Biography:
After performing with such bands as Toho Sara, Ohkami No Jikan, Musica Transonic, and Mainliner, Japanese guitarist Makoto Kawabata decided to continue his musical explorations by bringing together likeminded individuals to create trippy psychedelic freak-outs inspired by Karlheinz Stockhausen, Krautrock, and '70s progressive hard rock. Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. (Underground Freak Out) was founded in 1996 as a "soul collective." It's not a commune in the full sense since the members don't all live together, but it is based on communal values and has even been mistaken by some people for a religious cult. Kawabata started the collective because he wanted to give unknown musicians a chance to record and release albums that would reach a wider audience; his original intent was not to create an ongoing touring and recording band. Indeed, the group's self-titled debut album, which was released on Japan's PSF Records in November 1997, was essentially a Kawabata solo project; he performed jam sessions with several other musicians, then edited and overdubbed the tapes to create something akin to musique concrète. Kawabata must have been pleased with the results, because he assembled a group of musicians to tour overseas as Acid Mothers Temple in 1998. Atsushi Tsuyama played guitar during a November 1998 Japanese tour and became the group's regular bassist in 1999; eventually the band's steady touring lineup became Kawabata, Tsuyama, guitarist and synthesizer player Higashi Hiroshi, drummer Ichiraku Yoshimitsu, and vocalist and synthesizer player Cotton Casino. Buoyed by a well-deserved reputation as a superb live band, the group continued to tour and record. They released Wild Gals a Go-Go, the soundtrack to an uncompleted Russian underground film, in 1999, and Live in Occident, a double album of performances from their 1999 overseas tour, in 2000. Acid Mothers Temple continued to expand their range of influences; for example, they drew on Tsuyama's experience performing ancient folk music for La Nòvia, an album of Occitan traditional songs that they released in 2000. Then, in 2001, they released their fourth "official" album, New Geocentric World of Acid Mothers Temple, as well as a couple limited-edition releases. Meanwhile, the collective has spun out numerous offshoots, including Floating Flower, Nishinihon, and Tsurbami. Many of these spinoffs appeared on the three-CD Do Whatever You Want, Don't Do Whatever You Don't Want. Released in 2002 on the Earworm label, the set featured Acid Mothers Temple music on the first disc and all the different side projects on the remaining two discs. The year 2002 ended up being an especially busy time for the band, with numerous releases including the concept album St. Captain Freak Out and the Magic Bamboo Request and their version of classical composer Terry Riley's groundbreaking In C. Magical Power from Mars landed in 2003 and collected some no longer available limited-edition 3" CDs. Mantra of Love from 2004 saw Cotton Casino exit the band. The band kept the ambitious release schedule going with both Just Another Band from the Cosmic Inferno and IAO Chant from the Cosmic Inferno in 2005. After adding drummer Shimuro Koji, the group released Starless and Bible Black Sabbath, Have You Seen the Other Side of the Sky, Myth of the Love Electrique (the latter featuring the voice of new female singer Kitagawa Hao), and Soul of a Mountain Wolf.