Splendor Mystic Solis - Heavy Acid Blowout Tensions Live
(Eclipse)
In the summer of 1999, Mainliner booked a short tour of the US. Along the way, they shared the stage with Toho Sara, Hochenkeit, and the legendary Ruins. Each night a monolithic supergroup, born specifically for this tour also played. The group, Splendor Mystic Solis consisted of Makoto Kawabata (Mainliner, Musica Transonic, Toho Sara, Nishinihon, Acid Mothers Temple, many more), Nanjo Asahito (High Rise, Mainliner), Shimura Koji (White Heaven, High Rise, Mainliner), Sisaki Hisashi (Ruins), and Plastic Crimewave (Utopia Carcrash, Plastic Crimewave Sound, Galactic Zoo Dossier zine). While mixing and matching musicians and creating supergroups like this isn't something new for this family of Japanese psychedelic bands, the results are always enjoyable, and apparently tensions ran high with this particular one (hence the title), spawning some very nice music.
Having been instructed to play "elegant-echo, delay, Syd Barrett, Ash Ra Tempel-style," Plastic Crimewave's guitar playing melts easily into the mix between the dual onslaught of Kawabata and Nanjo's guitars. Sasaki's bass mostly fills out the textural low end, rumbling and growling beneath the occasional bursts of directional melody. Shimura's drumming shines when the group is able to switch immediately into a dynamic burst ("Splendor 2") from their standard mode: mid-tempo, deep guitar trips. Occasionally peppering the mix are Nanjo's otherworldly vocals, which provide a good accent and variety to the songs.
Spanning the styles of an Acid Mothers' laid back, free rock jam to the high octane fuzzwah workout you'd find on a High Rise album, this record is the chronicle of a cohesive and exciting improvisational supergroup, whose lifespan was for all of three shows. With artwork drawn by Plastic Crimewave and having been released on Eclipse, the record is both beautifully designed and very thick.
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