Kikagaku Moyo, Hidden Ritual

Never forget the sheer beauty of peak summit psych rock. Tokyo dream weavers Kikagaku Moyo conjure a dazzling Utopia both musically and conceptually on fourth album Masana Temples. Intimate Japanese vocals, silky guitar webs, exotic accents, and big-room atmospherics pop as fuzzy and bright as a rainbow for the 2014 Austin Psych Fest alums, who plot a timeless journey through a universe entirely of their own making.

Austin Chronicle: Opener “Entrance” feels very Beatlesque. What’s the significance of beginning the album with this piece?

Kikagaku Moyo: It’s an intro solo sitar jam, which we have never had on an album before. It’s an entrance of a coming journey.

AC: “Dripping Sun” – what’s the importance of the wah pedal to modern rock?

KM: Don’t you like the wah sounds? You can make the sound erotic or psychedelic with wah.

AC: “Nazo Nazo” seems so – what they used to call Sixties UK folk – pastoral. What are the influences on this track?

KM: We definitely have been influenced by UK folk, but for this song in particular, we wanted to make a song that was pastoral and nostalgic to us like Japanese folklore songs.

AC: “Fluffy Kosmisch” reminds me very much of Can. Fans?

KM: Yes, we love Can. Jaki and Michael Karoli are our favorites. Of course Irmin and Holger, too.

AC: “Nana” is my favorite: addictive bassline with perfect percussion and a beautiful vocal. What can you tell me about this song and recording?

KM: We wrote this song when we had time in Melbourne in King Gizz[ard]’s studio, so we definitely have some OZ vibes in that song, and Bruno Pernadas, who produced the record, gave us [a] different approach rather [than] being super tight and precise.

– Raoul Hernandez