Acid Mothers Temple & the Cosmic Inferno
(Very Friendly)
Heaping superlatives on Acid
Mothers Temple
at this point in the game - after some 13 years and multiple permutations -
seems pointless. The band is obviously one of the most prodigious dispensers of
contemporary psychedelia, one of the most delightfully indulgent, one of the
most brutally loud, and, simply, one of the best bands around to just lose your
mind to. The collective is still guided ably by the manic guitar paroxysms of Kawabata
Makoto, but his willingness to mix up the roster is indicative of a utopian
desire to accommodate multiple voices, multiple creative approaches, and
multiple strains of madness.
Journey finds the Inferno being joined by a new member - Pikachu, the drumming half of Japanese scream-skronk duo Afrirampo - and her contributions are notable indeed. Throughout this six-part, 70-minute opus, Pikachu lays her delightful echo-chamber howls atop Makoto's swirling storms of feedback and guitar squalls, and her explosive drumming is made that much more powerful by the fact that she's banging along in perfect, free-jazz arrhythmia alongside ex-High Rise drummer Koji Shimura. It's all in keeping with Makoto's general musical philosophy - more is always better - and the result is another skull-peeling bit of otherworldly psychedelia.
Standout Tracks: "Ecstasy Into
the Cosmic Inferno," "Master of the Cosmic Inferno" JASON FERGUSON
