Acid Mothers Temple

The terms "trippy" and "psychedelic" would not do justice to the music created by Japanese band Acid Mothers Temple since the mid '90s (full name: Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O., where UFO stands for Underground Freak Out). Formed and led by guitarist Kawabata Makoto, the band has gone through a series of line-up changes while also being wildly prolific both in the studio and as a live band. Their music is many things alongside psychedelic: it is chaotic, noisy, fragmented, avant-garde, and ultimately, challenging. They are sweet and melodic one moment, aggressively atonal the next, often both at the same time. The band continues to put out albums with some regularity, each release an unpredictable package. Some of their albums are tributes to great bands and artists that came before, ranging from Captain Beefheart to Miles Davis to Black Sabbath, each one just as fascinating as their regular body of work. This band is a deep well, for sure.