Mike Patton has been my musical hero for well over 20 years. He has been/is the single biggest influence on me. I was a Faith No More fan when I heard The Real Thing... but when they released Angel Dust, I damn near lost my shit... one of the greatest albums of the early 90's. WAY ahead of it's time. They continued to confound expectations (and drop more and more mainstream fans by the handful along the way) with their next 2 records... and titling their final record, Album Of The Year... fantastic! You can hear his/their influence all over music today.
Fantomas may indeed be one of the heaviest bands on the planet (truly). I have not heard a single death/screamo/grind/etc band even come close to achieving the sheer HORROR of Fantomas. Patton elicits more primal, terrifying, blood curdling, violent rage in a single word than these 'heavy' bands today do on entire albums.
Mr. Bungle's 3 studio albums are works of incredibly creepy, amazing, complex, genre-less, ear confounding beauty and ugliness. When Disco Volante came out I couldn't even comprehend how it was possible to create music of such staggering, mind altering, chaos (yet still remain musical). California simply takes it all another step further... and what a way to finish.
Tomahawk, Peeping Tom, his collaborations with John Zorn (another absolute GIANT), Mondo Cane, lounge music, hip-hop, movie scores, video game sounds, opera... the list goes on and on. Zappa is smiling and listening to amazing music where ever he is...
An interviewer once said of Mike (I'm paraphrasing), "... I became convinced that he is actually the Devil in human form on holiday."
Yes.
Anyway... I've sadly never seen Mike and any of his crews live. I'm a bit jealous you live near San Fran. Glad you enjoyed the Tomahawk show!!
