Majutsu No Niwa - Sylvania 7027 Live

Wish Brett was here to review this, he was the office Japrock nut and had a wide ranging knowledge of the scenes movers and shakers. This Majutsu No Niwa project is led by Rinji Fukuoka, a principle member of cult outfit Overhang Party (who the Brettmeister once tried forcing on us to no avail, it really wasn't floating our collective logs I tell thee) This sounds tons better though, recorded live, some of the finest acid-fried soloing I've heard in recent memory from the very beginning. 'Fake Kraut No. 2' is a free-form shit-storm of lycergic tendrils of mind-shifting wah-wah and ace percussive jamming. It does eventually take a more rhythmic form coming on like a deep cosmic form of  Krautrock with relentless rumbling bass, steadfast excitable drums and that blistering caustic guitar burrowing its way deeper and deeper. 'Frontera' just keeps the truck steadily cruising at the same pace but features actual vocals and a more traditional grooving rock stance like. Over on side two the first track to reach my old ears is deep and thoughtful psych rock with a tenderness and grace that many practitioners of the genre lose in the effort to out-OM each other with meaty riffs or Hawkwind heaviness. The production has a real intimacy to it as well, I feel like I'm sitting on the edge of the stage where they're thoughtfully jamming this into shape. The subsequent concluding track really takes your face off however, being more akin to pile-driving punk rock with a well heavy psychedelic bent! Totally surprising in its intensity and pace, the guitars on here totally rip the roof off, a brilliant finale to a formidable album.