Arone and Aron are Buke and Gase.  They live and work in Brooklyn.  They are a duo though they sound like much more. The reason: Aron invents and builds instruments. For example the buke: an electric baritone-ukulele.  Or the gass: a hybrid of guitar and bass. And those are the rather moderate examples of his trade.  On the builder’s website we find midi-organs made of drainpipes commissioned by the Blue Man Group and curious chordsticks built for the neoclassic infidelities of The National guitar player Bryce Dessner, who in general seems to have a bit of a thing for Buke and Gase. Said to be discovered by Dessner’s sister in a club in New York the duo has released both of their albums on Dessner’s record label Brassland.  So long, so gimmicky some might say.  Cool story, bro —if it weren’t for the music these two are making. Arone and Aron’s sound is rough and powerful, experimental rock that has much more to do with Wye Oak or Dirty Projectors than with 12-tone music and weird instruments.  Their sophisticated innovations are used in merely functional ways, enabling the duo as a multitask-experience, materializing their fantastic songwriting by means of those custom-built instruments, effect pedals and percussive automatisms.  The result: comforting dissonances, post and prog, 4/5 and 6/8 sorta things, Arone’s voice reminiscent of Karen O or Sharon van Etten. «There’s more to Buke and Gase than a good story,» Pitchfork recently concluded while NME simply threw 9 out of 10 points at them.

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