Limited edition of 500 copies French LP from the Acid Mothers Temple quartet line-up of Makoto Kawabata, Hiroshi Higashi, Koji Shimura and Atsushi Tsuyama. The vinyl features two side-long tracks based around the concept of the mystical vibrational significance of the repeating note sequence A-E-D-A-G-D. The first side takes this pattern and repeats it over almost Silver Apples-styled rushes of drum machine and phasing F/X, while the flip explodes it completely with some heavy guitar-saturated ritual. A great, trance-focussed side from AMT in the tradition of other mysto-chord explorations ala Ash Ra Tempel’s Schwingungen. VT has the more limited version of the LP that come with a bonus poster and postcard.

Inspired follow-up to AMT’s railroading take on Terry Riley’s minimalist classic, In C: In O To ∞ is quintessential AMT, cranking massive drones, repeating riffs, looped vocals and sky-scraping guitar into brain-erasing paeans to infinity. But the real gravy here is the return of Cotton Casino on vocals, her pure clean tone spilling all over the guitars like an outer space Yoko Ono. Heavy vinyl in a gatefold sleeve, edition of 1000 copies. Is it just me or have the last buncha AMT releases signalled a major return to form?

Yeah yeah, blah blah, it’s hard to keep up w/AMT, they release too much shit etc etc.. but every so often Makoto Kawabata’s Japanese psychedelic orchestra release something that hands you your ass on a plate and makes you remember just how dazzling they can be at their peak. And this is a perfect case in point. Released to inaugurate Blackest Rainbow’s new Blackest Bootlegs series, Shakespeare From The Cosmic Inferno catches the group at a wild celestial high in Sheffield, England in 2008. The line-up is Pika from Afrirampo on vocals, Tabata Mitsuru (Zeni Geva/Loud Machine 5000 et al) on bass and voice, Higashi Hiroshi on synth, guitar and vocals, Koji Shimura (White Heaven/Jutok Kaneko) on drums and Kawabata on guitar and vocals. The merciful absence of ‘space joker’ Atsushi Tsuyama means there’s less wack and more warp, with the group tearing through “Master Of The Cosmic Inferno/Heart Of Earth/Ecstasy Into The Cosmic Inferno” before melting into an almost two-sides long take on their classic repeat-guitar/dreamboat anthem “Pink Lady Lemonade”, detouring halfway through into a sidereal “Space Disco” wig out. A dream line-up navigating some of Kawabata’s most potent settings of rock hypnotics all rendered with the kinda crude/explosive fidelity that could almost have been master-minded by Nanjo Asahito. It’s enough to make you remember why you fell in love with AMT in the first place. Edition of only 250 copies on 140g vinyl with full-colour printed sleeves. Highly recommended!

Stunning 2001 release from Makoto Kawabata’s psychedelic cult, here with a brain-bobbing take on Terry Riley’s minimalist classic as scored for synth, bass, throat-gargling vocals and motor-psycho guitar. On Eclipse and long out of print.