Powerhouse Japanese psych band plays final SF show at Warfield
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- The Japanese psych wayfarers who make up Kikagaku Moyo have built a sizable global following in the space of a decade. The Tokyo band got it's start when principle songwriter Go Kurosawa (drums/vocals) and Tomo Katsurada (guitar/vocals) founded the band as a loose music collective, busking in the streets as a duo while refining an acoustic psych-folk sound that echoed the influence of German hippy experimentalists Amon Düül and Japanese band Taj Mahal Travellers.
They would add bass player Kotsu Guy and guitarist Daoud Popal, eventually expanding to a five piece when Go's brother Ryu Kurosawa returned to Japan after studying sitar in India. The band recorded it's first EP in the space of a day and posted it to their Bandcamp page. Those recordings would attract attention from interested listeners across the globe, including small Greek imprint Cosmic Eye Records who offered to issue a limited run of vinyl.
The band's has continued to raise it's profile with a steady stream of recordings that showcased a sound that -- like their modern Japanese psych forebears in Ghost -- deftly shifted from meditative acoustic grooves to howling, guitar-fueled space rock excursions into orbit. In 2015, the group issued a pair of 7-inch singles with mutual admirers Moon Duo (the noted U.S. drone/psych band that got its start in San Francisco) and Acid Mothers Temple guitarist Kawabata Makoto backed by Seattle group Kinski as part of a special series for God Unknown Records that quickly became collectors items.
Touring the world extensively with jaunts to Australia, the United States (they played Desert Daze in Southern California and the Austin Psych Fest in 2014) and Europe in addition to their native Japan, Kikagaku Moyo has established a reputation as a powerhouse performing unit. Last year, the group issued a follow-up to their acclaimed 2016 effort House in the Tall Grass that came out on Guruguru Brain Records. The Stone Garden EP found the quintet in propulsive, stoner-psych mode, unleashing some of their heaviest music yet.
The band had a busy 2018, touring the U.S. extensively with like-minded psych explorers Earthless and appearing onstage with the band at Roadburn 2018 in Holland in addition to appearing at such festivals as San Francisco's Outside Lands and Desert Daze in Southern California. In 2018, the group issued its fourth studio album, Masana Temples, a heady exploration of heavy guitar riffs and transporting sitar melodies that earned the band some of the best reviews of its short career.
While the coronavirus pandemic would put a damper on Kikagaku Moyo's activity since it last played the Bay Area -- selling out its then biggest SF show yet at the Fillmore two years ago -- the band has managed a couple more releases. It was featured on a collaborative live recording that like-minded exploratory guitarist Ryley Walker put out on his Husky Pants label spotlighting a pair of extended jams. The band also released another concert document -- Live at Levitation -- as part of the Austin, TX psych festival's series of live albums that includes a recording from 2014 on one side and tracks captured at the festival five years later on the flip.
The group played several shows in the greater Bay Area last year, including a special outdoor show with Walker in Big Sur and a headline concert at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco. In January, the band announced to its shocked fanbase that it would be going on an indefinite hiatus after extensive touring in 2022, with its latest album -- the scintillating psychedelic juggernaut Kumoyo Island -- planned as its last recording for the foreseeable future.
Making appearances at a number of the festivals that helped establish the band's fan base including Levitation and Desert Daze during the its final run of live performances in the U.S., Kikagaku Moyo's last San Francisco concert presented by promoter (((folkYEAH!))) was originally scheduled for the Castro before getting moved to the larger Warfield with experimental electronic pop artist Briana Marela opening the show. The group also plays a sold-out gig Saturday night at the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz where the band will be joined by celebrated Bay Area psych-pop outfit Light Fantastic.
Kikagaku Moyo
Saturday, Sept. 24, 7 p.m. $32-$35 (sold out)
Rio Theatre
Sunday, Sept. 25, 7 p.m. $45-$65
The Warfield