Derrick Scocchera A Perfect Place (Ipecac)
Verdict: Weirdo musician and film director collaborate for intriguing music/movie double package
Herald Rating: * * * *
Even though Mike Patton, former frontman for Faith No More and the man behind Peeping Tom, Tomahawk and Fantomas, among others, has had a few missesin his time you can always guarantee he will come up with something unique.
His latest release is a soundtrack to A Perfect Place, a mini-movie by director Derrick Scocchera. It's not so much the music that's impressive here, more the package which includes Patton's soundtrack and the 25-minute DVD of the movie.
The soundtrack - twice as long as the actual film because he got "excited", apparently - is more of Patton's usual trademark sinister weirdness.
First track, Main Title, which accompanies the film's opening credits, is like free jazz meets Broadway show tune.
Elsewhere it brings together everything from opera crackling through a transistor radio, to the dissonant whirr of Seriously Disturbed, to the 1920s Charleston shuffle of A Dream of Roses. That might sound odd but it's more accessible than Patton's most harrowing work with the likes of Norwegian musician Kaada and Fantomas, whose 2001 album The Directors Cut was made up of warped cover versions of soundtracks like The Godfather and Twin Peaks.
Scocchera's film is a tragic comedy which opens in an apartment where a hapless scruff called Tom, played by Mark Boone Jr. (Batman Begins), kills a guy with a bass guitar. He asks his mate, Eddie, played by Bill Moseley (Devil's Rejects): "What are we going to do? Is there an incinerator in the building?"
There's not, and so begins the pair's quest to get this guy buried.
While the plot isn't riveting it's beautifully shot in black and white and the characters are brilliant.
We meet the little old lady living next door to Eddie who adores her late husband's bow tie collection which is framed and resplendent on her wall.
She's adorable.
Together, this makes a great package, even if you won't insist on playing the movie to all your friends who come over like you did with R Kelly's hip-hopera Trapped In the Closet.
But Patton's score is another inspired, if creepy, musical outing.
