Blogarhythms

This morning I came to the conclusion that I hate the sound of my alarm. This has not always been the case. But lately, when my alarm sounds, even if I’m already wide awake in bed, my hand flashes at lightning speed to turn it off, and I invariably roll over, cover my head and quickly fall back asleep. Perhaps I’ve subconsciously conditioned myself to react in the exact opposite of the intended manner at the sound of my alarm without knowing it? Or maybe the actual sound of my alarm is just so annoying that my brain refuses to listen to it?

Listening to Cuckoo Crow, the new full length release from eclectic Seattle, Washington-based performance-art collective Degenerate Art Ensemble is sort of like the musical equivalent of sleeping, dreaming, maybe even having a nightmare, but resting comfortably in your comfy bed, and then being suddenly awoken by cacophonous noise. As a group of recording artists (the word “band” doesn’t even do them justice) the DAE embody the phrase “defies categorization” like no other. Punk, Metal, Noise, Electronica, Ambient, Jazz, Classical, World Music and more are all mashed together into an indescribable concoction that evokes Sigur Rós, Björk, Deerhoof, Rage Against the Machine, Radiohead, CocoRosie and Rasputina jamming out with Fela’s horn section (or a New Orleans brass band), a ghostly orchestra of the damned, and a bunch of people fired from Cirque du Soleil for being “too weird,” under the influence of Dimethyltryptamine. Songs average close to seven minutes, and three or more musical “movements,” a-piece, alternating between soft, dreamy symphonic sections and loud, thrashing Rock sections which can be both reassuringly soothing, and startlingly chaotic.

Listen to “Checksplitter”

While their music isn’t even remotely as rampageous or potentially abrassive as DAE’s, Madison, Wisconsin’s Pale Young Gentlemen share their taste for the dramatic and their love of strings, though PYG’s flair for the theatrical aims more for the stage of a ragged and rowdy cabaret, and their orchestral ambitions lean more towards the chamber than the symphony. The music on their new self-titled debut album is playful too, but in a more whimsical way, and if it’s scary at all, it’s in a sleazily sinister way more akin to “Pleasure Island” from Pinocchio than DAE’s Fantasia-esque halluginogenic nightmare. The Pale Young Gentlemen’s aims are more aerobic than cerebral, banging out upbeat tunes not dissimilar to the Indie-Dance and Post-Punk of groups like Franz Ferdinand and Interpol, the retro-Glam/Disco of Scissor Sisters, and the arty Prog-Rock of Fiery Furnaces, but with instrumentation more suited to a Klezmer orchestra, a Gypsy Jazz band, or a team of musicians gathered by Danny Elfman to score a Tim Burton film. At the risk of running out of cinematic comparisons, the way the band makes contemporary Dance-Rock while employing old-timey instruments and vernacular feels a lot like Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge to me.

Listen to “Clap Your Hands”

Both bands are far-more eye-opening and energizing than my alarm clock could ever be.

-El Keter