"Don't blow a gasket," one might have thought as Gutbucket's Ken Thompson tested the limits of his saxophone's range over a banging snare drum Thursday at Cholmondeley's. In a show sponsored by the the Punk, Rock n' Roll Club, Thompson and his avant-garde jazz band rushed back and forth across the stage while performing body dips and bends more appropriate to an aerobics video than a coffeehouse. Each of Gutbucket's songs was highly energetic from start to finish. For each number, the ensemble began with a maelstrom of noise, generating a chaotic whirlwind of jam-band sound. There is a certain dichotomy to Gutbucket's music, which is divided between the rhythmic bass and drums and the melodic sax and guitar. The drummer's beats were reminiscent of early Chili Peppers funk, with the popping gunshot snare hits and solid kick drums locked in with every bass note, juxtaposing the melodic sax/guitar tandem. The riffs generally consisted of simple four-note figures moving along a ladder of half steps-often they slipped into a sinister tone reminiscent of evil characters' motifs in a Disney movie.

The fundamental backing rhythm of the songs, however, occasionally conflicted with the guitar and saxophone melodies. This resulted in a busy sound with little sense of order. Those who love songs with a definitive groove and easy melodic passages should forget Gutbucket.

Many of the songs featured abrupt tempo changes. Gutbucket's ability to switch from speedy, chaotic passage to entrancing blues was impressive. These night-and-day transformations manifested not only in the music's atmosphere, but also in Thompson's theatrics. He would cease his spastic body bending mid-song and take to villainously creeping and skulking across the stage.

In the final song, "Sludge Test," the title track to Gutbucket's new album, the style shifted repeatedly from the band's typically dissonant four-note riffs to conventional blues segments to bossa nova. Even idiosyncratic songs like "Sludge Test" reflected a high level of chemistry among the bandmates. It's beyond this reviewer how their brains were able to transcribe the pandemonium of their songs into works of structure and order.

One of the most entertaining elements of their performance was watching the audience attempt to head-nod to the songs. People were desperately trying to find that comfortable, repetitive sense of meter common in popular music but failed miserably at maintaining rhythm with their bodies. However, Gutbucket still put smiles on everyone's faces with the band members' contagious energy and amusing anecdotes between songs. Although it might be a difficult band to lie back and listen to in the solitude of your room, its live performances can certainly pump up a listener, especially if he or she is in the mood to ditch the orderly, predictable vibrations of college life.