Disco Volante (Mr. Bungle album)

The album's title refers to the name of the yacht of the same name featured in the James Bond film Thunderball, literally meaning "Flying Saucer" in Italian. Mr. Bungle had previously done a cover version of the film's theme song.[4] This was featured on the demo Warner Bros. Mr Bungle Demo Rough Mixes.

Disco Volante would be founding member Theo Lengyel's final album with the band, leaving shortly after the tour due to "artistic differences".[5] Band member 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."[6]

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

Trey was listening to his own collection of weird stuff as well---exotica, electro-acoustic, noise, middle eastern, techno. I remember him going to raves a lot back then. Mike was really into Joe Meek, the Peter Thomas soundtrack to Raumpatrouille, Kagel and the tangos of Troilo. He would show up between tours to work with us and add his beautifully low-fi input (i.e The Bends). With all this weirdness I realized it was time to revamp Platypus. Danny, Trey and I spent hours deconstructing and literally imploding the original arrangement to the point of superimposing the "verse" with the "chorus". I think that's still my proudest lyrical input. And Bär (!) finally stopped referring to Bungle as "you guys" and started writing for the band.

Disco Volante is considered to be the most experimental of all their albums.[3] Categorized primarily as experimental rock, avant-garde metal, jazz fusion, and, more broadly, experimental, many of the songs heavily include references of different genres, a staple for Mr. Bungle, including sludge metal ("Everyone I Went to High School With Is Dead"), death metal ("Carry Stress in the Jaw", "Merry Go Bye Bye"), Arabic music ("Desert Search for Techno Allah"), musique concrète and tango ("Violenza Domestica"), jazz fusion ("Ma Meeshka Mow Skwoz", "Platypus"), noise ("The Bends"), and easy listening (″Backstrokin'″).

Although much of the song's lyrics are limited ("Carry Stress in the Jaw", "Phlegmatics"), are in another language ("Desert Search for Techno Allah", "Violenza Domestica"), or are just gibberish ("Ma Meeshka Mow Skwoz"), lyrical content in Disco Volante is, like in their eponymous debut album, both dark and comedic. Lyrical themes include disconnection and isolation ("Everyone I Went to High School With Is Dead"), "actual teeth-pulling anxiety nightmares" and bruxism[7] ("Carry Stress in the Jaw"), domestic violence ("Violenza Domestica"), the "gradual decline of the human body due to social interactions", as bassist Trevor Dunn elaborates[7]("Phlegmatics"), masturbation ("Backstrokin'"), and martyrdom ("Merry Go Bye Bye"). "The Bends" is a ten minute, almost entirely instrumental experimental track split into ten different sections, detailing a negligent diver who experiences the bends, as hinted by each sections title, with the only lyrics being "You've got the bends. The bends."

“Carry Stress in the Jaw” and “Phlegmatics” are parts II and III of the “Sleep” trilogy, with part I being on the band’s eponymous debut album.

Both "Carry Stress in the Jaw" and "Merry Go Bye Bye" feature hidden tracks, "Spy" and the untitled hidden track, most known as "Nothing" respectively. On vinyl pressings, the album is double grooved, with "Spy" being placed on the second groove, which is notoriously difficult to accurately locate. On CD pressings, "Spy" is put immediately after "Carry Stress in the Jaw" on the same track. The untitled hidden track after "Merry Go Bye Bye", featuring improv made by the band, begins at 7:21, after a full minute of silence.

Disco Volante spawned a number of officially unreleased demos (circulated on internet peer-to-peer sharing networks): "Ma Meeshka Mow Skwoz",[8] "Coldsore"[9] and "Spy".[10] "Coldsore" featured portions later used in "Love on the Event Horizon". "Spy" didn't feature on the release at all.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[11]
Stylus Magazine	very favorable[1]

Disco Volante has been well received by critics. In their highly favorable review of the album, AllMusic wrote, "Mr. Bungle is the musical equivalent of a David Lynch movie", calling the music a "totally original and new musical style, and an album that sounds like nothing that currently exists." They referred to the track "Desert Search for Techno Allah" as "a middle eastern techno number that has to be heard to be believed."[11] Stylus Magazine, in their 2005 review, wrote, "A decade later, Disco Volante still sounds daring."[1]

Note: The untitled track after "Sleep (Part II): Carry Stress in the Jaw" is often titled "The Secret Song" (the working title of the song) or "Spy" (the title that appears on various concert setlists). It was originally recorded without bassist Trevor Dunn's input or knowledge; although, shortly before its release, Dunn managed to find it and added a vocal track. Though never explicitly stated, it is believed (by Dunn) that the drums were played by McKinnon, and the bass guitar by Patton.[5] The untitled improvised section after "Merry Go Bye Bye" is listed as "Nothing" on the album sleeve, but is not actually its title, as it is listed on the vinyl and cassette releases without the track being present; it is credited to Theo Lengyel and Danny Heifetz as a sly reference to the fact that neither of them wrote any songs on the album.[5]

• Disco Volante (Mr. Bungle album) at Discogs (list of releases)