PATAPHISICAL FREAK OUT MU!!

Japan perhaps more than any other nation in the world has truly excelled in delivering some of the most extreme musical expressions conceivable in virtually every possible way whether it be the strange experimental noise rock of The Gerogeigegege, the electronic experimental freakery of Merzbow, the post-punk antics of Melt Banana or the bizarre multi-genre potpourri of the avant-metal band Sigh. While standing out as one of Asia's most unique and dynamic regions for experimental and avant-garde music, the nation has also excelled at adopting Western styles and likewise taking things to even more extreme levels than any of the pioneers could've imagined. The wild zeuhl run amok of bands like Ruins and Koenji Hyakkei or the brutal avant-prog excesses of Bondage Fruit and P.O.N. have shocked and thrilled extremophiles for decades and that small sampling is really just a mere drop in the bucket of the vast pool of talent that this island nation has cranked out.

Yet another standout of demented debauchery has to be the lysergic lumpenproletariat of the Japanese underground, the Nagoya born ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. which is mercifully often shortened to merely ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE or for the even less ambitious, simply AMT. Led by the restless visions of freak guitarist Makoto Kawabat also known as Speed Guru, this collective of numerous performers has been cranking out the farthest out trips in musical form since 1995 with well over 70 studio albums under its belt and an endless list of crossover acts ranging from bands such as Acid Mothers Temple & Space Paranoid to the Daevid Allen collaborations including Acid Mothers Gong. The collective has unleashed some of the least recognizable musical / noise hybrids that took its inspiration from progressive rock and Krautrock as well as the experimental modern classical composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen and György Ligeti.

With more releases than any sane individual could possibly soak in, i have been loath to explore the massive canon of these sonic sorcerers bent on taking the craziest 70s Krautrock freakery and multiplying the detachment in just about every possible way. This was the album that introduced me to the mighty ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE and pretty much the only one i've yet encountered as their albums tend to be sprawling, completely improvisational and well over an hour's playing time and such is the case with this second release PATAPHYSICAL FREAK OUT MU!! which reared its ugly head in the psychedelic underground in 1999. With such blatant truth in advertising you pretty much know what to expect with this one. While facets of traditional musical styles add a touch of Earthly connection to the unhinged savagery that awaits you with this one, the album features a mere five tracks that will steal just over 68 minutes of your precious attention span and still leave you wondering what in the world you just encountered!

For the majority of the tracks minus the near 26-minute closer "Blue Velvet Blues," the tracks are what you could refer to as psychedelic medleys where one completely whacked out trip cedes to another. The perfect example is the opening "Cosmic Audrey / Acid Takion" which begins with spoken French dialogue from Audrey Ginestet reminding of the space whisperer moments of Gilli Smyth of classic Gong. Once the dialogue drifts off into the past the psychedelic noise rock rears its ugly head with an incessant sprawling display of frenetic drumming outdone only by the unorthodox guitar brutality of Kawabata. With enough energetic drive to melt down a nuclear reactor, Kawabata showcases some of the freakiest guitar antics that make most noise rock bands look like chump change. While the compelling opener gets you all hot and bothered and ready for more disorienting head trips, the pointless "White Summer of Love / Third Eye of the Whole World" simply nurtures an folky cyclical loop accompanied by a bunch of effects and what sounds like Yoko Ono during mating season.

The four parter "Golden Bat Blues Dead / Mr. Hardy Guidey Man / Magic Aûm LSD / Astrological Overdrive" sounds like it's trying to emulate a Jimi Hendrix style only what he would have delivered during his final moments before he overdosed. The tracks morphs into a hurdy-gurdy meditation and then becomes a vocal pop track gone wrong with dissonant jangly guitar chords and sounding like the chanting of the Jim Jones "Jonestown" koolaid cult just before they dropped over dead. "Right About Rainbow I / Your My Only Super Sunshine / Right About Rainbow II" delivers more of the spaced out psychedelic folk with lots of oscillating swirlies and then some guitar reverb from hell that soon dominates the soundscape. Repetitive folk strumming for minutes with pure unadulterated chaos looming above is the modus operendi with this one and then it just gets louder and more well? PATAPHYSICAL which by the way refers to the French absurdist concept of a philosophy or science dedicated to studying what lies beyond the realm of metaphysics, intended as a parody of the methods and theories of modern science and often expressed in nonsensical language. Hey! I think we found the perfect soundtrack for this very concept!

The closing "Blue Velvet Blues" is a typical ACID MOTHERS 20-minute sprawler that journeys into the world of long drawn out cyclical riffing that glacially ratchets up the tension and then drifts between caustic guitar fuzz feedback laden passages and softer Spaghetti Western / surf rock toned guitar styles with the local space whisperer Cotton Casino delivering nonsensical utterances from the unknown. Did i say the track goes on and on and on? Well it does. It seems like it's on perpetual loop mode. Well one thing is for sure and that is that this is definitely some of the most extreme expressions of psychedelic rock ever created. ACID MOTHERS goes for the lysergia jugular in just about every way possible but for all its attempts to be the weirdest, loudest, most detached from reality and the closest musical interpretation of a very bad LSD trip, the music is mostly monotonous and rather dull. PATAPHYSICAL FREAK OUT MU!! is one of those experiences that really takes you somewhere new upon first exposure but the problem is that it's not somewhere where you really want to return as is the case with the bulk of ATM's vast canon of quantity over quality. It's a fun spin every now and again because of the fact there's nothing really to grasp onto and once you've completely forgotten about it in a few years it's a welcome experience to explore once again. A decent heavy dosage of LSD soaked psych noise rock. Not sure what to call this but ultimately it's only something you can occasionally revisit lest you loose your total connection to reality.