ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE& THE PINK LADIES BLUES
The Soul of a Mountain Wolf
CD Fractal 182
ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE& THE PINK LADIES BLUES
featuring
the Sun Love and the Heavy Metal Thunder
2LP Fractal 174 - CD
Fractal 179
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> The Soul of a Mountain Wolf
GAZ-ETA Magazine - Nr. 64 - March 2008 (POLAND)
Po
znakomitym, halucynacyjno-bluesowym majstersztyku - Acid Mothers Temple
& The Pink Ladies Blues, ów poboczny projekt Kwaśnych Matek
powraca z dwudziestominutowym albumikiem, The Soul of a Mountain Wolf,
kontynuującym psychodeliczną odyseję przez gąszcz gitarowych
efektów i pogłosów. Nic tu się właściwie nie zmienia:
oszczędne, ascetyczne partie perkusji, rozwibrowane i pulsujące frazy
gitar, transowa motoryka, surowe, przybrudzone brzmienia oraz
bluesowo-improwizowane kompozycje przywodzące na myśl krautowe klasyki
Guru Guru czy Amon Düül oraz nieśmiertelne numery Les
Rallizes Denudes. Dobrze znana formuła, eksploatowana od lat przez
formacje, takie jak Kousokuya, Mandog czy Yura Yura Teikoku, powinna
zużyć się dawno temu. A jednak żyje, broni się a nawet porywa
prymitywną energią rock'n'rolla, podporządkowującego wszystko
bezkompromisowej, elektrycznej ekspresji. Nie mam pojęcia dlaczego.
Dariusz Brzostek
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> The Soul of a Mountain Wolf
Brainwashed - www.brainwashed.com - 22 April 2007 (USA)
The second release from this Kawabata Makoto-less
Acid Mothers splinter group consists of three fairly similar instrumental
blues tracks. While not a huge departure from their last album, here
the band comes across as more focused and succinct in their songwriting.
Each of the tracks embodies a different aspect of the mountain wolf of
the title. The first, "Ramble," wouldn't sound out of place
coming from the open door of a northern Mississippi juke joint just as
the sun begins to rise over the horizon. It's an enjoyable if unexceptional
song. "Anger" is the one most reminiscent of the main Acid
Mothers group with its bewildering guitar sprawling all over the place,
sometimes erupting into squalls of feedback. The third track favors the
drums in its mix while the rhythm guitar shimmers in the background and
the lead calmly skirts the edges. The blues this trio plays is mostly
reverent and, apart from an occasional wailing guitar, doesn't add a
whole lot new to this established genre. Still, the songs are pleasurable
enough and at just under 20 minutes' running time, they don't overstay
their welcome.
Matthew Amundsen.
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> The Soul of a Mountain Wolf
Aquarius Records - List #260 - 02nd March 2007 / USA
Before you go, geez ANOTHER Acid Mothers Temple
album alreddy?? remember that this AMT isn't that AMT. Acid Mothers Temple & The
Pink Ladies Blues is a totally different band, in fact, one of the members
of this trio isn't even Japanese, he's the French guy who runs Fractal.
But that doesn't stop him (or them) from sounding like they should all
be wearing big Makoto Kawabata beards! Their music's definitely THAT
hairy. This second album of theirs, The Soul Of A Mountain Wolf, is all
about heavy and droning riffage. It's like "Rumble" on LSD.
All-instrumental, nothin' but far-out guitar wailin' action, supported
by pounding drums and bass. Any AMT fan, of any AMT, is gonna be pleased.
One thing though, this isn't that long of a cd. "Sandoza Death Blues" from
their debut was almost as long as this whole disc, which is just under
20 minutes total. Hmmm. But it's good stuff, if blown-out, acid-fried
bluesy psych geetar stomp is your thing!! Ain't it??
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> The Soul of a Mountain Wolf
FOXY DIGITALIS website ( http://www.digitalisindustries.com/foxyd/index.php
) 13 March 2007 / USA
This cycle of three long jams with either seem to you a holding pattern
or a further exploration deeper into the mystic realm of space-psalms
that make the Temple a universe unto its own.
This incarnation of AMT
+ is driven by Fractal honcho/guitarist Magic Aum Gigi, along with guitarist
Tsuchy and drummer Mai Mai. The trio just plugs in and lets it rip, with
the ghostly aid of some electronic additions to the mix.
It is hard to
write about Acid Mothers after awhile. It seems like they release a record
every month, and they are all uniformly good. This release is no different.
Maximum fuzz guitar improvs and a steady rhythmic bottom allow the band
to exploit traditional prog & metal riffs and expand
the template with their own extended meditations. This is one band that
really has created its own world and, unlike the Grateful Dead, delivers
the promised transcendence. 7/10 -- Mike WOOD.
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> Featuring the Sun Love and the
Heavy Metal Thunder
LAST.FM LTD. : TOP 10 ALBUMS 2006 ACTION ! / 20
November 2006 / UK
www.last.fm/user/Pris/journal/2006/11/20/271757/
Wow, how productive was AMT this year? I had
to cut down the number of albums by them to include in the list or
it would've been too dominating. Still, this one and Starless are both
terrific. Sandoza Death Blues and Fraks Your Mind.. just seem to go
on forever, yet when they do end I want to hear it again rigth away.
Certainly the shortest 70+ minutes album, it feels like a 24 minute
EP. An hours consuming cosmic freakout!
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> Featuring the Sun Love and the
Heavy Metal Thunder
Dusted Magazine (www.dustedmagazine.com) / 10 September
2006 / USA
“We are an underground punk blues
band inside your ears,” reads
the broken-English mission statement for this disc’s fourth track, “Acid
Mothers Rock ’N’ Roll.” “We are the Pink Ladies
Blues, and we dedicate our music by pity for all drunkarks, shame-faced,
debauched, disagreeables and forgers in all sort.”
Acid Mothers
Temple & The Pink Ladies Blues are the most recent
in a dizzying line of AMT-related groups, noteworthy, however, for being
the first band to bear the AMT moniker that does not feature head Mother
Kawabata Makoto.
While the AMT universe reaches far and wide – both musically and
geographically – it has always centered around Makoto’s guitar.
Here, Makoto is a no show, leaving the jamming to fellow “family” members
Mai Mai, Magic Aum Gigi and Tsuchy.
The Makoto-fronted AMT, while oft amazing, is cursed by the sheer volume
of music they release. It’s difficult to cut classic albums when
you are releasing a dozen of them each year. AMT & The Pink Ladies
Blues, then is both a refreshing change of pace and proof positive that
the collective’s creative well runs deeper than frequently shown.
On
display here is a stripped down, raw, basement jam version of AMT. The
power trio lineup (a guitar/drums duo on a couple of tracks) is leaner
and meaner than the jacked-up quintet Makoto often hits the studio with. “Sandoza
Death Blues” and the aforementioned “Acid Mothers Rock ’N’ Roll” find
Gigi and company kicking out the jams with massive, razor sharp riffs
and thunderous drums. The primal pounce continues on the delightfully
titled “Freaks Your Mind & Your LSD Piss Will Follow.” Yet,
within the same tracks the band slide into spacey, slow motion grooves
that sound like a codeine-conked bar band rocking woozily on at some
deserted roadside saloon.
By the time the grand comedown closer “La-Bas” slides
off into the darkness the listener has been well saturated by the sun
love and heavy metal thunder.
Ethan Covey
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> Featuring the Sun Love and the
Heavy Metal Thunder
Aquarius
Records Website ; List # 236 / 31 March 2006 / USA
*Acid Mothers Temple alert* *Acid Mothers Temple
alert* *Acid Mothers Temple alert*
Of sorts... for, despite the name, this is not exactly the same Acid
Mothers Temple by whom you already have a dozen albums. AMT & The
Pink Ladies Blues, unlike AMT & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. or AMT & The
Cosmic Inferno, doesn't feature Kawabata Makoto! Yet this is one of the
best AMT releases we've heard in a while (and it's not like we didn't
like Starless & Bible Black or Iao Chant From The Cosmic Inferno,
either). AMT & The Pink Ladies Blues is a trio consisting of guitarist
Magic Aum Gigi (whose solo LP MMMM we also have in stock, though it's
not been reviewed on our site yet), drummer Mai Mai, and guitarist Tsuchy,
presumably all members of the extended Acid Mothers Temple communal family.
AMT always can be counted on to indulge in an orgy of FX-overloaded heavy
guitar jamming when desired, and THIS Acid Mothers Temple, even without
the presence of Kawabata, definitely live up to that reputation! A goodly
part of this is primitive, fucked up, bluesy, choppy, podding clangor,
heavy and damaged like they're trying to outdo krautrock obscurities
Zippo Zetterlink in that dep't. Opening track, the 19 minute "Sandoza
Death Blues" sets the tone: utterly raw geetar/drums/electronics
(Magic Aum Gigi and Mai Mai being both credited with thermin) riff-stomp,
with weird drop outs and/or edits (??). Bearing a dedication to the late
great Link Wray, this album knows how to "Rumble"! But they
have their blissful space-out side too...
Aside from two brief interludes of ambience and effects, the tracks on
this 72 minute album are all lengthy jams. The longest at over 28 minutes
is called "Freaks Your Mind & Your LSD Piss Will Follow".
Geez, those psychedelic punsters! Ain't that a VERY Acid Mothers Temple
title, though? They liked it so much they chant it a bunch, which while
unfortunate fails to detract from the enjoyable Brainticket-style bad
trip they conjured with this track.
We kinda wish that they hadn't included "Acid Mothers Temple" in
the band name, which could cause this to be overlooked amidst past, present
and future massive AMT output. This supreme lysergically inspired rock
dementia deserves its own designation! Though it also fits in perfectly
with the AMT aesthetic that's for sure.
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