Afuche – Highly Publicized Digital Boxing Match
Afuche dances. And I don’t only mean musically. I mean that if you look at videos of them they’re just boogying away. But that’s not what makes Highly Publicized Digital Boxing Match a great album. There’s far more than that. Far far more than that.
This album was by miles the most innovative of the year. In every song Afuche manages to pack in so much information that the mind boggles. Sometimes this leads to a schizoid listening experience but if you’re comfortable going a little crazy at times it shouldn’t be too upsetting. If you’re not than listen to it anyway. A little discomfort lets you know you’re alive.
The brilliance of Afuche rests in how they use disorder. Within the tightly rehearsed and constantly changing mammoth that is their music you can hear them walking that line between playing a song and getting taken over by it. However, every time you think they’re finally going to fall over they manage to wrangle the song back in using many different devices ? time-signature change, key change, new melody ? anything to reign in the huge musical force they ride on.
No band member attempts to steal the show. This may be jazz-inspired, but it’s a far cry away from the self-indulging solos of bebop. Instead, each member of Afuche has the confidence to make a solid choice. They pick a phrase and stick with it. The other band members do the same and because they all created the backbone they all have room to experiment with these phrases. They solo as a group, building themes and contrasting melodies. Listening to Afuche is like listening to a conversation between long time friends. It’s dynamic. It changes. It morphs. But everyone plays off everyone else and stays complete within what they’re doing.
I have not tried to explicitly describe what Afuche sounds like because they sound like everything. But everything lies in the subtleties. Please do not dismiss this album after a song. The album is not about songs. It’s about an album. Please, take the time and listen to it as a whole and then say what you will. But give it a chance. Because it’s brilliance. Pure brilliance.