Ahleuchatistas - On The Culture Industry (Cover Artwork)
Staff Review

Ahleuchatistas

On The Culture Industry (2003)

Angura Sound


When I first played this CD, I did not expect to hear what I did. The intro song in the beginning is a minute and a half of haunting guitar. I thought maybe this was a hardcore band. Whoops. I was wrong. Ahleuchasticas is a jazz/math rock trio that will blow your mind.

A little fuzzy, a little dirty, but overall incredible musicianship. Not only is this CD vocal-less, but I fail to detect any multi-tracking, which makes me believe that what I am hearing would very well be what I hear at a live show. Did I say the musicianship was amazing?

To help describe their sound, it's hard not make comparison's to Yes, the kings of math rock. Only...it's different. I guess what I almost hear more than Yes is a less jazzy version of Happy Apple, a drum/bass/sax trio that explores experimental jazz.

It's almost pointless to try and figure out the time signatures of most of the songs. This music is written extremely intricately. What amazes me even more is that I don't think any of the album is improvised. Each note is carefully harmonized between bass and guitar, which is nutzo if you heard the riffs that they were cranking out of their strings.

The only problem with this record is that it's not very publicly accessible. It's very experimental, and completely instrumental. Not everyone is going to like this record. But I do. And you may, if you just give it a shot.