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Archive for the ‘Acid Mothers Temple’ Category

Acid Mothers Temple: “Dark Within of Astropia Tour” (Milkboy, Philadelphia, PA, October 22, 2025)

Posted in Acid Mothers Temple, Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O., Milkboy, Philadelphia, PA, The Macks on October 23, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 22, 2025] Acid Mothers Temple

This was my fourth time seeing Acid Mothers Temple.  Every show is basically the same but also very different.

This show was particularly different because I found out (after the show) that the band was being joined by Cotton Casino (for only this show and the NYC show!), the original singer of the band from 1995 (she lives in the States now).  Of course I didn’t know this and I didn’t know who the woman was when she jumped on stage with them.

Amusingly, I thought she was like a young teenager or 20something.  She looked so youthful and was wearing a hockey shirt that said SUCK IT and bounced around with so much energy.

The band lost their bassist Wolf a while back and have replaced him with Sawano Shozo, but the other four are familiar:  Kawabata Makoto guitars, speed guru, Higashi Hiroshi synths, Satoshima Nani drums and Jyonson Tsu vocals and guitar.

They opened, as they do, with a wall of noise–Kawabata furiously playing the guitar, Nani smashing up the drums and the rest adding their own noise to the mix.  And after a minute or so, they settled into the glorious Dark Star Blues.  Slow and loud and psychedelic, with Cotton adding tambourines to the rhythm.  It’s so much fun watching Kawabata go nuts on his guitar while Jyonson is chill on the other side strumming out the rhythmic chords.  Jyonson and Cottom sang complementary/competing melodies.

Things exploded and then settled down for the quiet Santa Maria which opens and sounds like a British folksong before launching into the stratosphere.

On record La Novia is an hour long, so I’m guessing they played some part of the song before entering the slow burning noise of Blue Velvet Blues.  The songs melded into Flying Teapot and OM Riff before landing on Interstellar Overdrive from Pink Floyd.  When they started the slow In A Session Not C, Cotton lit up a cigarette (which you’ll see below caused all kinds of concern)

I don’t know if AMT have ever not played Pink Lady Lemonade (actually, they didn’t play last time I saw them, huh), but it seems that they play variations on it as the years go by.  This one started with the PLL prelude and then shifted into Sparking PLL (in the past I have seen Disco PLL.  This one was unique for me though because while Kawabata was using his metal wand (whatever that is) on the strings, Cotton was singing a high melody.  I enjoyed that for some of the song, Higashi Hiroshi sat aside (even though he sits for the show) and let the rest of the band do their thing.

And then, like each of the three previous shows I’ve seen, they ended the set with Cometary Orbital Drive.  Cotton picked up a tambourine and it looked to me like Higashi was having a little fun mimicking her when he shook his tambourine (but he’s totally deadpan, so who knows).

And then, like the end of every show, Kawabata went insane for the final 3 minutes or so.  His fingers flew, he raised the guitar over his head, he bent notes (all the while the rest of the band is keeping up going faster and faster), he took off his guitar and held it head down while still making noises.  Then he brought the guitar to the edge of the stage and let everyone within reach (including me) tap the strings as he waved it around.  Satisfied, he took the guitar back and looked around…spotting something or another and then he lifted the guitar over his head and suspended it from something near the ceiling.  And there it hung feedbacking as the band finished up.

It was without question the best AMT show I’ve been to.  I even hung around and took a (sadly, very blurry) selfie with Kawbata.

Next time they come to town I might have to hang out in front of Jyonson.  I feel like I don’t get to really appreciate what he does.  But Kawabata is such a magnet it’s hard not to want to watch everything he does.

Kawabata writes a daily(ish) blog about all of his show and here’s the recap for ours

From Kawabata’s blog:

For just two shows, tonight in Philadelphia and the day after tomorrow in Baltimore, AMT’s original founder , Cotton Casino , will be joining us for a special 90-minute set. The crowd was thrilled when Cotton first appeared, her incredible vocals and trance-like performance stirring up the band and the audience. Meanwhile, the enigmatic rhythms she occasionally played on the tambourine completely captivated both NANI and I, and this only served to further enhance the hyper-psychedelic sound, transforming us into a super-fast version of the eerie star Goras, racing through the galaxy with a furious cosmic rampage, and finally bringing the set to a grand finale.

Incidentally, in the middle of her set, Cotton lit a cigarette, much like she did in her old performances, causing a plume of purple smoke, and after the show she was given a stern warning by the venue. Smoking in public indoor spaces is now considered a barbaric act, and with the Fire Service Act now also coming into play, even the charismatic Cotton would not be tolerated in this day and age, so please do your best.

2025 Milkboy 2023 Johnny Brenda’s 2019 The Saint 2018 Underground Arts
Dark Star Blues ‰ [3] Jam (while soundcheck was finishing up) La Nòvia £ Dark Star Blues ‰
Santa Maria Õ Blue Velvet Blues ⊗ [2] Sycamore Trees (Jimmy Scott cover) Blue Velvet Blues ⊗
La Nòvia £ [2] Dark Star Blues ‰ [2] From Planet Orb With Love > ≅ Disco Pink Lady Lemonade > ⇑
Blue Velvet Blues ⊗ [3] Interstellar Overdrive (Pink Floyd cover) Good-Bye Mrs. Uranus § La Le Lo > ♥
In A session Not C > Flying Teapot (Gong cover) Hello Good Child > ‰ In C ©
Flying Teapot (Gong cover) > From Planet Orb With Love § > [2] Disco Pink Lady Lemonade > ⇑ [2] Untitled > 
OM Riff From The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. ‰ > Good-Bye Mrs. Uranus § [2] In E > ∞ Nanique Another Dimension >  ⊄
Interstellar Overdrive (Pink Floyd cover) Cometary Orbital Drive ⇔ [3] Pink Lady Lemonade coda∀ [2] Pink Lady Lemonade coda ∀ > 
Pink Lady Lemonade prelude > Cometary Orbital Drive ⇔ [2] Cometary Orbital Drive ⇔
Sparkling Pink Lady Lemonade ◊
Cometary Orbital Drive ⇔ [4]

It’s unclear to me what records these songs first appeared on (as they have 1,000 records out), although Setlist does a pretty good job, I think.


Õ Holy Black Mountain Side (2024)
£ La Nòvia (2023)
⊄ Never Ending Psychedelic Deathmatch (2022)
◊ Domino Dimension Drumatique Vol.1 (2022)
⇑ Levitation Sessions (2021)
∀ Diend of Fiend or Unstoppable Moonsault (2020)
≅ Electric Dream Ecstasy (2018)
§ Sacred and Inviolable Phase Shift (2018)
∞ In 0 to ∞ (2010)
⇔ Cometary Orbital Drive (2008) or Paralyzed Genius Brain (2023)
‰ IAO Chant From the Melting Paraiso Underground Freak Out (2005)
‰ Does the Cosmic Shepherd Dream of Electric Tapirs? (2004)
♥ Mantra of Love (2004)
© In C (2001)
⊗ Pataphisical Freak Out MU!! (1999)

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The Macks (Milkboy, Philadelphia, PA, October 22, 2025) [ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE]

Posted in Acid Mothers Temple, Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O., Milkboy, Philadelphia, PA, The Macks on October 22, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 22, 2025] The Macks

I hadn’t heard of The Macks before and I wasn’t really sure what to expect from them.  I mean they were opening for Acid Mothers Temple so I knew they’d be kind of weird, but I wasn’t expecting them to be weird in the way that they are or for them to rock so hard.

After the set, I asked the singer if their set was a bunch of really short songs or a few long songs and he looked at me like I was crazy.  But there were so many stops and starts it was hard for me to tell.  Either way, though, I didn’t care because the songs were so cool.  Ben Windheim on guitar played great riffs and made wild sounds (he spent so much time on the high notes–chords, feedback, noise–it was great.  The drummer Josef Windheim (Ben’s brother) played really fast and added lots of little details that filled out the sound.  Aidan Harrison on bass played really cool lines and fills and was also up on the high notes a lot.

But it was hard to take your eyes of of singer Sam Fulwiler.  He was really intense, almost daring us to watch (or to turn away).  He had a kind of barking delivery that worked perfectly with the staccato verses.

But there were also some really catchy parts.  Like the chorus of Modern Grape: “I don’t need anymore, godamnit.”  But the verses were staccato pumps with staccato lyrics.  And then the middle slowed down with wild spacey synth sounds from Jacob Michael Perris.  That’s what made it so hard to know if these were all the same song or lots of little songs. (more…)

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Makoto Kawabata+ Tim Dahl + Simeon Cain (PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA, November 9, 2024)

Posted in Acid Mothers Temple, Basic, Makoto Kawabata, Mental Jewelry, Philadelphia, PA, PhilaMOCA, Simeon Cain, Tim Dahl on November 10, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 9, 2024] Makoto Kawabata+ Tim Dahl + Simeon Cain

I had missed Acid Mothers Temple when they played Philly last month, so I was pretty excited to see that Kawabata Makoto was hanging around the Northeast to do a mini improvised tour with Tim Dahl and a rotating cast of drummers.

This November, a collaborative music tour between guitarist Makoto Kawabata (Acid Mothers Temple) and bassist Tim Dahl (Lydia Lunch, Child Abuse) will hit the American Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, promising rock intensity, avant-garde design, and psychedelic perception. With a combination of predetermined material and improvisation, one can expect a focused yet unpredictable and dynamic sonic experience. This collaboration will take audiences on a journey through chaotic, noise-infused passages that suddenly give way to moments of serene beauty, showcasing variety, creativity, and fearlessness. Each night’s concert will be enriched by the distinctive styles of a notable regional guest drummer, adding fresh, unpredictable elements to the performance. Audiences should expect a whirlwind of sound that pushes the boundaries of conventional music and celebrates the expression of unrestrained artistry.

I had never heard of Tim Dahl and was entirely interested in the show for Kawabata.  But it’s possible that Tim Dahl may have been the real draw?

Tim Dahl is a New York based bassist and vocalist best known for his work with the noise-rock bands Lydia Lunch Retrovirus and Child Abuse.

The name of that last band tells you a lot about Dahl’s sound.  He plays a fascinating bass style–in which it doesn’t seem like he is actually playing notes–just running his hands up and down the fretboard at random.  He also uses a finger slide but in his picking hand, generating all kinds of noise.  Combine this with the fact that his microphone seemed to have a very fast repeating echo on it so whatever he said or sang into the mic was repeated beyond recognition and he really seemed to dominate the room. (more…)

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Nick Millevoi + Mental Jewelry (PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA, November 9, 2024) [MAKOTO KAWABATA + TIM DAHL + SIMEON CAIN]

Posted in Acid Mothers Temple, Basic, Makoto Kawabata, Mental Jewelry, Philadelphia, PA, PhilaMOCA, Simeon Cain, Tim Dahl on November 9, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 9, 2024] Nick Millevoi + Mental Jewelry

I had missed Acid Mothers Temple when they played Philly last month, so I was pretty excited to see that Kawabata Makoto was hanging around the Northeast to do a mini improvised tour with Tim Dahl and a rotating cast of drummers.

There hadn’t been an opening band and then it was announced that Nick Millevoi and Mental Jewelry would open the show.

I knew Millevoi from BASIC, the band he’s in with Chris Forsyth.  I’ve actually seen him twice although both times I was more or less behind him (he sat facing the center of the stage and I mostly saw his back).  I had not heard of Mental Jewelry and assumed it was a band.  But it is the stage name of Steve Montenegro, who has also played with Moor Mother (as Moor Jewelry).

Their blurb says

Nick Millevoi and Mental Jewelry’s collab combines repetitive electronic beats and noisy improvised guitars into the groove-fueled future that the ’80s dreamed we’d discover.

And that’s pretty accurate.  Nick set up the drum beats (simple, but with interesting effects on them) and played his baritone guitar.  He mostly played simple chords–riffs would be too strong a word for the chord patterns.  But he manipulated the sounds with effects pedals and dynamic fretboard work.  Everything I’ve read about Mental Jewelry (which is not much) suggests that he is a keyboard player. But he played guitar as well.  He added the higher end to the sound of the songs.  He didn’t add a lot–complimentary chords and minimal “soloing.”

Most of the songs were minimalist and catchy by virtue of repetition.  The fourth (of five) songs was my favorite and felt like an actual song rather than just repeated chords.

At this stage it’s fair to say that this venture is more fun live than on record, but I’m interested to see how it evolves.

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Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraido U.F.O.: “Holy Black Mountain Side Tour”/ Spirit Mother (Milkboy, Philadelphia, PA, October 20, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Acid Mothers Temple, Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O., Milkboy, Philadelphia, PA, Spirit Mother on October 20, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 20, 2024] Acid Mothers Temple / Spirit Mother

I try to never miss an Acid Mothers Temple show.  But they placed this one on the night of a special day for someone in my family.  So there was no way I’d be going out to any shows.

It would have been interesting to see them on a small stage like Milkboy.

But AMT tends to come back every year or so, so I hope to see them next year. (more…)

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Acid Mothers Temple: “Meta Reboot North American Tour” (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, May 18, 2023)

Posted in Acid Mothers Temple, Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O., Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia, PA, ST 37 on May 19, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 18, 2023] Acid Mothers Temple

I have seen Acid Mothers Temple twice and both times were mind blowing.

The pandemic kept them from coming here for about three years so I was pretty excited to get to see them again.

They came out and Jyonson Tsu found out that his guitar was broken (it was supposed to have been repaired), so he had to borrow a guitar from ST 37.  Then they had trouble at the soundcheck.  Jyonson couldn’t hear anything in his monitor and Higashi Hiroshi’s synthesizer was quiet.

Kawabata Makoto started jamming out a solo and the band kicked into high gear while poor Higashi sat there making no sounds at all.  Finally, Kawabata grabbed the mic and yelled a few things and soon enough, there was synth and we all cheered and they started with “Blue Velvet Blues.”

I will admit that I don’t know many of the song names and most of their songs sound the same to me–a blur of (wild and frenetic) guitar soloing and then a slow middle section (or vice versa).  Although these songs all have “parts” and “Blue Velvet” has a slow moody middle section which slows down and in which Jyonson sings a mournful melody.

They jumped into “Dark Star Blues” in which Jyonson plays a gourd-shaped mandolin (A very cool sound) and sings before the band kicks in.

Back on the drums, Satoshima Nani is so much fun to watch.  When the songs really pick up steam, he is a blur of limbs–smacking the crap out of everything in sight.  But he can also slow things down and keep that really slow pace (like in “Blue Velvet Blues”).  He must be a sweaty mess by the end of the shows.

The last two times I saw them, on bass was Wolf.  Wolf left to do his own thing (I wonder how that’s going) and for this show he was replaced by Ron Anderson (the first non-Japanese player I’ve seen play with them).  I didn’t know who he was but Wikipedia tells me that he is known for collaborations with many famous musicians, and has a large catalog of releases and compositions.

He was great too.  Playing some really cool jazzy basslines that seemed to accentuate the wildness that Kawabata was laying down.  He was especially notable on their cover of Gong’s “Flying Teapot” which has a very cool bass line.

They played roughly seven songs, but who can say where the songs began and ended.  “Blue Velvet” ran over 15 minutes.   Their cover of Pink Floyd’s “Interstellar Overdrive” was a uge surprise to me.  The riff is so recognizable.  Their version is pretty close to the original with the main riff and a massive freak out in the middle.

This was the first show I’ve seen by them where they didn’t play any of “Pink Lady Lemonade.”  And that’s fine, although I’m somewhat surprised that they’ve ended with “Cometary Orbital Drive” each time.  It’s a great set ender.  A slow riff that builds and build and builds growing faster and faster and which can be stretched out as long as Kawabata wants.

As the song came to its noisy ending, he held his guitar out into the audience and I got to brush the strings, which was pretty cool as I usually don’t get perks like that.

And then, like all shows, he held his guitar aloft and gentle slammed it on top of his amps to signify the end.

Every show is different.  But every show is also the same.  And you feel transported every time.

Here’s a few words (Google translated) from Makoto about the show (his blog is great).

A 90-minute set will be shown tonight. On the North American tour, we usually start the performance only with the line check just before the performance, unless we do a sound check. In other words, when the start time was pushed, I started playing without hesitation, but the sound engineer interrupted the performance because he did not start monitoring Azuma’s synthesizer. Then, when Azuma-kun’s monitor finally functioned, the audience applauded loudly, and the performance resumed. However, if I suddenly break the tremolo arm, I have no choice but to play the whole song at speed tonight, and even if I’m on the verge of being shipwrecked in a black hole instead of drifting in space, a furious wave of dismantling and rebuilding goes wild. After that, after a new ritual called Guitar Crowd Surfing, the curtain finally reached the finale.

Here’s a video from RhymanTube of the opening jam/soundcheck problem

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77EFNwTi3Lw

2023 Johnny Brenda’s 2019 The Saint 2018 Underground Arts
Jam (while soundcheck was finishing up) La Novia Dark Star Blues ‰
Blue Velvet Blues ⊗ Sycamore Trees Blue Velvet Blues ⊗
Dark Star Blues ‰ From Planet Orb With Love > Disco Pink Lady Lemonade >
Interstellar Overdrop (Pink Floyd cover) > Good-Bye Mrs. Uranus La Le Lo > 
Flying Teapot (Gong cover) Hello Good Child > In C
From Planet Orb With Love § > Disco Pink Lady Lemonade > Untitled > 
Good-Bye Mrs. Uranus § In E > Nanique Another Dimension > 
Cometary Orbital Drive ⇔ Pink Lady Lemonade coda Pink Lady Lemonade coda > 
Cometary Orbital Drive Cometary Orbital Drive

It’s unclear to me what records these songs first appeared on (as they have 1,000 records out), although Setlist does a pretty good job, I think.

‰ Does the Cosmic Shepherd Dream of Electric Tapirs? (2004)
≅ Electric Dream Ecstasy (2018)
⊗ Pataphisical Freak Out MU!! (1999)
§ Sacred and Inviolable Phase Shift (2018)
⇔ Cometary Orbital Drive (2008)

 

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ST 37 (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, May 18, 2023) [ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE]

Posted in Acid Mothers Temple, Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O., Indian Jewelry, Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia, PA, ST 37, Studded Left on May 18, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 18, 2023] ST 37

I had never heard of ST 37 until they were scheduled to tour with Acid Mothers Temple back in 2020.  That tour was postponed and then cancelled, but here it is three years later and they are still touring together.

What does ST 37 mean?  Well, when I searched for the band, what came up first was:

ST 37 ANTISEPTIC SOLUTION kills common pathogenic bacteria quickly on contact. Laboratory tests have established S.T.37 antiseptic solution as a general antiseptic for household use.

So maybe they are a tribute to the antiseptic.  Actually, an interview from 2021 sets it straights:

Carlton Crutcher named us that after the song by the great San Francisco band Chrome, from their album ‘Alien Soundtracks’. It was not until later that we discovered it was the name of a throat antiseptic product!

And what do they sound like?  Their bandcamp says

Quite simply, we rule. And we have been ruling for over 30 years. So there.

They play a noisy experimental kind of rock and have nine people listed in their “past members” category.  Wikipedia gives these two quotes about them: mind-altering space-punk whose live shows are drowning in a haze of guitar and reverb that can drift through cosmically shifting layers of aggressive punk riffs, fuzzed noise, and scalding jams.

And that’s all pretty accurate.  As they started, I was standing right in front of bassist/singer, ever present member S.L. Telles.  The bass was WAAAAAY too loud for the rest of the band, so I had to back away.  I think it was fixed later because it seemed to settle down okay.  Of course, the bass is the only constant through the set. (more…)

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Alice Iseman–Heartstopper: Volume 2 (2019)

Posted in Acid Mothers Gong, Acid Mothers Temple, Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O., Alice Iseman, Gong, Graphic Novel, Japanese Music, Kissing, LGBTQ, Romance, Set at School, YA Books on June 26, 2021| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: ACID MOTHERS GONG-Live Tokyo (2006).

Gong is a band that started in Paris in 1967 by Daevid Allen.  The band is still active and has seen many many lineup changes over the years.  From 2003-2004 the band included members of Acid Mothers Temple.  They released a weird (well, all Gong albums are pretty weird) album called Acid Motherhood.  And then released this live document in 2006.

The line up was Daevid Allen – guitar gliss, vocals/fx; Gilli Smyth  – space whisperer; Josh Pollack – guitar, megaphone; Kawabata Makoto – guitar, voices; Cotton Casino – synth, voices; Hiroshi Higashi – synth, voices; Yoshida Tatsuya – drums, sampler; Tsuyama Atsushi – bass, whistle, vocals.

Gong used a sped up vocal technique a lot, which you can hear in the opening 40 second song called “Gnome.”  Gnome introduces Acid Mother Gong and  segues into “Ooom Ba wAH!” which is improvised processed sped up vocal nonsense.

“Crazy Invisible She” is a nearly 4 minute spoken piece by Gilli that segues into “The Unkilling Of Octave Docteur DA 4J.”  This is a nine minute jam with trippy chords and a two note riff.  There’s wild soloing and trippy space keys.  “Avahoot Klaxon Diamond Language Ritual” has more nonsensical spoken word with wild drums and guitars.  The guitar turns into a siren as chanting begins and segues into “Rituel: Umbrage Demon Stirfry & Its Upcum,” a three minute fast chanted piece with distorted voices and rocking chords.

“Jesu Ali Om Cruci-Fiction” is a ninety second swirling feedback segue into “Ze Teapot Zat Exploded” (“Flying Teapot” alternate title) a nine minute song that feels like a proper song.  It starts with a riff and then the whole band jumps in.  About halfway through someone starts singing (in English!).

“Eating Colonel Saunders Upside Down” sounds like a 7 minute transmission from outer space with a slow beat then turns into a kind of tribal chanting and ends with a high pitched voice singing a wild melody.  “Vital Info That Should Never Be Spoken” is a spoken word piece in which the sound regularly cuts out making it very hard to understand this vital info.

“Parallel Tales Of Fred Circumspex” is a five minute recited piece about Frederick in English and possibly translated into Japanese as they go?  Or is it something else?  By the end he is chanting how everyone is nude.  I guess the nude people then go to “The Isle Of Underwear.” I’m not sure why its called this as it is “Pink Lady Lemonade.”  Aafter 8 minutes someone gently sings the words of “Pink Lady Lemonade.”

“Ohm Riff Voltage 245″is 8 minutes of faster and faster chanting with lots of drums.  Then it turns into slow jamming until the end.  It segues into “Totalatonal Farewell To The Innocents” which is full of soaring sounds and deep sing song chanting that turns into a bouncy jam. By the end, the gnome voice is back.  And the show ends.

You have to be in a very specific headspace to really get into this.

[READ: June 20, 2021] Heartstopper 2

I enjoyed Heartstopper Volume 1 so much I couldn’t wait for Volume 2.  The story is so sweet and kind, I was happy that volume 2 kept up that level of joy.

I also enjoyed that Iseman opened the book with a little drama, but that it was resolved pretty quickly.

In Volume 1 we meet Charlie, who is gay.  He befriends a boy named Nick who is straight.  Charlie is unlike anyone who Nick has hung out with–he usually hangs out with jocks. Charlie is so much the opposite it’s a breath of fresh a air for Nick.  And suddenly, Nick realizes that he is falling for Charlie.

At the end of Volume 1 they kissed…

But as Volume 2 opens we see Charlie’s diary and he is very upset because Nick ran off and didn’t text or anything.  He thinks he ruined everything.  Then we see Nick trying to type his feelings in a text.  He’s sorry for running off, he really likes Charlie, he was just scared.  But he decides it would be better to say something in person.

The next morning, Charlie wakes to the doorbell.  He is in his PJs and with behead and Nick is standing there.  Nick explains everything and suddenly they are having a wonderful day together.

I love the way Iseman draws them–so sweet and loving. (more…)

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Chicano Batman / Le Butcherettes (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, June 16, 2021) [rescheduled date, rescheduled again]

Posted in Acid Mothers Temple, Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O., Chicano Batman, Coronavirus, Le Butcherettes, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Quarantine, Union Transfer on June 16, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: June 16, 2021] Chicano Batman / Le Butcherettes [rescheduled from May 3, 2020; moved to December 15, 2021]

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I know of Chicano Batman through some songs on WXPN and through a cool Tiny Desk Concert.  They play a groovy psychedelia that is laced with soul and funk and indie rock.

There’s always a great bass sound that underpins Bardo Martinez’s soft vocals.

They also have a great name.

The more I hear them the more I think they’d be fun to see live.  Last time they came to town, they were opening for someone.  But this tour they are headlining.

Le Butcherettes I also know from a Tiny Desk Concert.  Teri Gender Bender is a great punk front woman. She channels different vocal styles and can rock with the best of them.  She is also unafraid to stare at the audience.  I imagine she’d be an intense experience.

I was unable to see them in May (that was Acid Mothers Temple night), but I’m free on the new date.

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Cullen Bunn, Andy MacDonald–Rogue Planet (2021)

Posted in Acid Mothers Temple, Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O., Aliens, Cullen Bunn, Death, Graphic Novel, Oni Press, Outer Space, Violence, Yuck! on May 29, 2021| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O.-The Ripper at the Heaven’s Gates of Dark (2011).

I’m not sure why this era of AMT seems so readily available on CD, but this is another collection of songs from the lineup of Tsuyama Atsushi – monster bass, voice, soprano sax, cimpo flute, soprano recorder, acoustic guitar, cosmic joker Higashi Hiroshi – synthesizer, dancin’king Shimura Koji – drums, latino cool Kawabata Makoto – electric guitar, electric bouzouki, sitar, organ, percussion, electronics, speed guru.

It has 5 songs and comes in at just around 75 minutes.

The album titles tend to be amusing twists on classic rock albums (The Piper at the Gates of Dawn), but usually the music doesn’t sound all that classic rock.  But on this album, they changed that.

“Chinese Flying Saucer” is 12 minutes long and opens with a kind of siren sound going high then low and then a big old guitar riff launches.   It feels like a classic rock riff, but it is original.  When Tsuyama starts singing, the whole thing comes together like a Led Zeppelin tribute.  The riff is classic Zep the vocals (indecipherable as they are) are tally Robert Plant–echoed and high pitched with lots of moaning. There’s even a “Kashmir”-like riff in the middle.  It’s remarkably fun and really accessible.  The big non-Zeppelin moment comes with Kawabata’s solo which is just insanity.

After about four minutes the song shifts gears and takes off for outer space with rumbling bass and soaring keys.  They jam for about five minutes and then return to the initial riff to end the song.

“Chakra 24” is only four minutes long and is a slower sitar based song with raspy vocals.  It’s quite pretty.

But the brevity is soon gone with the fifteen minute “Back Door Man Of Ghost Rails Inn.”  It’s a slow droney song with sitar and lots of keys.  This time when Tsuyama starts singing it’s in a very Jim Morrison style–ponderous and over the top.  There’s even a spoken word part.  Imagine in Morrison’s voice “some people coming here… some people coming here and…” There’s some wild organ trippiness in this song that stretched in ways The Doors never did.

The cleverly titled “Shine on You Crazy Dynamite” is almost 22 minutes long and sounds like old school pink Floyd.  Not “Crazy Diamond” era, but earlier, more like “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun.”  Kawabata’s solos really shine on this one, with squeaky echoes and a metal bars slide up the neck.  The keyboards also sound like Richard Wright.   After 17 minute or so off wild guitar freak out, the guitar fades back a bit to let the pulsing bass take over with the echoing voices continuing to the end.

“Electric Death Mantra” is a twenty minute chill out.  It’s a slower piece with lots of high pitched spacey notes floating around, which Kawabata plays bouzouki and Tsuyama sigs (in his normal style).  With about eight minutes left things get really quiet with a quiet rumbling drums and echoed sounds and notes from the guitar while overdubbed vocals chant and chant.  Then it slowly starts to build up again, with faster and faster bouzouki and Kawabata’s wailing solo.

[READ: May 25, 2021] Rogue Planet

Oni Press was one of my favorite young imprints when I first started reading graphic novels.  Then I lost track of it.  So I was pleased to see this book from them.

I was a little turned off by it because it happened to be one of several books I brought home that just seemed to revel in blood and guts (was there a run on red ink recently?)

The book turned out to be (totally gross) interesting.  And I was pleased with the way it handled a somewhat complicated story in one volume.

The book opens on the rogue planet.  Life on the planet consists of a bunch of ET- looking creatures.  The older one speaks to its son, complimenting him on his intelligence before sacrificing him to the giant crystal that is growing out of the ground.  The giant crystal, which is covered in and surrounded by flesh and eyes and teeth and all kinds of gross stuff.  It’s really horrible-looking. (more…)

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