Biography
Buke and Gase, the experimental indie rock duo originally known as Buke and Gass, formed in Brooklyn, New York, during 2008. Multi-instrumentalists Aron Sanchez and Arone Dyer comprise the group; Dyer had previously performed with Proton Proton, and both musicians had collaborated in Hominid. They constructed two signature instruments that supplied the band’s name: Dyer’s buke, an electrified six-string ukulele, and Sanchez’s gass, an instrument blending guitar and bass properties. Their debut recording arrived in 2009 as the self-released seven-track mini-album +/-. Riposte followed in 2010, and General Dome appeared in 2013, both anchored in the direct instrumental exchange between the two players.
The pair performed occasional Brooklyn shows early on and later adjusted the spelling of their name to prevent mispronunciation of their custom instruments. Extensive touring supported General Dome, taking them across North America, the United Kingdom, Asia, and Australia; they also opened for the National, whose 2017 album Sleep Well Beast includes a guest vocal from Dyer. Additional shared bills featured Laurie Anderson, Deerhoof, Swans, and Shellac. In 2015 Sanchez received a commission from composer Bryce Dessner to construct third-bridge instruments for the piece “Music for Wood and Strings.”
After those 2015 activities the duo paused recording to reconsider their methods. An interest in electronic music led them to design the Arx, a device enabling easy triggering of percussion samples, vocal manipulation, and real-time effect changes on their instruments. As a result the buke and gass receded in prominence while electronic elements gained ground. Scholars, released in 2019, documented this revised approach; the title had briefly been considered as a new band name before the original moniker was retained. Their next album, A Record of, emerged in 2021 from sessions inside a 300-year-old house in Hudson, New York, undertaken with fellow Brooklyn experimentalists So Percussion. Throughout their work the musicians produce a distinctive sonic palette that draws on guitar and bass functions yet reshapes them through extended improvisation, yielding fractured melodies and jagged rhythms that feel both playful and strangely alien.
The pair performed occasional Brooklyn shows early on and later adjusted the spelling of their name to prevent mispronunciation of their custom instruments. Extensive touring supported General Dome, taking them across North America, the United Kingdom, Asia, and Australia; they also opened for the National, whose 2017 album Sleep Well Beast includes a guest vocal from Dyer. Additional shared bills featured Laurie Anderson, Deerhoof, Swans, and Shellac. In 2015 Sanchez received a commission from composer Bryce Dessner to construct third-bridge instruments for the piece “Music for Wood and Strings.”
After those 2015 activities the duo paused recording to reconsider their methods. An interest in electronic music led them to design the Arx, a device enabling easy triggering of percussion samples, vocal manipulation, and real-time effect changes on their instruments. As a result the buke and gass receded in prominence while electronic elements gained ground. Scholars, released in 2019, documented this revised approach; the title had briefly been considered as a new band name before the original moniker was retained. Their next album, A Record of, emerged in 2021 from sessions inside a 300-year-old house in Hudson, New York, undertaken with fellow Brooklyn experimentalists So Percussion. Throughout their work the musicians produce a distinctive sonic palette that draws on guitar and bass functions yet reshapes them through extended improvisation, yielding fractured melodies and jagged rhythms that feel both playful and strangely alien.
Albums
Singles
