Live Concert Photography: Kikagaku Moyo with Minami Deutsch at Warsaw 11/15/19

Live Concert Photography: Kikagaku Moyo with Minami Deutsch at Warsaw 11/15/19

Kikagaku Moyo which translates into English as “geometric patterns” is a Tokyo, Japan-based psych rock band formed by Go Kurosawa (drums, vocals) and Tomo Katsurada formed the band in 2012 as a free music collective that busked around their hometown. Daoud (guitar) joined the band. Shortly after he joined, the band met Kotsu Guy (bass), while Guy was recording vending machines for a noise project. Guy was recruited and became the band’s fourth member. Kurosawa’s brother Ryu (sitar) joined the band after returning from Kolkata, India, where he studied sitar under Manilal Nag.

With the band’s lineup settled, the band wrote and recorded their 2013 self-titled full-length debut. The band’s sophomore effort, 2014’s Forest of Lost Children was released through Beyond Beyond Is Beyond Records. Building upon a rapidly growing international profile, the Tokyo-based act toured across the States making festival appearances at Desert Daze and Austin Psych Fest (now known as Levitation).

Because of high demand, their self-titled debut was re-issued on cassette tape through Burger Records.The band followed that with Mammatus Clouds, which was initially released on cassette tape through Sky Lantern Records and later as a 12 inch LP by Cardinal Fuzz Records in the UK and Captcha Records in the States. The band continued a busy touring schedule with their first UK tour, which included a number of sold-out shows in London.

2015 saw the band touring extensively across Europe with appearances at Eindhoven Psych Lab and Duna Jam. That year also saw the band start Guruguru Brain Records, a label that showcases East Asia’s music scene.

Since then the band has released 2017’s Stone Garden EP and last year’s Masana Temples. The band’s headlining set at Warsaw last month was a career spanning one that was centered around their most recent release. The rapidly rising Japanese Krautrock act Minami Deutsch opened for them. Check out photos from the show below. 

    With the release of 2015’s self-titled debut and 2016’s Tunnel/New Pastoral Life EP, the Tokyo-based krautrock act Minami Deutsch, comprised of Kyotrao Miula (guitar, vocals, synthesizer), Taku Idemoto (guitar) and Keita Ise (bass), quickly established themselves with their homeland’s growing and incredibly vital psych scene. Much like their contemporaries, the band meshes the best influences from the global psych rock scene  with a delicate touch of Japanese music tradition. Their latest effort, Can’t get there, a six song EP, which was released through Höga Nord Rekords earlier this year marks their second release through the Gothenburg, Sweden-based label. According to the band, Can’t get there‘s material is meant to crush negatively, sorrow and depressive energy — and it does so while continuing the band’s long-held adherence to a sound and approach that’s defiantly anachronistic. Of course, there are small hints and nods at modernity throughout the material: the band manages to gently push their sound in new directions: the EP features a cover of Index‘s 1968 song “Israeli Blues” and two remixes from Hoga Kord labelmates and mainstays Jamie Paton and Mythologen. Last month the members of Minami Deutsch opened for Japanese psych rockers Kikagaku Moyo during a lengthy North American tour that included a stop at Warsaw.  Minami Deutch played an expansive, mind bending set that featured one of my favorite songs off the EP, “Can’t get there,” a seamless synthesis of groove-driven krautrock and trippy psych rock.