Gekkyukekkaichi Album

Tsurubami may very well be the most blissfully unrestrained blast of hallucinatory fire to ever spiral forth from the Acid Mothers Temple Soul Collective. Certainly the inspiration behind Tsurubami ranks it among the most philosophical and deeply spiritual. Comprised of Emi Nobuko (drums) and fellow Acid Mothers Temple compatriots Kawabata Makoto (guitar) and Higashi Hiroshi (bass), the inception of Tsurubami harkens back to 1994 when the three formed the group while they were still of Tenkyo no To, the precursor to the whole Acid Mothers Temple Soul Collective rainbow gathering. After their initial rumblings came an extended period of relative silence, but with a dose of releases in the past couple of years (via Riot Season, Last Visible Dog, Acid Mothers Temple) and tours of the US and Europe in Spring 2003, Tsurubami are back with a fury, imbued with a renewed vision and a stunning sense of purpose. Gekkyukekkaichi is the latest clarion call for Tusrubami, a densely churning, deeply immersing whirlpool of sound, spun from a total state of ecstatic improvisation.
Upon entering Tsurubami's sphere for the first time, it is immediately evident that a higher form of consciousness is at play. The crux of the band is driven upon the actual meaning of Tenkyo no To - those who are destined from a previous life to become eternal blood brothers. Set aglow by the innate understanding of their linked fate, the three effortlessly meld together into one intuitive being, telepathically tapping into a collective consciousness that manifests itself as an intensely emotive flurry of sound-energy. Gekkyukekkaichi is hard evidence of Tsurubami's ritualistic soul purging, an aggressive, physical excursion of group dynamics spread across two compositions that stretch in total just past the one hour mark. Resonating, ringing guitar fractals are drowned in layers of echo-chamber effects, swelling with intense volume over restless bass pulses and feathery multi-directional drum patterns, scattering sonic debris like clouds of pollen over unsuspecting heads. Not all of the Tsurubami experience is fire and brimstone however; sound streams ebb and flow, finding lilting pockets of relief that are almost yearning and ballad-like. An aura of heaviness is imparted, not necessarily of musical gravity but of a sobering sense that Gekkyukekkaichi is a document of a unique moment in time, an instance of complete disembodiment of the musicians. Tsurubami's pursuit of soul purification and the secret vibrations of the cosmos may very well have been reached right before your very ears.
Summoning the fire walking bliss of Fushitsusha-style psychedelic guitar meltdowns and the exploratory, propulsive free improv that folks like Sony Sharrock or William Hooker embody, Tsurubami is certainly the most liberated unit of the entire AMT family tree. All in all, Gekkyukekkaichi inspires awe through a raw, organic display of the subconscious mind exposed. Recorded October 2002 at the Acid Mothers Temple, no overdubs employed whatsoever.
-Strange Attractors