01	Everyone I Went To High School With Is Dead						02:44
	02	Chemical Marriage						03:09
	03	Carry Stress In The Jaw						08:59
	04	Desert Search For Techno Allah						05:24
	05	Violenza Domestica						05:14
	06	After School Special						02:47
	07	Phlegmatics						03:16
	08	Ma Meeshka Mow Skwoz						06:06
	09	The Bends						10:28
	10	Backstrokin'						02:27
	11	Platypus						05:07
	12	Merry Go Bye Bye						12:59

Mr. Bungle - Disco Volante Progressive Ears  Submit A Review
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Release Date: 1995
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Track Listing
1) Everyone I Went To High School With Is Dead
2) Chemical Marriage
3) Sleep (Part II): Carry Stress In The Jaw
4) Desert Search For Techno Allah
5) Violenza Domestica
6) After School Special
7) Phlegmatics
8) Ma Meeshka Mow Skwoz
9) The Bends:
a) Man Overboard
b) The Drowning Flute
c) Aqua Swing
d) Follow The Bubbles
e) Duet For Guitar and Oxygen Tank
f) Nerve Damage
g) Screaming Bends
h) Panic
i) Love On The Event Horizon
j) Re-Entry
10) Backstrokin'
11) Platypus
12) Merry Go Bye Bye

Member: Tangento - 8/6/03
Pros:
Masterful musicianship, highly adventurous

Cons:
A bit fragmented and inconsistent

The Bottom Line:
All in all, this probably should not be your first Mr. Bungle purchase, but as time goes by it will probably become your favorite.


This is the middle section of 3 major releases from this seminal multi-influenced rock band. It is their strongest effort, from an experimental music lover's perspective. Mainstream exposure and recognition seemed to be the furthest thing from Mr. Bungle's minds while putting together this concoction of ska, grind, jazz, tripped-out ambience and instrumental weirdness. Listening to this CD from one end to the other is like some strange journey encompassing surreal dreams, violent nightmares and many of the things in-between.

The disc starts out with what is probably Bungle's least accessible song to date, "Everyone I Went To High School With Is Dead". This is a slow, raw and ugly dirge. Next up is "Chemical Marriage", which is a loungy, catchy yet spooky little number, oddly enchanting. It is a bouncy, dynamic organ-based piece with Mike Patton's psychotic vocal stylings sprinkled about. This leads us into "Carry Stress in the Jaw" which is a two-parter: Part 1 sports a noisy then jazzy intro, bangs and crashes thrashily along, finally collapsing into chaos (which is a running motif on this album). I get the sense of a Poe/cocaine theme here. Part 2 twangs madly about with Devo/ Wall of Voodoo-esque guitar noodling and old man narratives, whiny silliness and banshee wailing courtesy of Patton. (Part 2, as I call it, is also known as 'The Secret Song')

Patton starts the next number, "Desert Search for Techno Allah" with the maddening sounds of gagging and (hopefully) dry heaves. This is a landmark song for the album, and for Bungle as a whole. The name pretty much sums it up, a journey through some far-off middle-eastern wasteland, ornamented with a techno beat and weird chants of "Qiamat qiamat a tawil", etc. A great atmospheric piece of work.

"Violenzia Domestica" is a strange, sometimes lovely Italiano-flavored dispute thing that eventually gets a bit ugly. Mike pours out a bit of his (or someone's) heart in "After School Special" revealing a childhood filled with an abusive father and an understanding and supportive Mother. "Phlegmatics" meanders through avant-jazzy terrain, with free-form structure and flowing jams.

"Ma Meeshka Ma Skwoz", at times, is the closest this band has come to sounding like Frank Zappa, with some very nice ska/Oingo Boingo-isms thrown about for good measure. This band's excellent musicianship is in full display here.

The strangest track here, "The Bends" is one that cannot easily be described. The next number (my favorite)"Backstrokin'" seems to be a continuation of it, and both must be heard to be understood, if not believed. Ambient, episodic, surreal and disturbing are a few descriptives which apply here.

"Platypus" is another Jazzy entry- playful, witty and spastic. The disk closes with what is one of Mr. Bungle's catchiest yet most annoying songs in "Merry Go Bye-Bye". It is endearing and cheesy, then bursts into a cacophonous racket. Then it thrashes hard. Soon, it becomes a grotesque and unbearable clamor. Then it becomes quite sad. It is actually a bit depressing all the while, somewhat of an observation on God and suicide. This one I will just have to let you figure out for yourself. I keep a self-edited version of it close by, minus the NOISE. It makes a great song that way.

While you are here, please join me in a humble prayer asking that these guys continue to make albums. Thanks.

c2001 - 2003 Progressive Ears
All Rights Reserved





Mr. Bungle
Disco Volante
Warner Brothers (45963)
USA 1995

Trevor Dunn, bass;
Mike Patton, organ, ocarina, vocals, microcassette;
William Winant, percussion, bongos, cymbals, glockenspiel, jew's-harp, tabla, xylophone, kanjira, sistrum;
Graham Connah, piano;
Theobald Brooks Lengyel, reeds;
Clinton McKinnon, clarinet, drums, keyboards, tenor sax;
I Quit, percussion, wood block;
Lisandro Adrover, bandoneon


nick

Disco Volante, Mr. Bungle's second major label album, is a radical depature from past efforts. Gone are the funk and ska influences, as well as comprehensible lyrics. They are replaced with jazz, "world" music, avant garde noise, and a smack of metal. No catchy tunes (with the exception of "Merry Go Bye Bye") or danceable rhythms are to be found here. Instead we have saxophones dueling it out with thrash guitars, film noir tango, and perverse breathing. Things began elegantly enough with a track entitled "Everyone I Went To High School With is Dead," a sludge core metal track, and probably the most conventional thing on the album. After the first track, they abandon conventional styles all together. "Chemical Marriage" is a spookshow rhumba. "Carry Stress in the Jaw" can only be described as "thash bop", and "Merry Go Bye Bye" marries Beach Boys pop, death metal, and apocalyptic noise better than anyone has attempted before or since. "Platypus" is perhaps the most complex track on Disco Volante; swingin' jazz guitar, "Hot Rats" woodwinds and musique concrete make for a tune that for all its seeming randomness is actually quite a coherent listen. It even has some funny lyrics as well... good luck trying to decipher them.
Disco Volante is a dense and sometimes difficult album, but ultimately very rewarding. It is definitely recommended to RIO and avant-prog fans looking for something edgy and challenging, but a little more humorous.

12-20-03

c ground and sky