I'm not even going to bother with an introduction here, but I will tell you some facts about this album:
1. Just because it's labelled a Mike Patton album doesn't necessarily mean that it sounds like anything else he's ever done before.
2. There is absolutely zero commercial or radio appeal in this whatsoever; it is very atmospheric, avant-garde stuff.
3. It's got John Zorn on it.
That's basically "
Pranzo Oltranzista" in a very, very small nutshell. This is the type of album where the more you listen to it, the more you get out of it, and the more rewarding it becomes. All of the songs on here are modelled after recipes from the 1932 work "Futurist Cookbook," and the sound of them varies from jazz to experimental to ambient, but always with an underlying layer of avant-garde sitting there. Noises and samples are prevalent on this disc, particularly of the creepy and/or weird varieties.
For a Mike Patton album, there are very few vocals here. The album relies more on effects and abstract soundscapes to get its point across- there are no real 'lyrics' to be found on this CD. John Zorn appears on the record and does an admirable job on his signature instrument- the saxophone. Whether he's playing a fast-paced, screeching solo ("
Aerovivanda,") or crooning
a slower, jazzy number ("
I Rumori Nutrienti",) he is always in command
of his instrument.
There are no 'stand-out' tracks here- this album is really meant to be listened to in whole. It's hard to remember individual moments of the album, mainly because each pocket of the record is filled with so many details; as I said before- the more you listen to this album, the more you will get out of it. Elements that you missed on your first listen will appear and make the song seem even more complex than it did already. Still, however, if you have an ear for the avant-garde or just want to try something different, than it's hard not to recommend "
Pranzo Oltransizta." Give it a try, you may be pleasantly surprised.
