Originally a duo of Miss Massive Snowflake leader Shane de Leon (guitar/drums) and visual media artist Jon Lodge (trumpet/electronics), this Billings, MT-based experimental free-jazz/noise group has added bassist Monte Allen, of Portland, OR’s (and de Leon’s former band) Rollerball. Energized by Allen’s presence, this LP is more cogent, anarchic, and discordant than 2023’s mellower drone/ambient .EXT. Don’t be fooled by the scrumptous-sounding album name, or the equally mouth-watering song titles; the music behind “Apple Fritter With Orange Amp,” “Minnesota Breakfast Box,” “Glazed Donut,” and “French Dip With Fries” is designed more to induce throbbing head discomfort than pleasurable sugar highs.
On each track, you’re bombarded by an endless cavalcade of haphazard, atonal sounds, like flickering static, metallic grinding, backfiring feedback, high-pitched squeals, and rumbling distortion, all amped to eleven. Meanwhile, Lodge’s sputtering trumpet bleats, resembling a herd of agitated elephants, are egged on by de Leon’s strident, clanking drums, both struggling to be heard above the din. Behind Allen’s thunderous, grinding bass lines, the closing “Long John” (barely) finagles a semi-normal “rock” rhythm, before careening into a more tumultuous disarray. But it’s their inimitable, unmelodic side that rivets most.
North Pole Records: Website | Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram
Shane de Leon: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram
