Disco Volante (Mr. Bungle album)

Disco Volante (Italian for UFO, literally Flying Saucer) is the second studio album by American experimental rock band Mr. Bungle. It was released on October 10, 1995, through Warner Bros., and is often considered their most experimental album, mixing elements from such varied styles as death metal, jazz, Arabic music, musique concrète, easy listening, klezmer, and tango.

Background

The album's title refers to the name of the yacht of the same name featured in the James Bond film Thunderball, meaning "flying saucer" in Italian. Mr. Bungle had previously covered the film's theme song live and in studio, but it was never officially released.

Disco Volante would be founding member Theo Lengyel's final album with the band, leaving shortly after the tour due to "artistic differences". Drummer Danny Heifetz would later comment, "I miss him. He added a huge chemical imbalance that helped us on the road. He hates us and rightfully so. The music changed, plain and simple. Very little call for saxes, trombone or flute. He was an original member. I'm not. Makes me feel a bit like a union-buster."

Regarding the writing process of the album, bassist Trevor Dunn wrote on his website:

Composition

Disco Volante is regarded as Mr. Bungle's most experimental album. ("Carry Stress in the Jaw"), child abuse ("After School Special"), domestic violence ("Violenza Domestica"), the "gradual decline of the human body due to social interactions" "Coldsore" and "Spy". "Coldsore", one of woodwind player and keyboardist Clinton McKinnon's first compositions for the band, would be adapted into the "Love on the Event Horizon" section of "The Bends".

Reception

In a highly favorable review of the album, Greg Prato of AllMusic described Mr. Bungle's music as "the musical equivalent of a David Lynch movie", performed in a "totally original and new musical style...that sounds like nothing that currently exists." In a negative review, Mark Sutherland of NME wrote that the album was "70 minutes of irredeemable excrement" that failed at being music.

Accolades

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| align=center|2006 || Rock Sound || United Kingdom

| "Les 150 Albums De La Génération" || align=center|69

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| colspan=6 style=font-size:8pt; align=center|"*" denotes an unordered list.

Track listing

Personnel

Mr. Bungle

I Quit – "a woodblock", drums, percussion, production and sleeve art layout and design
Trevor Dunn – bass guitar, double bass, violin, production and sleeve art layout and design
Uncooked Meat Prior to State Vector Collapse – electric guitar, keyboards, electronics, pípá, production and sleeve art layout and design
Clinton McKinnon – tenor saxophone, clarinet, keyboards (6), drums (5), production and sleeve art layout and design
Patton – vocals, microcassette, organ (9, 10), ocarina (3), production and sleeve art layout and design
Theo – alto saxophone and E-flat clarinet (credited as "E♭ reeds piped in from Ithaca"), production and sleeve art layout and design

Additional personnel

William Winant – cymbals on "Chemical Marriage", bongos on "Sleep (Part II): Carry Stress in the Jaw", tabla, kanjira and sistrums on "Desert Search for Techno Allah", jaw harp and percussion on "Violenzia Domestica" and bongos, xylophone and glockenspiel on "Ma Meeshka Mow Skwoz"
Graham Connah – piano on "Violenza Domestica", "The Bends" and "Platypus"
Lisandro Adrover – bandoneón on "Violenza Domestica"
Chris Roberts – engineering
Mike Bogus – engineering
David Ogilvy – engineering
Adam Munoz – engineering
Trevor Ward – engineering
Bernie Grundman – mastering
Athur Hertz – album front cover photography
Joseph A. Thompson – album outer tray photography
Davis Meltzer – album booklet backpage photography
Margaret Murray – sleeve art layout and design
Gregg Turkington – sleeve art layout and design
Billy Anderson – engineering, mixing and pre-mastering
Mike Johnson – engineering and pre-mastering
Kevin Donlon – engineering