Acid Mothers Temple

Acid Mothers Temple, a Japanese project of ultra psychedelia, was fronted by guitarist Makoto Kawabata (Makoto is the first name), who was already the leader of Ankoku Kakumei Kyodotai (aka Dark Revolutionary Collective) at the end of the 1970s, as documented on the two suites of Dark Revolutionary Collective (REP, 1989 - Qubico, 2001), for electronic keyboards, and Psychedelic Noise Freak (REP, 1989 - QBICO, 2002), both originally recorded in 1978. They showcase a lot of synthesizer noise which recalls the early surreal experiments of the avantgarde of the 1960s. The 14-minute Binary Bible Revolution, on the latter, is perhaps the most daring (if nothing else, because of the distorted drones).

Kawabata's Baroque Bordello cassettes from the 1980s, such as First Trip (1981 - Qubico, 2002), continued Dark Revolution Collective's program.

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. (Underground Freak Out), as the full name goes, were formed in 1996. AMT (for short) play progressive jams in the vein of psychedelic freaks such as Magma and Gong. Furthermore, Kawabata believes he is the reincarnation of hippie guru Father Yod. Unfortunately, their art has been diluted over (literally) dozens of albums.

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso Ufo (PSF, 1997) is a manifesto that presents the different facets of psychedelic music that Kawabata would explore in the rest of his career. The 18-minute Speed Guru lays claim to being the most ferocious bacchanals since the Velvet Underground and Amon Duul II. The spine of the piece is the terrifying tribal drumming by Koizumi Hajime. The rhythm is antagonized by Hiroshi Higashi's infernal synthesizer noises and tinkling electronics. The two protagonists dominate the music, but one can detect undercurrents such as a Pink Floyd-ian organ and a shrieking guitar, not to mention the occasional human scream buried under the apocalypse. By comparison, the dissonant and chaotic mental-asylum rave-up of The Top Head Pixies sounds like a regular song. After a couple of shorter quiet collages of voices and noices, Amphetamine A Go Go is another psychotic rave-up, although much more cohesive, reminiscent of both Jimi Hendrix and MC5. Pink Lady Lemonade is instead the peace before and after the storm: celestial music for gentle organ, guitar, synthesizer and female wails. Satori LSD launches into another percussive maelstrom, this time with an underlying swinging rhythm a` la Ten Years After. The album closes enigmatically with a loud television hiss (Acid Mothers Temple For All).

Unfortunately, Pataphisical Freak Out Mu (PSF, 1999 - Eclipse, 2002)(yes, the title is misspelled) surrendered quite a bit to the forces of reason. With less overdrive and less electronics, the jams tend to quote the classics. Cosmic Audrey/Acid Takion is a festival of syncopated Hendrix-ian glissandoes (and so is its shorter counterpart Right About Rainbow). Golden Bat Blues Dead is four songs in one: an agonizing blues, a square-dance for hurdy-gurdy, a lunatic pop ballad, and a Jefferson Airplane-style bolero. Blue Velvet Blues (that the cd reissue restored to its original 40-minute length) is an astral hymn that indulges in Grateful Dead-style slow, abstract, distorted guitar soundpainting. The funereal pace of the drums and the twang of a second guitar bestows on it an unusually lugubrious quality. When the vocals emerge, the reference to Ennio Morricone's soundtracks becomes obvious. Overall, the hellfire of the first album had been temporarily subdued.

The alleged movie soundtrack Ivan Piskov's Wild Gals A Go-Go (Swordfish, 1999 - Eclipse, 2000) is a quite confused and awkward work. Space Bambino / Interstellar Over Dope glues together a lullaby for gently-strummed acoustic guitar and spaced-out female vocals (that could have been a highlight if carried a bit further) and a propulsive boogie rave-up with no melody. The hushed Sweet Juicy Lucy sounds like a pop ballad of the 1960s after a vampyre sucked all the life out of it. The group resorts to studio manipulation in order to generate the Indian-tinged Hare Hare Hallelujah / Blow Out Super High. The 14-minute Good-Bye Ice Cream / Stone Blind Blue Heaven is a mellow concerto for overdosed vocals and languid guitar licks. The guitar-synth-drums bacchanal Mammary Intercourse is the only piece to display their beastly instincts. There are good ideas, but the mood is a bit too relaxed to fully exploit them.

After the Live In Occident (Detector, 2000), which documents their 1999 world tour, came La Novia (Eclipse, 2000 - Swordfish, 2001), played by Cotton Casino (ethereal soprano), Hiroshi Higashi (electric guitar), Tsuyama Atsushi (bass, vocals, acoustic guitar, recorder) and Koizumi Hajime (percussion), and containing two deranged excursions into world-music (including the classic title-track). The original LP contained only the two-sided 40-minute suite La Novia: five minutes of a-cappella Gregorian and Tibetan chanting, eight minutes of a festive Indian-tinged merry-go-round that picks up rhythm to fuel a cosmic pow-wow, seven minutes of a pounding Velvet Underground-style threnody with hard-rock riffs a` la Who, nine minutes of anthemic crescendo with satanic overtones a` la Amon Duul II, and a confused coda ending with a gentle acoustic guitar meditation; basically a multi-faceted essay on hypnosis in music. The cd reissue added two pieces, notably the 17-minute subliminal trip Bon Voyage Au LSD that ends in a ferocious guitar and drums crescendo.

Troubadours From Another Heavenly World (PSF, october 2000), the third official album, is a relatively calm work, containing the 20-minute slo-core odyssey Heroin Heroine's Heritage and the 32-minute Acid Heart Mother, a sweet guitar lullaby stretched out to become a snake-like shimmering stream of guitar notes, a self-guided journey into the psyche of the guitarist (with a catastrophic ending). The line-up was: Cotton Casino on vocals and synthesizer, Hajime Koizumi and Nobuko Emi on drums, Atsushi Tsuyama on bass, Hiroshi Higashi on synthesizer.

The fourth studio album, New Geocentric World (Squealer, 2001), is equally divided between rave-ups a` la Hawkwind and Amon Duul II (Psycho Buddha, Occie Lady), freak folk (the sinister Space Age Ballad with a Nico-esque harmonium, the medieval-tinged Universe of Romance, the Hare Krishna-inspired Mellow Hollow Love) and mystical ambient/cosmic music (the massively droning ecstasy of What Do I Want To Know, the hymn You're Still Now Near Me Everytime, with Cotton Casino impersonating again a stately trip by the Jefferson Airplane's Grace Slick) The 21-minute Psycho Buddha, one of their most intense freakouts, piles up infernal electronic noise on top of instrumental cacophony on top of a careening rhythm. It's like a free-jazz record being played during an African tribal dance and broadcast live on a defective radio. It was the end of the world as Red Crayola had originally envisioned it. Occie Lady, is, if possible, even more violent, reminiscent of both Pierre Henry's Psyche' Rock (the devil synth) and Blue Cheer's Summertime Blues (the bass riff); but it lasts only six minutes.

The double-LP Absolutely Freak Out (Static Caravan, 2001), that benefited from a slicker production, proved Kawabata's wide-ranging knowledge of the history of rock music and his in-depth familiarity with underground classics of all kinds. The 12-minute Supernatural Infinite Space updates Terry Riley's chromatic minimalism for multiple keyboards and vocals. It is basically Kawabata's Rainbow in Curved Air. Waikiki Easy Meat is a formidable variation on the Trashmen's Surfin' Bird (quoted at the very beginning) from the viewpoint of Hawkwind's orgiastic space-rock. Magic Aum Rock and especially Magic Aum Rock Again (seven minutes) fall somewhere between the irreverent frenzy of Gong and the pounding might of Von Lmo. Mercurical Megatronic Meninx (eight minutes) is a tribute to Jimi Hendrix's distorted improvisations of epic proportions. The Kiss That Took A Trip is five minutes of quasi-static droning tribute to LaMonte Young (for sitar, hornpipe and trumpet!). There's even a bit of free jazz in Love Is Overborne, with melancholy saxophone and chaotic drumming (five minutes).
However erudite the quotations might be, some creations are purely and uniquely Acid Mothers Temple: the surreal electronic gnome music of Grapefluit March (six minutes), the no less demented electronic march of The Incipient Light Of The Echoes (four minutes), Casino's childish singalong Pagan Nova, that flies over a deep raga drone and into electronic clouds.
(Note: the cover lists a fourth track on the fourth side, Fly High, but there are only three).
The cd reissue Absolutely Freak Out (Static Caravan Resonant, 2002) adds the 16-minute droning cosmic music of Stone Stoner and the 24-minute Childern Of The Drab / Surfin' Paris-Texas / Virgin U.F.O. Feed Back.

The mini-album 41st Century Splendid Man (Tumult, 2002), featuring Tatsuya Yoshida of the Ruins, returned to the celestial pseudo-ambient trance of Pink Lady Lemonade with the free-form electronic cosmic and industrial fresco of 41st Century Splendid Man (14 minutes), while Creation Of Human Race (nine minutes) wed Jimi Hendrix and free-jazz (including quotations of Hendrix's first album). The reissue, 41st Century Splendid Man Returns (Essence, 2008), adds a cover of KMFDM's Ruck Zuck and Hell Eskimo Or Polyhedral Mu.

In C/ In E (Squealer, 2002) contains their version of Terry Riley's In C and a wildly dissonant new composition (In E).

Kawabata also released albums under his own name, starting with the the sarangi solo Gesseki No Sho (1998) and the guitar tour de force You Are The Moonshine (Marino, 2000). Kawabata's multi-instrumental "Inui" series started with Inui 1 (VHF, 2000), mainly highlighted by the use of ethnic instruments (violin, sarangi, oud, sitar, bouzouki, lyra, shou, nei), that contains the dark multi-layered drones of Shin (11:09), the spaced-out vocalizing of Tai (9:45), and especially the ecstatic cosmic music of Son (21:45). Inui 2 (VHF, 2000) employed violin, kemenje, zurna, electronics, sarangi, taiko, gong, water, bouzouki, cello, vibes, organ, and sitar. Mou is yet another multi-layered droning symphony. Kan takes off with a shrill whirring tv-like signal that slowly generates a vortex of drones. Meii, the most austere composition, is a ghostly chamber piece of sparse disjointed instrumental noises. Inui 3 (VHF, 2005) contains three tracks, notably the 47-minute Fuku. Extreme Onction (Fractal, 2001) featured French guitarist Jean-Francois Pauvros. On I'm In Your Inner Most (Eclipse, 2001 - Ochre, 2002) Kawabata played keyboards, harpsichord, violin, percussion and tambura in the vein of Terry Riley's minimalism. Infinite Love (Ochre, 2002) contains three more guitar improvations, notably the 41-minute title-track. I Wished You Were Here Again (Swordfish, 2002) indulges in noise for the sake of noise. I'm Here Still Now (Ochre, 2003) is a 38-minute piece for droning guitar and sarangi recorded live in France. O Si Amos A Sighire A Essere Duas Umbras? (Important, 2004) contains two lengthy solo ragas to Sardinia (one for acoustic guitar, the other one for electric guitar). The two suites of Jellyfish Rising (Fuenfundvierzig, 2005) sound like a tribute to the cosmic music of Klaus Schulze. Ditto for Your Voice From the Moon (Vivo, 2006), three lengthy jams that leaned more on the ambient side of things. Hosanna Mantra (A Silent Place, 2006 - Important, 2007) contained two side-long suites for guitar, bouzouki and sitar, perhaps inspired by Popol Vuh's masterpiece. Inui 4 (VHF, 2007) contains a 68-minute piece, Ryo. another cosmic meditation that works like a crescendo via accumulation of details from a simple beginning to a cacophonous peak (at 45 minutes), and then quietly descends into a state of trance.

On top of his super-prolific career, Makoto Kawabata began re-releasing old obscure cassettes such as Osaka Loop Line (REP, 1981 - AMT, 2007). The Tales Of The Dream Planet (Housepig, 2009) contains the 46-minute She Came From The Shining Sea (recorded in 2006), and the piece of Under Your Moonshine (Qbico, 2009) was recorded in 2004.

Kawabata also released an album credited to Father Moo & The Black Sheep (1998 - Swordfish, 2002).

Kawabata also recorded duets with Mason Jones on Within A Golden Moment (AMT, 1999), electric guitar duets with Miyamoto Naoaki on Electric Guitars (AMT, 2001 - Last Visible Dog, 2002), and duets with Richard Youngs on an untitled album (VHF, 2002). The Wrong Cage (Sillyboy, 2002) was a collaboration between Kawabata and the Italian band Jennifer Gentle, Venus (PSF, 2004) collects three improvised jams by Kawabata and French guitarist Jean-Francois Pauvros.

Ueh (AMT, 2003) was another collaboration by Kawabata. This time the musicians played vibraphone and trumpet and the result was closer to free-jazz than his usual psychedelic freak-outs. Pataphysical Overdrive To My Cosmos (Acid Mothers Temple, 2005) was another collaboration between Kawabata and French band Ueh.

Kawabata, bassist Hiroshi Higashi and drummer Emi Nobuko formed Tsurubami and recorded: the cassette Tsurubami (1995), Tenkyo No To (AMT, 1998), named after their previous band, Kaina (Last Visible Dog, 2000), and Hansho No Omoi (AMT, 2001).

Kawabata also played in Nishinihon (Static Caravan, 2002) with Tsuyama and Ichiraku.

The Acid Mothers Temple's three CD box-set Do Whatever You Want (Earworm, 2002) contains a hour-long version of Pink Lady Lemonade (one of the few live jams that can compete with the Grateful Dead's Dark Star) and compositions by other bands and assorted Kawabata projects. The band also released a Live In Japan (Eclipse, 2002).

The louder and faster version of AMT is on display on Electric Heavyland (Alien8, 2002), thanks to a spasm of full-tilt noise like Atomic Rotary Grinding God, basically nine minutes of the roar of a rocket catapulted into orbit, three minutes of a Jimi Hendrix overdrive and three minutes of mental mayhem, and to Loved And Confused, an agonizing blues that is swallowed by its own ugliest and dirtiest elements until it spins in epileptic frenzy. Phantom Of Galactic Magnum ups the ante of what is already a deadly game by using a deluge of sound effects and synthesizers to pulverize whatever structure lies underneath. This is the most powerful, harrowing, exhilarating and apocalyptic album by Acid Mothers Temple. Every instrument is stretched to the limit of its possibilities. Every second of music exists only to negate all the other seconds. All the nightmares that humankind witnessed between Hiroshima and September 11 were condensed in this album.

Introduced by the frantic and dissonant Electric Love Machine, that mixes the Rolling Stones' Last Time, the Amboy Dukes' Baby Please Don't Go and the noise of a radio being tuned to the stars, Univers Zen Ou De Zero A Zero (Fractal, 2002) finds its way to the stars via two 20-minute colossi: the excruciating Blues Pour Bible Noire, opened by a colossal guitar distortion that basically lasts ten minutes and then lulled by Cotton Casino's suave litany towards an agony of deranged riffs; and the stately threnody of Soleil de Cristal et Lune d'Argent, sung for seven minutes by Cotton Casino in an emphatic register while all the instruments contribute to create a martial rhythm reminiscent of Popol Vuh's Phallus Dei, and then spun into a gypsy-like vortex of instrumental madness; Ange Mecanique De Saturne, one of Cotton Casino's ethereal lullabies drenched in electronic noise and quiet strumming, is the charming exception to the satanic tone of the album.

The Mothers of Invasion (a power trio with bassist Tsuyama Atsushi and drummer Ichiraku Yoshimitsu) released the psychedelic freak-out Hot Rattlesnakes (Paratactile, 2002 - Prophase Music, 2006), containing the 27-minute space-rock dance Theme of Hot Rattlesnakes, the ten-minute minimalist poem Fripian Flipped Over Niffy Their King of Frippery (10:22), and the 15-minute orgiastic French Sweet Suger House.

AMT's St Captain Freak Out And The Magic Bamboo Request (Ektro, 2002), on the other hand, is a weak work. Magical Powers From Mars (Important, 2003) is a trilogy (each part being a mini-CD). The namesake CD collects the first three EPs.

Tsurubami returned with Tsukuyomi Ni (Riot Season, 2003), that contains four totally improvised jams: the 26-minute Tsukuyomi Ni Kogu, Ariake Naredo Sayani Terikoso, Mumyou e Iran, Itsushika Muragiyu.

Tsurubami's Gekkyukekkaichi (Strange Attractors, 2003), on the other hand, contains just two colossal jams, Gekkyukekkaichi and Seiitenrinengi. The former, one of Kawabata's masterpieces, is a galactic, mystical trip very reminiscent of Sun Ra. The guitar's frantically wavering strum and organ-like drones seem to scour another dimension. That almost-religious intensity carries over to the second jam (36 minutes), but this is a more cacophonous and tumultuous piece, reminiscent of the chaotic introduction to Pink Floyd's A Saucerful of Secrets and of Jimi Hendrix's wildest overdoses.

The Rebel Powers' Not One Star Will Stand The Night (Strange Attractors, 2003) is a collaboration between Acid Mother Temple (Kawabata, Cotton Casino and Koizumi Hajime) and Telstar Ponies' guitarist David Keenan, originally recorded in 1998. The hypnotic, sinister, 25-minute piece We Are For The Dark feeds on the dialogue between a chiming guitar and a squealing guitar. The other half of the album, the 24-minute Our God Is A Mighty Fortress, juxtaposes Keenan's tinkling, one-note guitar proto-lines and Kawabata's deliriously wailing guitar. The idea is to create trance via minimal ambience, but the result is simply boredom.

Musica Transonic is a trio of Kawabata Makoto with Ruins' drummer Tatsuya Yoshida and High Rise's bassist Nanjo Asahito.

The highlights of the collaboration between Acid Mothers Temple and Kinski (Sub Pop, 2003) are Kinski's 10-minute Fell Asleep On Your Lawn and AMT's Virginal Plane 5:23.

A Thousand Shades of Grey (Funfundvierzig, 2003) is a split album with Escapade which contains Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso Ufo's 28-minute minimalist concerto European Sun for sitar, violin, bamboo flute, voice and electronics, perhaps his best venture in the arena of Terry Riley and Steve Reich.

Last Concert In Tokyo (AMT, 2004) is a limited-edition live from 1999.

The 10" EP In G (Time Lag, 2004) documents a live performance with Ultrasound.

Born To Be Wild In The U.S.A. 2000 (Acid Mothers Temple, 2004) documents 2000 live performances.

Mantra Of Love (Alien 8, 2004) inaugurated a new genre, "medieval space-rock", with the 30-minute Le La Lo, inspired by the music of the French troubadours, and the 15-minute L'Ambition Dans Le Miroir basically updating the format of the madrigal to the idiosyncracies of electronic acid-rock.

Hypnotic Liquid Machine From The Golden Utopia (Acid Mothers Temple, 2004) is mainly devoted to the colossal title-track, a condensate of their many faces (savage, mystical, intellectual).

Guru & Zero (Swordfish, 2004), credited to Makoto Mango (a collaboration with Daevid Allen, disguised under the monicker Psycho de Lick), is just one long hallucinogenic track.

Acid Mothers Temple's Does The Cosmic Shepherd Dream Of Electric Tapirs? (Space Age, 2004) contains a few unassuming songs, the 18-minute The Transmigration Of Hop Heads, and especially the 25-minute Dark Star Blues, a hypnotic and majestic fusion of elements borrowed from the acid anthems of the Jefferson Airplane (with Cotton Casino doing her best interpretation of Grace Slick), Amon Duul II's Phallus Dei and the Grateful Dead's Dark Star.

The Penultimate Galactic Bordello Also The World You Made (Dirter, 2004) is a 4-cd box-set that contains four hour-long jams. The Holly Mountain In The Counter-Clock World doesn't much else than revel in its drum-less sparse, disjointed electroacoustic soundscape. What's Your Name alternates vocal sections (sometimes just spoken word, sometimes wordless operatic vocalizing) and bursts of violent jamming. The Beautiful Blue Ecstasy manages to entertain for a few minutes with its combination of melodic guitar variations and ebullient synthesizers, but then decays into a chaotic mayhem from which it doesn't quite know how to recover. Mostly gratuitous and self-indulgent, these torrential jams are not worth the material they are printed on. The best one, The Seven Stigmata From Pussycat Nebula, launches into the usual hyper-distorted space-rock overdrive, interrupts it for a surreal electronic skit, and then resumes its breathless gallop around a bass pattern taken from the first Pink Floyd album amid epiletpic videogame-like chaos.

Hiroshi Higashi's Solo (Eclipse, 2004) is devoted to sleepy Pink Floyd-ian ballads.

Minstrel In the Galaxy (Riot Season, 2004), that features female vocalists Afrirampo but not Cotton Casino, contains the 41-minute Minstrel In the Galaxy, that seems to bridge all the phases of their career (albeit at an excruciatingly sluggish pace), and their best medieval-inspired freak-folk ballad yet, St Bel Canta.

The Japanese girl-duo Afrirampo (guitar and drums) also released their own albums of primitive, demented garage-rock, such as A' (Acid Mothers Temple, 2004), Kore Ga Mayaku Da (Tzadik, 2005), containing the 13-minute I Did Are, Baka Ga Kita (2006), which was ostensibly a collaboration with African pygmies, Souto Breakor (2007), which unfortunately opted for the fashionable freak-folk of the time.

Kiss Over (Acid Mothers Temple, 2005) is a colossal collaboration between Acid Mothers Temple and Maquiladora.

Acid Mothers Temple's female vocalist and keyboardist Cotton Casino (who had been to Makoto Kawabata in AMT what Gilli Smyth was to Daevid Allen in Gong) had left AMT and debuted solo with We Love Cotton (Sillyboy, 2003), a much more melodic and song-oriented effort than anything the band had ever done. She then started Bird Birds Birds, a collaboration with Norwegian musician Per-Gisle Galaen, whose first album, Birds Birds Birds In The World (Important, 2005), is a glorious, anarchic collage of demented ideas (especially the closer Fireburner).

AMT's Goodbye John Peel: Live In London 2004 (Dirter, 2005) was their personal tribute to the famous dj.

Toho Sara was a collaboration between Acid Mothers Temple's Makoto Kawabata and High Rise's Asahito Nanjo that debuted with the droning and tribal ceremony of Hourouurin (Fractal, 2004).

Contemporary Kagura-Metaphysics (Fractal, 2004) was a collaboration between Nanjo Asahito and and Kawabata Makoto.

Just Another Band From The Cosmic Inferno (Important, 2005), credited to AMT & The Cosmic Inferno (a revised quintet featuring Kawabata on guitar, Hiroshi Higashi on electronics, bassist Mitsuru Tabata, and drummers Koji Shimura and Futoshi Okano) contained the virulent 43-minute rock'n'roll galoppade They're Coming From The Cosmic Inferno (with MC5-esque Ten Years After-esque overtones) and the 20-minute post-Hendrixian rave-up Trigger In Trigger Out (with AC/DC-ian overtones).

The live Another Band From The Cosmic Inferno European Tour 2005 (2005) added the mediocre 38-minute improvisation of Cosmic Funeral Route 666 at a pow-wow like tempo.

The same line-up of Kawabata, Hiroshi Higashi, Mitsuru Tabata, Futoshi Okano and Koji Shimura delivered the uninspired Anthem Of The Space (Ektro, 2005), whose 44-minute Anthem Of The Space mainly consists of a slow and languid guitar solo at a pagan ritual pace, but also containing the unusually lively and cheerful Poppy Rock. The same line-up concocted the colossal single track of Iao Chant From The Cosmic Inferno (Ace Fu, 2005), the 51-minute OM Riff from The Cosmic Inferno, a glorious progression a` la Gong that first transmutes into a fast-paced raga of cascading tones, then decays into an agonizing blues-rock, and finally ends in more chaotic Gong-like frenzy. And still the same line-up cooked up the two lengthy improvisations of Demons From Nipples (Vivo Records, 2005): the 39-minute Demons From Nipples, a mid-paced bluesy tortured jarring haunting guitar drill, and the 13-minute 5 Seconds Demon, a furious rave-up with high activity of electronic noise.

We Are Acid Mothers Afrirampo (Eclipse, 2006) was a collaboration between Acid Mothers Temple and Japanese duo Afrirampo.

The trio Acid Mothers Temple & The Pink Ladies Blues that recorded Featuring The Sun Love And The Heavy Metal Thunder (Fractal, 2006) and The Soul Of A Mountain Wolf (Fractal, 2007) does not actually feature Kawabata Makoto.

Acid Mothers Temple's Starless And Bible Black Sabbath (Alien 8, 2006) is a tribute of sorts to King Crimson and Black Sabbath.

Acid Mothers Temple discovered the recorder flute (Tsuyama Atsushi) on Have You Seen The Other Side of the Sky (2006). The 30-minute Tale of the Solar Sail - Dark Stars in the Dazzling Sky is introduced by a folk-ish flute solo before the rhythmic progression lifts it into the usual overdrive. Kawabata's "Inui" experience allows him to play sarangi, sitar, hurdy gurdy, tambura and glockenspiel besides the usually verbose guitar. Asimo's Naked Breakfast: Rice And Shrine is an unusual joke in the band's discography, a rap of sorts over alien electronic noises and random guitar movement that turns into a quiet pastoral chamber sonata, probably their counterpart to the Pink Floyd's classic Alan's Psychedelica Breakfast.

Day Before the Sky Fell In (Galactic Zoo, 2006) is a live album that contains Space Age Ballad/ La Novia (including In E) and La Novia / Speed Guru. Another live album, Power House Of Holy (Acid Mothers Temple, 2006), contains Dark Stars In The Dazzling Sky and Pink Lady Lemonade.

One of their most varied collections, Myth Of The Love Electrique (Riot Season, 2006) contains four lengthy tracks, running the gamut from the virulent, swinging 21-minute The Man From Giacobinid Meteor Comet, with Kawabata's logorrheic space guitar tuned to a particularly harsh and mangled tone and a peaceful coda of acoustic guitar, sitar and droning organ, to the 20-minute anarchic and rowdy free-jazz for guitar and electronics of Love Electrique, from the subliminal 13-minute motley collage Five Dimensional Nightmare (mermaid-like female cry, Arab belly dance, free-jazz flute, Scottish hornpipe elegy, acoustic chamber folk music, synthesizer noises) to yet another version of Pink Lady Lemonade.

Crystal Rainbow Pyramid Under The Stars (Important, 2007) sampled there own style with three tracks that represented three different styles: the seven-minute garage rave-up Pussy Head Man From Outer Space, the dilated 21-minute trip Crystal Rainbow Pyramid (with the guitar simulating a raga and lots of electronic bubbles), both rather mediocre, and the 40-minute space-rock orgy Electric Psilocybin Flashback, one of their most bizarre creations, a gypsy/Slavic guitar frenzy, briefly interrupted by a neurotic saxophone solo.

Kokura (Riot Season, 2006) was a collaboration among Kawabata Makoto, Anla Courtis and guitarist Rokujenkin that yielded two extended pieces of ambient music. Live At Namba Bears (Blackest Rainbow, 2013) documents a Courtis-Makoto live perfomance of february 2011 (two 20-minute improvisations).

Live In Japan (Vivo, 2006), credited to Seikazoku (the power trio of Ruins' drummer Tatsuya Yoshida, guitarist Makoto Kawabata and bassist Atsushi Tsuyama), collected 13 live performances that ran the gamut from frantic jazz to pop tunes to psychedelic reek-outs. Stones, Women & Records (Magaibutsu, 2007) was credited to Acid Mothers Temple SWR but featured the exact same trio of Seikazoku and covered the exact same broad stylistic spectrum over 18 tracks.

Nam Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo (Ace Fu, 2007) returned AMT to their lengthy psychedelic trips. This new hour-long nightmare, ostensibly designed around the ancient Buddhist mantra of the title, was a sinister and demented march with detours into enigmatic cacophony, pounding jamming, delirious medieval hymnody and even a free-jazz freakout.

Acid Mothers Temple & The Pink Ladies Blues was a project started by members of the group without Kawabata and including Frenchman Magic Aum Gigi (Frenchman Jerome Genin). They recorded Featuring the Sun Love and the Heavy Metal Thunder (2006), then mutated into Diza Star & The Pink Ladies Blues, that released Featuring Mani Neumeier (2006), Neumeier being Guru Guru's drummer.

Acid Mothers Guru Guru was instead a power-trio formed by the real Acid Mothers Temple (Makoto Kawabata on guitar and Atsushi Tsuyama on bass) with Mani Neumeier for Psychedelic Navigator (Important, 2007).

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. returned with Acid Motherly Love (Riot Season, 2007), but the 20-minute, three-movement suite Douchebag is mediocre at best (a sloppy grotesque pow-wow sandwiched between two spoken-word segments), and the other jams sound amateurish, almost like imitations of Acid Mothers Temple by a vastly inferior band, although at the beginning Astro Elvis ESP offers a cute revision of surf music, and although Santa Sanrodriguez (the standout) is for one third a majestic psychedelic hymn and for one third a cute ethnic-electronic noise jam (alas, the middle third is dejavu space-rock).

Acid Mothers Temple converted to slow, heavy, distorted, sludge-metal (augmented with electronic effects) on the two 36-minute jams of Recurring Dream & Apocalypse Of Darkness (Important, 2008). After eight minutes of hypnotic panzer-like pace, Eternal Incantation Of Perpetual Nightmare can't resist the temptation to launch into an endless Gong-style satori dance (with a much more convoluted guitar solo than usual), and after eight more minutes it can't resist the temptation to begin the quintessential explosive space-rock progression. Recurring Dream & Apocalypse Of Darkness is more Melvins-esque in nature, with slow colossal riffs lasting 25 minutes before some electronic noise and a shrill drone abort it.

Ominous From The Cosmic Inferno (Essence, 2008) is a less essential work, that runs the gamut from the virulent Ecstasy In Hell and Golem Rock to the the 17-minute trancey Omen Amen to the standout, the 19-minute Nipples In The Dream Woods.

Having added Afrirampo's Yoko-like vocalist Pikachu to the line-up, Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno returned with the mediocre live Pink Lady Lemonade - You're From Outer Space (Riot Season, 2008).

Cometary Orbital Drive (Bam Balam, 2008) contains four pretentious suites.

Interstellar Guru and Zero (Homeopathic, 2008) contains the childishly noisy Astral Projection From Holy Shangrila (18:38) and the overlong droning ambient suite Interstellar Guru and Zero (39:02).

The austere and eclectic six-movement symphony Journey Into The Cosmic Inferno (Very Friendly, 2008), credited again to Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno, marked another dramatic turn in Kawabata's career. It is basically a solo album with a rhythm section (still Tabata Mitsuru on bass and Koji Shimura on percussion) and Afrirampo's Pikachu on vocals, as Kawabata plays guitar, hurdy-gurdy, bouzouki, sitar, organ, glockenspiel, ney, shamisen. The "Inui" series is more influential than the early Acid Mothers Temple albums. The eight-minute overture, Cosmic Inferno's Gate, begins as a slow-motion hare-krishna dance with jazzy prog-rock organ flourishings that gets warped into an ecstasy of droning ethnic instruments and ethnic percussion instruments which in turn decays into hysterical cacophony. The prog-rock element is prominent in the 23-minute second movement, Master Of The Cosmic Inferno, with a loud ominous guitar first interfering with Pikachu's volatile singing and screaming and then unleashing a dissonant solo. The duet between guitar and vocals continues with Pikachu impersonating a vast repertory of voices a` la Meredith Monk and Kawabata imitating the suspense-filled reverbed moans of Led Zeppelin's Jimi Page. After the grotesque electro-ethnic free-jazz fanfare of Cosmic Blood Feast , a stereotypical delirious Kawabata guitar solo propels the 15-minute Ecstacy Into The Cosmic Inferno into a stereotypical space-rock lifet-off, but, again, ending in prog-rock pomp. After the acoustic ballad Usisi for demented male and female singers, the symphony concludes with the grandiose finale of the sixth movement, Shalom Cosmic Inferno, with stately drumming and (unusually melodic) organ that hark back to the golden age of progressive-rock. and Pikachu's vocals that sound like a fast forward of the end of Pink Floyd's A Saucerful of Secrets.
Overall the role of the electronic keyboards (barely employed by Pikachu) is greatly diminished, and Kawabata seems increasingly interested in mood contrasts and diversity.

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. returned with Glorify Astrological Martyrdom (Important, 2008), that contained two heavy meditations. The slow, grinding rumble of Phantom Utopia Or Suicidal Star Wars returned to the Melvins-esque mood of Recurring Dream. The problem is that there is little here that is innovative enough (compared with what droning metal of Earth and Yume Bitsu had been producing in those years) to justify such a lengthy excursion. With minimal contributions from the keyboards and without Pikachu's vocals this is a generic power-trio playing low-grade metal. The dynamics relies solely on Kawabata's guitar improvisations. Tsuyama Atsushi plays bass, and Higashi Hiroshi synthesizer. Luckily the other lengthy piece is a winner: Cosmic Soul Death Disco features chaotic jamming, demonic vocals, propulsive beat, electronic pyrotechnics, and one of Kawabata's most senseless guitar workouts.

Basement Echo (Important, 2008) documents a live jam between Acid Mothers Temple's Kawabata and LSD-march's Michishita Shinsuke.

Acid Mothers Temple and the Pink Ladies Blues' leader Magic Aum Gigi (Frenchman Jerome Genin) debuted solo with the droning metal ragas of My Metal Machine Music (Sparkling Spare Wheel, 2004) and the avantgarde music of Starring Keiko (Fractal, 2007).

Acid Mothers Temple's member Tabata Mitsuru released several solo albums including Lumrapideco (Utech, 2008).

Dark Side Of The Black Moon - What Planet Are We On? (Important, 2009) is another volume in the vein of Recurring Dream and Glorify Astrological Martyrdom, with shorter tracks (by their standards) and more variety (the 13-minute Space Labyrinth or Eclipse On Friday, the 17-minutes Dark Side Of The Black Moon). The vynil version adds Universe In Witch's Blue and Intergalactic Space Trackin'.

Are We Experimental? (Prophase Music, 2009) is a confused work of shorter pieces (the longest is "only" eight minutes long).

Lord Of The Underground - Vishnu And The Magic Elixir (Alien 8, 2009) boasts an impeccable reenactment of their deranged, shredding, hypnotic space-rock crescendos, the 25-minute Vishnu And The Magic Elixir, whose only drawback is that the band's fans have heard it many times before with different titles.

Kawabata Makoto and Afrirampo's vocalist Pikacyu recorded Om Sweet Home: We Are Shining Stars From Darkside (Riot Season, 2011).

The premise of Acid Mothers Temple's In O To Infinity (Important, 2010), with Cotton Casino back in the ranks, sounds like a parody of Terry Riley's In C: four lengthy jams in different keys, the keys being totally imaginary (the cosmic music of In O, the orgiastic In A, the free-jazz noise of In Z and the electronic rave-up of In Infinity).

Pink Lady Lemonade - You're From Inner Space (Alien 8, 2011) delivered not one but four interpretations of their most famous composition.

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso Ufo Son Of A Bitches Brew (Important, 2012), inspired by Miles Davis' jazz-rock, features Tsuyama Atsushi, Shimura Koki on drums, Higashi Hiroshi on synthesizer, Tabata Mitsuro on guitar, Cotton Casino and another vocalist, Tabla Man on tabla, and Kawabata (on guitar, electric piano, electronics, fuzz-otamatone, tape machine, yanquin, tanbura)

Kawabata and singer and accordionist À Qui Avec Gabriel, that had released her own Utsuho (Tzadik), collaborated on Golden Tree (Tzadik, 2012), including the 35-minute Solid Torus.

Acid Mothers Temple's The Ripper At The Heavens Gates Of Dark (Riot Season, 2012) is a very minor work that includes the 12-minute space-rock jam Chinese Flying Saucer.

Kawabata Makoto and drummer Pikacyu of Afrirampo recorded Om Sweet Home - We Are Shining Stars From The Darkside (Riot Season, 2012).

Acid Mother Temple's IAO Chant From The Melting Paraiso Underground Freak Out (Riot Season, 2012) contains a new studio version of OM Riff from The Cosmic Inferno (39 minutes).

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. (still Higashi Hiroshi on synth, Tsuyama Atsushi on bass, flute and pipe, Shimura Koji on drums, Tabata Mitsuru on guitars and synth, and Kawabata Makoto on guitar, electric sitar and hurdy gurdy) added the 17-minute Skilful Grinning Skull and the 19-minute In Search of the Lost Divine Arc on In Search of the Lost Divine Arc (Important, 2013).

Credited to Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno, Doobie Wonderland (Parallax, 2013), i.e. Kawabata Makoto with Afrirampo's drummer Pika, bassist Tabatha Mitsuru and keyboardist Higashi Hiroshi, was recorded between february 2008 and october 2012 and contains the 22-minute Do You Remember Doobie Wonderland?

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O's Astrorgasm From The Inner Space (Important, 2014) features Cotton Casino (vocals and "bubble guitar"), Tsuyama Atsushi (bass and acoustic guitar), Ichiraku Yoshimitsu and Shimura Koji (drums), Higashi Hiroshi (synthesizer), Tabata Mitsuru (guitar-synthesizer), Jiji No Hoppetaroman (tabla), and Kawabata Makoto (electric guitar, bouzouki, acoustic guitar, sarangi, tambura, harmonium, electronics, tape machine, yangqin, drums).

Acid Mothers Temple SWR's sixth album Yes No & Perhaps was recorded at several dates between 2009 and 2012.

Benzaiten (Important, 2015) is a tribute to Osamu Kitajima's 1974 album.

The double-LP Wake To A New Dawn Of Another Astro Era (Important, 2016) featured a new rhythm section instead of bassist Shimura Koji and drummer Tsuyama Atsushi. They released mediocre albums that repeated their stereotypes and cliches with varying degrees of dullness: Wandering The Outer Space (Buh, 2016), Those Who Came Never Before (Nod and Smile, 2017), Sacred And Inviolable Phase Shift (Bam Balam, 2018), whose 20-minute From Planet Orb with Love Good-bye Mrs Uranus is typical of their confused self-indulgent and incoherent suites. They re-recorded old compositions on Reverse of Rebirth in Universe (2018).

Trust Masked Replicants (2024) contains the nine-minute XXXtra Asceticism or Allergic to Meditation and the 20-minute Asoko Ananda.