Mike Patton - Peeping Tom (Ipecac)
4/5
By: Thomas Hannan
To continue to shock and surprise, pushing of boundaries is not constantly necessary. Occasionally, returning to working within their confines, by limiting the pallet with which to create, you can intrigue just as much. Restraint, you see, is interesting. It was perhaps with this in mind that one of music's last great pioneers, the inimitable Mike Patton, started to ponder that perhaps instead of continuing to lay down entire records using only his voice, or conjure up spasmodic fits of anti-rock 'n roll with the likes of Fantomas or Mr. Bungle, the only way left to test an audience would be to make a pop record. With Norah Jones.
Of course, it's a Mike Patton pop record, meaning it's barely a pop record at all. But, as he attests, it's as close as he'll ever get. The nearest comparison? Given the guest appearances on every track, the skewed atmospherics and heavy reliance of the hip hop beat structures we aren't usually prompted to associate with the man at the helm of the project, it's not absurd to suggest that 'Peeping Tom' could have the Gorillaz opus 'Demon Days' very much in its sights. As that record showed with aplomb, the idea that everything should be tried with anyone who wants to try it makes for one hell of an exciting, liberating, at times exhausting listen.
Patton's never met a lot of these people and doesn't plan to. It's a case of guiding files through the ether to people who needn't physically be anywhere near you. And of course, as such it's a very technologically obsessed, precise, clean sound that's been concocted. Some would accuse it of lack of soul, and would have a point. But what holds it all together, and acts as a rebuttal to that slightly misguided accusation, is the strength and coherence of Patton's overall vision. Consider that this record, years in the making, has such a wide range of people popping up to contribute in their various ways and it's remarkable that it flows quite so well as it does, the curiously uncomfortable funky aesthetic stretching over the time and personnel precisely because Michael knows exactly what he wants out of these folks, be it kooky clicks and thumps from Amon Tobin on 'Don't Even Trip', metallic thunder on the opening 'Five Seconds' aided by Anticon's Odd Nosdam or trademark moodiness with an added rawk sheen when Patton meets Massive Attack on 'Kill The DJ'.
Of course, it'll go down as the record where Mike Patton sang with Norah Jones. What the hell? Quite. But that chick can sing, you gotta give her that - you might not like what she's singing, but she can holler. For 'Sucker', Patton just makes sure she's singing something that's really great, and the problem isn't so much solved as dissolved, and triumphed over. She sounds sexy as hell, too.
'Peeping Tom', such is its maker's gift, will bemuse and enthral because even when working within more rigid structures, Patton refuses to adhere to any rules. Like Bowie, Prince and Waits, there's some worth in observing him fumble for ideas, and cause for celebration, as there is time and time again here, when he realises them.
Artists in this article: Mike Patton
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