DIRTY LAUNDRY INTERVIEW: KIKAGAKU MOYO

Lucy Pogoriler, our intrepid Dirty Laundry TV reporter/psych rock devotee, talked to Tokyo-based multi-instrumentalists Kikagaku Moyo prior to their recent trip to LA.

I’ve seen you play in London twice a couple of years ago and I was completely mesmerized. What can we expect for your LA gig?

We will defiantly play some new material, but we usually choose our sets each night depending on how we feel. You can expect one song from Stone Garden EP, some new jams, and a few older tunes.

You’ve toured in the US quite a bit. What has been one of the highlights of the American culture?

We meet a lot of interesting random people here. Like people who take too many drugs and go to shows alone wearing sunglasses. Everywhere we go we seem to run into people who will talk to anyone about anything. We also eat lots of burgers.

“A House in the Tall Grass” is a beautiful and softened album compared to some of the heavier tracks from previous albums. What was different about this creation process?

When we were making the record, we already had an image of what kind of sound we wanted to have. We wanted to make an album where the listener can take their own journey with us. We got the concept when we went on a trip to Northern Japan in the winter. We took a morning walk in the snow and felt how nature sounds after the snow absorbed the sounds.

Your most recent release “Stone Garden” takes the listeners through another lucid voyage except this time you are experimenting with new sounds. What was the motivation behind this?

We really just isolated ourselves in the middle of a tour to record. We had no real plan for the songs, just concepts that we put together by playing all night long. Our producer made these songs from the tracks of us jamming. We wanted the record to have a raw pure energy that shows how we like to jam live.

I get so transfixed by each song because it builds on itself for a good 6-10 minutes. What are your jam sessions like?

Our jam sessions are like a flock of birds, we don’t decide the direction, if one bird flies in a certain direction we follow them for a little bit, then maybe somewhere else. It’s a collective process. It’s not about soloing or showing off. Nobody knows what’s going to happen so we need to listen to each other with open ears. We enjoy the uncertainty in jamming.

Who are some bands from the past you listen to, to get those mind juices flowing?

Popol Vuh, Fairport Convention, and Friend Sound