Ahleuchatistas

Mon., June 23, 8 p.m., $8, with Planets, Altamira and Motel Bible, Black Lodge, 1508 Brandywine St., 215-988-9338, blacklodgeproductions.com.

by A.D. Amorosi

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Asheville, N.C.'s Ahleuchatistas has always played brutal Beefheart-ian metal. But the trio, named for both a Charlie Parker song and a Mexican revolutionary organization, is at its best when keeping its music lean yet rhythmically complex. Across instrumental albums such as What You Will, On the Culture Industry and Even in the Midst, Ahleuchatistas prove over and over that they like repetitive themes — melodies, breaks, counterpoint — in a manner reminiscent of minimalist composer Philip Glass, but with improv-core blasts of noise ripping through its quietest passages. Even without lyrics, the band does its best to say something — like naming What You Will's most dramatic track "Remember Rumsfeld at Abu Ghraib" and giving it a smothered liquid vibe that could be the soundtrack to waterboarding. It's that intense.

Mon., June 23, 8 p.m., $8, with Planets, Altamira and Motel Bible, Black Lodge, 1508 Brandywine St., 215-988-9338, blacklodgeproductions.com.