Pitchfork

Three guys, seven bands, nine cities, one traveling Japanese festival. Sound nutty? Some of the craziness can be attributed to the fact that the men behind the music are Acid Mothers Temple's Tsuyama Atsushi and Kawabata Makoto, and Ruins' Yoshida Tatsuya-- touring together in numerous arrangements, among them Acid Mothers Temple SWR.

Now it's common knowledge that AMT and Ruins are two of the most exciting psychedelic artists active today, but what's with the new SWR arrangement? According to Tatsuya, "SWR is the AMT Family's most powerful battle-formation yet...their crushingly acute freakout sound will pulverize the world's legions of wannabe psych groups." Fuck with that, Devendra!

The Japanese New Music Festival, featuring the aforementioned trio and now in its fourth year, will travel across the bars and lounges of North America over the course of the next week. Here's the kicker-- for each gig, Atsushi, Tatsuya, and Makoto will arrange themselves in seven different band formations (including SWR). All in one night!! We're not sure how long each act will go on for, or how on Earth these dudes will have the necessary stamina to go all out like this, but it's looking like the Japanese psych rock spectacle of the summer, and it's nearly upon us!

The bands include Acid Mothers Temple SWR, a drum and sampled-bass solo incarnation of Ruins called Ruins Alone, experimental punk band Akaten, a cappella ensemble Zubi Zuva X, humorous improvisers Zoffy, improv pair Shrinp Wark, and the all-encompassing Seikazoku. Holy moly. But seriously, there's no sense trying to describe this shit-- just go see it.

Go go go:

09-02 New York, NY - Tonic
09-03 Brooklyn, NY - Northsix
09-04 Atlanta, GA - Eyedrum
09-05 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle
09-06 Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge
09-07 Seattle, WA - Wooden Octopus Skull Festival
09-08 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill
09-09 Los Angeles, CA - Smell
09-10 Mexico City, Mexico - Alicia

Meanwhile, Daevid Allen-fronted Acid Mothers spinoff Acid Mothers Gong have a tour of Japan lined up for October. Check it:

10-05 Osaka, Japan - Bridge
10-07 Osaka, Japan - Bridge (Daevid Allen solo)
10-08 Tokyo, Japan - Penguin House (Daevid Allen solo)
10-09 Tokyo, Japan - Doors
10-10 Nagoya, Japan - Tokuzo
10-11 Oumi, Japan - Shuyukan (Daevid Allen solo)

And finally, the actual Acid Mothers Temple play Tokuzo in Nagoya, Japan on December 9.