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We are proud to announce the return to Belfast of some of Japan’s foremost musical innovators. Longtime FC Music favorites The Acid Mothers Temple core will be joined on this occasion by the mighty Ruins. Three musicians play in 7 combos in one show.

THE ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE SWR.
The Acid Mothers Temple has rapidly become acclaimed as the greatest, most extreme trip psychedelic group in the world. Releases have appeared on labels around the world at an amazing pace, and the magnificence of their live performances is already being whispered of as legendary. SWR is the AMT Family's most powerful battle-formation yet. ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE SWR features Tsuyama and Kawabata from the original AMT and Yoshida from Ruins on drums. Their crushingly acute freak out sound pulverizes the world's legions of wannabe psych groups.

RUINS ALONE
Yoshida Tatsuya is one of the most innovative drummer/composer/improvisers in Japan's music scene. He is the pioneer of Drum & Bass duo RUINS which was founded by Yoshida in '85. The music is complicated and mysterious, and songs are sung in a language of their own invention. It's high-tension, wild, heavy, speedy, acute, and powerful. The tremendous ensemble never sounded like they were only two players. Now RUINS has no bassist and recently Yoshida has been playing as RUINS ALONE. This is the same mind blowing RUINS songs with sampled bass.

KAWABATA MAKOTO (Solo)
Kawabata Makoto is best known for his speed-demon noise-fuzz guitar in Acid Mothers Temple, but he is also widely active as an unparalleled drone guitarist. Drawing upon a huge reservoir of original techniques including metal glissando and bow-work that can summon up the sound of a string ensemble or orchestra, his work in this area cannot be simply categorized as minimal, drone or experimental. You'll find it hard to believe that a single guitar can create sonic worlds of such meditative and elegant depth.

The prodigal brainchild of aural non-conformist David Longstreth, Dirty Projectors cast a kaleidoscopic glare far beyond the variegated province of experimental rock.

Their perpetually inventive, evolving aesthetic is buttressed by skewed guitars, skyscraper strings - and, not least, Longstreth's unparagoned larynx - into a livid anthology that variously chimes with Prince, Outkast and Bjork. Little wonder they've been widely extolled as the last guardians of rock 'n' roll.

Their latest album, Rise Above (Rough Trade) is a halfremembered re-imagining of Black Flag's coruscating masterwork Damaged. Rise Aboverevokes the original's hardcore brutality for a delirious acquisition of volatile tempos, unorthodox vocals, fitful wig-outs and lambent guitars. It is, of course, spectacular.

Portland Oregon's Yacht, is an amalgamation of self-taught dance moves and anthemic electro-power jams all played backwards and covered in cherry cola.

How to describe Ulrich Schnauss's music? Let's see. It's shoe-gazing heroes. Slowdive headlining a rave. It's krautrock plunging headlong into the celestial raptures of the Cocteau Twins. It's U2 if Brian Eno had ousted Bono and commandeered the band in 1985. It's Balearic with a view of the Baltic instead of the Mediterranean. It's art-techno for the heart as well as the head. It's stadium chill-out, as immense as a festival field and as intimate as a bedroom. It's celebration and catharsis. It's vapour trails and meteor showers. And it's very, very good.

Ulrich's third album, Goodbye, was released in Summer 2007 on Independiente Records.

Glasgow's 1990s debut album, Cookies (Rough Trade Records), dragged The Rolling Stones, Velvets, The Fall and Modern Lovers out of the bedroom, and onto the dance-floor, with classic party-rock assets You Made Me Like It, You're Supposed To Be My Friend and See You At The Lights.

Lead singer Jackie McKeown was the founding member of Scottish Indie band The Yummy Fur alongside Alex Kapranos and Paul Thomson from Franz Ferdinand.

Anyone who witnessed their previous Belfast shows with CSS and The Long Blondes will know that 1990s play music "like a blonde gets out of a car".

A beautiful mess of indie rock, country-rock and lo-fi with lyrics both witty and profound - the Silver Jews were formed in 1989 by writer David Berman along with Pavement's Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich.

Sometimes regarded as a Pavement side project, in fact The Jooswere formed before Pavement, and by 1996's The Natural Bridge album none of the Pavement musicians featured. Offering listeners an album without the inimitable influence of Stephen Malkmus' guitar and vocals, Silver Jews were always a conduit for David Berman's brand of sardonic, countrified indie rock, and Berman has remained the only constant member.

Berman had been steadfast in his almost complete refusal to play live, and so surprised the indie world when he announced the Silver Jews first ever tour of the U.S and Europe in 2006.

Silver Jews' sixth album Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea is released in May on Drag City Records.

The records that Jonathan Richman has made over the past 30+ years have long held a special place in the hearts of his fans. The raw, minimalist sound and emotionally forthright songs of The Modern Lovers helped to lay the groundwork for punk rock. But by the time the group's landmark debut album (including the much-covered Road Runner) was released in 1976, Jonathan had already moved on to a quieter sound and a gentler lyrical focus. Since then, he's continued to record and tour prolifically.

Jonathan's music has absorbed a multitude of influences, from doo-wop to country to a variety of international styles, without sacrificing the artist's effervescent personality. His deceptively straightforward songs embody timeless qualities of humanity, optimism, emotional insight and a boundless sense of humour, untainted by cynicism or transient notions of hipness.

Jonathan's audience expanded substantially in the 1990s, thanks to frequent guest spots on TV's Late Night with Conan O'Brien, his prominent appearance in the 1998 film comedy smash - There's Something About Mary, and the inclusions of his Modern Lovers classics Ice Cream Man and I'm A Little Airplane on Sesame Street.

Fortune Cookie Music in assoc with The Black Box are thrilled to announce that Swedish troubadour Jens Lekman will embark on a full-band debut Belfast show on May 23rd, which will follow his appearances at both the Pitchfork and Explosions In The Sky-curated All Tomorrow's Parties weekenders.

"Pop is rarely as genuinely affecting, joyful or good as this." - The Guardian, 5/5

"He crafts sun-drenched tunes that swoosh inside your head... Listen and believe." - NME, 8/10

"Kortedala represents the most cohesive statement yet from an immensely talented artist." - Pitchfork, 9.0 album review

"Joyous, danceable, at some times euphoric, at all times gorgeous." - Plan B

"Lekman marshals small orchestras, home-made Hustle-flavoured disco and subtly crafted acoustic indie pop to create an album that pulls off that simple, incredibly difficult achievement of elevating the mood without patronising the listener." - Word

Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang's music career started with modest goals but grew to incorporate one of the most influential bands of the 80s (Galaxie 500), a string of duo albums on Sub Pop records thoughout the 90s, collaborations with some of the most adventurous rock musicians playing today (Ghost, Michio Kurihara, nmperign, Wayne Rogers), and most recently, the formation of their own record label (20/20/20) and subsequent release of their two latest Damon & Naomi albums, 'The Earth Is Blue' and 'Within These Walls'.

In addition to their work as musicians, Damon & Naomi are the founders of Exact Change, a publishing house dedicated to avant-garde literature and artists' writings. As individual artists, Damon writes (and teaches) poetry and music criticism, and Naomi is a visual artist (photography and painting) and graphic designer.

Neither prolific nor easy to pigeonhole, San Francisco's Vetiver have long been associated with the city's alternative indie-folk scene probably due to head honcho Andy Cabic's dalliances as producer and sometime collaborator/bandmate with the likes of Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom, Vashi Bunyan and Bert Jansch..

Vetiver released their debut album in 2004 on the small indie folk label DiCristina and featured guest appearances by Hope Sandoval (Mazzy Star) and Colm O'Siosoig (My Bloody Valentine). Their most recent album "To Find Me Gone" came out in 2006 on the ultra hip Fat Cat label (Sigur Ros, Mum etc) and this summer sees the release of the bands third album "Thing Of The Past".

Adrian Crowley has toured extensively in the UK, USA and Europe with Adem and James Yorkston, Damon & Naomi (ex- Galaxie 500), and Hood. He has also shared the bill with Animal Collective, Jose Gonzalez, Fence Collective, Arab Strap, Badly Drawn Boy and has recorded with Steve Albini.

In an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, Ryan Adams named Crowley one of his favourite underground songwriters.

"Like Nick Drake strung-out on the minor chords and major catastrophes in the lives of Low." -PLAN B MAGAZINE:

Japanese hardcore legends Melt Banana finally make their debut Belfast show on June 19th.. Notorious for their incredible live performances and one-and-a-half-minute songs featuring the shrieking vocals of Yasuko O and Agata's intense overdriven guitar, Melt Banana's new album, 'Bambi’s
Dilemma', is out now on A-zap records