I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: June 27, 2019] Kikagaku Moyo

I ‘m not sure where I first heard about Kikagaku Moyo (which means “geometric patterns”), but I know it wasn’t very long before this show.

I have more or less gotten to the point where any Japanese psychedelic band that comes to town I’m going to want to check out.

I’ve loved Acid Mothers Temple, I’ve loved Boris (heavy psychedelic, but still) and now I’m adding Kikagaku Moyo to the list.

The band consists of Go Kurosawa (drums/vocals), Tomo Katsurada (lead guitar/vocals), Daoud Popal (guitar), Kotsu Guy (bass) and Go’s brother Ryu Kurosawa (sitar).  They’ve been around for about 6 years and have developed a dedicated following here in the States (everyone at the show appeared to be buying their vinyl).

One of the reasons that Monty Hall is such a fun venue is because while I was waiting online to get into the place, the five guys from the band walked in the same door carrying a pizza.  At first I thought a group of people was just pushing in the line, but their outfits pretty much gave away that they were the band.

Before they came out I noticed the percussion instruments on the table in front of me.  i was really intrigued to see how they would all be used. Then as the band came out to set up I saw the effects pedals layout and I knew there would  be a lot going on.

And man, Kikagaku Moyo were fantastic.

They play old school psychedelia that feels really true to the source material. I daresay that young Japanese musicians do psychedelia better than young American musicians these days.  But Kikagaku Moyo takes it one step further by including a sitar player in their music.

And that elements is very cool, especially when you see Ryu playing it.

I was virtually ion the stage which is always cool (and a reason I love Monty Hall).

When Tomo Katsurada came on stage I could have easily high-fived him.  I loved his pants too.

There set was a fantastic mix of loud rocking sections and mellower trippy sections.  Most of the songs ran about 8 or 9 minutes.  I didn’t know any of the songs before hand having just listened to a few tracks on Spotify, but I was hooked instantly.

They opened with the track “Green Sugar” which features such a great bass line from Kotsu Guy.  I was never able to get a very good picture of him because the stage was so crowded.

It was fun to relisten to the clips that I recorded and to realize that half of the time I couldn’t tell which song was which because there were so many different sections to them.

Most of their songs turned into great psychedelic jams by the end with some terrific soloing from Tomo Katsurada.

Many of their songs had really fast jam sessions, but occasionally they slowed things down to a grooving pace.  Katsurda also played a lot of the nifty percussion during the slower moments.  He played chimes and vibra slap (along with a sitar solo) and the flex-a-tone, an instrument I’ve heard many times but had never seen (or knew the name of).

Katsurda could take a break from guitar because their other guitarist Daoud Popal (playing barefoot and in those amazing pink pants).

Popal matched Katsurda in style and they each played off of each other wonderfully.  Like during this very cool twin guitar jam.

But again, the coolest thing for me was watching Ryu Kurosawa play the sitar.  The last time I saw a sitar player was with Elephant Stone.  Rishi Dhir played the sitar in a traditional manner.  But Ryu (who studied under sitar guru Pandit Manilal Nag in India) plays it like a guitar.

I don’t know how much this changes the sound, but it makes for some really fun interactions, like this terrific moment where sitar and guitar play harmony solo.

There were also moments where the sitar was the main instrument–soloing away with just bass and chimes for accompaniment.  And even though the sitar seems like a foreign instrument in the context of this music, it was always incorporated organically, like the way this song transitions from rocking riff to a cool sitar solo.

With all of the tempo changes and twists and turns the music did, it was amazing how tight they were.  Go Kurosawa has a tough time behind the kit, holding alll of this together.  Like the way they were able to transfer from fast to slow with no problem.

But really the most fun was when they totally rocked out.  We greatly appreciated the power behind the songs, land how much fun they were having, as they did here too.

It was a terrific show.  I’ll certainly see them when they come back again, and if you have any interest in psychedelic music, they are highly recommended.

 

SETLIST

1. Green Sugar ∏
2. Nazo Nazo ⊕
3. Kogarashi ∏
4. Tree Smoke ℜ
5. Fluffy Kosmisch ⊕
6. Entrance ⊕
7. Dripping Sun ⊕
8. Gatherings ⊕
   
9. Streets of Calcutta (Ananda Shankar cover) ‰

⊕ Masana Temples 2018
∏ House in the Tall Grass 2016
‰ Forest of Lost Children 2014
ℜ Kikagaku Moyo 2013

I also really enjoyed this piece on the band with an interview with Daoud.