Buke and Gase General Dome

The buke and gase are the instruments, and Buke and Gase make the music. Here are the basics: the duo epitomize Brooklyn, NY's DIY tendencies by building their own gear (the buke is a baritone ukulele, while the gase is a guitar, plus bass), and the results shout for themselves. It's the grind'n'swarm of a bustling building site being bombarded by noise bombs and hard rock artillery. On "General Dome" and "Split Like a Lip, No Blood on the Beard," querulous gase rhythms pin down niggling Battles licks and Arone Dyer's tumbling-up-the-staircase yelps while your sense of direction struggles to keep pace. Despite the band's technically minimal setup, the array of sounds they make is maximal. But beneath it all there's a kind of cacophonous elegance — a system of abrasive parts that runs on gently tumultuous dynamics and skew-wop melodies. The pivotal fact of General Dome is that Buke and Gase make music of such absurdly catchy dimensions that it's almost avant-garde. Alongside Tune-Yards and Micachu & the Shapes, the pair are making strummable instruments sound new again, and it sounds like redemption. Proceed frantically and without caution.

Read our exclusive interview with Buke and Gase here.

(Brassland)

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