I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: April 21, 2018] Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O.

I saw Acid Mothers Temple around this time last year and it was an amazing experience.  It was too loud, too intense, too much…and I couldn’t wait to see them again.

The pictures in this post look terrible for some reason.  The originals were actually quite nice–must be a web compression thing.

Evidently they come around to the Northeast pretty regularly in the spring, so I was super psyched to see them again in the same place.  Then we decided to go on vacation that week instead.  I was bummed to miss them (but psyched for vacation, of course).  Then I saw that they were playing the night before we left in The Saint. I loved The Saint as a venue and knew I would love seeing Acid Mothers Temple there.

Acid Mothers Temple is the creation of guitarist Kawabata Makoto (“speed guru”) who started the band in 1995.  There have been nearly a dozen offshoots of the Acid Mothers Temple band (each with different members except Makoto).  The only other near constant is Higashi Hiroshi (“noodle god”) on synths and keyboard and theremin who joined the band (and some offshoots) in 1998.

The most recent singer is Jyonson Tsu (“midnight whistler”) on vocals and guitar and the rhythm section (of much younger guys) includes Wolf (“space & time”) on bass since 2016 and Satoshima Nani (“another dimension”) on drums since 2014.

The Saint is a super tiny place and the band was hanging around selling merch (they are notable as five Japanese guys with really long hair).  I noticed that Makoto was using a cane–hope he’s okay.  Interestingly Jyonson was hanging around in street clothes.  I wasn’t entirely sure it was him since on stage he wears a wig and a gorgeous cape.

I noticed that this tour is in support of a new album called Reverse Of Rebirth In Universe (which is sold out on all of their merch sites).  I assumed this would mean different songs but since I didn’t know the songs last time, it would be hard to tell the difference this time, right?  Well, I just learned that Makoto has a tour blog and he includes the setlist every night!  So they played 5(ish) songs for about 90 minutes.

The first song started somewhat quietly.  “La Novia” has some beautiful quiet moments in it.  It was quite a change from the noisy freak out I was expecting.  But you could actually hear Jyonson sing, which was nice.  But quiet and Acid Mothers Temple do not last long together and soon enough, came the soloing.  There was even a moment during La Novia when Jyonson sang unaccompanied.  Then he paused (a rapturously silent crowd) until Makoto started things with a clang and off they went.

I just love watching Kawabata Makoto solo.  His fingers are all over the place  His guitar goes sky high.  He is in rapturous delight as he makes all kinds of sounds.  And then he comes back down to quiet things off.  But he also plays very tasteful musical solos as well.

Up next was “Sycamore Trees.”  Overall, this show felt a bit more mellow and trippy.  There was ton of wild crazy music to be sure, but also longer passages like this one.  Makoto carries this metal bar with him, which he uses to make cool effects.  Last time he did some crazy solos with it, but this time it was just for making some interesting sound effects during “Sycamore Trees.”

Last time I could really see drummer Satoshima Nani go nuts.  I was blocked by Higashi Hiroshi for most of the show, but I did peek around him a couple of times.

Up next was the great monster riff of “From Planet Orb With Love ~ Good-Bye Mrs. Uranus”

Even though it’s kind of a given that they will play “Pink Lady Lemonade,” I would be disappointed if they didn’t.  The riff is simple, but the band explore the jam so fully.  I love that this newer version is now called “Disco Pink Lady Lemonade.”  But despite the disco title, it’s still a fun chaotic onslaught.

The end of “Pink Lady Lemonade” has the band playing faster and faster.  Then everyone pauses until Makoto starts them up again even faster.  It’s awesome.

Makoto took a short break to introduce the band.  I love his introduction of Wolf on bass.  Wolf is the newest member of the band, but he holds his own–totally rocking out when called for.

The final song “Cometray Oribtal Drive” features another looping, super catchy guitar riff.  I’d remembered last time that Makoto takes off his guitar at the end of the show and places t gently on top of his amp.  I was sure I had great footage of it, when I realized that I had started recording already and basically turned the recorder off.  So I did not actually get any footage of the great end of the show.

But even if I missed the ending theatrics, I still got to see some amazing guitar work.

I’ll just have to see them again next year.  And if they do NJ and Philly next year, I’ll just have to go to both shows.

 

SETLIST taken from Makoto’s blog.

1. La Novia

2. Sycamore Trees

3. From Planet Orb With Love ~ Good-Bye Mrs. Uranus

4. Hello Good Child ~ Disco Pink Lady Lemonade ~ In E ~ Pink Lady Lemonade coda

5. Cometary Orbital Drive

 

Setlist from the Underground Arts show that I was supposed to go to, taken from Makoto’s blog.  Not too different, but every show is unique.

1. Black Magic Satori ~ Dark Star Blues

2. From Planet Orb With Love-Good-Bye Mrs. Uranus

3. Sycamore Trees ~ chaos ~ Disco Pink Lady Lemonade ~ OM Riff ~ Pink Lady Lemonade coda

4. Cometary Orbital Drive

If you pick it up on the live photo n