Mr. Bungle - California [1999]

Wow, how did this take so long to get posted? If there was ever a prize for most insane of the musical insane geniuses, Mike Patton would certainly be a strong contender.

Not content with his funk-metal outfit Faith No More, in 1991 Patton created Mr. Bungle, as an outlet for his more experimental work. The first self-titled album could best be compared to a heavy metal Frank Zappa, complete with funky basslines, stream-of-consciousness vocals, and toilet humour (plenty of toilet humour).

But it seems this wasn't crazy enough, as in 1996 the Bungle released Disco Volante, which may have tried just a little too hard to be kooky and erratic, and loses coherence somewhat as a result. However just three years later the band released California, their masterpiece. It was the metaphorical 'just right' album, where the funk was the funkiest and the crazy was the craziest. But this album still had plenty of surprises up its sleeve, in the form of a plethora of different musical ideas from all kinds of sources (much of the album draws on various aspects of '50s music, from surf to doo-wop to good old-fashioned rock n' roll). The LP is an absolute goldmine of creativity, and although all the tracks are fantastic, penultimate song "Vanity Fair" just about sums up the feel of this extensively varied yet simultaneously crystal-clear album.

10 tracks, 44:14, 40.57 MiB

Zippyshare (Mp3, 128 kbps)