Mike Patton & Jean-Claude VannierSome collaborations sound like WTF mismatches. Take, for instance, Mike Patton, the Faith No More vocalist with a sick puppy sense of humour, a small army of side projects and a voice like Captain Beefheart singing in the shower, and Jean-Claude Vannier, the psychedelic orchestrator who made Serge Gainsbourg’s tunes come alive but has lived in the shadows for most of the past four decades.
After Patton’s primitive hardcore revivalism with Dead Cross, Corpse Flower finds him back in opulent Mondo Cane territory, backed by Vannier’s imaginative arrangements. It’s a surprisingly natural fit, as Patton’s smoky growls really aren’t that far removed Gainsbourg’s nonchalant, semi-spoken missives. There’s an almost romantic sense of widescreen drama, within which Chansons D’Amour is a genuine highlight, with Patton sounding oddly like Tony Stark at the end of his tether over lilting strings and haunted piano. Corpse Flower drips with sleazy saloon decadence, and is occasionally a bit too smooth for its own good. But it's a worthy stopover for two of the more twisted snakes in the reptile house.
