hooottttt

no, i'm not just referring to the gorgeous and amazing mike patton (the only person who could ever compete with pharrell williams on talented hot loveliness, and vice versa). i'm also referring to the latest patton project, peeping tom, who recently released their first self-titled album.

i won't pretend that i'm a super hardcore patton fan since i've never fully delved into faith no more, which is where he got his start and is his major base. but i've been a huge fan of certain projects he's partcipated in, namely mr. bungle, lovage (with dan the automator -- if you don't have it, GET IT), and certain tricky items. but i took one look at the collaborators on this one and knew i couldn't refuse: rahzel, kool keith, massive attack, bebel gilberto, amon tobin, kid koala, dan the automator, and some others who i'm not familiar with but who i'm sure would excite certain in the know music aficionados. the collaboration with norah jones really wasn't a draw, and i'm sure it's led the hardcore patton fans to think he's going mainstream (that and the not insignificant fact that they performed their single on CONAN), but actually the song she's on is good, and quite risqué! even peaches inspired, i'd say. the line-up excited me so much that i had to go out and buy the CD. first compact disc purchase in a good year. the packaging is pretty ridiculously cool and has this sideways sliding opening thing. hard to describe. (side note: there are NO MORE CD STORES in westwood village. penny lane, rhino, even tower...all gone! the only place left to get 'em is best buy. disappointing, but we've all contributed to that, haven't we?)

anyway, the album is good. i think in the realm of patton projects it qualifies as pop, but in the realm of everything else, it's pretty, well, weird -- which of course is good and is why we love him. in some ways -- to continue with the pharrell parallel -- the album reminds me of n.e.r.d.'s "in search of," in its mix of a really truly hard sound with other stuff, like hip hop, r&b, rock, etc., except that n.e.r.d. is way more accessible on first listen and with peeping tom you have to give it time. but when you do, the rewards are plentiful. this guy is sickly talented and the songs are complex, edgy, and a few are even irresistible -- the single, mojo, is fantastic. a weakness for me was that certain songs would be cruising on in this beautiful way and then the crazy hard shit would break in and it was a bit abrupt for my taste. there are a few tracks on the album that i could do without -- sadly enough the kool keith track (i love him so) and the massive attack track. the latter is the kind of song i could only like if i were driving on the freeway at 100 mph either really mad or on my way to a rager of a party. rare concurrences.

the rest of it though is pretty fascinating. i recommend it, but not to the softies or mainstreamers out there, which is why this is destined not to make it in the mainstream market that patton may be trying for. as much as he's probably concerned with the benjamins, he's not willing to sell out the art and essentially, this is the same old crazy screaming patton of yore. so hoootttttttttttttttt.