Acid Mothers Temple played Great Scott – 4/4

acidmothers-1Indefatigable Japanese psych-rock outfit Acid Mothers Temple headlined one of their yearly Boston gigs at Great Scott last Monday, with support from Michigan’s Mounds and locals Magic Shoppe. 

I’ve been meaning to catch Acid Mothers Temple for a good long while now, and somehow their remarkably frequent Boston shows have evaded me for various reasons. I was successful, finally, in last week’s endeavor, and the band did not disappoint. Their style melds psychedelic shredding, krautrock rhythmic drive, theremin, harmonica and a sense of unhinged playfulness into enthralling jam sessions that transcend being labelled as such. An extended interpretation of Black Sabbath’s “The Wizard” – with the aforementioned harmonica playing a central role – was surely a highlight, but there was truly not a dull moment to be had from the set’s opening notes to the moment it concluded with a guitar suspended by its strings from a sprinkler pipe on the ceiling.

A first opening set from Magic Shoppe drew on classic psychedelia, from the band’s vintage-looking gear to the mellow, fuzzed-out vibe of their songs. Michigan duo Mounds took a different approach to the tradition, entrancing as a drums/vocal and organ combo. Bandleader Tom Homann mentioned being thrown out of Great Scott at some point in the past, but praised it in the present: “It’s good that there’s a solid venue to…rock in,” he remarked between songs.

Also worthy of note on this evening were the expertly-executed visuals of Boston’s Joe Turner, who manned a table of laptops and controllers to the right of the stage for the duration of the evening, and whose hypnotizing work helped to make this a particularly photogenic show. Photos for all three acts are below.

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