24. Acid Mothers Temple

[2016 review of In Zero to Infinity here.]

If I’m not on a fool’s errand in the first place counting down favorite psychedelic albums, I most certainly may be on one trying to sort out the shaggy catalog of the brilliant and prolific Japanese psychedelic / space-rock band Acid Mothers Temple (“&” a bunch of variously strange names, designating different iterations of the band as far as I can tell, most often “& the Melting Paraiso U.F.O.” Note that “paraiso” is a Latinate word for “paradise”). I’m only doing this once! The AMT mainstay is guitar player Kawabata Makota. Silvery keyboardist and guitar player Higashi Hiroshi, author of comet-like fireworks and exotic bloops and bleeps, often seems to be on board as well. The original 1997 lineup also included drummer and saxophonist Koizumi Hajime, bass player Suhara Keizo, and sitar player and keyboardist Cotton Casino. Many have come and gone. The photo above is a promotional shot of the touring band from last year, 2023. Kawabata is second from the right, Higashi second from the left.

To be clear, I am working on a list of psychedelic albums, not of band catalogs, and again this is the only time I’m going to point helplessly, in a general way, at a band’s entire output. It is all psychedelic (that I’ve heard) and it is all within range of soaringly excellent. We are talking, counting the live albums and miscellaneous collaborations, singles, and EPs, about a list verging on or getting into triple-digit territory since 1997. A google search suggests that many have been here before me. See Acid Mothers Temple Albums I've Heard, Ranked; A Young Person's Guide to Acid Mothers Temple; Acid Mothers Temple – where to begin? on the reddit forum; a Best Ever Albums roundup. Or do the search yourself (“best acid mothers temple albums”).

I’m not even sure exactly how I started but the first album I came to know was the 2010 In Zero to Infinity, by AMT & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O., which I acquired as a CD and later reviewed in 2016. At the time it fascinated me. I played it on the daily for a while, provoking some silly psychedelic approximations in my write-up. Later I came to understand In Zero to Infinity was actually a kind of sequel to their 2001 album, In C, which is a kind of cover or practice of a 1964 Terry Riley piece, itself more a set of instructions to musicians. Versions have been recorded by Riley, the Quebec Contemporary Music Society, the Shanghai Film Orchestra, the Styrenes, and many others as well as AMT&MPUFO, and they don’t necessarily sound that much like one another.

I used all these many sources to start branching out. Here are some things I can tell you.

First, while the house brand is AMT&MPUFO I believe my personal favorite is AMT & the Cosmic Inferno, essentially the same lineup with principles Makota and Hiroshi, but the emphasis is much heavier. As always, they tend to advertise their influences with playful references in the titles, e.g., Anthems of the Space, Starless and Bible Black Sabbath, Chaos Unforgiven Kisses or Grateful Dead Kennedys. I’ve heard the first two of these, along with For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Goofy Funk. The quality for all of them is pretty good and many (notably Anthems of the Space) stray well and skillfully into heady mind-warping territories. Excellent.

Then there is the confusing case of Pink Lady Lemonade, many versions of which appear with the same album cover art on youtube (where I always favor the videos posted on the AMT channel, and note that not all seem to be available). They are differentiated by various subtitles: the 2011 Pink Lady Lemonade – You’re From Inner Space by AMT&MPUFO, a 2016 Pink Lady Lemonade (You’re So Sweet) by AMT&MPUFO, a 2020 Pink Lady Lemonade (Double Sweet Sucker Punch) by AMT&MPUFO, the 2013 Pink Lady Lemonade (Sticky Tongue Dada Licks) Part 1 & 2 by Acid Mothers Guru Guru Gong, a collaboration with principles of krautrockers Guru Guru and ‘70s+ Parisian / Australian rockers Gong, and, last but not least, indeed my personal favorite, the 2008 Pink Lady Lemonade – You’re From Outer Space by AMT & the Cosmic Inferno

There are also further collaborations with members of Gong and Guru Guru and other collaborations and side projects too (AMT & Space Paranoid, AMT & the Pink Ladies Blues, Acid Maso Temple, Acid Mothers Afrirampo, more). The only one I’ve heard is Acid Motherhood by Acid Mothers Gong, which is excellent. I may be overusing the word “excellent” here but that’s not my fault.

Here is a roughly ranked list of what I’ve heard (given all list rankings are rough):
1. Pink Lady Lemonade (2008-2020, all versions, but You’re From Outer Space if it’s only one)
2. Anthems of the Space (& the Cosmic Inferno, 2005)
3. Crystal Rainbow Pyramid (AMT&MPUFO, 2007)
4. Acid Motherhood (Acid Mothers Gong, 2004)
5. For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Goofy Funk (& the Cosmic Inferno, 2011)
6. In C (AMT&MPUFO, 2001)
7. In Zero to Infinity (AMT&MPUFO, 2010)
8. Starless and Bible Black Sabbath (& the Cosmic Inferno, 2006)
9. Troubadours From Another Heavenly World (AMT&MPUFO, 2000)
10. Recurring Dream and Apocalypse of Darkness (AMT&MPUFO, 2007)
11. Electric Heavyland (AMT&MPUFO, 2002)

Short version (tl;dr): any AMT album is a good bet for mind-blowing days and evenings.