Trevor Dunn's Trio-Convulsant is back for their second album, although with a completely different lineup (besides Dunn, of course). Adam Levy and Kenny Wollesen are gone, replaced by Mary Halvorson on guitar and Ches Smith on drums. The music they play is not so much a fusion of styles as it is a collision of styles. Almost straight-ahead jazz noodling gives way to hardcore blasts and crunching power chords, then completely devolves into Derek Bailey territory, but the band is always together. You can tell that some of it is quite composed, and that other sections are most likely entirely improvised.
The first project Mike Patton worked on after the April 1998 breakup of Faith No More was the all-star Fantomas. Heavy metal fans everywhere salivated at the lineup of Patton on vocals, the Melvins' Buzz Osborne on guitar, ex-Slayer Dave Lombardo on drums, and Mr. Bungle's Trevor Dunn on bass. But as longtime fans have come to learn long ago, always expect the unexpected with Patton-related projects. The band's self-titled debut (the first for Patton's record label, Ipecac) is far from your conventional rock; composed and produced entirely by the singer, the songs serve as a soundtrack to a comic book's story line.