I love acid

by JOHNSON CUMMINS

Last Thursday at la Sala Rossa, Montreal was once again treated to the heavy psychedelic freakout of Japan’s Acid Mothers Temple. Like any good psych music, electronic or otherwise, the listener should transcend time and place while surrendering to the spell, and by the time they ended with the French folk singing of bassist Tsuyama Atsushi, followed by a flurry of rapid-fire notes that lasted for seconds, the band had been bringing the family jams for almost two hours. Although I do admit that the exclusion of noise processor Cotton Casino was definitely felt, especially in older songs like set-closer “Pink Lady Lemonade,” AMT still proved to be dynamically diverse, able to switch gears quickly without ever grinding them.

A highlight yet again was the Sonny Sharrock/Jimi Hendrix/Ritchie Blackmore Strat squealing of Kawabata Makoto, who was just devastating and only matched by Atsushi’s amazing traditional Eastern European folk vocal styling. Like other AMT fanatics, I gorged on the ultra-rare releases at the merch table, picking up a DVD of the documentary Dokonan, directed by French filmmakers Audrey Ginestet and Estelle Journoud. The pair capture the band on their first U.S. tour in 2002. Although some of the overly adventurous shots actually eclipse their subjects, there are some good translated interviews that will entice any fan, but the real deal is of course the band filmed in a live setting, delivering an absolutely devastating rendition of the throbbing “La Novia,” and a host of bonus features. This will be a little hard to find in your local DVD store, so you can scoop it up at www.acidmothers.com. Tune in, turn it up and psych out!

While we’re in review mode, there are a couple of other discs that you should bug out to, namely Unconquered, by Montreal solo ambient artist Eric Quach’s new joint Thisquietarmy. This disc actually comes to us from Krakow, Poland’s Foreshadow label, and if you are getting hip to the exploding drone scene, Thisquietarmy is guaranteed to turn you into a veritable pile of ooze. Instead of just relying on the same old dirt-box distortions and done-to-death loops, Thisquietarmy sounds light years ahead of the huge traffic of drone debuts being released right now.

Another killer release is Body Language by Tel Aviv’s Monotonix, coming to you courtesy of the fine folks at Drag City. Wouldn’t you know it, they’re playing Montreal on Saturday, April 5, with Wax Attic and headliners Tyvek at Divan Orange. These three Israelis rock the fuck out and let their riffs do all of the talking, thumbing their noses at current trends while turning it up. Monotonix are already well known for their rambunctious, chaotic live show, so show up early for this one and while you’re there, mosey up to the merch table and pick up their new record as it, simply put, rocks like fuck. Tyvek’s double seven-inch Summer Burns is full of the Swell Maps/Wire/the Fall post-punk that has all the current hipster blogger nerds pecking at their keyboards at a rapid rate. Don’t miss this show! You have been warned.

I’M PREGNANT WITH ANOTHER MAN’S BABY… JONATHAN.CUMMINS@GMAIL.COM