Mr. Bungle - California

It's no secret I love the avant-garde band Mr. Bungle, lead by the very talented Mike Patton, but I'm about to review what is possibly my favorite album by them, the amazing, talented, beautiful California, made by some amazing, talented, ugly men.

Where as the last album was a venture into deeper, darker music, with a lonely depressing atmosphere, this album is very much the opposite, with a very happy sound influenced by bands like the Beach Boys, but much, much more messed up, and like I've said before, talented.

This album is Mr. Bungle's most consistent, meaning there are hardly genre shifts in the songs (although there still are one or two) which we've come to know them by, and even then, a lot of the songs maintain the same feel, while being very much different, so they don't sound alike. This is their most accessible album, and very pop-influenced.

We have the Beach Boys/doo-wop influenced 'The Air Conditioned Nightmare', which is a tribute to suicide, with some of my favorite lyrics by them, sung with such elegance from Patton, to even a tribal song 'Goodbye Sober Day' which features Mike freaking the hell out, doing a chant near the end. It's got a lot of variety, like all of Mr. Bungle's releases. They're creative little guys that I don't think get enough recognition.

Also of note is 'Retrovertigo' which is just an undeniably beautiful track made about - Some people have corrected me about what it's actually about, but I don't even know what to put here, so let's just have a picture of Trevor Dunn in its place, from suggestion.

This picture will fix the mistake I made, right? Yeah! YEAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

I can't really think of any flaws on here at all. Everyone's doing great, and Patton as always is perfect. Perfect madmen doing what they do best: Making insane music with surprisingly deep lyrics. Fans who aren't exactly jumping for the change in lyrics should look up 'Vanity Fair's lyrics. You're welcome.

It's hard to say which Mr. Bungle album I'd recommend if I had to only pick one, but this is certainly a great choice. An absolutely great album. It's just a shame that they had to break up.. Hopefully we'll get a reunion like Faith No More did, until then, many Mr. Bungle fans (such as I) cry into their pillow at night, hoping one day our heroes will return.

But who knows, maybe Mike is still too busy putting out (although good) albums nobody really was wanting, and making money off of them.

Because, you know, screw the hearts of fans, it's all about the cash.

Pictured above: Mike Patton wearing a suit worth more than your yearly income.

9/10

Recommended tracks: Retrovertigo, The Air Conditioned Nightmare, Goodbye Sober Day