Gnod

 

Track	Album
Bodies For Money	Just Say No To The Psycho Right-Wing Capitalist Fascist Industrial Death Machine
Donovan’s Daughters	Chapel Perilous
Pink Champagne Blues	La Mort Du Sens
Still Runnin’	Hexen Valley
Run-A-Round	Drop Out
Breaking The Hex	Infinity Machines
Town	La Mort Du Sens
Stick In The Wheel	Just Say No To The Psycho Right-Wing …
Skies Are Red	Hexen Valley
Inner Z	Easy To Build, Hard to Destroy

(photo as featured on the Gnod page at AllMusic)

 

 

Gnod playlist

 

Contributor: Ann Sequinworld

“When the Sex Pistols performed at Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall in June 1976, the gig was so inspiring that many people in the audience went on to form bands of their own – among them The Fall, Joy Division, The Smiths and Simply Red. A similar, if less seismic, thing occurred after the Massachusetts free-psych collective Sunburned Hand of the Man visited Manchester some 30 years later. As legend has it, there weren’t a lot of people in the crowd that night, but many of them went on to play in Gnod…” Bandcamp Daily 2018

According to the same legend, Gnod sprang into existence in 2006. Closely allied with Islington Mill in Salford, core members Paddy Shine and Chris Haslam drew in a rotating collective of like-minded musicians. Drawing on influences as disparate as Afro-beat, krautrock, motorik, drone, experimental psych, techno, trance and noise, Gnod are an ever expanding and contracting entity.

Their first release into the wild was Gnod Live – Manchester 16.03.07, a self-released CDR recorded at The Royal Oak, Chorlton, Manchester. Gnod 2007 were Paddy Shine, Kristi Kirsis (Chris Haslam), Shyang, Rofe McAckands, Dr Aleister Prowley and James with an illegible handwritten surname.

55 recordings later (according to Discogs) Gnod’s most recent release was from the Roadburn Records label and recorded Live At Roadburn 2022. Gnod 2022 were Paddy Shine, Chris Haslam, Alex Wilson, Andy Blundell and Jesse Webb.

Not afraid to collaborate with other artists, Gnod have recorded with many musicians including Radar Men From The Moon, João Pais Filipe, Justin Broadrick, Black Bombaim and White Hills (see Toppermost #1046). Their work has been released on a wide assortment of labels, chief among them being Rocket Recordings and Tesla Tapes.

Gnod, as a collective, has also included the talents of Alan Creedon, Alex Macarte {aka AHRKH), Chris Morley, Dan Watson, David Andrew McLean, John Paul Moran, Jon Perry, Mark Winger, Marlene Ribeiro aka Negra Branca, Neil ‘The Fish’ Francis. Anecdotally, over 40 musicians are part of the Gnod family.

My first time Gnod-bothering was on Saturday 25th July 2015 when they played at the Karma All-Dayer at the venue formally known as Temple Of Boom in Leeds. Familiar with their split recordings with JK Flesh (aka Justin Broadrick) and White Hills, plus the albums Infinity Machines and Chaudelande, the live experience was both exhilarating, immersive and intense. There were some serious people in the house – the only surprise was that it had taken so long to get to see them play a gig, something I urge you to do if you get a chance. Until then, enjoy this Gnod Top Ten and I hope you go on to explore their back catalogue.

 

 

(photo as featured on the Gnod page at Wipe Out Music)

 

 

Bodies For Money – Just Say No To The Psycho Right-Wing Capitalist Fascist Industrial Death Machine (2017)
“As their evolution over the years has proven, Gnod have been many things to many people but they are never for the faint-hearted.”

 

Donovan’s Daughters – Chapel Perilous (2018)
“Working in tandem with the two guitars, bass and electronics that themselves defy conventional usage, the overall effect is an uncompromising sheet of brutalist sound that is an untrammelled howl of rage and disgust at a world seemingly fuelled on hypocrisy and lies.”

 

Pink Champagne Blues – La Mort Du Sens (2021)
“Its fierce beat is at once ritualistic and reminiscent of clanking machinery. This assembly line rhythm complemented with brain-cleaving chainsaw pedal effects, leaves Gnod becoming less of a psych band and more of a dance band, albeit one that’ll leave you crippled.”

 

Still Runnin’ – Hexen Valley (2022)
“A concrete slab of quivering, disgusted urban psychedelic music, as ominous as it is compelling.”

 

Run-A-Round – Drop Out (2011)
“A sonic dissonant force that have, up until now, been slightly overlooked, this lot need to be heard to be believed, full of experimentation and an upsetting lesson in protracted repetition and brutal noise, but it’s also urgent and cathartic and not at all nasty.”

 

Breaking The Hex – Infinity Machines (2015)
“Terse and concise, this is about as close as Gnod have got to an upbeat party song, massive and filthy tones and even more urgent drumming, this is a proper banger.”

 

Town – La Mort Du Sens (2021)
“Maximalist, joyously excessive and cacophonous, a gnarled visceral sonic assault.”

 

Stick In The Wheel – Just Say No To The Psycho Right-Wing Capitalist Fascist Industrial Death Machine (2017)
“Before you’ve even heard Gnod you can sort of tell they’re going to be purveyors of ambient sludge, of prog metal, of murky motorik psych-drone space-rock.”

 

Skies Are Red – Hexen Valley (2022)
“Reminiscent of wandering hypnotised into a cosmic wormhole and being sucked to the outermost antipode of arcane space on a juggernaut commandeered by a newly enlightened Buddha but, for the entire odyssey, Freddy Krueger is trailing me though never getting close enough to cause any real concern.”

 

Inner Z – Easy To Build, Hard To Destroy (2021)
“We’re free-form, genreless and incapable of being pinned down, it’s not exactly like we could be, we’re constantly evolving, no one should say ‘you can’t make electronica or rock like this’, let’s keep the lines blurred.

 

 

 

Ingnodwetrust (2011)

 

THE QUIETUS REVIEWS GNOD ALBUMS

Chaudelande
Infinity Machines
Mirror
Just Say No To The Psycho Right-Wing Capitalist Fascist Industrial Death Machine
Chapel Perilous
Easy to Build, Hard To Destroy
La Mort Du Sens
Hexen Valley

 

 

 

CLIPS OF GNOD GIGS FILMED BY THIS POST’S AUTHOR

 

Gnod at Karma Leeds, Temple of Boom (2015)

 

Gnod R&D at the Golden Cabinet 5th Birthday, Shipley (2018)

 

Gnod encore at Headrow House, Leeds (2021)

 

Gnod at The White Hotel, Salford (2023)

 

Paddy Shine and Chris Haslam
ad image for GNOD (R+D) 2019 gigs

 

ADDENDUM

The prolific outpourings and prodigious talent of the many and varied Gnod-bodies mean that there are lots of side projects, events, happenings, gigs and recordings to explore – for this reason our Gnod Top Ten concerns itself solely with the main stem of their work and not with the branches, offshoots and alumni. We had to draw a line somewhere or we’d be down the rabbit hole for months! Who knows, there may even be a separate Gnoddery Top Ten on the distant horizon, drawing on side projects on Tesla Tapes such as Gnod R&D, Holy Scum, Moundabout, Dwellings and AHRKH.

 

‘JK Flesh vs Gnod’ EP (2020)

 

‘Flowers Rot, Bring Me Stones’ by Moundabout (2022)

 

‘Bliss Waves’ by AHRKH (the solo project of A P Macarte)

 

‘Strange Desires’ by Holy Scum (2022)

 

 

Gnod Bandcamp

Gnod Discography (Discogs)

In Gnod We Trust (Patreon)

In Gnod We Trust (Tumblr)

Gnodcast – official YouTube channel

Paddy Shine’s Baker’s Dozen in The Quietus (2022)

Gnod feature on Terrascope Online (2015)

Gnod Page at Islington Mill, Salford

Rocket Recordings website

Tesla Tapes releases at Bandcamp

Druss (aka Paddy Shine) discography

Holy Scum Bandcamp

AHRKH Bandcamp

Gnod biography (AllMusic)

Ann loves the psychedelic music of the 80s/90s. In between gigs, she runs her own business, Sequin World and Bead Monster. You can follow her on twitter @ann_sequinworld and other social media sites.

These are Ann’s other posts on this site: Loop, The Heads, Thee Hypnotics, Mudhoney, Wooden Shjips, The Lucid Dream, The BellRays, Moon Duo, The Telescopes, MC5, Leatherface, Tad, Kikagaku Moyo, White Hills.

The quotes relating to this top 10 are from reviews at the time of each record’s release, paraphrased here and there and attached to a song. This was a cut-up process and the quote may not originally have been about that particular song but … you know what … it doesn’t matter because it works.

TopperPost #1,069