Mr Bungle's California: An analysis of one the most cryptic summer albums of all time

Hello and once again snipper-snappers all around the world, and welcome to my blog. As I said two weeks ago, I'm going to talk about something from my personal interests. Just like last year. And one of the things that I wanted to talk but I never had the chance to make is a post related to music.

That's right, This week I'm going to talk about a band. But not just any band and not just any album. This week the subject matter is going to be Mr. Bungle's California (1999)

Don't let the minimalist album cover fool you... this is one of the most complicated things you'll ever heard in your life

For those who don't know Mr. Bungle, It was an american avant-grade band from Eureka, California led by Mike Patton, known for being the singer of Faith no More, with Trey Spruance as lead guitarrist, Trevor Dunn as Bassist, and other musicans like Theo Lenn (saxophonist), Danny Heifest (Drums) and Clinton "Bar" Mckinnon in the reeds. They we're known for mixing different styles in unconventional ways. Like putting elements from ska music right in the middle of a Death Metal Song or backwards.

Unfortunately, the band made just 3 albums in their entire carreer: Mr Bungle, their self-titled album (1991), Disco Volante (1995) and of course California (1999). Apparently they don't have plans of get together once again. But, in some way, the things they made are so good, that 3 albums are just enough. Whatever.

California, their last work, is known for being thier most accessible album, with more individualistic songs and an overall surf rock sound mixed with jazz, hawaiian music, electro-funk, etc.

In fact, The album opens with the sound of the beach and let us dive into the sweet hawaiian riffs from "Sweet Charity", a song with a pretty catchy tune for this group. In fact, the melody is so mesmerizing that you don't even notice the small change of music style in 1:36. Every style in this song and this album works in harmony, unlike their previous recordings, where the chaos and irregularity were the premise of every song.

After that, we get right into the longest, and probably, the most complex song from the album: "None of them Knew hey were Robots", I mean, this song has at least 7 different sections that ranging from Jazz, Blues, Rockabilly and even music inspired in Tim Burton film scores. But despite the constant changes, the song flows very well, I mean it's very unconventional, but at the same time it's very catchy. Another interesting fact about this song is that some lyrics are in Latin. And because the song itself is about religion and the church, it fits perfectly and doesn't feel forced at all.

"Retrovertigo" in contrast with the previous song, is more traditional in terms of song structure. It's a classic Verse-Chorus-Verse song. Which, for Mr. Bungle is really rare. The Song itself is very Radiohead-ish, so much so that remind me "No surprises", but is the interpretation of Mike Patton that give the distinctive style to this track, and prove us that this group can make pop music. GOOD pop music.

But in the moment that "The Air Conditioned Nightmare" appears, things gets crazier and crazier. The song opens with the sweet hawaiian sound from "Sweet Charity", and then we immidiately move to a weird section that sounds like a mix between The Beach Boys and The Exorcist 2 Soundrack.After that we cut to the verse section that blend 50 horror music score part in the first and third verse, a Rock and Roll part in the second verse, and a Garage rock part in the fourth one. This entire section is repeated twice and then we cut to the chorus. And after the Chorus we return into the Hawaiian section, just to return to the chorus the last time and then we return to the hawaiian section and the song ends.

"Ars Moriendi" (Which means "The Art of Dying") is another crazy combination of ideas that co-exist harmonically in the same song. From Jewish music to arabic, to techno, to metal riffs and circus music that is reminiscent to their Self-titled album, this is one of my personal favorites. And just like "None of them knew...", it features latin verses that, oddly enough sounds very normal compared to the english verses. Let me explain, the entire Theme is sung with a strange foreign accent that match with the sound of Romance Languages. The creativity of this band overwhelms me.

And then we get to "Pink Cigarette", the only single from this album, which is a shame because songs like "Retrovertigo" o "Sweet Charity" could been big hits on the radio as well. The song itself sounds like a theme from a Quentin Tarantino movie, particulary the chorus that is reminiscent to Spaghetti Western music. The track is nice and full of atmosphere and stuff, but the thing that make this tune so memorable is the ending. I'm not going to tell you what is about, let's just say is one of the most clever moments in the album.

"Golem II: The Bionic Vapour Boy". This track it's just as strange as the title sounds. It's sort of like Stevie Wonder meets Techno mixed with creepy toy music. But what makes it even weirder it's, you guessed, the Mike Patton voice. His performance is very robotic (in a good way) and give the song that awkward atmosphere that is required. And by last but not least, adding some mainspring toy sounds and you got an awesome tune that works like clockwork (no pun intended)

"The Holy Filament" it feels HUGE. Every time I hear this song and close my eyes, I see the universe being created. with all their galaxies and planets evolving and expanding. This track sounds like Pink Floyd with all the atmosphere from the keyboards and the Guitar Riffs that sounds like echoes in the space. It's one of those songs that transport you into distant places and let you travel to the wonders of the unknown.

And because this is a summer CD, we return to the Beach Sounds with "Vanity Fair", a songs with a very 50's fashion and lyrics that talk about the people's obsession with their image (particulary famous people), it had a bridge section that reminds me "Your Mother Should Know" by the Beatles and some falsettos by Patton to compliment the music. And being the shortest song from the Album (it runs for 2:58) it's probably the weakest song from this record, but considering the greatness of the rest of the song, this one sounds awesome anyway.

And finally we close the album with a High Note with "Goodbye Sober Day", that, in my opinion it's one of the scariest recordings that this band made in their short history, and considering their previous work, that is saying a lot. We start the song with a catchy-as-hell jazz melody that suddenly stops and cut to a slower section with the atmospheric sound of the keyboard leading the instrumental part while Patton sings the title of the songs with a very creepy voice, with some little variations in the middle section. After that the instruments stops and we travel 3000 years in the past to the India, when when hear some priest chanting curses to their enemies (but trust me that's not the scariest part), and then we cut some Kecak war chantings that accelerates the music (but that's NOT the scariest part), and finally we return to the catchy jazz part from the beginning just to abruptly stops once again and THEN we get into the scariest part of the song when we heard the doors of hell opening and leading us into the dakness of the abyss and dissapear from the existence. BEST... END... EVER!!!

And THat was my review from Mr. Bungle California, I hope you enjoyed it and see you next time. Take care.