ON THE CULTURE INDUSTRY

AHLEUCHATISTAS pronounced ah-LOO-cha-TEES-tuhz is a noisy avant-prog trio from Asheville, North Carolina that was formed in 2002 by Shane Perlowin (guitar), Derek Poteat (bass) and Sean Dail (drums) however the lineup has changed since the beginning. The moniker is a clever portmanteau of "Ah-Leu-Cha" which is a 1948 jazz bop Charlie Parker release and the Mexican revolutionary conglomerate Zapatistas and therefore the intent is to combine a musical revolution with a social one into a single package.

This instrumental band has become an underground brutal prog favorite for its jittery math rock frenzies that include elements of ethnic music, psychedelic rock, garage rock, minimalism, classical, electronica as well as pure unadulterated noise. The group is known for its knotty spastic deliveries of highly complex angular prog workouts and has found a fitting home on the Cuneiform Record label. Having released about eight albums so far, ON THE CULTURE INDUSTRY is the beginning and this debut emerged in 2002 however at this stage the band were on the Angura label.

Definitely one of those difficult listening type of prog bands that keeps panheads united, AHLEUCHATISTAS is known for a punishing parade of avant-prog processions laced with jazzy chord progressions, noisy guitar distortion, math rock jitteriness and transcendental psychedelic accoutrements. The main gist of ON THE CULTURE INDUSTRY, which is said to be the band's most accessible album as the stylistic approach would become even noisier and more brutal in its time signature bombast, is to display periods of knotty guitar fueled workouts the include jazzy drum rolls and heavy angular complexities and alternate with more contemplative comparatively easy listening segments that freely float in 4/4 timing and cast hypnotic spells that eventually get broken by the leap back into brutal prog antics.

To many who are not accustomed to this style of math rock fueled brutal avant-prog, this may all seem rather aimless and completely devoid of any purpose and in some ways that is the point really. AHLEUCHATISTAS is one of many such bands that have sprung up since the 90s that have found inspiration in the works by John Zorn and Naked City and taken things into much more extreme directions much like some modern metal bands have gone places Black Sabbath never dreamed. Starting with bands like Ruins in the 80s this Japanese inspired frenetic prog has really caught on with bands like AHLEUCHATISTAS expanding past the mere emphasis of brutality in the form of noise and time signature gymnastics but by also adding traditional jazz sounds as well as an arsenal of disparate tones and timbres that keep the music from becoming a one dimensional snooze-fest.

If you are into bands like The Flying Luttenbachers, Breadwinner, Happy Family or Altered States then AHLEUCHATISTAS will fit in your distorted world of brutal prog otherwise this is a style of prog that won't appeal to the crossover crowds that seek more sophisticated versions of pop hooks. This is certainly the kind of music that doesn't contain memorable hooks as it is a frenetic discordant jet-fueled rampage of math rock brutality and more subdued smooth jazz set into the context of post-rock. This is definitely not the kind of music you hum along with but rather get completely lost in as its unpredictability and complexities are the draw. Not a bad start for a band that continues to crank out new albums every few years. I like how the album alternates between the heavy distorted passages and the clean guitar jazzier ones. A more than decent debut album by this North Carolina band.

3.5 but rounded up