The Sleeping Shamen was present at the recent Gnod show with Author & Punisher.
This is what they thought:
"Gnod, who have recently featured in a more prominent position in the music media (justifiably so, they are modern-day psychedelicists of eminent note), surprised me a little by playing an entirely electronic set using little console things with knobs on and with huge ravels of leads emanating from them (what the fuck do you call them?), like clunky Dr Who technology from the seventies. The various members of this ever-revolving collective huddled and leant over them, twiddling, fiddling , turning and sweating on said knobs, dials and switches with mind-altering affect. What a treasure it is to have Gnod on our North Western doorsteps too, holed up in their Islington Mill art commune like it’s Munich in 1971, making limitless music that defies genre but is uniformly interesting at its weakest to absolutely cortex-fuckingly brilliant at its greatest (check the ‘Science & Industry’ album for Gnod at their quasi-metal-talismanic-tribal best). At first I was conscious of the feeling that I wanted the Gnodsters to get ugly and heavy and use noisy six string guitars and real bass guitars and real solid drums like they did when I saw ‘em last year (twice – both blisteringly intense shows) but as the minutes passed by I saw the good sense in this kind-of retro-set (harking back to the 1990s for me and the proliferation of ecstasy and dance beats everywhere in England) that reminded me of what Hawkwind (I had to mention them didn’t I? soz) used to do post-eighties by flitting between heavy cosmic mantra-rock and electronic bass generated pseudo-rave for fuck-heads in fields in Somerset. Yep, it worked a beauty, particularly as Author & Punisher continued this weltering orgy of electronica. Continuity you see. Makes stuff neat and satisfying."
Read the full review of the show here: The Sleeping Shamen
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