Customer Reviews

Nam Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

More of the same, not that that's necessarily a bad thing for those of us who like AMT, even if I am not able to keep up with let alone afford the neverending array of albums they release incessantly. It starts out soft, as you'd expect from their typical patterns, trading off a more traditional chant with a grunting, gutteral vocal. It builds momentum, crests into a noisier battle of instruments, and then detours a bit into a sax riff-- which I found predictable-- then a female vocal interlude.After the climactic uproar, it takes you down, to end with a happy-go-lucky singalong of the a capella chant in non-typical fashion.

The consistency of AMT may be for some their strength and for others their weakness. They deliver solid, demanding, and alternately carefree and dense musical backdrops. The foreground? You might use this if you're the type of listener wanting an adventurous alternative to the New Age section, under which genre iTunes had classified this CD when I uploaded it!

Perhaps it's meditation mood setting for the post-punk, neo-psychedelic era. Based on a Buddhist mantra, it does conjure up visions of hungry ghosts, fierce deities, and epic battles as well as harmony, peace, and fulfillment. All the emotions, in this hour-long suite, may be included.

OK -- this isn't really drone music (see Andrew Chalk for a wonderful drone experience) but the music here takes parts of the drone aesthetic and creates a nice psychedelic ride. One long track that is exploratory and somehow relaxing. It just works. AMT release a lot of music and not all of it is worth buying. However, this one is and is one of their must haves. For fans of real psych rock.

Out-FREAKING-standing! First glance at this CD cover and title could possibly lure any (even long time fans, like myself) of Acid mothers Temple away - assuming that the music here would be just too weird. Think again, much like their tribute to the cosmic pioneer band Gong 'Iao Chant' (see my review) this one track - clocking in at 65:15 is a must-have piece to listen to as frequent as you like. The CD's title comes from a Japanese religion - Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism that is said to be 750 years old. Noticed that this single track effort does include nine 'parts' that it's broken into. AMT has recruited a new female vocalist for this record - Kitagawo Hao. After about ten minutes 'Nam Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo' changes tempo - as I'm sure that I hear a flute, sax, glockenspiel, tamboura, sarangui, synthesizer and alto recorder being put to good use. Keep in mind to have patience - this lengthy track does progress but does so gradually. Highly recommended.

It never ceases to amaze me that music this creative is still being released and I generally enjoyed this 2007 release. Admittedly, while their approach retreads 1970s experimental musical styles, it still sounds fairly contemporary.

The album lasts for a little over an hour and is comprised of one lengthy instrumental piece that is evidently based around a traditional meditation. It is sectionalized, with three or four distinct "movements" that range from quiet meditations to all-out assaults on heavily distorted guitars and an atonal and free-form jazz "freak out" towards the end (complete with Eric Dolphy-like blasts on a saxophone).

For the most part, the central core of each movement consists of a quarter (or three quarter) note "pulse"- just like you might hear in a minimalist composition. In addition, very simple and repetetive melodic fragments on guitar are used. All sorts of sounds are layered on top of the pulse/melodic fragments including bleeps and blurbs on synthesizers, electric/acoustic guitars, percussion, and very strange non-singing parts including grunts, chants, and spoken word passages (in Japanese). Driving it all along are a heavy drummer and bassist - I only wish the drums were a bit louder.

While the entire piece has a hypnotic charm, my favorite parts include the melodies on acoustic guitar and the thunderous "Black Sabbath meets Stockhausen" central sections, which are led by a distorted electric guitar played at a crushing volume. This stuff gets really wild.

Although I found some of the artwork to be slightly offensive, this CD package is OK and includes a sticker from the Ace Fu Record label. The production/sound quality is not bad (though the drums could have been louder).

All in all, this is a fine album of psychedelic/experimental/avant-rock that should appeal to folks that enjoy the dissonant psychedelic and experimental groups from the 1970s.

This album is just a long drone, (one 65-minute track).

Do I really need another album like that in the krautrock vein? I mean if I want good droney stuff I'd much rather get a Klaus Schulze album than this dull-ish stuff. OR, while we're on the subject, what's wrong with classical? A Mozart symphony soens the same job for me as ART and it's a heck-of-a lot more accomplished musically (sorry for being snarky). Heck, even Ash Ra Tempel is nicer. A.R.T. is the Jandek of Psychadelic right now.