Ahleuchatistas

Oh my God. These guys reinstated my love for double-kick bass drums, that’s for sure. The Ahleuchatistas are a band of math/thrash/prog/punk whatchamacallits from North Carolina that have distinct political spins (check out "Remember Rumsfeld At Abu Ghraib” as a flash back to Mingus’s "Remember Rockefeller At Attica”) and a frantic, powerful delivery. The music definitely has its feet in the Ruins (minus the dizzyingly hilarious vocals), as well as Fantômas and the Ex but takes off from there with sheer inventiveness and fearless precision. Songs like "Sometimes There’s A Buggy” and "Before The Law” shift away from the relentless prog/math acrobatics into pools of free improv and reflection, while "Shell in Ogoniland” and "Maybe Orange” happily pummel you with under two-minute assaults. This CD also includes a rather dark rec room trio of vids, which are kind of neat and makes one see the attraction of this band live. This is happy, jumping around music! (Cuneiform)