Mr Bungle Disco Volante CD

Live Recording

Mr. Bungle: Mike Patton (vocals, organ, ocarina, sound effects); Trey "Uncooked Meat Prior To State Vector Collapse" Spruance (guitar, organ, keyboards, electronics, sound effects); Theo (E-flat reeds); Clinton McKinnon (clarinet, tenor saxophone, keyboards, drums); Trevor Roy Dunn (bass); I Quit (woodblock).
Additional personnel: Lisandro Adrover (bandoneon); Graham Connah (piano); William Winant (cymbals, bongos, tablas, kanjira, sistrums, Jew's harp, percussion, xylophone, glockenspiel).
Recorded at Brilliant Studios, Hyde Street Studios, Coast Recorders and Shotwell Bomb Factory, San Francisco; Mills College Concert Hall, Oakland, California.
Personnel: Mike Patton (vocals, ocarina, organ); Lisandro Adrover (bandoneon); Clinton McKinnon (clarinet, tenor saxophone, keyboards, drums); Graham Connah (piano); William Winant (glockenspiel, xylophone, bongos, kanjira, cymbals, Jew's harp, sistrum, tabla, percussion); I Quit (wood block, percussion).
Audio Mixer: Billy Anderson.
Recording information: Brilliant Studios, San Francisco, CA; Coast Recorders, San Francisco, CA; Hyde Street Studios, San Francisco, CA; Mills College Concert Hall, Oakland, CA; Shotwell Bomb Factory, San Francisco, CA.
Unknown Contributor Role: Trevor Dunn.
Mr. Bungle is the musical equivalent of a David Lynch movie. On its uncompromising second release, Disco Volante, the group focuses its sound a bit more than on its 1991 self-titled debut but still keeps things unruly and completely unpredictable. This is a band whose sole purpose is to break all the pre-existing rules of music and doesn't think twice about taking chances. What they've created in the process is a totally original and new musical style and an album that sounds like nothing that currently exists. The group, whose members go by aliases, may be the most talented rock instrumentalists today, as they skip musical genres effortlessly, while Mike Patton illustrates why many consider him to be the best singer in rock. The group tackles plodding death metal ("Everyone I Went to High School With Is Dead"), deranged children's songs ("After School Special"), and a Middle Eastern techno number that has to be heard to be believed ("Desert Search for Techno Allah"). Many of the songs radically change genres mid-song, encompassing the sounds of Ennio Morricone, John Zorn, Frank Zappa, and other heretofore unthought-of musical mutations. Not music to unwind to after a hard day, but it will challenge your mind when the right mood hits. ~ Greg Prato
Taking cues from Frank Zappa, Carl Stalling and John Zorn, and dabbling in styles as disparate as lounge, death-metal and downtown jazz, Mr. Bungle create a schizophrenic sound unlike any '90s major-label band save for The Boredoms. Yet where The Boredoms approach their music from two specific sources (free jazz and punk), Mr. Bungle easily triple or quadruple that figure when listing their influences. As with other genre-bending progressive music, the obvious question is do they pull it off?
On DISCO VOLANTE, they do quite nicely, thank you. Whether it is on the Middle East-inflected "Desert Search For Techno Allah," or on complex pieces like "The Bends," Mr. Bungle use hypnotic sounds, jarring noise and tight playing to convey their drug-soaked and semi-insane point of view to the world. The juxtaposition of styles works well--both from track to track (the extra heavy "Everyone I Went To School With Is Dead" is followed by the lounge jazz number, "Chemical Marriage") and within a single song ("Merry Go Bye Bye" leaps from a '50's rock sing-along to death-metal meltdown). Lyrically, Mr. Bungle piece together as many strange images as they do musically--"Carry Stress In The Jaw" quotes extensively from Edgar Allen Poe, while "Ma Meeshka Mow Skwoz" seems to be written in a language all its own.
Tough to listen to but rewarding, Mr. Bungle place themselves alongside groups like The Melvins, Praxis and Naked City, aQ (4/96, p.100) - 2 Stars - Average - "...A tad anarchic Zappa, a touch devilish David Lynch, Disco Volante is not for the aurally fragile, but it may offer a smile to the more hardy avant-garde listener..."
Melody Maker (1/27/96, p.35) - "...inhabits that Majorly grey area where high-art blurs into high-noodling....akin to getting lost in a sprawling, dimly lit and dilapidated mansion. By the end of it, you're stumbling into rooms even the owners don't go in any more..."