Acid Mothers Temple
April 20th, 2009
Ottobar
Baltimore, MD


Source:
Roland Edirol R-09 (on-board mics, low cut on & AGC off, saved as 16 bit 44.1khz .WAV) > WaveLab (SL-1 Stereo Expander @ 100% > Puncher (soft density, 70% effect, 0% output gain - note that Puncher was not used on Dark Stars for reasons likely detailed somewhere below)) > CDWAV (tracks split and saved as .FLAC level 8 ) > foobar2000 (Tags + ReplayGain)

Location: House rear-centerish - to be precise, at a little table about six feet to the left of the soundboard.

Taper: ZaPenguin (pjzyhfz02(AT)sneakemail.com or
http://db.etree.org/ZappaPenguin)


SOUND QUALITY: A- (the low end is distorted (the Ottobar may well be the loudest mid/small-sized venue I've yet been to), but aforementioned low-end is also very, very rich. The Ottobar is basically a converted warehouse, and like most east-coast clubs, it's funky - but the sound system is built for metal, and I'd personally gladly trade a bit of distortion for a spectrum like this)


THE BAND:
Tsuyama Atsushi: monster bass, voice, cosmic joker
Higashi Hiroshi: synth, guitar, voice, dancin'king
Shimura Koji: drums, latino cool
Kawabata Makoto: guitar, voice, speed guru


TRACK LIST:
CD1 [43:50]
01. "Is Balty-more Beer Experimental?" [2:04]
02. Experimental Intro Jam [5:44]
03. > Dark Stars in the Dazzling Sky [21:56]
04. "Is the Riff we Played in Montreal Experimental?" [14:05]

CD2 [62:35]
05. Tsuyama's Experimental Recorder Solo [1:35]
--> 06. > Pink Lady Lemonade [21:44]
--> 07. > Cosmic Soul Death Disco [10:36]
--> 08. > Pink Lady Lemonade [6:20]
--> 09. > "Is 'The End' Experimental?" [3:10]
--> 10. > Cometary Orbital Drive > Speed Guru [19:11]
[total time of suite: 62:35]

Notes: According to Kawabata, D1T04 is a riff the band started playing in Montreal and experimented with on several shows this tour. Or possibly Kawabata was referring to the genesis of Eleking the Clay. Regardless of origin, this song kicks ass.


MINI BIO:
"Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. (and subsequent offshoots) is a Japanese psychedelic band founded in 1995 by members of the Acid Mothers Temple soul-collective. The band is led by guitarist Kawabata Makoto and early in their career featured many musicians but by 2004 the line-up had coalesced with 4 core members and frequent vocal guests.

The band have a reputation for phenomenal live shows, and releasing frequent albums on a number of international record labels, as well as the Acid Mothers Temple family record label which was established in 1998 to document the activities of the whole collective."
- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia which every 14 year old has edited.


BAND PAGE:
http://www.acidmothers.com


SETLIST:
"Are We Experimental?" intro jam, Dark Stars in the Dazzling Sky, Montreal Riff, Tsuyama Recorder Solo > Pink Lady Lemonade > Cosmic Soul Death Disco > Pink Lady Lemonade > "Is the End Experimental?" (The End) > Cometary Orbital Drive > Speed Guru


SHOW NOTES:
Some bad news, frustrating news, then good news, in order.

Bad news - this was the last of the three shows I attended and recorded on the 2009 AMT "Are We Experimental" tour. I had planned to attend the show in Chapel Hill as well, but a number of factors conspired to keep me and my little Camry that Could off the forested wasteland known as I-85.

Frustrating news - I was a 1/4" > 1/8" adaptor away from getting a SBD of this show (whoever heard of a soundboard that didn't have RCA out!?). What makes this more frustrating is that a) I used to carry such an adaptor around with me back in my early days of recording, and b) some of the sick shit Kawabata was doing would sound positively thrilling on a SBD.

Good news - this is easily the most intense of the three shows I caught, and documented in a perfectly listenable AUD recording.

The Ottobar wasn't full tonight - perhaps rain kept a good chunk of the Towson crowd away, or perhaps my pretty piss-poor recording of last year's somewhat-disappointing Ottobar show is to blame. If the latter case is the case, then I hope it's the case that the recording I made of this year's festivities makes a counter-case to said case, and that, in 2010, it shall indeed be the case that the Ottobar ends up as packed as it was the last two years the AMT made their case in the place. Otherwise, those Towson kids who got too wrecked to manage a 15 minute drive in the rain best be shame-faced. FULL-STOP, in upper-case.

It's a shame the Ottobar WASN'T full, as while this show was a little light on banter compared to, say, Philly 2009 or the Ottobar show from 2007, it more than made up for this with a double-fisted dose of intense sonic ramifications. From the nasty take-no-prisoners intro jam, through the epic multi-stage rocket that is Dark Stars in the Dazzling Sky and the transcendental pile of Middle-Eastern glory that for now I'll refer to as "The Montreal Riff" as per Kawabata's post on the AMT messageboard, despite it coming across as a full-fledged, pre-rehearsed song (and why do I get the feeling Tsuyama is singing a Residents/Snakefinger song at the end? Coming of the Crow/Eva's Warning?) - and concluding in the sixty-two minute bombastic spectafest that is the Pink Lady Lemonade suite. Words can't describe this one - a lengthy, moody sai solo after the first Pink Lady Lemonade solo more than makes up for the rather brief (compared to past nights) prelude-solo, and competes with the Montreal Riff for the highlight of the night.

The only quibble I have with this show is the presence of a completely brain-dead chatterbox within mic range. Eagle-eared listeners can probably hear the entire story of her life through the course of this show, and it may prove insightful as to what causes a person to spend $40 at a show if all they're going to do is talk to their hen-picked fratty boyfriend in a Phillies cap. Phillies Dude, if you happen to be out there - I'm not going to judge you for getting romantically involved with the mentally retarded, but be a considerate neighbor and do a better job babysitting next time. Thankfully, the tardwagon evidently stops running at midnight, as they left midway through Pink Lady Lemonade. $60 between the two of them for cover and drinks...


RECORDING NOTES:
Managed to control my wanderlust long enough to secure what is probably the best location for handheld recording - a lonely table to the right of the soundboard. There's the occasional bar-noise (I unfortunately can't remember if that noise at the beginning of Tsuyama's flute solo is something the band was doing on-stage, or the bartender mixing a drink), but nothing terribly distracting - unless the idiot ginger chatterbox counts.


REQUESTS & REMINDERS:
Do not sell this recording. Do not buy this recording. Do not sell this recording, then buy it from yourself. Always bring everything with you everywhere all the time. When spending $50 to buy your idiot girlfriend expensive beers at a metal club, either keep her up at the bar or tell her to shut the fuck up.


Torrented by the taper: ZaPenguin

email - zappa.penguin(AT)gmail.com
web - http://db.etree.org/zappapenguin (always woefully out of date)

Band page: http://www.acidmothers.com