GNOD | LIVE PREVIEW
The Moon, Cardiff, Thurs 8 June
The first ever south Wales appearance by Gnod, a shapeshifting psychedelic noise unit based in northern England’s fashionable Salford, is very overdue and thus very welcome. The group has been together for about a decade; in its early years, a stream of tapes and CDRs came out under the Gnod name, which have inevitably grown in value as their reputation has done the same. At that time, they also operated more as a collective than a band – a turn of phrase with an air of cliché, but at least some truth in this case, with a few dozen members reputedly passing through Gnod’s ranks over the years.
These days, their lineup is relatively fixed, albeit with the ability to add and subtract personnel depending on what kind of set they’re delivering. When they played in Bristol last month, for example, it was an all-electronic hardware performance from Chris Haslam, Paddy Shine and Alex Macarte: intense, throbbing and memorable. Gnod’s incarnation for Cardiff – promoted by AcemanSpaceman in conjunction with long-running psych enthusiasts Terrascope – will, as far as I’m aware, be guitar-bass-drums-electronics, in the style of their two most recent albums on the Rocket label. Last year’s Mirror saw the band head into a punishing, doomy noiserock black hole a la Swans; 2017’s Just Say No To The Psycho Right-Wing Capitalist Fascist Industrial Death Machine is more rhythmically upbeat, perhaps the closest they’ve come to ‘conventional’ punk rock yet (which is still not that close).
That album title, and its placard-style sleeve art, has struck a chord in a time where such statements feel increasingly less like hyperbole. (I’ve noticed people who I’m almost certain have no interest in the band using it as their Facebook profile pic, for whatever that’s worth.) Gnod’s music is not directly polemical in this way, but like most of the finest psychedelic ensembles throughout history, they have the ability to convey anger, love and wisdom through volume and presence. Whatever hell might greet us on the outside, for a few hours on Thurs 8 June 2017 The Moon ain’t a bad place to be.
Tickets: £8.50 via WeGotTickets. Info: AcemanSpaceman Promotions on Facebook
words NOEL GARDNER