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Jeff McLeod — Joyless Noise Vol 7
(Bandcamp no#, 2024, DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2024-08-26

Joyless Noise Vol 7 Cover art

This is Jeff McLeod’s seventh in an ongoing series of sound sculptures that began around ten years ago; the six tracks herein were recorded live. Some are shorter excerpts of longer performances, and in the case of the sixteen-minute closer “Microverdose,” it’s a sequence of four individual performances stitched together. Using only guitar and Hologram Electronics Microcosm (a granular effects pedal with sampling, looper, pitch shifter, delay, and more) McLeod produces some otherworldly sounds, textures and rhythms, without the use of any synthesizers, sequencers, or conventional sampling devices — although many of the sounds the listener hears throughout would have one believing it couldn’t be true, much of the rhythmic content seems to be the result of tightly drawn sequences with a bit of noisy slop mixed in. Particularly interesting are the unusual pitch shifts that seem to affect one part of the sound envelope, but not others, generating a sonic character that is truly unique and quite alien. The opening track, “Unlikeness,” almost sounds like someone banging on a slightly detuned honky-tonk piano, circling around in different directions until its two-minute conclusion. With “Ruins Dot the Horizon” the sounds take on a more alien feel, turning and twisting in space, at first with no real cadence, but later picked up in a sequence of loops all layered on top of one another until one encounters the shimmering end section. I just can’t imagine how the alien sounds on “Death in Dullsville” could be sourced from guitar, the strange and frightening loops of noise carry shards of colorful tones presented in a brutal rhythmic envelope. “History of Shit” is a short piece that carries loops inside loops and might have been more effective at half its length. Floating in with a cloud of smoke, “The Mirror Reflects the Light” employs clusters of interesting sound textures that follow throughout its twelve-plus-minute duration, taking a jarring turn around the eight minute mark where the listener gets propelled into outer space. There’s plenty of interesting stuff in these grooves for the intrepid listener, just don’t expect anything conventional.

Filed under: New releases, 2024 releases

Related artist(s): Jeff McLeod

More info
http://jeffmcleod.bandcamp.com/album/joyless-noise-vol-7

 

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