photos by Maren Michaelis
This Friday, Exile On Mainstream will release Artificial Disgust, the debut LP by German instrumental avant rock quartet GAFFA GHANDI. The Obelisk is hosting an exclusive advance stream of the entire hook-laden album on the verge of its official unveiling.
GAFFA GHANDI‘s proper first full-length comes out swinging with equal parts psychedelic rock and melodic/progressive post-hardcore and carrying more hooks than a bait shop. If you regularly visit records by Torche, The Fucking Champs, Pelican, Kylesa, and similar artists, check out Artificial Disgust immediately.
With the advance album stream, GAFFA GHANDI bassist Lucas Kazzer offers, “Artificial Disgust is the effort of a long-term pain; the joyful and relentless process of putting the ever-evolving concept of being an energetic and boundless live band into the solid and to some extent comparable version of our excesses on stage. Some of these songs had been in progress for quite some time and they have changed with every session we’ve played them live to the point we finally laid them to tape. We are, due to our personal influences and personal behavior, a very diverse bunch of friends with a lot of different specific preferences concerning sound and riff composition. The album is to this point, in our opinion, the most coherent, but also the most diverse offering of our ten-year history as a band. The record features classic ’90s moments of our early stoner and alternative approaches, but also, in a blink of an eye, progressive psychedelic stuff and experimental signatures we figured out in the rehearsal space over various sessions. All those pieces have gone through various stages of different moods, but, at the end: Artificial Disgust is what it is: a bastard of polyphonic heaviness with a hint of a painful, sardonic smile.
The Obelisk writes in part with their stream of Artificial Disgust, “…it soon enough finds its way into progressive chuggery and winds airy leads around a rhythmic solidity that reminds of just what an ultra-solid double-guitar foursome can accomplish when they knuckle down, decide to let their songs go where they’re demanding to go, and maybe unleash a little bit of their inner Zappa-tista in the process… They’re not just each doing their own thing and mashing together parts and calling it a song. They’re writing a progressive piece of music that unites them as players. After 10 years together and on their third album, a realization of potential is due, but it’s still striking just how cohesive they make seemingly disjointed elements sound.”
Hear GAFFA GHANDI’s entire Artificial Disgust LP early only through The Obelisk at THIS LOCATION.
Artificial Disgust was recorded by Jan Oberg at Hidden Planet Studio, Robin Ravn at FKN Recording Studio, Alan Bittner at Frieders Livingroom, Georg Edert at Gaffa Ghandi Rehearsal Space, Torsten Lang at Torstens Livingroom, and Niklas Wenzel at Virtuose Vibes Studio. The record was mixed and mastered by Torsten Lang and is completed with photography and design by Maren Michaelis and layout by Benjamin Butter.
Artificial Disgust is out this Friday, April 24th via Exile On Mainstream, on LP, CD, and digital platforms– the LP joined with a download code and the CD and digital bearing a bonus track from the archives. Place orders HERE.
The new LP was meant to see release in conjunction with GAFFA GHANDI‘s participation in Exile On Mainstream’s RoadShow 2020 mini-tour including Treedeon, Darsombra, Kristian Harting, and Tourette Boys, but the trek has been disbanded due to the ongoing worldwide coronavirus situation. Watch for the band to reschedule new performances once the situation is contained.
http://www.gaffaghandi.de
https://gaffaghandi.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/gaffaghandi
http://www.mainstreamrecords.de