Brassland Archives

Q&A: Buke & Gase on homemade instruments, unconventionality, and doing it all live

Buke & Gase: General Dome (Brassland, 1/29/13)

“Hiccup”

In late January, the idiosyncratic girl/guy duo Buke & Gase, comprised of Arone Dyer on baritone ukulele and Aron Sanchez on guitar-bass, released its second full-length, General Dome. The album solidifies the pair’s knack for producing distorted, askew prog-folk via instrumental inventions and experimentations. Sanchez took a moment from his busy schedule to talk to us about the band’s move from Brooklyn to upstate New York, what influenced the band’s sophomore LP, and what self-created instruments offer that conventional ones don’t.

ALARM’s 50 Favorite Albums of 2012

Another year, another torrential downpour of albums across our desks. As always, we encountered way too much amazing music, from Meshuggah to The Mars Volta, Converge, Killer Mike, P.O.S, and many more.

Video Premiere: Jherek Bischoff’s “Blossom” f. Wordless Music Orchestra

Jherek Bischoff: Composed (Brassland, 6/5/12)

Jherek Bischoff’s solo album Composed (which we called “immaculately arranged orchestral pop”) was recorded by layering and cutting together single musicians recorded in their living rooms, over his own previously recorded parts. After a successful Kickstarter campaign, however, Bischoff was able to organize a concert at New York’s Merkin Hall with a full backing orchestra.

Fuzz for all ages: Baritone ukulele and guitar-bass get dirty on brand-new Buke & Gase

Review: Jherek Bischoff’s Composed

Jherek Bischoff: Composed (Brassland, 6/5/12)

“Young and Lovely” f. Zac Pennington & Soko

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Jherek Bischoff has more than a few tricks up his very well-tailored sleeves. You know it just by looking at him, at his satin-collared tuxedo and manicured hairdo circa 1939, at his high cheek bones and golden-brown eyes, the color of failing light refracted off coated steel. Bischoff is maybe a renaissance man, maybe one of many. He’s not the only musician whose pedigree includes both experimental ensembles like Xiu Xiu and more classically oriented groups like Wordless Music.

Video: Jherek Bischoff’s “Young and Lovely” f. Zac Pennington & Soko

Get ready to hear the name Jherek Bischoff a lot more often. The multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, and ex-Parenthetical Girls member has crafted an epic orch-pop debut called Composed, which is coming via Brassland on June 5.

And if you need a few familiar names to get you interested, the album features David Byrne, Nels Cline (Wilco, Nels Cline Singers), Craig Wedren (Shudder to Think), Greg Saunier (Deerhoof), Zac Pennington (Parenthetical Girls), Soko, Carla Bozulich, Dawn McCarthy (Faun Fables), and even more notables.

100 Unheralded Albums from 2010

Among the thousands of under-appreciated or under-publicized albums that were released in 2010, hundreds became our favorites and were presented in ALARM and on AlarmPress.com. Of those, we pared down to 100 outstanding releases, leaving no genre unexplored in our list of this year’s overlooked gems.