Responsible for one of the most eclectic catalogs of recent memory, Fantomas return with Suspended Animation, a thirty-track set that both celebrates the art of cartoon composition and the many reasons to behold the fourth month of our calendar, April (with one piece for each day of the month). Who knew that April is subtitled “national humor and anxiety month”? Who knew that the dreaded April 15 was actually titled “That Sucks Day” or that April 24 marks the beginning of National Karaoke Week? Leave it to the creative minds behind Fantomas to enlighten us to the many forgotten holidays throughout April.
The brainchild of Mike Patton, Fantomas is an anti-hero from a series of pre-WWI French crime novels, sometimes dubbed the “lord of terror.” Rounding out the ensemble are Buzz Osborne on guitar (Melvins), Trevor Dunn on bass (Mr. Bungle, Trevor Dunn’s Trio Convulsant) and Dave Lombardo on drums (Slayer).
Fantomas’ three previous releases have regaled listeners with a sci-fi homage (Fantomas, 1999), a celebration of the best in film composition (Director’s Cut, 2001) and a one song album (Delirium Cordia, 2004). As Rolling Stone said in their review of Delirium Cordia: “One epic seventy-four minute noise-rock song. What’s not to like?” Now with Suspended Animation, the quartet delves headlong into a new and recently unexplored genre… cartoon music. Recorded in the Spring of 2003, during the same sessions as surgically precise Delirium Cordia, Suspended Animation is the yang to Delirium Cordia’s ying. Bright and loose, Patton describes the new album as “nursery rhymes, cartoon sound effects and choppy arrangements.”
Fantomas is available for corporate events, private shows, milestone celebrations (birthday, anniversary), fundraisers, festivals, and more.