SUSPENDED ANIMATION

Mike Patton has proven himself to be one of the most prolific and unpredictable musicians in show business in his post Faith No More/Mr. Bungle career. Although I don't even begin to attempt to collect everything he puts out I do like to take a listen to what he's up to now and then.

SUSPENDED ANIMATION is packed with hundreds of ideas, of varying degrees of success. Some "days" have better moments than others, like the spooky intro for "04/11/05 Monday" that sounds like a room full of gurgling ghosts, or "04/27/05 Wednesday" 's sleigh-ride in outer space. Most of the other intriguing moments on this CD involve some manipulation of found sounds or electronic toys.

Patton's former band, Mr. Bungle, was also a band renowned for it's musical spontaneity, but whereas Bungle's songs worked through it's own inner logic, making it easier to digest, the disparate elements of SUSPENDED ANIMATION doesn't hang together nearly as well. It's progression is more akin to rapid-fire channel-surfing than an epic motion picture.

Despite the low rating I'm assigning this release, I must admit that I'm not sorry I bought it. I rarely reach for this CD to play, and when I do it's just to seek out a handful of random tracks, just enough to satisfy a need to hear something wild and chaotic. Perhaps the calendar concept of the song titles was meant to be followed literally, to listen to one track each day. Compressing an entire "month" in 43 minutes is too demanding a listening experience.