Gutbucket

New York's quartet Gutbucket (bassist Eric Rockwin, saxophonist Ken Thompson, guitarist Ty Citerman, drummer Paul Chuffo) played sax-driven instrumental music of a frenzied and caustic wit straddling the border between punk-rock and progressive-rock on Insomniacs Dream (Knitting Factory, 2001). The hybrid cacophony of Insects ventures into jazz, minimalism and noise-rock. They deconstruct Caribbean pop-jazz in Don't Fall on Dirty Mary, romance bebop in Ornette's Computer People (with a galvanizing drum solo) intone the lively and catchy melody of Revolution for Sale, fall asleep in the malignant blues of Song of Seasickness, disintegrate into the ghostly Consumption, and resurrect in the ominous guitar-sax dialogue of Rock 'n Roll. Citerman's dissonant guitar indulges in the long solo that opens the eight-minute Sweet Tooth Bleeding Gums before it turns into a carnival-esque dance.

They followed the debut album with the improvised jams of Dry Humping the American Dream (Enja, 2003), notably the seven-minute Dance of the Demented Pigeon (which sounds like the noise-rock of a Colosseum suite), and the nine-minute abrasive post-metal maelstrom of Liberation, and with Sludge Test (2006), that includes a rock version of Messiaen's Danse de la Fureur, Pour les Sept Trompettes next to absurdist hard-rock skits such as Sludge Test and Underbidder and standout noise-jam Disciplining the Fugitive.

A Modest Proposal (Cuneiform, 2009) rarely stands up to the group's reputation for ferocious music. Head Goes Thud features a shoegazing wall of guitar noise and a saxophone that alternates between clownish moves and passionate phrases. That's the most original idea on the album. The closing, Brain Born Outside of Its Head, rivals it with a gargantuan rhythm and comic guitar noises, a horror theme in disguise. There is less punk now and more "prog", peaking with the Canterbury-esque merry-go-round of More More Bigger Better Easter with Cheese. The virulent Carnivore is counterbalanced by the bluesy Doppelganger's Requiem. Gutbucket aimes for the brain not for the guts, a fact emphasized by the convoluted and cerebral structure of Side Effects May Include, that dabbles in several different techniques at the same time (notably minimalist repetition).

Multi-reedist Ken Thompson also leads the Asphalt Orchestra. He also formed Slow/Fast (featuring Russ Johnson's trumpet) that debuted with It Would Be Easier If (2010), a series of lengthy intricate compositions, including the rocking Goddamn You Ice Cream Truck.