Our third studio album “What happened to Eternity?” will be released on September 19th, 2024 via Waschsalon Records. The day before we play an album release concert at Porgy&Bess Wien. We look forward to your coming!
Thanks to everyone who contributed to the album: Tobias Wöhrer, Martin Scheer, Ju Aichinger, Flavius Zeddies, Celia Themel and Sophia Egger-Karlegger. And thank you for the support of SKE Fonds and Stadt Wien Kultur.
line up
Thomas Liesinger – trumpet, fx
Robert Schröck – alto saxophone
Leonhard Skorupa – tenor saxophone, clarinet
Markus Schneider – electric guitar, fx
Tobias Pöcksteiner – double bass
Lukas Aichinger – drums, composition
Jazz may once have referred to a particular style, but it has always described a particular approach to making music – relevant, egalitarian, and above all one that allows its practitioners the freedom to express themselves without fear of crossing some invisible boundary. More than anything else, jazz is a borderless music – and Lukas Aichinger’s AHL6 embodies this understanding.
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.
- Phil Yaeger
January 24th, 2025 @3 Tage Jazz Saalfelden
September 18th, 2024 @Porgy&Bess Vienna, "What happened to Eternity?" release concert
December 16, 2023 @Verein Innenhofkultur Klagenfurt
October 31, 2023 @Stockwerk Graz
October 27, 2023 @Jazz&Wine of Peace Festival Cormons, Italy
July 23, 23 @Kultursommer Vienna
April 29, 23 @OHO Oberwart
March 03, 23 @Kino Ebensee
March 02, 23 @Vorarlbergmuseum Bregenz
March 01, 23 @Kramladen Vienna
October 22, 22 @Waschsalon Records Label Night, Ateliertheater Vienna
August 04, 22 @Outreach Festival Schwaz
October 09, 21 @Verein Innenhofkultur - Villa for Forest Klagenfurt
October 08, 21 @Jazzwerkstatt Graz Festival
October 07, 21 @Opus Jazz Club Budapest
September 29, 21 @blue tomato Vienna
September 24, 21 @KaBru Festival - KAPU Linz
August 18, 21 @Jazzfestival Saalfelden
July 29, 21 @PKS Villa Open Air - Jazzfreunde Bad Ischl
May 05, 21 @RadioKulturHaus Vienna
September 21, 20 @Porgy&Bess Vienna
studio photos © Fabian Ressl
for press photo download go to Contact/Downloads
"Compact, cleverly structured, yet surprising music written by drummer Lukas Aichinger" – Andreas Felber, Ö1
„AHL6 fill the jazz theory with life through clever interplay, permanent musical transgressions as well as a big wealth of ideas and in doing so celebrate a sound that reveals extremely exciting idiosyncrasies.“ – Michael Ternai, mica
"Thinker Try To Dance - excellent album...a bit quirky but really enjoyable and distinctive" - Peter Slavid, European Modern Jazz on the radio
"Both the drummer's style and his ability to dictate pauses and changes of direction [...] were very remarkable, as was the instrumental quality of the clarinetist and tenor saxophonist Leonhard Skorupa. A surprise from a country that is all too often overlooked, though It has produced very remarkable musicians." - Neri Pollastri, AllAboutJazz Italy
"Thinker Try To Dance" is introverted and wired, but cannot hide its funny personality. The multiple, concentrated listening opens up the structures and the bandleader´s detailed style of composition. In connection with checked-out casual interplay this brings an entertaining short listening hour, which as a never-ending firework of ideas definitely belongs to the spearhead of current domestic releases."
- Xavier Plus, skug
"How he (Lukas Aichinger) uses the instruments, how strange they sound, is great puzzle fun. Salvation follows on foot, because the band can also do “normal” jazz, music that sounds easier than it really is. A great talent test (praise also the great cover), you will hear a lot of good things from these guys!"
- Irene Schwingenschlögl, Film Sound & Media
“This music hardly fits into any drawer and will not necessarily encourage folk dancing. No, they are whirled, lively compositions that gush with plot twists and set legs, they are tricky and yet can be consumed with the greatest joy”
- CONCERTO-Magazine
"AHL6 - an Austrian ensemble full of youth and energy; catchy music that seems to wink to the New York Down Town scene." - Ludovico Granvassu, Mondo Jazz-Radio Free Brooklyn
„With his debut “Thinker Try To Dance”, the drummer and band leader Lukas Aichinger takes us on a crazy journey through the soundscape of his wonderful sextet. Clever, but still danceable; hectic, then worn again; diverse and yet coherent - there is a lot to discover on this album.“ - backbeat.at
AHL6 press photo © Stefanie Freynschlag
AHL6 - Thinker Try To Dance Cover © Ju Aichinger
AHL6 - If Life Were A Liquid Cover © Ju Aichinger
AHL6 - What happened to Eternity? Cover © Ju Aichinger
AHL6 press release EN
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