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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

 

> 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.

> 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??

> 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.

> 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!

> 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

> 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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