Formed in 1995 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). In 1998 the group played their first tours of the US and Europe. Since then the group has released a huge number of albums on labels from many different countries. As of 2017, the group has released around 80 albums.
The group has performed in collaboration with many musicians including psychedelic originators Gong and Guru Guru, Simeon (Silver Apples), Nik Turner (Hawkwind), and the Occitanian trad sinder Rosina de Peira. Japanese collaborators have included Afrirampo, Tatsuya Yoshida (Ruins), Maso Yamazaki (Masonna), Seiichi Yamamoto (Boredoms), Jun Kuriyama (The Ox), and many others.
To begin with the group had a floating line-up with contributions from many members of the AMT Soul Collective. But as tours became more frequent, the group began to coalesce around a core touring line-up. Other bands were created with Acid Mothers Temple as part of their name (AMT & The Cosmic Inferno, AMT SWR, AMT & The Space Paranoid, AMT & Infinity Rising Zero, Acid Mothers Gong, Acid Mothers Guru Guru, Acid Moon Temple, etc.), but AMT & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. has continued to function as the mothership and main lineage for all our activities.
In 2016, 21 years since the group's founding, there was a major shift in the line-up and "Next Generation" was added to the name. We now view the first 20 years as chapter one in our story, and we are now turning the page to start chapter two.
The group played more than 100 shows in each year, toured in Europe, North America, South America, Oceania and Asia, also Japan. They also played many festivals (Glastonbury Festival in UK, Levitation in US and France, Rock In Opposition in France, Standon Calling in UK, Kuala Lumpur Experimental Film, Video & Music Festival in Malaysia, LUC fest 貴人散步音樂節 in Taiwan, etc).
During the pandemic, they launched their official Bandcamp, have released more than 60 albums (including many unreleased materials), and have toured in Japan in each year. And they played the streaming festival “Levitation Sessions”. They organized “Acid Mothers Olympic 2021” against “Tokyo Olympics 2021”, they originated and played a new style of “music sports”.
Finally the group restarted to the first European tour in Autumn 2022, also the first North American tour in Spring 2023, after the pandemic. The current touring line-up is: Kawabata Makoto (the founder member), Higashi Hiroshi (the founder member), Satoshima Nani, Jyonson Tsu and Sawano Shozo.
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Dead Leaf Echo are pleased to announce their third LP The Mercy of Women. Influenced by a pandemic-induced recording process that stretched over several years, Mercy shows DLE exploring sounds that are both more intense and accessible than ever before. Long-know for their unique mixture of shoegaze and guitar-driven pop, The Mercy of Women will appeal to old and new fans alike.
LG Galleon started writing the songs that would become The Mercy of Women in 2017, shortly after the release of their last LP Beyond.Desire. In 2019 the band had just wrapped a tour of the West Coast, debuting some of the new songs in a stellar performance on KEXP’s “John in the Morning.” They flew back to New York to begin recording the album, with its release planned alongside a European tour in Autumn 2020. The pandemic scuppered the band’s plans, ultimately giving them breathing room to explore the structure and texture of the songs over the course of several years.
The album was recorded over multiple sessions at home and the practice studio, with final recordings at Studio G helmed by seasoned engineer Jeff Berner (Psychic TV, Kurt Vile). James Aparacio (Spiritualized, Depeche Mode) mixed, while Joe Lambert (Deerhunter, Moby) was brought in to master. Lacquers for the vinyl release were cut by Lex van Coeverden (David Bowie, Cocteau Twins).
The songs encapsulate the gift that the female of the species has given, from the dance hall Hacienda passion of album opener “BOO” to the forlorn forgiveness of the masses in “Forgivination.” Over a decade since their first release, Dead Leaf Echo continue to forge their own sound and find new levels of accessibility in their sound, with shoegaze-tinged tracks like “Call” and “Another Breath” destined for college radio rotations.
Destroy//Exist, in their premiere of lead single “Call”, describe the sound as “a mesmerizing blend of warm shoegaze, post rock, and psychedelic rock elements, showcasing the band’s continuously expanding musical prowess.”
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Doors 6pm. Music 9pm. 21+