Music Outpost

North Carolina instrumental rock duo Ahleuchatistas belongs to the beyond-category sector of such iconic, genre-flouting combos as John Zorn’s Naked City,  Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band, Swans, Tortoise, and Sun City Girls.

Ahleuchatistas combine wicked precision with intense abandon, droll humor with analytical construction, and a sly gregariousness with uncompromising vision. This pair interweaves elements of punk rock, jazz, classical music, speed metal, grindcore, progressive rock, noise, folk musics from Asia and North Africa, electronic music, and ambient aesthetics, along with volatile, unpredictable improvisation, flowing organically in a virtual world of their own. With a devoted international cult following, Ahleuchatistas is considered by many to be one of the most innovative and ever-developing instrumental groups of the past decade. Cerebral but never ponderous, Ahleuchatistas make immediate music that reaches for the mind, heart, and gut.

Ahleuchatistas was founded in 2002 by guitarist Shane Perlowin. [Their name, pronounced "AH-LOO-CHA-TEES-TAS", is a portmanteau of "Ah-Leu-Cha", the jazz standard composed by bebop legend Charlie Parker, and "Zapatistas", the Mexican revolutionary movement.] The guitar/drums duo is the third edition of the band, which had two different trio lineups in previous years. The project began with roots in prog rock, punk, and free jazz, forging an intense sound and a distinctive combination of composition and improvisation. Five trio albums were released, two appearing on Cuneiform Records and two on John Zorn’s Tzadik Records, cutting-edge labels acclaimed for genre-challenging releases by international artists. Ahleuchatistas has built a devoted cult following among fans of rock, jazz, and assorted “out” musics via recordings and potent live performances. With the late 2009 retirement of bassist Derek Poteat, the duo version premiered at the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee in March 2010, alongside such artists as Terry Riley, The Ex, and Joanna Newsom.

Shane Perlowin (born 1978) is a guitarist, composer, improviser, and teacher who began playing guitar at age 14 and thus pledged his life to music-making. He is a professional musician finding work in various styles in various locations and teaching. He is a prolific composer and runs his own label, Open Letter Records, which released his solo albums The Vacancy in Every Verse (2009) and Shaking the Phantom Limb (2011), Doom Ribbons' The Violence The Violence (2011), and Ahleuchatistas' Location Location (2011).

Ryan Oslance (born 1984) began his drumming career at age 4 on a toy kit. He played in several bands in his teen years, becoming enmeshed in the jazz and rock scenes in Carbondale, Illinois during his college days. Following the departure of Sean Dail in 2008, Ryan replied to an Ahleuchatistas MySpace bulletin for a new drummer. He drove to Asheville, auditioned, and the band immediately rehearsed for over 25 hours over a four day period, followed by a three-week USA tour. Relocating, he rapidly became a first-call drummer for gigs in an array of styles, from jazz to bluegrass to rock to gypsy/Roma music. He is an in-demand session player and an avid outdoorsman. Freeing himself of most worldly possessions, Oslance lives as a traveling musician, also playing in the Shannon Whitworth band, collaborates with members of European ensembles ZU, Tapetto Traci, and Picore, and performs solo percussion concerts.

http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/bandshtml/ahleuchatistas.html

http://ahleuchatistas.bandcamp.com

http://www.ahleuchatistas.com