Half Notes: Afuche – Highly Publicized Digital Boxing Match (2011)

The closest musical cousins to the whack jazz quintet Afuche that comes to mind are fellow Brooklyners Little Women and the Italian trio Treo: they share some of Little Women’s penchant for highly agitated thrash jazz and Neo’s total unity between harmony and rhythm. At least, that’s what I take away from listening to their second full-length album, Highly Publicized Digital Boxing Match. Made up of guitarist Zach Ryalls, bassist Denny Tek, baritone saxophonist Andrew Carrico, keyboardist/percussionist/vocalist Ruben Sindo Acosta and drummer Max Jaffe, Afuche differentiates themselves by limiting individual solos in favor of the group improvisation and Sindo’s occasional vocals in what sounds like Spanish are realy chants that accentuate the melodies more than try to add lyrics. They’re not too tight than they can’t delve into funk once in while, too. Jaffe’s angular rhythms are the engine behind most of the cuts, and Ryalls coaxes the music out of the jazz realm into some nether land where both experimental jazz and indie rock overlap. Carrico tugs in the other direction and the resulting sound is sometimes brutal, often sly and always unpredictable. Yes, and always a fun listen, too.

‘Half Notes’ are quick-take thoughts on music from Something Else! Reviews, presented whenever the mood strikes us. Highly Publicized Digital Boxing Match was released May 31 by Cuneiform Records.

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