Asheville band Ahleuchatistas on NPR’s All Songs Considered

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Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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Looks like NPR made a discovery while at Moogfest this year: Local jazz/prog/avant-garde math rock band Ahleuchatistas. The band’s video for “Lighted Stairs” appears on NPR’s All Songs Considered online today.

Here’s what the reviewer has to say about the Asheville band:

Heads Full of Poison, Ahleuchatistas’ new album, is a fabulous sonic journey honed from nearly 100 live performances into studio recordings that were made over a few years. The group has made seven albums in the last 10 years, but embarrassingly for me, this is my first encounter with Ahleuchatistas’ music. I think I have some listening to do. The video here, for the tune “Lighted Stairs,” may be your introduction to Ahleuchatistas.

Ahleuchatistas’ Heads Full Of Poison is out now on Cuneiform and Harvest Records.

Here’s to many more connections like this being made at Moogfests yet to come.

Ahleuchatistas on Facebook

Website

FYI: From Wikipedia, here’s the story behind the band’s unusual name:

The band’s name, pronounced “AH-LOO-CHA-TEES-TAS”, is a portmanteau of “Ah-Leu-Cha“, the Charlie Parker song, and “Zapatistas“, the Mexican revolutionary movement: “Musical revolution and social revolution combined into a single coinage.”[6]

Wikipedia on Ahleuchatistas:

Ahleuchatistas are an American instrumental math rock[1][2] duo that mix influences of jazz, progressive rock, avant-garde, and experimental[3] to create a unique sound. The band was formed in Asheville, North Carolina in November 2002.

Ahleuchatistas’ sound is rooted in a wide variety of sonic influences and musical traditions. In addition to being an instrumental rock band, there are elements of noise, African music, ambient/drone, psychedelia, Chinese traditional music, garage rock, minimalism, classical music, and electronica. They employ block-form, thru-composition, and improvisational musical strategies. Sudden tempo changes, amelodic tones, and technically complex motifs are prominent characteristics of much of the band’s recorded output. The original members of the band were Shane Perlowin on guitar, Derek Poteat on bass, and Sean Dail on drums.[4] Sean Dail left the band in May 2008 and was replaced by Ryan Oslance, a drummer from Carbondale, Illinois. Ryan was found by a reply to a MySpace bulletin outlining the band’s request for a new drummer. He then drove to Asheville, auditioned, and the band immediately rehearsed for 25+ hours over a four day period. This was followed by a 3 week US tour.[4] Ahleuchatistas have released six albums on different record labels, including Cuneiform Records, Angura Sound, Tzadik Records, and guitarist Shane Perlowin’s independent label Open Letter Records. Their album The Same and the Other was reissued in 2008 on Tzadik Records[5] after the influential avant-garde composer/musician John Zorn took a liking to them.[3]

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Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

  • 1

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