Acid Mothers Temple
May 10th, 2015
The Pour House
Raleigh, NC


Source:
Roland Edirol R-09 (onboard mics, low-cut on, AGC off) > WaveLab (Puncher (medium density, 75% effect, 0% output gain) + SL-1 StereoExpander (100%) +
Roland Edirol R-09HR (line-in, low-cut off, AGC off) >>

>> Audacity (files synced, slight edits made to SBD to compensate for digital drift) >>

> WaveLab (Q equalizer - lows and highs boosted) >>

> CDWAV (tracks split and saved as .FLAC level 8 ) > foobar2000 (ReplayGain + tags)

Location:
House center-rear, next to soundboard

Taper: ZaPenguin (zappa.penguin(AT)gmail.com or
http://db.etree.org/ZappaPenguin)

SOUND QUALITY: A - It took a lot of fiddling, but I think it was a worthwhile investment. Another recording that I prefer to consider an exceptionally-good AUD. Being that this is a monitor mix, there's an odd moment or two when the soundman (whose name unfortunately escapes me) soloed certain tracks (most evident during the beginning of Dark Stars), and the board feed is mono, which results in the synth and drums being perhaps a bit flatter than the Richmond recording - but all in all, I think this is one of the better-sounding recordings I've escaped with.


THE BAND:
Tsuyama Atsushi: monster bass, voice, cosmic joker
Tabata Mitsuru: guitar, maratab
Higashi Hiroshi: synth, guitar, voice, dancin'king
Satoshima Nani: Osaka mutant drums
Kawabata Makoto: guitar, voice, speed guru

and... wait for it...

SPECIAL GUEST:
Cotton Casino: Synth, ducking, dancing

NO LONGER WITH THE BAND BUT WE WON'T FORGET HIM:
Shimura Koji: drums, latino cool

TRACK LIST:
01. Dark Stars in the Dazzling Sky [18:40]
02. Benzaiten [21:01]
03. Pink Lady Intro [4:22]
04. Pink Lady Lemonade [12:46]
05. Om Riff [6:58]
06. Pink Lady Lemonade [5:34]
07. Cometary Orbital Intro [5:44]
08. Cometary Orbital Drive > Speed Guru [8:25]


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


SHOW NOTES:
The Acid Mothers weren't the only ferocious storm brewing in the Carolinas tonight - their arrival happened to coincide with the first bona-fide tropical storm of the 2015 season, and while the latter storm was, as far as these things go, relatively mild, the continued rainfall most definitely contributed to a somewhat sparse crowd that dissipated rapidly as the night wore on.

Their loss, because while this may not be one of the best Acid Mothers shows of all time - or even from this tour - it's an altogether fine example of what the Acid Mothers are capable of on any given night, and another fine piece from this incredibly rejuvenating tour. After the great "greetings, Acid Children" provided by Dark Stars and the fun explorations of Benzaiten, we get a very, VERY sparse minimalist guitar-effects-and-synth-sweeps new age intro to Pink Lady - crank those volume knobs up a bit, friends. Just how quiet, you ask? Well, at times, the ambient hum of the amplifiers threatens to drown out the notes being played. This makes the past tours' "Pink Reflections" seem like an anthemic, lighter-hoisting metal rocker by comparison. Pink Lady is about what one would expect, and for tonight's Cometary lead-in jam (have I gushed enough about how great the 2015 Cometary reworking is? Is it even possible to gush as much as this reimagination deserves?) we get an old-fashioned 1950s electric guitar sound for Tabata's guitar synth. Tonight was the first (and only) show where I actually had a good view of the on-stage activities, and it seems - correct me if I'm wrong - that Kawabata actually decides what synth patch Tabata's going to get, which may at least partially explain why these jams always seem so fresh and spontaneous - nothing like confronting the unexpected to propel an artist to dazzling new heights.

One element of this tour's setlist which has really grown on me is how the songs in the setlist really do seem to reflect each individual member, at least in my mind. Dark Stars is a very "Hagashi" song - melodramatic, in your face, impossible to not notice - much like the silver-haired man center-stage gyrating as one with the space-age psych metal sounds. Benzaiten is, of course, Tsuyama as it gets - a very "traditionally Japanese" (even if it was only written a scant forty years ago) cover song completely rearranged, avant and rock and folk and metal all at once, with plenty of Monster Bass, a bit of a flute interlude, throat singing, and of course the chance for Tsuyama to crack the rest of the band up with the Cosmic Joker goofiness. Frankly I don't know if it'd be possible to have a more "Tsuyama" song if one tried. Pink Lady is of course Kawabata, and the reworked Cometary suite starts off Tabata and, once we segue into the rock/disco reimagination of the song proper, we see the influence Mr. Satoshima has had on the band. And finally, of course, there's the Om Riff - all five parts of the whole coming together in a driving psych metal version of transcendental meditation.

Anyway, thank you for indulging me my perspective there - as far as this individual show is concerned, I'd say it was (and is) a show absolutely worth braving the slippery wet roads for!


REQUESTS & REMINDERS:
Do not sell this recording. Do not buy this recording. Do not sell this recording, then buy it from yourself.


CREDITS:
Carolina Comrades - light dancing and chatter

Torrented by the taper: ZaPenguin

email - zappa.penguin(AT)gmail.com
web - http://db.etree.org/zappapenguin (at this point, more of a historic curioso than anything remotely approaching a live, accurate document)

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