Part 1: A guide to Acid Mothers Temple

Acid Mothers Temple is a Japanese psychedelic/space/noise rock band who has produced and immense amount of music since their start in 1995.

To start I want to say I am a big fan of the band but it is not that I know all of their music or all of their history. I am not a good researcher nor can i write very good but I am dedicated to the music i like. So sorry in advance for mistakes and stuff like that, I just want to share a bit of and overview of what the band has accomplished and shine a light on their brilliance. I will start with the releases AMT (and their offshoots) did. I won’t focus on live albums (I know some absolutely great stuff is in there but i got to skim some stuff or this will never end). So, this is for fun and to share their cosmic music.

If you are a fan of Japanese heavy psych and noise I have another lengthy post filled with new and obscure old music called ‘The Cosmic side of Japan’.

In a second post i wil focus on side projects and guest preformances of Kawabata Makoto.

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O.

The band has had a lot of different line-ups over the years but has been led by Kawakabato Makoto from the beginning. AMT had loads of guest musicians wich is hard to keep track of. It is Kawabata that started Acid Mothers Temple with Suhara Keizo, Higashi Hiroshi, Cotton Casino, Koizumi Hajime and Mano Kazuhiko. From 1996 to 1997 they released three casettes (3 of them on their own AMT label and one on LA Musica Records).

Going under the name Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. they released their first self titled EP on P.S.F. records.

While the band evolved and grew their started forming different offshoots of the band but I want to get into that later because the different side projects and offshoots are not only great, they are many too. At this point drummer Ichiraku Yoshimitsu and guitarist Higashi Hiroshi were added to the band. Another demo called ‘Freak Out’ was released.

The second and third LP were released while the band toured a lot more and was again released on their own label. ‘Pataphysical Freak Out MU!!’ and ‘Wild Gals A-Go-Go’ where released in 1999 with a new bassist called Tsuyama Atsushi (The Cosmic Joker).

‘Pataphysical Freakout Mu’ is a gorgeous record where AMT focuses on trippy sounds and psychedelic rock and is less noise than other work.

‘Wild Gals A Go-Go’ is a strange work, a fake conceptual soundtrack album featuring  Sachiko Kawabata , Tsuyama Atsushi , Koizumi Hjime , Kawabata Makoto, Yoshida Masayuki , Suhara Keizo, Ayano Performer , Father Moo ,Yoko Synthesizer,, Higashi Hiroshi, Kaneko Tetsuya Vocals ,Cotton Casino.

In 2000 they released third album ‘Troubadours from Another Heavenly World’ (on P.S.F.) and ‘La Nòvia’ (Bam Balam Records).

Between releasing live albums AMT released their double LP ‘Absolutely Freak Out (Zap Your Mind!)’ and their fourth album ‘New Geocentric World of Acid Mothers Temple’

Still in 2001 we see drummer Ichiraku Yoshimitsu join the band and with that double drum line-up they would release and alternate version of Terry Riley’s ‘In C’.

If you think that band would slow down you are very wrong, because 2002 is a very productive year for AMT with the release of ’41st Century Splendid Man’, ‘Electic Heavyland’, ‘Univers Zen ou de zéro à zéro’ and ‘St. Captain Freak Out & the Magic Bamboo Request’ and two EPS and five live albums. While on a massive world tour they where joined by filmmaker Audrey Ginestet who filmed the 2002 USA tour and released this a ‘Dakonan’.

Acid Mothers Temple SWR & Acid Mothers Gong

In that same year AMT had their own yearly Japanese festival (Acid Mothers Fest). This started  a new flow and a new band name. They changed to Acid Mothers Temple mode HHH but now known as Acid Mothers Temple SWR (Yoshida Tatsuya of Ruins) .

2003 started with the fusion of french psychers Gong (Acid Mothers Gong). The split between AMT and Kinski was released.

2004 is the year that vocalist Cotton Casino left the band. But live their was no talk of quitting, Acid Mothers Gong did a tour and released and album and Melting Paraiso did two tours and released 6 albums.

Acid Mothers Afrirampo

In the meantime another collaboration took stand between Acid Mothers Temple and Afriramp called Acid Mothers Afrirampo.

while another collaboration between Acid Mothers Temple and Afrirampo, Acid Mothers Afrirampo, released an album as well called ‘We Are Acid Mothers Afrirampo’.

Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno

In 2005 we get the tenth anniversary of Acid Mothers Temple wich, ofcourse, gets us a new band called Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno with the member Kawabata, Higashi Hiroshi, Tabata Mitsuru, Okano Futoshi, and Shimura Koji.  Whith AMT SWR still on tour The Cosmic Inferno released several albums.

In 2006 female vocalist Nao entered the timeline in AMT & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. and in that period releasing two albums ‘Have You Seen the Other Side of the Sky?’ and ‘Myth of the Love Electrique’

Acid Mothers Temple & the Incredible Strange Band is another ofshoot that happened in  2006 with Tsuyama Akiko, Suhara Keizo, Aiko, Tsuyama Atsushi, and Kawabata Makoto.

Also in 2006 Kiragawa Hao joined The Cosmic inferno as a vocalist but list after touring the united states in 2007. While this was happening Kawabata and Tsuyama started and other offshoot with Mani Neumeier of Guru Guru so that soon we got Acid Mothers Guru Guru.

In 2007 vocalist Kitagawa Hao started in AMT & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O and who would have guessed, they released another bunch of albums! ‘Crystal Rainbow Pyramid Under the Stars’ , ‘Nam Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo’.

‘Ominous from the Cosmic Inferno’ by AMT and the Cosmic Inferno say the light of day in 2007.

In 2007 AMT & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. released ‘Acid Motherly Love’ on Riot Season Records. At this moment only the core of the band plays in this album. The band on ‘Acid Motherly Love’ is made of Tsuyama Atsushi, Higashi Hiroshi, Shimura Koji and Kawabata Makoto. Their was also a re-release from ’41st Century Splendid Man’ on Essence Records.

The year closed with a release called ‘The Early Acid Mothers Temple Recordings 1995–1997’.

2008 started with again the core member of AMT & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. releasing ‘Recurring Dream and Apocalypse of Darkness’. In that same period U.F.O. released about 2 more albums.

In that year we get one of the more popular albums by AMT and the Cosmic Inferno called ‘Pink Lady Lemonade ~ You’re From Outer Space’.

2009 brought four more albums called ‘Interstellar Guru and Zero’, ‘Lord of the Underground: Vishnu and the Magic Elixir’, ‘Are We Experimental?’ and ‘Dark Side of the Black Moon: What Planet Are We On?’.

In 2010 Cotton Casino joined the band for the first time since 2004 to release the album ‘In 0 to ∞’.

2011 brought a new one from The Cosmic Inferno ‘For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Goofy Funk’ and two albums from Melting Paraiso U.F.O. called ‘Pink Lady Lemonade ( You’re From Inner Space)’ and ‘The Ripper at the Heaven’s Gates of Dark’.

Another offshoot in 2011 is Acid Maso Temple wich is Kawabata, Aiko and  Keizo Suhara and  Yamazaki Maso. Together they releases a split album with Kill Kill Kill called ‘The Electric Kool-aide Results’

Are you guys still with me? because we are in 2012 when AMT and the Paraiso U.F.O. released ‘Son of a Bitches Brew’ and a take on one of the albums from AMT & The Cosmic Inferno’s albums called ‘IAO Chant from the Melting Paraiso Underground Freak Out’

in 2013 AMT & the Melting Paraiso UFO gifted us with the album ‘In Search For the Lost Divine Arc’ and a fantastic offshoot called Acid Mothers Temple & Space Paranoid wich formed because the booking agent wanted AMT to play some Black Sabbath tunes, so we get ‘Black Magic Santori’ and The Cosmic Inferno released ‘Doobie Wonderland’ in that year.

Now we take a bit of a leap. From 2014 to 2018 it is mostly Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. that is releasing music. But it is not like they are calming down, in 2014 we get ‘Astrorgasm from Inner Space’, in 2015 they release ‘Benzaiten’. In 2016 ‘Wake to a New Dawn of Another Astro Era’ and ‘Pink Lady Lemonade (You’re So Sweet)’. 2017 again two releases called ‘Those Who Came Never Before‘ and ‘Wandering The Outer Space.

2018 Brought Seven!!! releases with ‘Either The Fragmented Body or the Reconstituted Soul’, ‘Electric Dream Ecstacy’, ‘Hallelujah Mystic Garden part 1’, ‘Paralyzed Brain’, ‘Sacred and Inviolable Phase Shift’, ‘Trails to the Cosmic Vibrations’ and ‘Reverse of Rebirth in Universe’.

2019 brings us ‘Hallelujah Mystic Garden Part Two’ , a partial reissue and record day store release ‘Invisible Eyes And Phantom Cathedral’ , a live album, a reissue of the Kinski/AMT split and a live casette reissue from ‘Who Does The Space Troubadour Sing For?’

Now another 2019 re-release on vinyl with a special vinyl mix by kawabata hits the shelves. Again on Riot Season Records comes the epic rerelease of ‘Minstrel In The Galaxy’.

 In 2020 the band, with another newish line-up release ‘Chosen Star Child’s Confessionwith the added presence of Geoff Leigh (ex Henry Cow).

We get two more splits too, on with Yoo Doo Right and one with The Paul Kidney Experience.

This is, for the moment, the end of Part 1. I will try to keep this post updated with new releases. In the near future their will be a new post about the Kawabato Makoto’s solo work and side projects.