Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. – The Early Acid Mothers Temple Recordings 1995-1997 is now available as a mail order / tour only 2xCD set in gatefold card sleeve (SYRE 012), limited to 300 copies and co-released with OHM Records (2.5 ohm). This will not be available in any shops, only from the band and the labels.
The 2xCD compilation includes all tracks from the limited edition 2xLP set released by Synesthetic Recordings back in 2007, plus two long bonus tracks taken from the bonus disc of the very limited Triple Trip Edition 3xLP issued at the same time. We have an extremely limited stock of these vinyl editions, so act fast if you want any of them!
Buy 2xCD/2xLP/3xLP/DL via Bandcamp
Liner notes
In 1995 the quartet of Kawabata Makoto (Musica Transonic, Mainliner, Toho Sara), Koizumi Hajime (ex. Mainliner, ex. Seventh Seal), Suhara Keizo (Arijigoku, Rashinban), and Cotton Casino (Mady Gula Blue Heaven) formed a new group and started to record their improvised jam sessions. The group did not yet have a name at this point in their existence. A group of social dropouts of every description – musicians, dancers, artists, farmers, channellers, ex-yakuza, mermaid researchers and professional vagrants – known as the Acid Mothers Temple Soul Collective, had already begun to coalesce around Kawabata.
Several years earlier Kawabata had spent some time in a beatnik commune in Nagano, but he soon left, having become repulsed by their exclusionary left-wing ideology and hypocritical ecological activities. In response he had founded his own commune, one without any political ideology or ethics save that of non-interference in each other’s lives. The mission of this “hometown of souls” would be to open its doors to anyone who was still searching for something in life.
Around the same time Kawabata had become involved in the Tokyo underground scene through his role as guitarist with Musica Transonic. Determined to do something to introduce the world to the other members of the Acid Mothers Temple Soul Collective, he decided to invite them to join his as yet untitled new improvising jam band. His old friend Higashi Hiroshi and many other members of the collective started to participate in the group’s recording sessions. This would be the beginning of Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. (AMT).
In 1996 a limited edition cassette entitled Acid Mother’s Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. (note that the band’s name was spelled with an apostrophe in the beginning) was sold at an event that Kawabata played at. This was the first release to bear the AMT name, and it included recordings by the original quartet, an early take of “Speed Guru”, and other recordings dating from 1995 and early 1996.
In 1997, Kawabata joined Mainliner on their US and European tour. He took with him two limited edition cassettes entitled Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. 1 and Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. 2, which were sold at gigs on the tour. They consisted of recordings from 1995 to 1997, including tracks by the original quartet with added overdubs and newly recorded tracks. After the tour ended, Kawabata went back to work on these pieces, mixing and adding new overdubs. These would eventually become the recordings that were released by PSF as the band’s eponymous first album (PSFD-93), so the original cassettes may be considered as “demo” versions of that record.
While these early recordings were released under the AMT name, they were in fact closer in concept to Kawabata’s solo albums. Recordings of improvised jams were manipulated using musique concrete methodology and remade into Kawabata’s personal image of psychedelic music. There was no intention for the group to play live, and in fact there were no gigs in the first few years. But when the first PSF album was released, Kawabata decided to tour overseas for the first time in June 1998. Soon afterwards Tsuyama Atsushi joined the group, and began to cement its identity as a live band. The process of transformation from a Kawabata solo project into a group was one that began around this time and still continues today.
This compilation reissues most of the early recordings of Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. and makes them available to a larger audience for the first time.
Tracklist
Disc 1:
Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. 1
1. From The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. (Wellens/Cotton/Kawabata) (3:56)
2. The Acid Mothers Prayer (Cotton/Kawabata) (8:38)
3. Amphetamine A Go Go (Kawabata) (4:55)
4. Aum Over Drive (Kawabata) (3:27)
5. Speed Guru (Wellens/Kawabata) (19:51)
Bonus track:
6. Freak Out Mu (Cotton/Kawabata/Suhara) (18:20)
Disc 2:
Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. 2
1. L: Zen Feedbacker (Kawabata)
R: Candy Aum (Kawabata) (3:14)
2. Pink Lady Lemonade (Kawabata) (12:54)
3. Tibetan Esoteric Rage (Kawabata) (5:44)
4. Aunt Ema Blues (Cotton/Kawabata/Suhara)
~ Glutton For Punishment (Cotton/Kawabata) (6:18)
5. Rolling Buzz Fuzz Fucker (Wellens/Kawabata/Suhara) (5:00)
6. Satori LSD (Kawabata/Higashi/Suhara/Takahashi) (8:29)
Bonus track:
7. Speed Guru (Wellens/Kawabata) (19:39)
Credits
Disc 1, tracks 1-5 originally released as Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. 1 (AMT-001). Disc 2, tracks 1-6 originally released as Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. 2 (AMT-002). These cassettes were issued on the Acid Mothers Temple label in February 1997 in limited editions of 50 copies. Reissued by Synesthetic Recordings on 26 November 2007 as The Early Acid Mothers Temple Recordings 1995-1997, a double LP set limited to 408 copies (SYRE 011).
Recorded at Acid Mothers Temple 1995-1997.
Produced and engineered by Kawabata Makoto.
Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. at the time of these recordings were:
Cotton Casino: voices, sitar, synthesizer
Suhara Keizo: bass
Momo: bass
Higashi Hiroshi: guitar
Koizumi Hajime: drums, percussion, saxophone
Takahashi Atsuki: drums
Yasuda Hisashi: percussion
Sakakibara Daiji: didgeridoo
Mano Kazuhiko: saxophone
Ishida Yoko: violin
Johan Wellens: cosmic narration
Kawabata Makoto : guitar, synthesizer, sarangi, harmonium, bagpipe, organ, voices
Bonus tracks originally released on Acid Mother’s Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O., a cassette issued in 1996 in a limited edition of 10 copies. Reissued by Synesthetic Recordings on 26 November 2007 as the bonus disc of The Early Acid Mothers Temple Recordings 1995-1997 : Triple Trip Edition, a triple LP and poster set limited to 100 copies (SYRETRIPP 011) . The cassette also featured a track called “Psycho Line”, but it was considered by Kawabata Makoto to be of inferior musical value and has been omitted from the reissues.
Recorded at Acid Mothers Temple 1995-1996.
Produced and engineered by Kawabata Makoto.
Acid Mother’s Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. at the time of these recordings were:
Cotton Casino: voices, synthesizer
Suhara Keizou: bass
Momo: bass
Higashi Hiroshi: guitar
Koizumi Hajime: drums, percussion, saxophone
Mano Kazuhiko: saxophone
Kawabata Makoto: guitar, synthesizer
Cover design by Bjørn Kjetil Johansen.
Liner notes by Kawabata Makoto and Petter Flaten Eilertsen.
Thanks to Alan Cummings for translations.
Synesthetic Recordings 