Peeping Tom
Peeping Tom

Mr. Mike Patton. A name, a guarantee. One of the best singing virtuosos still around. If you don't know who Mike Patton is, educate yourself with the much-missed FAITH NO MORE, one of the best alternative rock bands from the late '80s, early '90s. Then explore Mike Patton's projects after the band broke up: Mr. Bungle, Fantomas, and Tomahawk. Finally, arrive at this last album, his solo project, PEEPING TOM (late 2006).

It will be like a tour in the discovery of a diabolical mind. From metal to rap, from rock to thrash, from samba to pop. For many, Mike Patton is an impassive unknown, for others THE VOICE of the alternative. For many, Mike Patton is a self-centered schizo, a narcisistic ex-clown of metal, for others a brilliant composer. The charm of Mike Patton is in all this. His dual personality, his "Janus-faced" artistic expressions, manage to come out of the stereo in almost all his songs with explosive immediacy. Intro (which deliberately recalls that of "The Golden Age of Grotesque" by M.Manson), tribal rhythm, sounds and sweet melodic voices, and then... that chorus that only he knows how to devastate everything the song was before! That's how PEEPING TOM by our 39-year-old American singer opens.

"FIVE SECONDS" is the perfect track to explain who Mike Patton is to those who still don't know him, just inside the front door. A piece that seems to say: "Here I am, I could sell millions of copies but I choose not to". "PEEPING TOM" was awaited with sacred terror by his fans for over 3 years. Many times Patton had given interviews in which he asserted he was working on a "POP" project, with invitations to artists who were friends of his. I will not dwell on extolling the qualities of the famous guests: Norah Jones, Massive Attack, Kid Koala, &C. Also because the contribution of the guests is mostly executive on the tracks and not compositional. The songs are all the product of Patton's mind. When his "alternative fans" read "POP," many began preparing the noose for the shower rod. Rest assured it's not like that. Patton hasn't changed and hasn't sold out to the biz. The guy is just incredibly cunning. He created the expectation of a pop album knowing he would create a new genre, which isn't pop/rock/hip-hop or who knows what, but only definable as a Patton album. The peculiarity of the record, in fact, is that there are no "driven" and fast pieces as is usually his habit. So don't expect a new "Rape this Day" or "Surprise you're Dead." But to call it a pop album requires a great imagination! Surely pop is part of Patton's artistic background. Many of his melodies, since the time of the last Faith No More albums, recall the genre somewhat like it can be said that in Trent Reznor's singing there is a pop soul to understand. But the album is anything but commercial. I recommend listening to track 1 first and then immediately going to 11, the last one. In my opinion, the real masterpiece of the album, an absolute piece!

"WE'RE NOT ALONE" (feat. Dub Trio) is without a doubt a fabulous song. You will immediately turn up the volume after the drum attack to better hear that strange falsetto whispering voice. It won't be enough and you'll turn the power knob up another notch. And like a wolf coming out of the darkness of a forest, here at minute 0:36 BRAM! Like an interference from another metal and hard song entering with surprising violence. A two-second ax blow but brilliant, then returning to the preceding slow pace. Then the chorus in perfect "Faith No More" style, melodic but shouted, with a nice rock guitar underneath. This, ladies and gentlemen, is Mike Patton. Ok, feel free to return to track no.3.

"MOJO" is perhaps the most "radio friendly" track of the album but flows away very well. An oriental sounding arpeggio is overrun by a semi-distorted guitar that continues with light "stops" following the square drum. Then the background keyboards in Faith No More style come in, and the voice gradually rises to the chorus. "Roll it up and smoke it again, bottoms up and drink it again, fix it up and shoot it again", the lyrics are an ironic take on the metalhead cliché. Underneath, Dan the Automator's hip-hop games fill the stage. It closes with an allegorical "oops I did it again"... Ok, the start is really promising!

The third track "DON'T EVEN TRIP" lives on the dichotomy between the almost lounge sweet music, with warm and romantic voice, and the words of the lyrics. "I know that assholes grow on trees, but I'm here to trim the leaves." Here it is why Patton is so famous in the USA and UK but semi-unknown to large non-native language audiences. The importance of the lyrics is fundamental in his works. Everything revolves around phrases ending with words completely unrelated to the text but put in just because they rhyme. Or serious and profound lyrics broken by curses. All with his damn WASP pronunciation and that super tight slang, almost incomprehensible, with vowels a bit nasal and a bit open. Tracks 4 and 5 unfortunately don't leave much trace of themselves. They flow too "hip-hop" the first, while the attack of "YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD SPACEMAN" is a clear homage to AIR and PORTISHEAD. Nice but cold.

Thus we arrive at the beautiful "KILL THE D.J." with Massive Attack. The track with the most electronics of the album, but also the most "mean" and bastard. The atmospheres resemble "Mezzanine" a lot, but then Patton's very high-pitched voice breaks in and transforms it into an almost metal piece. Wonderful! Number 7 is the usual homage to Samba and Brazil that Patton loves so much. A sunny but empty piece.

Number 7 "CELEBRITY DEATH MATCH" gives hope at the beginning with Kid Koala singing along with Patton, but then it gets lost in banality. Number 9 is an avoidable filler. Number 10, "SUCKER" is the one everyone awaits because it's with Norah Jones. But it turns out disappointing as well.

On the whole, an album with 4 excellent tracks and 1 masterpiece out of 11 tracks, passes with distinction the broad sufficiency. But after such a wait, more could have been expected. The album needs to be "chewed". On the first listen, it will be incomprehensible for "Pattonian" newbies.