Japanese band Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso UFO is soldiering on in spite of their home country's state of disaster, and thank goodness for that. We feel like we need serious refuge from all that's going wrong in the world right now (tsunamis, gloomy weather, no more free Britney Spears show, etc.), and AMT's berserk psychedelic freak jams are just the medicine to do the trick.

Led by ferocious guitarist Kawabata Makoto, whose flowing beard and curly hair are sights to behold, the music comes on strong. It all feels like you're falling head first into the rainbow swirls of an iTunes visualizer. Buoyant synthesizers, drums, Indian raga strings, guitars and rippling, warbling effects quickly build into full-grown beasts, full of competing solos and rhythms that recall Hawkwind at their most LSD-coated moments. Occasionally, truly sublime moments emerge from their gloriously primordial jams, yielding the kind of on-stage flashes of brilliance you have a hard time forgetting.

Whether you're sober the moment the music takes off or not, expect a full-on mind abduction by this band of neo-hippies, who seem like they're from another planet altogether.

Acid Mothers Temple perform at Bottom of the Hill tonight, 9:30 pm, 21+, $12. 1233 17th St., 415-621-4455.