JAPANESE NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL 2014: RUINS & ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE
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After the incredible 2010 edition, Japanese New Music Festival returns to OTO, bringing together Tatsuya Yoshida (Ruins), Atsushi Tsuyama (Acid Mothers Temple) and Makoto Kawabata (Acid Mothers Temple) to present 8 acts between the 3 of them...
"This performance at Cafe Oto had everything. And I mean everything. Solo sets. Duo sets. Trio sets. Songs. Instrumentals. Cover versions. Fanfares. Improvisation. Folk. Blues. Prog. Psych. Jazz. Drone. Throat singing. Guitar solos. Singing bowl solos. Bottle solos. Trouser zip solos. Miles Davis impersonations. Grown men wearing furniture on their heads. I swear I’m not making any of this up. This actually happened, at Cafe Oto. Most of all, however, this night had fun. Lots and lots of fun." - Mapsadaisical, review of the 2014 Japanese New Music Festival event
RUINS ALONE (Yoshida Tatsuya solo)
Yoshida is one of the most innovative drummer/composer/improviser in Japan's new music scene. The pioneer of Drum & Bass duo RUINS was founded by Yoshida in '85. Tunes are complicated and mysterious, and songs are sung in the language of their own invention. It's high-tension, wild, heavy, speedy, acute, and powerful tremendous ensemble never sounds like they are only two players. Now RUINS had no bassist and currently he has been playing as RUINS ALONE playing RUINS songs with sampling bass.
Acid Mothers Temple have rapidly become acclaimed as the greatest, the most extreme trip psychedelic group in the world. Releases have appeared on labels around the world at an amazing pace, and the magnificence of their live performances is already being whispered of as legendary. SWR is the AMT Family's most powerful battle-formation yet. Featuring Tsuyama and Kawabata from the original AMT and Yoshida from Ruins their crushingly acute freakout sound will pulverize the world's legions of wannabe psych groups.
AKATEN (Tsuyama/Yoshida)
Formed in 1995 with the motto of "irresponsibleness" and "perfunctoriness." They easily free themselves from the spell of the traditional seriousness of the art. Using daily commodities like scissors, toothbrush, zipper, camera, and plastic bottle as percussions, and shouting their brand names over and over as the "songs," the show is performed under the concept of low cost and maximum sound effect. AKATEN is the experimental convenience store punk band that provides the sound images of cheap and simple daily lives.
ZUBI ZUVA X (Yoshida/Tsuyama/Kawabata)
Eccentric poly-rhythmic a cappella ensemble. It covers from Gregorian chant to ethnic music, to do-wop to hardcore screaming, heavily using irregular rhythms and polyrhythm. All sorts of ideas and aberrant musicality overturn the image of a cappella. Their totally meaningless lyrics and desperate performances throw the audiences into the abyss of the laughter and admiration. It makes the concept of "singing ability" nonsense.
ZOFFY (Tsuyama/Kawabata)
Formed in 1998. Zoffy's music hints both at the members' deep musical knowledge via their improvised performances of troubadour music and European trad, and also at their deep love for rock via their destructivist covers of classic rock songs, that no longer sounds like anything but ZOFFY. The group believes that humor is essential in music, and their unprecedented performances stray far from the beaten track. Is this the Ultima Thule that rock music has long been aiming for?
TSUYAMA ATSUSHI (solo)
Tsuyama is best known for his monster bass in Acid Mothers Temple, but he also has amazing technique of guitar and vocal. He has travelled around the world and accumulated the traditional styles of guitars/vocals in Europe and Asia. He adds his own interpretations and lyrical sense to create a beautiful but odd "fake traditional" musical world. Recently he developed a new figure called "prog.rock > blues-ization plan". He dismantles the masterpiece of progressive rock, and restructure it as an impromptu blues.
KAWABATA MAKOTO (solo)
Kawabata Makoto is best known for his speed-demon noise-fuzz guitar in Acid Mothers Temple, but he is also widely active as an unparalleled drone guitarist. Drawing upon a huge reservoir of original techniques including metal glissando and bow-work that can summon up the sound of a string ensemble or orchestra, his work in this area cannot be simply categorized as minimal, drone or experimental. You'll find it hard to believe that a single guitar can create sonic worlds of such meditative and elegant depth.
PSYCHE BUGYO (Yoshida + Tsuyama + Kawabata)
"Even amid the myriad offshoots that frequently peel away from the supersized parallel universe inhabited by Acid Mothers Temple and The Melting Paraiso UFO, Psyche Bugyo deserves much note, primarily because it manages to out-weird its parent band. Ostensibly a concept album based on a loose narrative surrounding samurais and ninjas, Psychedelic Judgeman Comes, He Has The Cherry Blossom On The Shoulder is mostly an opportunity for AMT bassist and vocalist Tsuyama Atsushi to go wild in a majestic homage to classic British heavy rock, and he and his team blow the fucking doors off in the process." - Joseph Burnett, The Quietus - review of Psychedelic Judgeman Comes, He Has The Cherry Blossom On The Shoulder
