Acid Mothers Temple + WaqWaq Kingdom

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O

Relentless and legendary psychedelic innovators

Since 1995, Acid Mothers Temple has been one of the most groundbreaking and limitless bands in psychedelic music. They were formed by Makoto Kawabata at the same time as the Acid Mothers Temple Soul Collective. The group released its debut album in 1997 on PSF Records (Japan), and it was selected as one of the year's best albums in the The Wire magazine (UK). Since then the group has released an incredible amount of music - over 100 albums, believe it or not.

They have toured extensively, building a dedicated fanbase all over the world and they have done projects with some of the biggest names in psychedelic and progressive music, such as Gong and Guru Guru, Damo Suzuki (ex. Can), Simeon (Silver Apples), Nik Turner (Hawkwind), and Geoff Leigh (ex. Henry Cow). The key to it all is inventiveness and ever expanding musical horizons. Acid Mothers Temple have been inspired by trailblazers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, Can, progressive rock and different forms of improvised music. Their attitude towards this heritage is not in any way nostalgic - they fulfil their part of the bargain by pressing forward into new territories, proving that any decade can be a golden age for experimental music.

As a consequence, Acid Mothers Temple has mutated, spawning several constellations under the Acid Mothers Temple moniker (AMT & The Cosmic Inferno, AMT SWR, AMT & The Space Paranoid, Acid Mothers Gong, Acid Mothers Guru Guru, etc.). Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. remains the mothership, however. In 2016, there was a major shift in the line-up. According to the band, hey view the first 20 years as chapter one in their story. Acid Mothers Temple have visited Oslo before, and they have blown minds at Blå before, but this will be the first time we get to hear what the next chapter of this ongoing psychedelic adventure entails.

WaqWaq Kingdom

Technicolor tribal bass

To call WaqWaq Kingdom “eclectic” might be an understatement. The duo’s endless range of stylistic adventures finds them drawing lines between traditional Japanese and contemporary electronic music, between Jamaican dancehall and 8-bit techno, between African polyrhythms and experimental music, with plenty more helping to colour a powerful, vibrant palette. Their latest album, Essaka Hoisa (2019) can be a shock to the senses - it consists of ever changing and intriguing textures, both electronic and acoustic, and filled to the brim with ridiculously catchy hooks. They convey an almost childlike enthusiasm and curiosity, combined with serious craftsmanship.

Shigeru Ishihara AKA DJ Scottish Egg and Kiki Hitomi are both Japanese, but their music is also shaped by living in both England and Germany. They grew up with Min'yō, a traditional form of Japanese music. However, as Hitomi has pointed out in interviews, they didn’t really consider this side of their musical heritage as cool enough, or relevant to their music, before they moved to Europe and started mixing it with other, new influences such as dubstep. The most common label used to describe their sound might be tribal bass, but as always with true originality, this only hints at the possibilities inherent in WaqWaq Kingdoms music. It is, quite simply, a trip.

THE MOVEMENT TOUR (WaqWaq Kingdom)

4. november: Tromsø World
5. november: Ekko