Mr. Bungle - Disco Volante

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This is an okay cut of the Bungle page, but far from their other brilliant works. Do not buy this for your first Bungle experience, save it for later. June 16, 2008

Absolutely Bizarre Absurdist Musical Masterpiece

More performance art or satirical commentary than the kind of album you would listen to around other people at a party (unless you happen to be throwing a very, very weird party), this release from perpetual fly in the ointment Mike Patton and his extremely talented cast and crew of musical misanthropes is a must-have completely unique example of artistic vision and good-old-fashioned smart-assery.

The lengthy song "Carry Stress In The Jaw" is as good an example as any of the tracks on this huge, outrageously weird album to illustrate the abberrant strangeness and anticommercialist streak evident here. Meandering it's way through nearly any and every style of music (showtunes, jazz, film scores, thrash metal, polka, children's nursery songs, spoken word beat poetry, carnival/horror show theme music, funk, pop, psychadelia and god knows what else to call it) and clocking in at over ten minutes in length, Patton serves as surrealist ringmaster to the circus-like proceedings, introducing auditory acrobats, clowns, lion-tamers, and a sideshow freak or two before firing himself out of a cannon. Truly odd, and completely original and compelling in some undefinable way. It's almost worth buying just to have around to play when you want to freak someone out....crazy. February 21, 2008

You Want Weird? You Got Weird.

How does one define experimental? Well, I'm not sure if it can be summed up in a few words, but if I wanted to choose one word that best describes this album, that would be it.
'Disco Volante' is the second full length major release by Mr. Bungle and arguably their best work, spanning many different styles all in a single song, let alone an entire album. How's that for experimental? That is a word that gets tossed around a lot.
This album contains free jazz at times sped up as if it was put through a blender, thrash metal, psychadelia, twitchy keyboard sounds...-When all of these elements are combined it can leave one in a panic, like a mad circus is marching through the brain. An album that leaves you on the edge of your seat that doesn't stop 'til the end. Kind of like a cryptic and creepy film in black and white, the scariest of all. I had no idea what to expect next, all I knew was, that I wanted to hear more! Just like an addiction it can creep up on you at the worst, or in this case the Best of times. So, repeated listens may be needed.
Fast, but smooth jazz can be heard on the standout, track 3- "Carry Stress In the Jaw" and then it quickly switches to thunderous metal, then on to screams of ache and pain and haunting ghostly howls.
Dark and fantastically Nuts! 'Disco Volante' can leave the listener, happy, sad, feeling bizarre and speechless all at the same time. Not many albums that I know of can make you feel dozens of emotions all at once. This one by Mr. Bungle does.
I would say this would appeal to fans of Tom Waits crazier side and fans of the Butth*le Surfers, Frank Zappa and The Residents. Right up there with some of the creepiest and weirdest Music around.
I can picture Gibby Haynes smiling a devilish smile while listening to this, the master-mind that is Mike Patton and Mr. Bungle.
Remember: Keep sharp objects away from your eyes! September 16, 2007

I am obsessed with this album

A few years ago, a friend of mine popped a cd in the car that blew my mind away. It was Disco Volante. Ever since then, I've been completely obsessed with Mr. Bungle.

Disco Volante is the second of three studio albums, and the most experimental
and jazzy. Every single track contains a clean blend of so many different genres that a song is a dichotomy in itself. Not to mention Mike Patton, Mr. Bungle's vocalist, who probably has one of the widest voice ranges I have ever heard, spices up the album with the usual vocal chord contortions that blow your mind.

If you like this album, I would recommend listening to their first, self titled album. September 9, 2007

A good description?

There is no accurate description for this CD. However, I will attempt to make an analogy with movie styles. I can describe this CD as a mix between Quentin Tarantino and David Lynch. If you are fan of any of those two writers/directors then you won't have any problem digesting this CD. You'll need a big esophagus, stomach, and you know what else.

I am writing this as I listen to Merry Go Bye Bye. OMG how this song throws every music rule out the window! This particular song starts as a quasi-rock & roll happy song (talking about suicide) and then all of the sudden BANG!!! Thrash metal!! "BYAAARRRGHHH!!!" - as the great philosopher of this century once said Howard Dean said once. From there on, the song is brilliantly destroyed with laser guns and video game sound effects from the 80's to then recompose itself at the end with a nicely done soft reprise. Finally there are over 5 minutes of weirdness with several F-Bombs. August 28, 2007

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