There is only one way to listen to the Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso UFO: with a sense of adventure and a very open mind. This Japanese band doesn't exactly cater to mainstream sensibilities, but if you're daring enough to go along for the ride, New Geocentric World of Acid Mothers Temple offers considerable rewards. This unpredictable CD is hard to categorize; much of the material could be described as either neo-psychedelic rock or avant-garde rock, and one can hear the direct or indirect influence of classic rockers who range from the Jefferson Airplane to Hawkwind to King Crimson. But liking a lot of trip-out music from the 1960s and 1970s doesn't guarantee that you will find this band's neo-psychedelic/avant-garde experiments to be accessible. Hardly a carbon copy of the psychedelic or progressive acts from the hippie era, the Acid Mothers Temple incorporates Japanese and Indian elements in its own bizarre, eccentric, left-of-center way. Many of the tunes are moody and spacy (especially "Mellow Hollow Love," "Space Age Ballad," and "Universe of Romance"), but on "Occie Lady," the Acid Mothers Temple favors a metallic approach that hints at Blue Cheer and Jimi Hendrix. And "Psycho Buddha" is a 21-minute jam that could be described as a cross between acid rock and electric free jazz -- abrasive, noisy, heavy, and dissonant, this tune isn't for the squeamish. But then, nothing on this CD caters to the unadventurous. New Geocentric World of Acid Mothers Temple is strictly for more daring listeners.
© Alex Henderson /TiVo