Ahleuchatistas "The Same and the Other" CD
[Noreaster Failed]
12 more tracks of quirky instrumental material from this North Carolina trio, this time around in much shorter running times (often as brief as a minute or two apiece). The core of the work is still a fusion of math rock and weird sort of avant-garde/jazz influences, with lots winding guitar parts and thick basslines mingling over incredible drumming for a very rhythmic attack, but it's again the drumming that really catches me, whereas the guitar parts and basslines, while occasionally awesome, don't do much for me as a whole. Like I said last time, to me there's not much feeling here. I'm a big fan of instrumental music when it's all feeling, but these compositions have an almost improvisational vibe, and come off as challenging and strange for the sake of it, so I don't really take much away from listening to it. It all starts to sound the same after awhile, and I'd much rather listen to the drumming as a standalone, because a lot of the noisier guitar parts do nothing for me at all. "Lee Kyang Hae" definitely flows better than the other tracks and feels more like a concrete song, so that's absolutely a direction I'd like to hear them explore ore often. The riffs are more memorable, the structure makes more sense, and there are some great little melodic elements that really work perfectly. I love the recording, though. The percussion sounds beautiful, the bass parts are thick and play an equal role right next to the guitars, and the guitars fill their space nicely despite using basically no distortion for the majority of the disc. The drumming is so fucking good, too. I love the cymbal work and the fluidity of the fills and patterns, and the warmth of the production really lets everything retain a nice, natural air. The disc is housed in a slim gatefold digipack with lots of boldly colored and unusual artwork. Inside is a onecard insert with band information on one side and the tracklist on the other. So things are pretty straightforward and look nice in my opinion. I guess maybe it's personal taste that keeps me from appreciating some of this stuff. I think the members are talented and I fucking worship the drummer's playing, but aside from spectacular moments like "Lee Kyang Hae" I'm basically indifferent to the actual songs here. (5/10)
Running time - 26:18, Tracks: 13
[Notable tracks: Lee Kyang Hae]
Noreaster Failed Industries - http://www.nfilabel.com

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