GIG REVIEW - Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting paradiso U.F.O - Corsica Studios, 22/10/12

AMT from left: Tsuyama Atsushi, Tabata Mitsuru, Higashi Hiroshi, Shimura Koji & (not pictured) Kawabata makoto

Round the back end of Elephant And Castle in London is this lovely little place, Corsica Studios, having seen AMT play there last year, I knew it would be a good show again. So I was excited, happiness increased when another person in the queue told me that she had seen them a few nights before hand and still had ear troubles. The sign of a good heavy gig!
It's worth saying at this point that Acid Mothers Temple are a very... VERY loud band. It's not just loud like a metal band, but in that it really works for the music and the audio cacophony creates such amazing sensations.

 

Hey Colossus! the support act. Very heavy.

The support band was Hey Colossus! a really heavy rock band, combining elements of grunge and thrash with a Hawkwind style chugging of repetitive riffage pounding into this psychedelic experience. The shouted vocals were pretty difficult to hear over the amped guitars but was audible enough to add extra texture. Also nice use of a tape machine to get this background droning going throughout the tracks. Apparently the Spice girls used to do something similar with Posh Spice. Anyways they were a cool introduction and you could tell that there was definately energy and passion in their playing. Good band.

The Groovemaster Generals, Acid Mothers Temple!

Of course, Acid mothers Temple & The Melting Paradiso U.F.O came on and the crowd blew up electric. Quiet glissando drones, spacey synths, latino cool, comedy lyrics, heavy riffage, peace glasses, burning guitars, it's all there. Shimura Koji kept a perfectly steady beat throughout, definately one of the hardest working drummers around. They played an impressive set including my two favourite psyche tracks and ATM live stalwarts, Pink lady Lemonade and the Om Riff(a cover of Gong's epic Master Builder). It was like heaven, the constant beat, the sheer energy, the ultimate speed guitar. Pink Lady Lemonade really set into groove with the repeating melody, lifting you up into the stars ready for blastoff, and then when Kawabata Makoto  hit the first note of the solo, it was like orgasmic joy as he charted us off through the galaxies, leading into the meditative force of the Om Riff, using Daevid Allen's Iao Chant to help secure the powerful force within the track before letting off into an impressive display of awareness of the cosmic sounds. Tracks included a bizarre doo-wop inspired jam, and a lovely call and response section between Kawabata and Tsuyama Atsushi, showing a band having fun at what they do. You could feel the whole world shake from the volume, and being about 2 metres away from the amps, I got it full blast to the point where it actually started to physically hurt towards the end of the gig. It was fantastic.

Of course, the show ended with them upping the tempo and the volume even more, and Kawabata Makoto setting fire to his guitars whilst playing them, smashing them and chucking into the crowd.
But of course, one can't neglect Higashi Hiroshi's mastery of the synth, creating a constant feeling of otherworldlyness throughout their set, and Tabata Mitsuro's charisma and ability to play a damn fine tune (and awesome glasses!)

As you'd expect me to say, seeing as they are one of my favourite bands, whenever you can, go see Acid Mothers Temple!