Published on Mar 17, 2006
“Art punk,” “experimental rock,” and “drum and bass”
are a few ways Proton Proton (PP) has been described. The music of
this trio (Paul Fuster, Jarrod Ruby, and Aron Sanchez) made up of
bits and pieces of the best of different genres, has a sense of
quirky intelligence of the hip acts — Beck, The Postal Service,
The White Stripes — of the current underground music scene.
The genre-confusing music on EP#2 — as the
name suggests, is the band’s second EP (they have yet to release a
full-length album) — is fundamental. PP’s armory is modest,
consisting of no more than just three instruments, other than the
vocals, with minimal to none production effects. Still, the nature
of the instruments used, and the band’s gracious adoption of all
kinds of indie styles, make EP#2 musically ambiguous.
With the exception of the drums, the other two
instruments used by PP to make noise are unusual, seldom been used
by a rock band. In fact one of them has never ever been used — or
even created for that matter — before: the gass.
The gass literally takes its name from the two
instruments it integrates: the guitar and the bass. The designer
and player of the gass, Sanchez, makes this peculiar instrument
sound like Les Claypool playing the bass and Claypool’s
partner-in-crime Larry LaLonde playing the guitars. The gass
doesn’t seem to have the total versatility of either the guitar or
the bass, but this doesn’t show in PP’s music, which has strange
twists and turns to keep it interesting and unique.
Sanchez’s gass and Ruby’s drums provide the
distortion and chaos to the songs, in which are nestled notes from
another instrument — instrument number 3 in PP’s armory, and not
frequently used in rock records – the toy piano, played by Fuster.
No rock band’s ever been so kooky (or high) to give a half-grown
object such as a toy piano the kind of importance given by the
folks of PP. The toy piano has been extensively used and abused by
PP, and is the only source of harmony on this record. Ironically,
its infantile “pings” and “pongs” act as an anti-harmonizing
element instead, which only makes the music more mischievous and
canny.
It is not all that wise to relate the word “punk” to
PP, but the word inevitably comes into the picture because of
Fuster’s vocals. His nasal voice and his insinuatingly passionate
singing make room to draw obvious similarities between his singing
style and that of the British punk acts of the late 70s, especially
John Lydon (Johnny Rotten). Otherwise, although PP’s music is all
for rebellious angst, it doesn’t justify being called “punk.”
EP#2 is a fusion of new wave, punk, and
post-grunge indie, a mantra for music adopted by a lot of upcoming
underground bands lately. However, this trio of eccentric New
Yorkers, with their ingenious use of unwieldy instruments, has
interpreted these genres in a way that has never been done before.
Moreover, even with the minimal use of instruments – not to mention
their awkwardness – this outfit has managed to create a sound that
has all the punch and grace of traditional guitar-based music.
Be it for its inventive use of bizarre instruments or
for its versatility, PP is very original, not to mention talented.
Whether or not the gass makes it big as an instrument remains to be
seen, but PP surely is a band to look out for in the future.
[For more information on Proton Proton, visit www.protonproton.com]