Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O./Escapade - A Thousand Shades of Grey
(Funfundvierzig)

Escapade - Rule #3
(Submergence)

Acid Mothers Temple's contribution is a single 28-minute track exploration recorded by a fairly sparse 4-person lineup of the members who more or less make up the "core" of the group (Kawabata Makoto, Cotton Casino, Higashi Hiroshi, and Tsuyama Atsushi). Starting with a very up front synthesizer loop, the track recalls a refreshingly updated Tangerine Dream. Guitar drones slowly overtake the loop, creating a murky and washed out balance of tones. Just beyond the halfway point, Cotton's standard synthesizer filter sounds peeks in, carrying the song the rest of the way through. While it's a nice enough listen, it's honestly a little disappointing to hear Acid Mothers Temple do yet another song like this.

Escapade is an improvisational group from New York City who have been pounding out psychedelic records since 1998. They split their effort for the CD into two tracks. The first, "Because Because Because," opens the album with low, hovering synthesizer and organ drones before exploding into one of the best things I've ever heard from a band like this. It's such a propulsive and completely engrossing opener, that it's no wonder the Acid Mothers Temple track that follows feels like a letdown. Escapade's second song, "Transformation 2," features Jon DeRosa (known for his work in Aarktica, Dead Leaves Rising, etc.) on guitar and tambura. Exploring the other end of the spectrum as their previous track, this one spends the first 7 minutes weaving a detailed tapestry of drones, hums, and gentle drumming. The drumming builds, one of the tones begins to buzz as it washes into the mix, and the sound of a guitar being increasingly abused adds to a slow, slow build to a wah-driven explosive ending.

So, having proven themselves capable of utterly outclassing Acid Mothers Temple, Escapade now turns my attention to their most recent album, 2002's Rule #3. Over the course of the album's 6 tracks, they've firmly planted themselves in my mind as one of the best improvisational psych bands around. Their contemporaries on the West Coast, Subarachnoid Space, certainly share a similar mindset, but Escapade has their own distinct vibe. Escapade makes it easy for you. On this album, they do an impromptu reworking of Pink Floyd's "Interstellar Overdrive," which provides a good reference point to their oceanic, guitar driven brand of psychedelia. Beneath the bass on the opening track, guitars and synthesizers wheel, swell, and drone on a heady path. The album's shortest track, "Mysterious Utterances," puts founding member (who usually plays drums) Hadley Kahn at the helm of a treated synthesizer. The result is a great mood piece, which recalls all kinds of early 70's psych/kraut/electronic music.

Of these songs, "Circumference" feels the most like a standard improv psych band, with a loose jam being taken into the stratosphere with spacey guitars and synth sounds. A violent, low-end guitar loop on "Eclipse in Carbon" fractures the song into a threatening and uneasy exploration. The last track, "And Then All Silence Was Crushed," is less brutal than the title suggests. Starting out with an unexpected use of marimba, it slowly shifts into a washed out, angular guitar & drums exercise.

Both of these records are great moments for Escapade. And, while Acid Mothers Temple stumble a little on the split, the song is still nice enough, and Escapade's contributions are stellar.

sean hammond 2004 sep 3