GASTOPHON - Irgendwas geht immer

Gastophon - Irgendwas geht immer

6 songs
18:56 minutes
***** ***
Finest Noise

Bandpage

People growing up in French speaking countries can’t make it past the popular comic anti-hero Gaston Lagaffe, but not only there has he left his influence. A band from Salzburg in Austria has called itself Gastophon, after the loud sounding instrument that the chaotic cartoon character has invented and built.

And just as dissonant and loud as that imaginative instrumental does sound Gastophon, a band that can be placed stylistically in the early Nineties. The opener Badengehen sounds very dirty and reminds not only a little of Nirvana. There’s gnarly guitars, a droning bass, fierce drums and a voice that switches between anger and boredom. The following title track is also very noisy, with the band not forgetting to add some melodic moments. Apart from the opener which is over four minutes long, the remaining tracks are often not even making it over three minutes. This allows the Austrian trio to always get fast to the point with their authentic sound like somewhere between grunge, noise rock and a few dashes of punk. The very short Goodbye and the concluding Trümmer Scherben Meer sound even more distorted and weirder than the preceding material but doesn’t contain as many successful twists and turns. Eldorado is a more melodic song that sounds like the heavier side of Selig.

The album, which convinces with great music and an excellent cover artwork, is not even twenty minutes long, and Gastophon claim to have it recorded in just one day. I believe that statement because Irgendwas ist immer sounds quite unpolished. Of course this was the band’s intention and I can imagine that the band doesn’t sound live that different from their EP. Gastophon have left a good first impression and I am quite eager to see what will come next.

Back to Reviews