Ahleuchatistas

On their third album, this instrumental guitar, bass and drums trio from Asheville, NC masterfully mash together the disparate sounds of agro post-punk, math rock and post-rock into one politically charged and vitally energetic demonstration of the band’s singular, angular vision. Far more tightly hinged and substantially more exciting than their somewhat more long-winded and drawn-out previous work, What You Will captures this relatively fresh band (bassist Derek Poteat, guitarist Shane Perlowin and drummer Sean Dail) in full compositional flight, rocking about and careening through a hail storm of falling rock urgency that draws comparison to another jagged band with a penchant for leftist political imagery and messages: Denmark’s the Ex. Influences such as Robert Fripp and King Crimson, Ruins and John Zorn are also inescapable. Their name, much like their music, combines a free-thinking reference in the Charlie Parker song "Ah-Leu-Cha,” with the political tension of the Zapatistas, the revolutionary social movement formed in Mexico. But this is music that speaks for itself. Ahleuchatistas don’t need lyrics to speak out with vigour and velocity.