Music Guide
CELLAR TAPES
ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE
UV PØP and the I Scream Brothers
Acid Mothers Temple & Mammothwing Vintage Rock Bar 26th October 2015
These days, a vinyl release shows one of 2 things: Either you have deep pockets or you have a label who believes in you. As I hold the long awaited white vinyl album “Cellar Tapes” from UV PØP and the I Scream Brothers (John White’s pre-UV PØP outfit) in my hands, I sense the latter and go through the vinyl ceremony familiar to all who relish the needle to groove interaction. All of a shiver, I prepare to bask in stark, minimalist, drum machines and distorted guitars, monotonic vocals and cold detachment; this compilation album promises much. First up: Early UV PØP was billed as being just John White: “One man and his Revox.” So here we are with John, his guitar, synth, sax and drum machines; a one man band for the modern age. The first song, aptly titled UV POP, shatters the silence as gleefully I absorb the treasured sound of music from another era. 1981 fills my ears pumping industrial sounding beats, saxophone wails and sirens and muffled yells. Then “Do what you like”; a mantra that urges us to follow our own instinct is next. Razor thin guitars cut like glass atop a menacing synth bass that pulses through demonic, primitive beats that drive us into a state of hypnotic dance while repeatedly he urges us on. I imagine him barking this into the mirror as we witness a crazed motivational speech, cold wild eyed like “Once in a lifetime” era David Byrne staring back at himself, staring at us. These songs were part of a determined path where experimentation and a keen imagination overcomes all. He breaks all the rules – if you don’t know how to write a song, write it anyway, he seems to suggest, and what comes out may be all wrong, but that’s the point. Sod conformity. So to the CD, that comes as part of the package, you’ll be delighted to know that here are real gems; previously unreleased demos of UV PØP classics such as the hugely popular “Sleep don’t Talk” and “Serious.” The demos alone are worth the price of this collection. Antoine Aragnée
Japan has some truly amazing underground psychedelic rock bands. Recently Doncaster was very excited to have Acid Mothers Temple gracing the stage of the Vintage Rock Bar on a Monday night, lathering our twinkling faces with their famous ‘Underground Freak Out’. In 1995 these magical wizards came to Earth, led by guitarist Kawabata Makoto, to bestow their spiritual sonic sounds on us, melting down genres such as French folk music and Western psychedelia, enticing experimental, psychedelic, rock and doom fans to follow their ‘extreme trip music’. Over the years there have been many variations of the original line-up, but this has only led to more great music and the occasional incorporation of different sounds, including bagpipes and jew’s harp. The original current of cosmic space rock has never left though. There are five members at this point. Higashi Hiroshi with his long white hair stands at the front, slowly waving you in to a brain melt with his synthesiser and angelic face sounds, whilst Kawabata Makoto the speed guru tears away on the guitar, god-like, and Tabata Mitsuru and Tsuyama Atsushi lift you into the intense colours and sounds of a psychedelic nebula. Satoshima Nani on drums professes to take you to another dimension and certainly delivers. This is the kind of band where you don’t know where to look. I hope to see more bands like this at Vintage. Before Acid Mothers Temple, Mammothwing took hold, a three-piece band from Nottingham. As soon as they start up, with Bill Fisher’s heavy bass and intense feedback rattling through your skin and bones, you’re assured that you’re going to love this band. When vocals kicked in from Marty Fisher on guitar, this caused me an immediate but pleasant brain bleed that had me hooked. Kev Richardson on drums is relentlessly thundersome and amazing to watch. This band is loud, heavy, perfectly formed and, in their words, “a cosmic mind voyage from doom valley to blues mountain”. Well worth looking out for. Paula Stevenson
UV PØP are playing the Doncaster Little Theatre along with Danse Society and Luxury Stranger on Saturday November 28th. Tickets £5:00 advance/door www.facebook.com/events/1046546418694227 “Cellar Tapes” is available on all formats from Genetic Records to order. geneticmusic.de/release/uv-pop-i-scream-brothers-the-cellar-tapes-lp-cd
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