Some artists make music for other people, and some make music for themselves.
Maldoror, a duo featuring
Mike Patton and
Masami Akita, fits into the latter category. These two notorious avant-garde noise experimentalists have joined forces on this debut album,
She, to produce, well, avant-garde experimental noise. For a couple of "experimentalists," the result is disappointingly predictable.
Patton may be the most versatile vocalist in the rock world, and
Akita has produced top-notch soundscaping with
Merzbow, but there's nothing on this album that hasn't been done better somewhere else. Besides a little extra background noise, "Cherry Blossom Inferno" could be any of the tracks on
Patton's Adult Themes for Voice. The same holds true for "Homunculous." "Butterfly Kiss" sounds like the theme music to a cartoon. Not a terrible surprise, since one of
Patton's other left-field side projects,
Fantomas, does exactly the same thing. The talents of these two musicians would make them an interesting live act, but this recording is for hardcore
Patton and
Akita collectors only. ~ Kieran McCarthy