums, double bass and guitar, the music of Saka Acquaye and his African Ensemble takes as its kernel big band jazz. The result is something that sounds alternately like a really progressive, hot marching band and Martin Denny with teeth. Apparently quite the renaissance man, Acquaye was an educator, sculptor, and a champion hurdler as well as an accomplished musician. He spent at least ten years in the United States, receiving not only an advanced degree from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, but a Fullbright Scholarship for the study of opera from UCLA. Originally released in 1969 as "Voices of Africa: High Life and Other Popular Music", this album was recorded after Acquaye's return to Ghana. And though this album might not appeal to those who take Afro-Strut as the final word on the gems offered by African popular music, I highly recommend that they give this one a shot until someone re-issues fabulous recordings on John Storm Robert's Original Music label.
RealAudio clip: "Concomba"
RealAudio clip: "Congo Beat"

ACRE 17:34 (EMR) 3" cd-r 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We listed the debut release from the mysteriously monickered Acre recently and people flipped out, including us! It's easy to set all your instruments to stun and just let 'em drone away, but it takes something special to make those drones listenable, compelling and evocative, there's a magic to it, and as hard as it may be to believe, it's definitely not as easy as some of these guys make it sound.
Acre is a one man 'band' from the Pacific Northwest, who uses mixer feedback, a sampler and various effects to create deep vibrant thick drones, the kind that feel otherworldly, that transport the listener to some other place. Over the course of a 20 minute track, Acre's drone will have changed shape and tone, allowing different layers to be revealed, or alternately, hidden, to allow various overtones to create the impression of rhythm, to subtly alter the timbre and tone. A cursory listen is not enough to understand or feel what's going on here.
When we play this in the store, people think it's someone upstairs vacuuming or a low flying plane overhead or the workmen out front doing construction or a particularly loud air conditioning unit, but closer listening reveals all manner of sonic subtleties, rhythms and pulses, notes and even melodies, that only reveal themselves gradually. It's sort of like the sonic version of those strange pixelated paintings, that if you star at enough shapes begin to emerge...
The music on this 3" is thick and dense and dark and rich and lovely and relentless and vibrant and layered and complex and so completely mesmerizing.
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES, packaged in a cool mini 3" jewel case with trippy psychedelic artwork, each one hand numbered...
We only got a handful from the man himself when he was here on tour, so we're not sure if we'll be able to get more. You know what that means...
MPEG Stream: "17:34 (excerpt 1)"
MPEG Stream: "17:34 (excerpt 2)"

ACRE A Shield Of Air / Born Of Light (Eolian) 7" 6.98
Found a little handful of these stashed away in a corner. Pretty sure this is out of print, so these are probably the last copies ever:
One of our favorite purveyors of what we've taken to calling FLOORcore (sh