Polar Cats revel in originality

Sampled geese, a synth kazoo, Javanese bells and a prominently placed animatronic cat. Welcome to the world of the Polar Goldie Cats.

Boldly navigating the modern musical territory between Boulez and Beck, this native quartet has been performing in Los Angeles for almost 10 years. In this time, the Polar Goldie Cats have earned a sizable amount of New Music street cred -- resulting in their selection this year to play a concert for the Sound.at the Schindler House series.

These summer concerts usually present music along the lines of John Cage or Glenn Branca, so there were whispers about whether the Polar Goldie Cats belonged at such a serious venue.

These fears were promptly quashed when guitarist Bobb Bruno appeared on stage in a white bunny costume. Looking like a character from a Takashi Murakami print come to life, Bruno sat down and played a prologue of long, sampled notes and modulating tone that segued to a mock J-pop interlude. This playful bit of nihilist theatrics won over the sizable Schindler House audience on Saturday evening -- and gave a musical taste of what was to come.

After a brief intermission, the real set began. Sans costumes, the Polar Goldie Cats performed 14 original pieces with a precision and musicality more often seen in chamber groups; one almost expected to see sheet music amid the amps and pedals.

“A.F. Otter” featured big, distorted guitar chords, but eventually revealed a core of tightly woven note patterns that recalled early minimalism. “Maoist” began with Stockhausen-esque defiance: cymbals played on the floor rather than on their stands, interjections of a small silver instrument called a Xylomatic, and yet the piece morphed into the most pop-ish number of the set. Some songs displayed pure rock-ballad phrasing, but most used the pop lexicon only to investigate other musical forms, such as bluegrass rhythms in “Spider.”

Despite their garage band appearance and indie-rock sound, the Polar Goldie Cats’ music is entirely instrumental. Only drummer Rincy Samucake added vocals to the evening, once to thank the audience for coming and once to yell out the non sequitur: “To the Hibernaculum!”