Herald rating: * * * *
Somebody wash Norah Jones' mouth out with soap. She gets low-down and dirty on Sucker, panting the word "mother [expletive]" quite seductively. But that's what you get when you make music with Mike Patton.
Apart from Massive Attack, Jones is the most mainstream of
the many guests on Peeping Tom - a kind of pop project which features Patton's obsession with weird and wonderful noises, alongside mutant hip-hop, bossa nova-finesse and soulful explorations.
He's had many projects, including Fantomas (metal), General Patton (hip-hop), and Kaada Patton (weird-experimental) but Peeping Tom is his most accessible yet. While it's taken many years to complete, it hasn't dated, and the scale of it is vast.
Kill the DJ might sound like a cliche, but Patton and Massive Attack give the song a sceptical, tongue-in-cheek treatment. Then there's the celebratory bossa nova of Caipirinha, the shifty Mojo (with producer Dan the Automator), and How U Feelin'? is better Chili Peppers' funk than they've played in years.
Normally there's a menacing thread running through Patton's music, but the only thing in Peeping Tom that's sick here is his penchant for a perv. Oh, and corrupting our Norah.
Label: Ipecac/Shock
