Mr. Bungle - California
Year released: 1999
The band is:
Mike Patton: Vocals, keyboards, electronics
Trevor Dunn: Bass
Trey Spruance: Guitar, keyboards
Danny Heifetz: Percussion
Clinton "Bar" McKinnon: Keyboards, sax, clarinet
Note: The band will sometimes change instruments. All of the musicians are able to play a good number of instruments.
Introduction: Mr. Bungle formed in 1985 in Eureka, California. The original line-up had three of the members currently in the band in the band plus Jed Watts on drums. The band had three demo tapes before releasing their self-titled debut in 1991 -- The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny (1986), Bowel of Chiley (1987), and QU818 (1989). In 1991, the band released their first album titled Mr Bungle. Their style on the self-titled album could be described as demonic circus music, the sounds of a carnival blended with heavy metal (not to mention fragments of thrash, spaz, ska, and video game sound effects ). Their second major release, Disco Volante, was an interesting blend of jazz, lounge, metal, and avant garde all organized in the manner that one could compare with classical music. And finally, their third release, California, had no meticulous sound, but every track fit the island vacation theme expressed in the album art.
(I got most of this information from the Bungle Fever website.)
Tracks:
1. Sweet Charity (5:06)
2. None Of Them Knew They Were Robots (6:04)
3. Retrovertigo (4:59)
4. The Air-Conditioned Nightmare (3:55)
5. Ars Moriendi (4:10)
6. Pink Ciagrette (4:55)
7. Golem II: The Bionic Vapour Boy (3:34)
8. The Holy Filament (4:04)
9. Vanity Fair (2:58)
10. Goodbye Sober Day (4:29)
1. Sweet Charity - This song fits the album's all-over feel the best. It starts out with guitar playing island-style chords, the verses are very quiet with just Mike Patton singing very softly over sustained notes on the keyboard. The chorus is great; Mike's got what sounds like two vocal tracks of him. One singing, "Sweet charity", and the other doing and catchy "ba-ba-ba" repitition. It's a great song to start the cd out, and it was one of my favorites for awhile. 5/5
2. None Of Them Knew They Were Robots - This song is quite lively and covers a few different genres. It kicks in with pounding drums and "terror" chords played on the keyboard. After about fifteen seconds of all of that, the song suddenly quiets down and gets a swing feel to it that seems to be the theme throughout the song. The little guitar solo after the first part of the verse, the guitar tone, and the bounciness are all great imitations of classic swing-style songs. This song is another one of my favorites. 5/5
3. Retrovertigo - This one's a slow, relaxing song using less instruments than most Mr. Bungle songs. And just because it's slow doesn't mean it's not interesting. This song has some great vocal melodies by Patton. His vocals are crisp and powerful, and help make the song epic sounding. After a little music box plays the vocal melody in the middle of the song, it gets heavier and more powerful. The song keeps the heavy sound until the end of the song where it just fades out with distorted guitar and Mikes voice. This was the stand-out track the first time I listened to the album, and it was my first favorite. 5/5
4. The Air-Conditioned Nightmare - Mostly a surf style song. This one starts out with Mike singing softly, island sounding guitar, and sustained keyboard. It makes a nice transition from soft music to more lively stuff. Mike does a "ba-ba-ba" repitition, much different from the one in "Sweet Charity." In the verse it sounds like there are two tracks of vocals, each taking turns saying a word, going from speaker to speaker. That is followed by a surf style riff on the guitar and vocals matching the melody. This song is a shorter, catchy one. 4/5
5. Ars Moriendi - This song is middle-eastern sounding with some extra instruments and sounds. The band nailed the middle-eastern style by playing unusual scales and instruments. Mike's vocal melodies match the style perfectly too. This one is very interesting to listen to closely and hear how much equipment they must have used to make this track. 5/5
6. Pink Cigarette - Another soft song. This one is a little more eerie than "Retrovertigo." The lyrics seem to be about a woman I'm guessing cheating on a man, and the man getting very depressed. Mike's vocals have that slightly whiney Elvis ballad sound to them. The end is quite spooky; Mike counts down to someone (the woman I'd guess) finding the man dead ("There's just 5 hours left until you find me dead"). When there are no more hours left there's just a constant beep that ends the song. It's a beautiful and eerie song with excellent lyrics. 5/5
7. Golem II: The Bionic Vapour Boy - This one has a little bit of their debut album's sound to it. In the beginning there is the sound of some sort of mechanical device being wound up. A neat little melody follows that, that sounds like a music box, and the vocals have that same melody in the first part of the verse. This song is kind of quiet with just Mike's vocals, the music box, drums, and some electronic sounds. This is a catchy one, but not one of my favorites. 3.5/5
8. The Holy Filament - A creepy sounding song. The beginning is quiet and sounds like something that'd be in a horror movie when something bad was about to happen. The vocal melodies are really spooky, but interesting. The song doesn't have much going on, and I often lose interest and skip the song. The more you listen to it, the better it gets, but I have yet to like it enough to listen to it a lot. 3/5
9. Vanity Fair - The first time I heard this one, I loved it. It's very catchy. It's got a bouncy thing going on with the drumming and some cool sax stuff while Mike sings. Mike's vocals are great sounding, his vocal melodies are very catchy, and the lyrics are strange but very interesting. This one is a good song whenever. 5/5
10. Goodbye Sober Day - This song is extremely wacky. I can't imagine how many tracks they used to record this. It sounds like they used everything they had in the studio to make this song. It starts out with a few Latin instruments like guiros and maracas, and then Mike comes in with weird vocals that have steel drums I think playing the same melody. There is a lot of weird noises in this song. One of the coolest in my opinion sounds like something exploding, and is played right after Mike sings "And I still pity you." After about two minutes of the song it gets pretty crazy. While there's all this static going on, this chanting starts that, according to the Bungle Fever website, is a Balinese chant that started out as a form of exorcism. After you can get used to the strange sounds and wackiness of this track, it'll end up one of your favorites. 5/5
Summary: I loved this cd the first time I heard it, and it is one of my current favorite albums of all time. Unlike the majority of modern music, this album is unpredictable. The band tried so many different things and nailed every one of them. If you're into bands like this, you'll love the album. It never at any point disapointed me, and I highly recommend it. 5/5
