Mike Patton is a fascinating artist. He burst onto the scene after joining the band Faith No More for their sophomore outing, The Real Thing. He would later start up a side project called Mr. Bungle. Following the dissolution of Faith No More, he would go on to have, and continue to have, a number of bands including Fantomas, Tomahawk, Peeping Tom, Mondo Cane, and probably many others that I have never heard of. The man is always busy with something. With his breadth of experience, would you believe that A Perfect Place is the first time he has ever scored a film? Well, it is. With this interesting work under his belt, I would love to see him do more in the world of film scoring.
This Mike Patton-composed score is quite an interesting listen all on its own, even without knowing the movie. It is distinctly broken down into a number of tracks, making it feel more like an album and less of a score, though the styles of the various tracks fit in nicely with the film. The score runs 35 minutes, ten minutes longer than the film, which does not have music for its entire runtime.
The music contained is fascinating, as it contains cues and motifs that should be familiar to anyone with any knowledge of Patton's always expanding body of work. However, that is not what it is all about, at least not entirely. Working with someone else's vision is something new to Patton, as he has always been about going in his own direction, even when collaborating on some of his numerous bands. Here, he had to work toward the goal of backing Derrick Scocchera's vision for what A Perfect Place was meant to be. That said this is quite a focused work that features some dark ambiance blended with tracks that would be right at home in a 40's or 50's era noir.
Article comments
1 - zingzing
just so you know, mr. bungle formed in 1985 and released several tapes before patton joined faith no more. search them out! they are, at times, just as interesting as bungle's "proper" albums.
2 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
zing is correct...
Mr. Bungle was Mike Patton's High School band & I believe it was with Trey. Their "first" CD on Warner Bros. Records was actually somewhat a compilation of older material. Their older demo stuff is actually pretty cool. Yes, Mr. Bungle was prior to FNM.
3 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Nice Review..
With his breadth of experience, would you believe that A Perfect Place is the first time he has ever scored a film?
Probably because alot of film makers don't know what a real score is anymore. Alot of movies contain way too much popular music or the music that the producer is a fan of. I've always wanted to hear what Patton's Soundtrack material would sound like...This stuff is pretty cool, though, Fantomas is far more satisfying.
4 - kraes
The Real Thing was actually Faith No More's third album, the first being titled "We Care A Lot".
5 - T39aw
I love fnm, mr bungle, fantomas, mordoror, viva mike patton.