Buke and Gase, Scholars.

Not that it needs saying at this stage, but as Arone Dyer sings of “proper opposite[s]” sixty-odd seconds into Scholars – the title track to she and Aron Sanchez, aka Buke and Gase’s forthcoming third full-length – the New Yorkers’ status as anomalous noiseniks creating music that’s antithetical to more or less anything that has been created before them is certainly solidified. Within the running time of this latest offering, which plays like an ongoing crescendo, intensity and intent building all the while, robust bass serves as ballast to Dyer’s initially ethereal vocal, before twitchy rhythmic components take part, ushering in an instrumental segment reminiscent of the likes of Actress and Arca. It’s where they go on from here, though, which is most startling; going some way toward restoring the reputability of Auto-Tune, it’s as poppy as the pair have contrived to devise. Such is the nature of “the game,” that it shan’t go scaling any charts of course, but by heck it could…

Scholars is available from January 18th via Brassland, while Buke and Gase play The Lexington on March 5th.