By David Thomas
April 13, 2004
Pick of the Week
FANTOMAS, Delirium Cordia (Ipecac)
A few weeks ago I interviewed Mike Patton in advance of FANTOMAS concert in
Chicago this week. To say Patton was one of the more influential artists of
the 1990s is an understatement. FAITH NO MORE broke all the barriers for
alternative music as a whole and nu-metal specifically.
They were smart, loud and sounded like nothing else. With each successive
album the band experimented more and more and albums like King For A Day,
Fool For A Lifetime and their swan song Album of the Year were
grossly overlooked. Luckily Patton had a few projects already off the ground
when the FAITH NO MORE train ended. MR. BUNGLE released terrific albums like
CALIFORNIA, before Patton found the perfect marriage of hard rock and his
eccentric tastes in TOMAHAWK.
His project FANTOMAS, with Buzz Osbourne of the MELVINS, Trevor Dunn and
Dave Lombardo, drops its third record with Delrium Cordia. It is a one
track, hour plus ride through a dark and scary place that is devoid of most
musical structure. Spooky sounds mixed with bizarre screams, whispers,
gargles and I believe even some singing from Patton paint a surrealistic
picture that is hard to take in one piece.
But with the right setting, mainly a dark room piped through a good pair of
headphones, Delirium Cordia is a trip fans will not want to miss. But
there is very little here that can excite in quite the same way as last year
's Mit Gas by Tomahawk or any of the FAITH NO MORE catalog.
Indie Pick of the Week
THE SPECIAL GOODNESS, Land Air Sea ( Epitaph)
Since I'm already talking about new work for alternative icons here's a few
month old release from Pat Wilson formerly of WEEZER. Of course he was in the
band before it sucked.
Joined by ROCKET FROM THE CRYPT's Atom Willard THE SPECIAL GOODNESS does go
down a very similar path that WEEZER did. The band may not surpass the
brilliance of those first two albums from the big W, but it has an earnest
take on pop-fueled rock and roll that makes the disc worth checking out.
Indeed "Life Goes By" has a better guitar riff than anything on the last
WEEZER record, and this is a group of two drummers folks!
DAVE GROHL displayed how successful a drummer can be coming out from behind
the kit and THE SPECIAL GOODNESS desperately wants to prove that the oft
disrespected drummer could be a talented songwriter and frontman.
I apologize for letting this disc wallow on the bottom of my review pile for
so long.
PERFECT PITCH CONTEST
Last week I did finally receive an overwhelming response to the contest for
the new PILOT TO GUNNER album Get Saved. There was so much feedback
it will take me another week to get through all of the submissions and pick
the winner and loser. I can say from what I've read so far it's a tough
race.
ENTER THE CONTEST HERE!
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