#gaadge

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Oh Wonder by Gaadge from the album Somewhere Down Below

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Whirl by Gaadge from the EP Other Demos

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No Go by Gaadge

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Do What Now? by Gaadge from the album Yeah? out on Crafted Sounds

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Gaadge - From The Rafters

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Gaadge — Somewhere Down Below (Crafted Sounds)

Photo by Eric Stevens

Somewhere Down Below by Gaadge

Gaadge has the Swirlies’ trick of slipping slight, vulnerable wobbles of melody in a surging onslaught of guitar noise, so that you grab onto the song part as you submerge, gloriously, in overwhelming, overdriven textures of sound. This third full-length from the Pittsburgh four piece buries catchy pop in distortion-swollen currents, the noise and the hook living right next to each other, ready to fight.

The band has two guitarists. Mitch Delong, who also sings and writes most of the songs, strums and slashes while Andy Yadeski elicits the MBV-ish howl and drone. The drummer Ethan Oliva hits hard as he can go, arms ricocheting to chest level as he knocks out chaotic beats. The bass, played by Nick Boston, spills out in a viscous sludge of noise and dissonance; if you get pulled under, it’s the bass that will catch you by the feet and suck you down into the murk.

“Komarov” lets the roar prevail, its drifting choruses socked in by feedback surges and a continuous earthquake of drums. It’s over fast — in 1:44 to be exact — but leaves a crater in its wake. “Strok” which follows just after is, by contrast, nearly jangle pop, its keening melody punctuated but not swamped by stinging strums.  The best, most elegant stab at pop comes in “Don’t Go There,” with its sly, shout-out melody and ornately twining guitars; you’ll hear a bit of Guided by Voices, a bit of Honey Radar in its quick hit of tunefulness. There’s an element of shoegaze in Gaadge’s rainbow arcing noise, too, best heard on “Mundy’s Highlight,” which will give you a flash of Swervedriver in its sweet, lyrical chaos.

You could draw all sorts of lines to the Ovlov family of bands (Stove, Pet Fox, actual Ovlov), in the way the music buoys while the noise takes on a physical, body-moving presence. When we listen to rock music, we want to be moved, but we also want to be obliterated, and Gaadge does both very well.

Jennifer Kelly

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george chen of zum audio postcard art

why do i love this record label so much?

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gaadge yeah? tape