“Playing Austin Psych Fest / Levitation was always a goal from our earliest days of the band – to join the psychedelic community for a weekend of music and present our live performance. This show in 2014 was a landmark for us. To return years later in 2019 and find the same welcome, the dream was still very much alive and well.”
“Hibushibire is a Japanese hard psychedelic freak out rock band which formed in 2012… A band name “Hibushibire” is Japanese old porno slang which is meaning as freak out orgasm.”
“Japan’s premiere psych collective come together again and form Acid Mothers Temple & Space Paranoid. More stoner rock than psych, this collection of tracks emulate Black Sabbath in all the best ways possible. Slow, doomy starts lead to endless jams and stoner drone.”
“Their sound is influenced by both their love for Krautrock legends such as Can and Neu!, and the band members being self-professed “repetition freaks” who heavily listen to minimal techno. The music proceeds straightforwardly with the Motorik beat (Hammer beat), devised by Klaus Dinger (Kraftwerk, Neu!), as its central axis. Humorous, yet bizarre Japanese lyrics are whispered over a hard, cold beat that is maniacally repeated, creating a pleasant ambience of electronic pulses drifting in space. Sharp guitar tones reminiscent of Michael Karoli (Can) occasionally explode into fuzz distortion, on the verge of collapse.”
“The history of heavy psychedelic music has been always lead by trios, such as The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Blue Cheer, Ash Ra Tempel, Sleep, Earthless, etc… In 2016, Japan has Dhidalah, a roaring psychedelic doom trio. The group’s name comes from the mythological giant Daidarabotchi, which was believed to create mountains and land with its enormous size, much like Dhidalah’s sound. Give yourself up to their cosmic jam, and feel yourself float around in space. Their sudden, crashing waves of sound will surely turn you to cosmic dust.”
“Someone once called them a “Violent Neu!” and that’s not a bad assessment. However, there is nothing vintage about Kuruucrew’s mix of relentless rock assaults and noisy head-banging cacophony. Neu! and other Krautrock bands of the 70’s are often defined by their experimenting with electronics over a steady motorik drum beat. Kuruucrew takes the same trance-inducing repetitive groove of Krautrock’s motorik and modernizes it into a hardcore rock sensation that grinds your head to a pulp. In addition to the stone solid rhythm section, wailing saxophone lines run through effects pedals from saxophonist Akkun (also from Henrytennis) and flagrant guitar massacres from Murata make Kuruucrew worthy carriers of the Japanoise torch. But be careful when getting lost in Kuruucrew’s music, you may snap out of it to find your ears bleeding and your brain washed.”
“Tsurubami is yet another side project by the prolific Acid Mothers Temple guitarist Makoto Kawabata, with Temple bassist Hiroshi Higashi and drummer Emi Nobuko… Here are squalling guitars, over-driven basses, feedback, and cacophonous noise. In the maelstrom, which is utter and total, shifting overtones and subtleties are rained on the listener with alarming frequency — and they are heard whether the volume is high or low — creating another layer of density to an already impossible textured quilt of color and amplitude.”
“Twin Tail is a three piece improvisational, instrumental band. Made up of drums, bass and violin, they bring something of a unique sound to the table. Violinist Yuji Katsui uses the same set of floating, delayed and syrupy effects as sgt’s Mikiko Narui. The sound is so similar as to make one wonder if there isn’t some sort of conspiracy going on amongst post-rock instrumental bands in Japan. It’s obvious from the start that Twin Tail is all about improv and jamming out thorough extended passages. Their songs build (very) slowly, with tempos stretching and breathing along with the intensity of the music. There are really no “songs” or hooks per se. Yuji plays his violin like a screaming, psychedelic guitar more like a blissed-out solo from Jimi Hendrix than any sort of classical piece, while drummer Tatsuya Nakamura and bassist Toshiyuki Terui pound out a trance-like tribal backdrop.”
Groovy jams from land of the rising sun. Japanese intensity and craziness mixed with 70’s psychedelic blues.
