KIKAGAKU MOYO – Masana Temples 2018 (LP/CD Guruguru Brain)

Kikagaku Moyo is a 5-piece Psych-influenced unit hailing from the land of the Rising Sun, Japan (Tokyo), that started out in 2002 as a free music collective unit, that quickly evolved into a tight group of multi-instrumentalists. They have a really strong following in Greece, all over Europe and in the States too! Most of their releases are being repressed 2, 3 and 4 times! In their Bandcamp site, they state that “Masana Temples” is their 4^th full-length album. But, looking at my record collection I count six! Ha! The 4 that the band lists are: “Kikagaku Moyo” (2013), “House In The Tall Grass” (2016), “Stone Garden” (2017) and “Masana Temples” (2018). But there are 2 more! “Mammatus Clouds” (2014) and “Forest Of Lost Children” (2014). Anyway, let’s see what the band states for “Masana Temples”:

“The shifting dimensions of Masana Temples, the fourth album from psychedelic explorers Kikagaku Moyo, are informed by various experiences the band had with traveling through life together, ranging from the months spent on tour to making a pilgrimage to Lisbon to record the album with jazz musician Bruno Pernadas. The band sought out Pernadas both out of admiration for his music and in an intentional move to work with a producer who came from a wildly different background. With Masana Temples, the band wanted to challenge their own concepts of what psychedelic music could be. Elements of both the attentive folk and wild-eyed rocking sides of the band are still intact throughout, but they’re sharper and more defined. More than the literal interpretation of being on a journey, the album’s always changing sonic panorama reflects the spiritual connection of the band moving through this all together. Life for a traveling band is a series of constant metamorphoses, with languages, cultures, climates, and vibes changing with each new town. The only constant for Kikagaku Moyo throughout their travels were the five band members always together moving through it all, but each of them taking everything in from very different perspectives. Inspecting the harmonies and disparities between these perspectives, the group reflects the emotional impact of their nomadic paths. The music is the product of time spent in motion and all of the bending mindsets that come with it”…
Kikagaku Moyo consists of Tomo Katsurada (Guitar, Vocals), Ryu Kurosawa ( Sitar, Keys), Daoud Popal (Guitar), Kotsuguy (Bass) and Go Kurosawa (Drums, Vocals). The album is produced by Bruno Pernadas, mixed and mastered by Tiago De Sousa, and recorded at Valentim de Carvalho studio in Lisbon, Portugal, April 2018. The artwork belongs to Phannapast Taychamaythakool.

The Album starts with a soft and free improvised Sitar-based intro called “Entrance” while with the next one “Dripping Sun” shows another “hidden” side of the band, the funk-a-delic one! “Dripping Sun” starts in a funky way with a groovy drumbeat dressed with a gentle acid guitar sound, becoming mellow dreamy and trippy, all sung in Japanese with a smooth Soul-ish way, but ending with a heavy prog motorized 70s style! “Nazo Nazo” is a soft Japanese ballad, acidly drenched. In “Fluffy Kosmisch” the band flirts with Cosmic Psych under a glorious poppy vein. The playful “Majupose” follows, a psych-a-like song with a touch of a soul-bossa-nova feel! “Nana” is a danceable tune, rhythmic and funky while the sitar sound towards the end adds an exotic complexion. “Orange Peel” has an exotically Kosmique soft soundscape, trippy and dreamy, bit of relaxing, ending with rain’s sound effects… The rain also continues on the short dreamy acoustic interlude “Amayadori”. My personal favorite of the album is next. “Gathering” starts electrically heavy soon to be lifted up in the skies with a tremendous hallucinogenic keyboard 60s-oriented sound with a trippy beat and acid guitar sounds overloading the atmosphere, becoming Krauty, Motoric & Heavy at times… I believe “Gathering” is one of the Best tracks of the band recorded so far! The album reaches to an end with “Blanket Song”, a tune that acts like a ‘Good Night’ song, an acoustic kind of soft-ballad… Counting days till I have the chance to experience them live (7 Dec 2018, Athens, Greece) (TimeLord Michalis)

RELEASE INFO:

Label: Guruguru Brain

Format: LP, Vinyl Album, Black Vinyl, Single Jacket

Format: LP, Vinyl Album, Limited Edition, Gatefold, Green Vinyl, 2000 copies

Format: LP, CD Album, Digipack

Release Date: 5 October 2018

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Alternatively Get it from Shiny Beast (Holland):

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