I saw and heared
Acid Mothers temple last night (
5 April 2002,
London), doing a live score to
Urotsukidoji -
Legend of the Overfiend. For some reason I expected acid
techno music. Melodic trance beats. Boy was I wrong!
They are a five piece band, six when the flautist joined in later, with three guitars amonst them. They are LOUD. Think Jesus and Mary Chain, Sonic Youth, and maybe bits of early Swans, Soundgarden, grunge, psychedelic rock and grindcore.
These five young oriental gentlemen played sheets of white noise, swirls of feedback, drones and whines, and played it skillfully without pause for the length of the movie, almost two hours. Intense, instrumental static that left me enjoying it, but with ringing ears.
After that they did two more conventional numbers, demonstrating their comand of harmonious chanting and Tibetan throat-singing before launching into more oceans of distorted guitar noise, adding jazz-flute impovisation, and finally breaking the instruments.
Yes, they have appropriated some cliches of the last few decade's western rock music. However by playing to Legend of the Overfiend they have recontextualised them and made something fresh and interesting out of it.
Tokyo's psychedelic earth worshippers Acid Mothers Temple perform
a live score to the cult, X certificate Japanese Manga
classic "Urotsukidji - Legend of the Overfiend". The perfect
accompaniment to Hideki Takayama's 18 certificate 108 minute long
animated classic. Acid Mothers Temple unleash a lethal concoction
of guitar solos, Jazz inspired improvisation and Krautrock-like noise to one of cinema's darkest fantasies.
- From the program for this event.