Mondo Cane (album)
| Mondo Cane | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Mike Patton | ||||
| Released | May 4, 2010 | |||
| Genre | Italian popular music, easy-listening | |||
| Length | 36:49 | |||
| Label |
Ipecac Recordings (IPC-119) (CD) |
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| Producer | Mike Patton, Daniele Luppi | |||
| Mike Patton chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 74/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allrovi |   |
| The A.V. Club | B+ |
| Drowned in Sound |   |
| PopMatters | |
| Slant Magazine | |
| Sputnikmusic |  |
Mondo Cane is a 2010 album by Mike Patton. Featuring a forty-member orchestra and fifteen-piece backing band, the album contains a series of cover versions of 1950s and 1960s Italian pop music. Patton conceived of the album while living in Bologna, and became attracted to music he heard on the radio featuring pop singers backed by orchestras.
Released on May 4, 2010, through Patton's record label Ipecac Recordings, Mondo Cane has been met with favorable responses from music critics. Reviewers have drawn comparisons to California, an earlier album by Patton's first group Mr. Bungle. Mondo Cane peaked at number 2 in the United States' Classical Albums chart, briefly charting in Switzerland and Finland as well.
Mondo Cane consists of Mike Patton's arrangements and performances of 1950s and 1960s Italian pop songs. Patton had heard these songs while living in Bologna; the singer had adopted the city as a second home after marrying Italian artist Titi Zuccatosta, and had become a fluent speaker of Italian. Patton began exploring Italian popular music; although initially wishing to listen to contemporary music, he found nothing that interested him. However, he became drawn to pop music from the 1950s and 1960s, intrigued by singers using orchestras for backing rather than pop bands. Having considered making an album covering these songs for some time, Patton initially believed he would approach the project with a small band, but was offered the chance to compose music for an orchestra. Patton then opted to use this opportunity to record Mondo Cane instead.
Patton had also been inspired by the music of Italian composer Ennio Morricone. Patton's record label Ipecac Recordings had previously released Crime and Dissonance, a two-disc retrospective of Morricone's work. The singer has described his admiration for Morricone's writing, feeling that the composer turned "what could be banal, surface-style pop into really deep, orchestrated, tense and compelling music". Several of the album's songs had been written by Morricone, including "Deep Down", written for the 1968 Mario Bava film Danger: Diabolik. Patton had been aware of the song for some time, having been a fan of the film and Morricone's score; however, the two musicians have not actually met or worked together before.
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