Info
01 Houdini Crush
02 Hiccup
03 In the Company of Fish
04 General Dome
05 Hard Times
06 Sturtle
07 Twisting the Lasso of Truth
08 You Do Yours First
09 Split Like a Lip, No Blood on the Beard
10 Cyclopean
11 Contortion in Training
12 My Best Andre Shot
13 Metazoa
“On each of their releases to date, Buke and Gase have never been anything less than absolutely thrilling.” PITCHFORK
Change is good… when you live in the busiest city in the world, escape can be the mother of invention. It can be said three notable changes led to the new sounds that are encapsulated on ‘General Dome’, the new full-length record of uprising phenomena Buke and Gase, set to be released on February 2013 by Discorporate and Altin Village.
Firstly: In 2011, Aron Sanchez moved from New York City to his home in upstate Hudson, NY. Arone Dyer thusly followed, therein marking a large geographical change. She then began riding a motorcycle, the obvious next step from racing and building bicycles, and has been exploring this new form of excitement vigorously and often. She claims it comes across in the new music.
Secondly: They rented a cavernous empty room in between heavily used railroad tracks, warehouses and the Hudson River, and set up a temporary recording studio, a far cry from their previous digs, Aron’s tight little basement space. The recordings have hints of their surroundings, such as natural reverb, train horns, rumbling annoyances, and the size of the new space also led to a grander songwriting style. As per usual, they recorded and mixed it themselves (only Shellac’s Bob Weston was trusted to do the mastering). During this time, Aron purchased a myriad of new guitar pedals in his ever‐enduring chase for the “perfect gase* sound” which, to this date, he has yet to find.
Thirdly: Out with the old and in with the new. A buke** creation by their friend now replaces the wooden-toy that formerly occupied Arone’s hands. This new “battle axe” is made of steel salvaged from an automobile, with a halved pipe acting as the neck.
Buke and Gase have this vague sense of unease. Like someone, somewhere is always watching. Do a Google image search for the band’s new album title ‘General Dome’ and you’ll come across images that instill ideas of paranoia and surveillance such as security cameras and rockets being launched. In times like these, when governments can freely survey the citizenry’s every action and our lives become increasingly less private, people are often drawn to code. Take a look at Buke and Gase’s album cover above. Its minimalist design could mean nothing at all. Perhaps this would be the case, if this were any other band than Buke and Gase.
Inspired by a recent Sol LeWitt exhibition at the Dia Beacon museum in Beacon, NY, Arone Dyer and Aron Sanchez started brainstorming about coded imagery. They decided to build a system of images that would dictate the direction of the artwork, which lead them to creating a new alphabet they could write with, not totally different from the way they create their music. They built a graphical alphabet that the artwork is made of, the code of which will be available on their website once it’s released. There are more coded images like this throughout the packaging.
Kudos
All Songs improvised, organized, written, discussed, performed, discarded, recorded and produced by Buke and Gase who are Aron Sanchez and Arone Dyer on strings, percussion, toy synth, vocals and computer
Lyrics by Arone Dyer
Mixed and mastered by Aron Sanchez
Vinyl mastering and DDP by Bob Weston
Artwork by Buke and Gase
Artwork translation code at www.bukeandgase.com
Released in cooperation with Altin Village
& Mine
Distributed by Morr Music
Videos
Press
DE/EN
„Ein Duo aus New York liefert die intelligenteste, musikalisch versierteste Platte des Jahres.“ Tinnitus Attacks
"Wie viel Konzept verträgt Pop? Eigentlich eine ganze Menge – meinen zumindest Arone Dyer und Aron Sanchez und testen folgerichtig die Grenzen aus." Intro
"Was für ein Glück, dass Buke And Gase im Jahr 2009 zur richtigen Zeit am richtigen Ort ein Konzert spielten, denn wer weiß schon, ob Aaron und Bryce Dessner von The National sonst auf sie aufmerksam geworden wären. In einer Bar gleich um die Ecke des Studios wurde das Duo entdeckt und direkt unter Vertrag genommen. Diese zufällige Zusammenkunft beschert uns dieses Jahr „General Dome“, das zweite Album der zwei Ausnahmemusiker." Byte.Fm (8/10)
„Eigentlich hatte seit PJ Harvey kaum eine Frau derart viel verquere Melodie in den Lungenflügeln.“ Plattentests (8/10)
"Vieles auf ‘General Dome‘ besticht durch abrasive Ideen – getragen durch melodische Sensibilität und schäumenden Ehrgeiz. Empfehlenswert!" Oh Fancy!
„Bei Buke and Gase besteht die Gefahr, dass alle Welt durchdreht, weil das Duo aus Brooklyn seine etwas unkonventionell aussehenden Instrumente selber baut und darüber ganz vergessen wird, dass sie ja auch noch ziemlich coole Songs spielen.“ Vice
"Schwerlaibig und griffig. Wie auch der Rest des Albums einem unentwegten Changieren zwischen den Polen metallisch-düster und filigran-substantiell gleichkommt. Hier das grundierte Stampfen, dort der Engel weichende Gesang, hier die gewichtigen Schraffuren, dort das helltönende szenische Gebahren. Das Heilsuchende neben der eigentlichen Beheimatung. Zugreifen bitte! Klienicum- Empfehlungsstempel." Das Klienicum
"Klingt wie industrielle Revolution der Neuzeit. Diese Frau kann mit ihrem Organ so einiges. Schönes Hörbeispiel: 'Metazoa'. Timberlake sagt hallo, aber hallo!" Gästeliste
"Post-Nothing: 'Gase' und 'Buke' wirken in Szene gesetzt wie mythische Zauberwaffen aus einer anderen Dimension." Rote Raupe
"Keine Kompromisse werden eingegangen, keine Hochglanzpolituren eingesetzt - die Reibung bleibt vollends erhalten. Und diese Mischung macht das Duo klanglich so sympathisch und trotz aller Drehungen und Windungen vertraut." Alternative Nation (8/10)
"Buke and Gase überzeugen vollends mit Innovation und Einzigartigkeit." M94.5 (Album of the month)
"Die Songs auf 'General Dome' sind quirlige kleine Juwelen, ungeschliffen und ganz wunderbar." Schallgrenzen
"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." Exclaim
“New York’s Buke and Gase continue fine-tuning their unique combination of noise pop, folk, and indie rock with loads of strangely idiosyncratic melodies and textures.” The Needle Drop
"It's intricately structured, with cryptic moods contained in a shuddering shoegaze framework. But it feels like a pop song thanks to Dyer's engaging vocal performance. There's more to Buke and Gase than a good story." Pitchfork
"Though a bit poppier than its predecessor, General Dome has some big ideas about paranoia and subliminal messaging at its core - but for all its seriousness of purpose, the new album still sounds strangely playful, thanks to a loose, slippery vibe that finds room for invention of every kind." NPR
"Buke and Gase makes music that is ORIGINAL and PURE. These sounds could only come from these two people. Watching them gave me a rush of inspiration, a high, that made me want to dive, or join, in and try to keep up, like jumping a frenetic old freight train hurtling somewhere unknown. You should listen to General Dome." Melissa Auf der Maur (Smashing Pumpkins, Hole)
"The gallant, less-is-more, DIY ethos of this band — building their own instruments and pedals while fashioning a makeshift studio to record themselves — ensures that tinkering will always be a part of their magic. Never mind the cool toys, though; Dyer’s voice is what truly dazzles here. Her mastery of the top of her range is breathtaking. If you aren't yet familiar with Buke and Gase, the explanation of the Brooklyn duo's name goes a long way to illustrating what makes them special. Arone Dyer (her) and Aron Sanchez (him) are known for making intensely chugging No Wave chamber-punk using handmade instruments like the "buke," a baritone ukelele, and the "gase," a guitar-bass hybrid." Spin
"Buke and Gase seem like superheroes to me. “General Dome” is a fabulous ride whether you know the first thing about their extreme DIY approach or the life experience that fed into it, from Arone Dyer’s career as a bike mechanic to Aron Sanchez’s stint building instruments for the Blue Man Group. Buke and Gase are masters of a domain they built themselves. The record suggests there are new sounds left to be tapped in pop, even if we have to tap them by finding new paths to timeless sensations." Stereogum
"The kind of wonderful, odd, occasionally transcendent music you (yes YOU) are yearning to hear…this is an album that won’t be forgotten in a hurry whichever way you look at it." The Line Of Best Fit (8,5/10)
"Here, the duo delves into a sonic realm that’s considerably sunnier than that of their previous release, but with lyrics that still smile while spitting." Consequence of Sound
"The word “inventive” gets thrown around a lot in music criticism, but New York’s Buke and Gase literally create their own instruments, making the critically adored duo sound like a full-on, post-rock band." CBC
"Composed of the similarly named Arone Dyer and Aron Sanchez, the group revels in its offbeat nature, using big but spare percussion, tiny guitars, and copious amounts of electronics to create its intense tunes. Think Tune-Yards, but with less yelping." The Onion’s AV Club
"Excellent! If you want to sound like no one else, it helps to play instruments that no one else has." New York Times
"On first listen, “General Dome” delivers minimalist yet colorful guitar-and-vocal melodies woven into a bizarre tapestry and driven by nothing but bass drum and a "toe-bourine"—and once you check under the hood and see how the band's engine works, you can appreciate even better what goes into creating the layers of their sound." Chicago Reader
"The musical chemistry showcased here is awe-inspiring. With this new collection of songs, Arone Dyer and Aron Sanchez have trimmed their sound - focusing on a meatier overall timbre and in the process, becoming a leaner, darker and grittier band." The Huffington Post
“Is it old-school progressive rock or newfangled art-pop? This head-spinning epic neatly splits the difference, wrapping a cool female voice in fractured noise to riveting effect.” Mother Jones
“Tension and exuberance are the key ingredients in the elegant mess of jagged riffs and irresistible melodies that constitute General Dome, the new album from the Brooklyn duo Buke and Gase.” Interview Magazine
“On each of their releases to date, Buke and Gase have never been anything less than absolutely thrilling” Pitchfork
"Buke and Gase are just fucking adorable, aren't they?" The Quietus