Acid Mothers Temple Explored Outer Lysergic Space at the Casbah with Spirit Mother and Sen K
Psych rock senseis Acid Mothers Temple (Osaka, Japan) led like-minded adventurers into the furthest reaches of their unfathomable sound, down to the depths of lysergy and safely back out into space. Embarking on the forty night Holy Black Mountain Side Tour with Spirit Mother (Oregon by way of SoCal), Acid Mothers Temple started it off at the Casbah on this final Friday of September.
Local psych-noise rockers (and friends of Acid Mothers Temple) Sen K launched the night with their double-drummer-backed southern rock shoegaze. Long-tenured musicians Eric Nielsen and Krista Kansas’ project started almost ten years ago when the decades-long partners finally began making music together. With the assistance of drummer Judd Feiler they started writing Sen K music in earnest, culminating in their first album Allele. Joined on stage by Pete Hegerle on guitar/additional vocals and second drummer Kenny Fields, the band presented as a united and welcoming front, framed by the dual drum kits.
Their set started and stayed mellow, full of songs that in other settings would be hymns, seeming almost incongruous with the anticipated cacophony of the bands to follow. With all of the assembled fire power on stage, the restraint which with they played, practically pianissimo, quietly prepared the space to be rent by Eric’s powerful voice, aimed straight to the heavens. By the time their set ended, the five musicians of Sen K smoothly and effortlessly launched the evening into the stratosphere, with none yet realizing how far the night would go.
Supporting Acid Mothers Temple on their epic US tour, Spirit Mother continued exploring the deep western desert sound and smoothly transitioned from the almost languid pace of Sen K to an altogether heavier, darker, shreddier level. Often their sound reminded one of the southern stoner rock of All Them Witches…right up until SJ’s violin would send everything back to the high desert of Oregon before pushing the crowd even further.
Fittingly, the electric violin’s amp dominated their stage setup physically and sonically and more than held its own against Sean McCormick’s shredding guitar solos, Armand Lance’s thunderous bass tones, and the primeval pounding of Landon Cisneros’ drum kit. Their new album Trails featured early in their set (available online from Heavy Psych Sounds Records or in all three beautiful variations at the merch booth), finally giving way to classics already familiar to the San Diego crowd . Spirit Mother forcefully demonstrated why Acid Mothers Temple tapped them for this wild tour, leaving old and new fans with nothing left but to get melted down by the main attraction.
With no time wasted in the changeover, Acid Mothers Temple swiftly took their place at the helm, fully preparing to push the night’s sound and space exploration to uncharted territory, even for them. Previously playing on the Whistle Stop floor to a transfixed crowd craning for a peek at the performers last year, on this night the Casbah’s intimately low stage provided the entire audience with the perfect viewing angle (head slightly tilted up, third eye wide open). This final stage of the trip began with Kawabata Makoto building layers of sound from his guitar with a metal bar, bowing the strings like some sort of otherworldly violin. Jyonson Tsu’s vocal lead-in cued the rest of the band to fully embark the voyage: Satoshima Nani’s spastic ministrations brought the drums to life and Sawano Shozo’s bass provided the necessary low end groove. Center stage, Higashi Hiroshi began noodling his signature sound out of his Roland SH-09 synthesizer, never once touching the keys, simply coaxing sounds from the dials and sliders.
Now well and truly in the outer reaches, Acid Mothers Temple continued to redefine the psychedelic rock journey, defying preconceived notions of how any instrument should sound or be played. Songs built up from softly swaying sounds suitable for head-bobbing into lovingly looped Motorik riffs, erupting into full-on head-banging, foot-stomping grooves ready to propel any dance floor psychenauts into deep, deep space. When the music finally met silence, travelers found their feet firmly back on the earth but their minds still open to the cosmos awakened by this instant classic of a show.
Acid Mothers Temple and Spirit Mother continue the Holy Black Mountain Side Tour around the US through November (SoCal psyche heads can welcome them back from their journey for the final night of the tour, Nov 4th at The Wayfarer in Costa Mesa, CA). Be sure to see them when they’re playing near you and enjoy the trip to outer space! Scroll down for our image and video galleries from the show, and next time: see you there!