Disco Volante

Disco Volante
Studio album by Mr. Bungle
Released	October 10, 1995
Recorded	1995
Genre	Avant-garde, experimental, experimental metal
Length	68:45
Label	Warner Bros.
Producer	Mr. Bungle
Mr. Bungle chronology
Mr. Bungle (1991) Disco Volante (1995) California (1999)

Disco Volante is the second studio album by American experimental band Mr. Bungle. It was released on October 10, 1995, through Warner Bros. It is considered by many to be the most experimental of all their albums,^[1] picking up inspiration from a wide variety of musical styles including death metal, techno, '50s space age pop, musique concrète and Italian avant-garde. Mike Patton also uses a great number of vocal effects boxes and samples throughout the album.^{[citation needed]}

Background

The album's title refers to the name of the yacht of the same name featured in the James Bond film Thunderball. Mr. Bungle had previously done a cover version of the film's theme song.^[2] This was featured on the demo Warner Bros. Mr Bungle Demo Rough Mixes.^[3]

Disco Volante would be founding member Theo Lengyel's final album with the band, leaving shortly after the tour due to "artistic differences".^[4] Band member Danny Heifetz would later comment, "I miss him. He added a huge chemical imbalance that helped us on the road. He hates us and rightfully so. The music changed, plain and simple. Very little call for saxes, trombone or flute. He was an original member. I'm not. Makes me feel a bit like a union-buster."^[5]

Trey Spruance has stated that the ten-part instrumental song "The Bends" is inspired by Joe Meek's music, specifically "I Hear a New World".^{[citation needed]}

Track listing

Note: The untitled track after "Sleep (Part II): Carry Stress in the Jaw" is often titled "The Secret Song" (the working title of the song) or "Spy" (the title that appears on various concert setlists). It was originally recorded without bassist Trevor Dunn's input or knowledge; although, shortly before its release, Dunn managed to find it and added a vocal track. Though never explicitly stated, it is believed (by Dunn) that the drums were played by McKinnon, and the bass guitar by Patton.^[4] The untitled improvised section after "Merry Go Bye Bye" is listed as "Nothing" on the album sleeve, but is not actually its title; it is credited to Theo Lengyel and Danny Heifetz as a sly reference to the fact that neither of them wrote any songs on the album.^[4]

Release

The album was re-released on vinyl in January 2009 by Plain Recordings. Two versions are available: a Limited Edition (1000) green vinyl, with a bonus 7" featuring "Platypus" and two songs by then-unknown Secret Chiefs 3 (then called Secret Chiefs Trio), and a standard black vinyl without the 7".

Disco Volante spawned a number of officially unreleased demos (circulated on internet peer-to-peer sharing networks): "Ma Meeshka Mow Skwoz",^[6] "Coldsore"^[7] and "Spy".^[8] "Coldsore" featured portions later used in "Love on the Event Horizon". "Spy" didn't feature on the release at all. The vocal effect in this song (at 4:48) is very similar to the voice of Alpha 60 in Jean-Luc Godard's sci-fi film noir Alphaville, using a mechanical voice box to create the effect.^{[citation needed]}

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[9]
Piero Scaruffi	6/10[10]
Stylus Magazine	very favorable[11]

Disco Volante has been well received by critics. In their highly favorable review of the album, AllMusic wrote, "Mr. Bungle is the musical equivalent of a David Lynch movie", calling the music a "totally original and new musical style, and an album that sounds like nothing that currently exists." They referred to the track "Desert Search for Techno Allah" as "a middle eastern techno number that has to be heard to be believed." ^[9] Stylus Magazine, in their 2005 review, wrote, "A decade later, Disco Volante still sounds daring."^[11]

Accolades

Personnel

References

External links

• Disco Volante at Discogs (list of releases)