A special mid-week treat tonight at the Paddo RSL, sees the Sydney visit of Japanese experimental psych improvisers, Kikagaku Moyo. Tonight they are supported by Sydney locals Misty Lanes.

Photos shot for AMNplify by RobMezzPhoto. See the full gallery here.

Misty Lanes

Misty Lanes started off as a solo recording project for Steve Schouten. As a live show, it has become a troupe of 6 strapping lads dressed in sartorial splendour. With a very heavy influence from 60’s psych garage; the live line-up includes drum and bass, with plenty of guitars (3 of them) and keyboards to fill out the sound.

Certainly lo-fi and unassuming in sound, the live show is visually a wall of guitars across the stage. Not loud, raucous guitars, but subtle sounds, with lots of reverb and a fair dash of tremolo. While the rhythm is bounced along by drum and bass, guitars just push it along ever so slightly, never dominating, supporting the eerie keyboards to weave a journey for each tune – playing a central role.

Vocals were breathy and subtle, matching the dreamy soundscapes through the set. There is a definite middle eastern influence to the catchy riffs that trill through the music, giving a subtle, bouncy element that certainly gets the toes tapping and the heads nodding.

Meditate on their sound yourself here.

Kikagaku Moyo

The five unassuming members of Kikagaku Moyo filtered onto the stage, quietly taking up their places. This band of skilled musicians originated as a free music collective busking on the streets of Tokyo. Tonight the lineup included drums, bass, guitar, sitar and bit of keyboard.

Kicking off the set with the first track off their latest release, ‘Entrance’, immediately set the scene for the night. Dominated by the tantric sounds of the electric sitar, it immediately enchanted the packed crowd. What followed was a roller coaster of ethereal tunes, drifting from Indian classical music, psychedelic jazz, krautrock and creamy blues.

The set was full of hypnotic, repetitious cycles, slipping in and out of changing tempos from wild, seemingly improvised, jazz like progressions, soaked with fuzz laden guitar – then just dropping into quiet sparse tunes with meditative rhythms.

The night wound up with a sitar laden ‘Streets of Calcutta’, leaving the crowd dancing, swaying and just generally grooving to the infectious rhythms.

Get into their head-space and sample their latest release here.

Too blissed out for the Brown Note in this show!