Gnod & João Pais Filipe – Faca De Fogo – LP (Coloured)

The result of a predestined collision course between two modern day forces of iconoclasm, “Faca De Fogo” is a rhythmically driven journey into soundscapes mercurial, savage and disquieting. Here a Mancunian-birthed counter cultural sound collective and a Porto-based master of percussive divination join forces, resulting in mystical trance states and elemental epiphanies aplenty.

GNOD first met up with João Pais Filipe at the Milhões De Festa event in Barcelos, initially intrigued by a gong he’d made in the shape of a skateboard which formed part of an exhibition. They were soon introduced, and a plan was formulated apparently of its own volition to work together, subsequently co-ordinated by the Porto-based label and promoters Lovers & Lollypops around a week spent by GNOD in Porto. Three days of rehearsals led to the basic structures that were explored at an incendiary show in the city, which were in turn subsequently recorded over four days in João’s metal workshop with minimal overdubbing, forming a powerful portrait of the sparks that flew and the fire they created.

Forged in a spirit of spontaneity and intuition, “Faca De Fogo“wastes precisely zero time in manifesting this incendiary chemistry between these two explorers of mantras and repetitive revelation. Themed around the elements in thematic unity with the alchemical nature of João’s practice, it runs a gamut of improvisatory exploration from the eerie atmospherics that introduce ‘Faca De Terra’ via the polyrhythmic kraut-damaged mania of ‘Face De Ar’ to the shamanic and bleak Swans-esque clangour of the title track.

“Faca De Fogo” is a soundworld without barriers, a meeting of minds and mallets in which the duality at its core is subsumed into a singular force as primal as it is metaphysical.