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Even though the four members of New York’s all-instrumental Gutbucket are trained jazzbos, they’re just as comfortable bouncing between klezmer, prog or Latin-flavored thrash — often within the space of the same tune. Hard rockers at heart, the free-range ensemble has been a staple of the Big Apple’s avant-garde scene for the past seven years, skronking its way through a pair of exceptionally bizarre releases (2001’s InsomniacsDream and 2004’s Dry Humping the American Dream). Gutbucket’s sleepless followup, this year’s Sludge Test, assaults the senses with bursts of furious saxophone, jagged power chords and contorted time signatures. Recorded at San Francisco’s analog-friendly Tiny Telephone studio, the album pools from a smorgasbord of unconventional sources (including prepared instruments, a Moroccan ghaytah and a Wurlitzer) for amusing odes to French composer Olivier Messiaen and some long-lost soul named Mr. Squeegeeman. This Sunday’s pairing with exotic local heroes Hamster Theatre offers more sonic hairpin turns than you can shake a ladle at. Crash helmets, though not mandatory, are highly recommended.
