If your cup of tea is a 73-minute long concept album composed of just two tracks audibly replicating the album’s title, Recurring Dream and Apocalypse of Darkness, then I’d suggest you make an effort to see the psychedelic Japanese collective known as Acid Mothers Temple (AMT).
Actually, Recurring Dream is nearly three years old and for a band as prolific as Acid Mothers Temple, three years is a lifetime—since its 2008 release, AMT has released an astonishing ten studio albums, and one live DVD, yet each album stands unique, differing from any of their previous works. Whether it’s a experiment in metal, ambient, space rock or unclassifiable noise, the only consistent attribute to AMT’s music is, well, an exploration of music.
Their live performances tend to be maniacal, escalating the audience members’ trips into cosmic episodes more suitable for an interstellar space voyages than a local music venue—or at least until the drugs wear off and they realize they’ve been watching a group of middle-aged Japanese men scream over the already shrieking hiss of their amps for the last two hours. So maybe attendance is not for the casual listener.
As an eclectic, perpetually-evolving enigma which rarely features the same set of musicians; AMT tend to be difficult to predict. If anything definitive can be said about catching one of their live shows, it’s that the memory will remain isolated in your mind, likely divergent from any other show you’ll see again. To be fair, that memory may not necessarily be a positive one—but you’ll never know until the moment you allow yourself to exit your comfort zone and walk amongst the perma-fried fans at their next show.
Supporting AMT is the more melodic Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers, a band that undoubtedly deserves recognition. Elements of blues, jazz, soul, rock, and punk all play a part in their raw, distorted musical grindhouse. With their live show growing increasing acclaim, this super-group (members of Creaky Boards, Soft Black, Kapow! and the Negatones) will likely be headlining shows of their own in the not-so-distant future. So, the opportunity to witness Shilpa’s reckless baritone (a la Janis Joplin) over the savage thunder of Her Happy Hookers is not to be missed in such an intimate setting.
Personally, I’ll be at checking out both of these anomalous acts in Brooklyn at the Knitting Factory on April 12th, but for those readers in Montreal, you can catch them this Saturday, April 9th, at Il Motore.
Montreal info:
Il Motore
$17, doors open at 8:30, 18+
Brooklyn info:
Knitting Factory
$15, doors at 8:00, all ages
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Photo 1 brooklynvegan.com, photo 2 kevchino.blogspot.com
