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AHL6
There’s a whole lot to like about this record: the leader’s risk-taking and gratifyingly solid playing; guitarist Markus W. Schneider’s seemingly endless sonic invention (and, occasionally, his unabashed guitar-hero stylings); a muscular horn section able to deliver precision without sacrificing sound. The improvising is thoroughly convincing, but the real star here is the ensemble and the music itself: Aichinger’s compositions are dense without being busy, complex and quirky but not alienating. A little reminiscent of Sex Mob or John Lurie and the Lounge Lizards, each piece guides the listener with a steady hand along the paths conceived by the composer. The title track, “Thinker Try To Dance”, lives up to its name: a four-and-a-half-minute odyssey in shifting, truncated rhythms and displaced accents – but it’s also weirdly danceable. Granted, it might be the kind of dance you’d do while wearing two different shoes, but it’s definitely got a groove all its own. And there are simpler pleasures as well: the funky, Scofieldian “Duck Disco” or the spacious “DMIAL” invite us to simply sit back and enjoy the ride.
Aichinger’s inspiration comes largely from current societal developments, particularly our ongoing negotiation with new technologies – and these ideas find their way into the pieces as well; glitchy electronic effects from guitar and trumpet(!) are woven seamlessly into the music, as if to say yes, it’s a weird new world, but we may yet make our peace with it. In short, AHL6 has created a world of sound all its own – urgent, packed with surprises and open in heart and mind.