Buzz Sound: Gaadge

Artist: Gaadge, the four-piece of vocalist and guitarist Mitch DeLong, guitarist Andy Yadeski, bassist Nick Boston, and drummer Ethan Oliva

Location: Pittsburg, PA

Buzz: Mitch DeLonge’s alternative fever dream, Gaaadge, is by no means just starting out, having been a sonic vision of his from its early, crusty lo-fi start in 2016. Across a shifting line-up which eventually solidified itself when DeLonge reconnected with former Barlow members in drummer Andy Yadeski and guitarist Ethan Oliva alongside the introduction to bassist Nick Boston, Gaadge began to fully realize its shape (or lack thereof) on their 2021 sophomore effort, Yeah?, at a moment when wavier colorforms and uncanny textures began to be embraced by a new generation of shoegaze-curious listeners beyond just the scope of your usual My Bloody Valentines and Slowdives of the scene. With this summer’s release of their breakthrough effort, Somewhere Down Below, the Pittsburg quartet have found themselves at the epicenter of a new wave of ambiguous alternative guitar rock that recognizes the subterranean levels of shoegaze’s past while warping the future outlines of it alongside fellow scene peers Feeble Little Horse and Brooklyn’s Hotline TNT as their own force of mind-bending gravity.

Sound: Lighting up in a dorm room during first semester with the autumn air flowing through the window. You throw on a rotation of Drop Nineteens and early Yo La Tengo LPs just as the high hits, and suddenly you’re in space.

Recommended: “No Go”, “Any Timers”, and “Sputter” off this year’s third studio album, Somewhere Down Below

Gaadge’s Somewhere Down Below is available now on Crafted Sounds.