This was a busy day for me. I was late to this show because I spent
the afternoon at the Arena
Finale. I even skipped the final band of that to make it to this.
However, one of the opening bands, Sturle Dagsland, had to cancel due
to missing luggage, and I arrived just after Stereocilia left the
stage. (Too bad, because they seemed cool.)
Artist: Acid Mothers
Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O.
Venue: Urban Spree
Location: Berlin,
Germany
Date: 19 October 2019
Opening Acts: Sunn
Trio, Stereocilia
Sunn Trio
is a disarmingly literal name: they are a trio from Phoenix, Arizona,
one of the sunniest places on the planet. Their riff-laden,
metal-adjacent
desert/surf rock was entirely instrumental. The drummer laid down
forceful
rhythms, the bassist threw heavy riffs around that, and the guitarist
played winding leads on top. The thick reverb, reverse swell, and
other effects on the guitar gave it a psychedelic tinge. Their set
was intense and they barely paused for breath, which
made it an entrancing affair. The bass tone was rendered a bit dull,
but otherwise they sounded great.
[Sunn Trio.]
I went outside to fetch
a beer and went back inside just in time to catch Acid Mothers
Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. start their
set early. The ever-evolving, always shifting lineup consisted of
five members at this show. Band leader and guitarist Kawabata Makoto
played some mellow riffs but spent most of the night playing
incendiary solos. Jyonson Tsu started out on bouzouki and switched
to guitar for most of the show. He was nominally the lead singer, but
largely focused on instrumental parts. Drummer Satoshima Nani and
bassist S/T (aka Wolf) generally kept quite busy between dishing out
uptempo motorik rhythms and holding down freeform jams. Higashi
Hiroshi's synthesizer was like a shimmering sprinkle on top; he
mostly created high-pitch whirring and bubbling flourishes that
decorated whatever else was going on.
They started with a
strong, rhythmic jolt that blasted off into a wild guitar solo and
followed that up with one of the only quieter segments of the night.
Most of the set leaned more towards lengthy songs with a few
relatively traditionally structured parts intermixed with extended
solos and kosmische jams. The boundaries between one song and the
next weren't always clear, and most seemed to stretch on for at least
ten minutes.
The music was great,
but the one thing holding it back was a mediocre mix. The bass was
again muddy and dulled, the vocals were almost completely overwhelmed
except for the infrequent mellow moments, and even Tsu's guitar
was often lost somewhere in the shadows. The delicacy of Hiroshi's
synth bits led me to believe they'd spent some time fine-tuning that
aspect, but something was missing from the rest.
Much like Sunn Trio
before them, Acid Mothers Temple played with gleeful abandon and
relentless energy. Their intensity was such that when they stopped
after about 75 minutes, I was thrilled but ready for a break.
Unfortunately, they didn't come back for an encore, despite that
according to the schedule they still had a half-hour before "curfew".
I would've gladly gone on another trip with them.
[Acid Mothers Temple & The
Melting Paraiso U.F.O.]
Scores:
Sunn Trio: A-
Acid Mothers Temple &
The Melting Paraiso U.F.O.: B+
P.S. Thanks to Laurent!
No comments:
Post a Comment