Nort - G.O.D.A.M.B.

Sheffield's mighty "industrial funk" movement of the 80s fizzled out by the end of that decade. Cabaret Voltaire went house and then split up; Eric Random went AWOL; Chakk and Workforce disintegrated; and the band that best embodied the whole genre, Hula, disbanded despite securing a US record deal with Wax Trax. Hula's catalog has thankfully been reissued in digital form in recent years, but here is a related item that has not. Nort was Hula's drummer, and he put out a solo album in 1988 on Ediesta Records, Games Of Dance And Muscle Blood, usually listed in acronym form as G.O.D.A.M.B. Nort provides drums, percussion, voice, tapes, samples, bass guitar, treatments, sequencers, and keyboards, and is supported by a rather large cast of musicians:

• Justin Bennett - drums, percussion, violin, samples, treatments, keyboards
• D. I. Anii - drums
• D'Silva - saxophone, keyboards
• Sara - Voices
• Alan Fisch - samples, treatments
• Barry Harden - bass guitar
• Dave Heppinstall - keyboards, voice, treatments, percussion
• Sarah Morrell - trumpet
• Alan Russell - guitar
• Phaedre Selmes - voices
• Phil Wolstenholme - kazoo

It's not quite a Great Lost Hula Album, but about half of it could be: the opener "It's A Dream" could almost fit on Voice, the short "Luther's Scream" sounds like Murmur-era Hula, and there are a couple ambient tracks that would sound at home on Hula's improvised Shadowland LP. Three other rhythm-oriented tracks are in the distinctive Sheffield funk vein but are more akin to Workforce's uptempo "Back in the Good Books." Which leaves a few tracks of odds and ends somewhere between ambient and rhythmic. G.O.D.A.M.B. is thus an essential record for, well, anyone who follows this blog! Get the vinyl rip here or here.

Nort has been active in two bands of late, Yonni and The Cherokees. He has also published an autobiography, A Kill Ease, through Lulu.com.

The cover of G.O.D.A.M.B., while it has some interesting elements, is a bit of a mess. It was designed by Metroviral Visuals, which was Anthony Bennett, now a respected sculptor (and MBE awardee) whose bronze tribute to Beatrix Potter now stands in Bowness-on-Mere.