FANTÔMASTIQUE

XtremeMusic.org is proud to feature Fantômastique, a remix album produced by Fantômas fans for Fantômas fans. An online competition brought together this collection of remixes submitted by various contributors worldwide. Every remixer received a limited edition Fantômastique CD as a complementary free gift for their remix time and production efforts. This collection aims to promote music by Fantômas, and respects that the original samples remain property of Ipecac Recordings. This album was never intended for commercial distribution and must never be bought, sold or traded.

"I want you to check this out because this came to me through the XtremeMusic.org organization, and they've put together an extraordinary collection of Fantômas tunes which have been remixed by Fantômas fans for Fantômas fans. This compilation is titled "Fantômastique", and from it this is Fantômix 1.0 by Mojovision, and yeah it's a piece of work... [plays "F@ntôMiX 1.0" by Mojovision]... XtremeMusic.org for more information about this record, "Fantômastique" is the title of the album, from it Fantômix 1.0 by Mojovision" - Mary Anne Hobbs, BBC Radio One Presenter, broadcasted live on Tuesday, May 2, 2006 London, England, BBC Radio Centre on Mary Anne Hobbs Breezeblock Radio Show.

"Fantômastique combines creativity and innovation with a passion for reinterpreting fantastic music. It has been a pleasure working with Fantômastique co-producer Fernando Griepp, and all our international DJs and producers. I am extremely excited about the feedback we're receiving from fans of Fantômas!" - Justin Sanvicens, XtremeMusic.org Editor.

"I love this remix CD! Just to hear Fantômas songs being thrown into an aural melting pot and listening to the outcome is so fun. What I enjoyed the most is that you can hear the time and patience the remixers took making something worthwhile. I really hope people have as much fun listening to them, as it was making them." - Fernando Griepp, Fantômastique Co-Producer.

"Wow, awesome CD! I hope these tracks really get to see the light of day sooner than later. The artists manage to take familiar Fantômas sounds and either glorify them in a Fantômastic remix, or put together a collage of sound in such a way that it feels like hearing a brand new Fantômas track." - Jonathan Gillott, Competition Winner.

"I got the CD, and I love it! Thank you very very very much! I just put it on my iPod yesterday, and I love listening to it. It freaks some people out, but I wouldn't expect any less! Great job on the cover too! Very professional. Thanks again!" - Dora, BungleToFantomas.com.

"Fantômastique is an intriuging remix of tunes from Fantômas.. Some remixes are quite easy to listen to and are 'straight-forward', however, some of them are very intense and suddenly chop and change unpredictably.. This variation I feel truly sticks to the overall Fantômas mojo." - Glen Kolenc, Fantômas Collector.

"Patton is still making music that challenges, excites, and inspires. Fantômastique is an example of that inspiration. Fans from around the globe have compiled their very own page in the ongoing history of the new millenium's most creative super-group, Fantômas." - Chris Murenko, Fantômas Collector.

"The Birth Of Fantômas" begins with simultaneous samples of the original "Rosemary's Baby" theme by Krzysztof Komeda, "Page 12" from Fantômas, and a "Baby Ballad" performed live by Moonraker (Mike Patton, Buckethead and DJ Flare). This conceptual piece concludes with baby cries from Fantômas' interpretation of "Rosemary's Baby" (Krzysztof Komeda), and a delicate shimmering sample from the ending of "Page 19". The live sample of Moonraker was taken from a rare recording from December 18, 2000.

"F@ntôMiX 1.0" is the first of six remixes from Belgian producer Mojovision. This one samples "Page 4", "Page 18", plus the Fantômas covers of "Charade" (Henry Mancini), "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me" (Angelo Badalamenti), "The Godfather" (Nino Rota), and "Zemaraim" (John Zorn) taken from "Masada Anniversary Edition Vol. 3: The Unknown Masada". Each of MojoVision's remixes were produced using the award-winning audio editing software Cool Edit 2000 from Syntrillium.

"F@ntôMiX 2.0" heavily samples "Page 26", whilst cleverly blending "Page 18" with the vocal echoes from "Page 19", "Page 7" and "Page 20". A live sample of their "Slayer Medley" is the central focus, complete with modem noise plus vocal manipulations from "Page 14" and "Page 18". The piece concludes with the memorable ending to Fantômas' cover of "Der Golem" (Karl Ernst Sasse). Live samples were sourced from the legendary Fantômas performance in Tokyo, Japan on November 28, 2000.

"F@ntôMiX 3.0" begins with delicate cries and whistling from "Investigation Of A Citizen Above Suspicion" (Ennio Morricone), blasting into live cuts from "Page 2", "Page 19", blended with studio versions of "Page 28" and "Page 4". Thier "Slayer Medley" is then integrated with "Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer" (Robert McNaughton), "Page 12", "Page 22", and "Page 3". "Henry.." returns for the finale to hear a sample from The Blair Witch Project. Once again, the Fantômas live samples were taken from November 28, 2000.

"F@ntôMiX 4.0" starts with an introductory excerpt from the movie Scream, then launches into "Page 3", "Page 28", "Page 18", returning to "Page 3" before beating riffs come from "Page 11" and "Page 21". The track then fades perfectly with excerpts from the fourth album by Fantômas, "Delirium Cordia". This remix finishes with a high-pitched hum from "Page 30". This completes a brilliant collection of samples from some of the best pages produced by Fantômas on their debut album.

"F@ntôMiX 5.0" samples basic beats and rhythms from "Page 5", "Page 1", "Page 23", and "Page 5". A brief intermission features a sample from Alfred Hitchcock's movie "Psycho" and elements from Mr. Bungle's "Carousel". Then samples layered breaks from "Page 17", "Page 2", "Page 5", "Page 1", "The Night Of The Hunter" (Walter Schumann), "Page 23", "Page 9", "Delirium Cordia (Excerpt)", "One Step Beyond" (Harry Lubin), and has concluding chuckles from "Spider Baby" (Ronald Stein).

"F@ntôMiX 6.0" features "Page 20", "Page 23", "Page 19", "Hungry Ants" (Barry Adamson) from the Natural Born Killers Soundtrack, "Henry..", "Delirium Cordia (Excerpt)", "Page 23", synced studio and live versions of "Rosemary's Baby" (Krzysztof Komeda), plus more from "Page 4", "One Step Beyond" (Harry Lubin), and "Henry.." again. Louis De Funès is sampled from the movie "Fantômas Contre Scotland Yard", with "Page 8", "The Omen (Ave Santani)" (Jerry Goldsmith), then layers of "Page 4", "Page 5", and "Page 8".

"Dracula Sticker" is the shortest remix to appear on Fantômastique but is extremely clever in sampling a great variety of grunts and growls from Fantômas. AssFantom has extremely impressive skills at remixing music from this avant-metal supergroup.

"Rapityrap" begins with a loop of Dave Lombardo's drumming from "Page 24", Mike Patton's shouts and screams, a gasp from "Page 24", shktkpooff from "Page 19", and a nostril snort from another page. These tracks submitted by AssFantom are consistent with the short durations of the original pages from Fantômas.

"Rockula" is a killer remix with hard hitting drum beats from the end of "Page 3" combined with the unmistakable vocal samples from the same page. Halfway through the track stabbing guitar chords are struck from "Page 12" and the remix continues with vocal overlays from "Page 3".

"Tear If Eyed" instantly blasts into the heavy introduction on "Page 11" and uses acoustic effects on the vocals from "Page 3". Soft chimes are pinched from the end of "Page 1" and delicately sampled four times throughout the remix. This remix showcases Mike Patton's vocal presence in a completely new context.

"Tomas Turbato Remix" is a gritty track sampling clicky vinyl from the ending of Fantômas' "Delirium Cordia". Haunting vocals are taken from "Page 4" and "Page 3", while Aya Matsuura's "Zettai Tokeru Mondai X" is mixed with the oscillating intro to Gary Numan's "Cars". This remix also features Dave Lombardo's boombastic drumming and micro-guitar-licks from the intro to "Beverly Hills 90210" (John Davis). Samples from "Page 3" continue to dominate with the fast-paced vocal and percussive ending to "Page 6".

"Fantômas Vs. Jock Jams Megamix" is the winning entry! "Page 1" is perfectly beat-matched with Queen's "We Will Rock You". "Page 5" and "Page 12" are set to the dance beats of 2 Unlimited's "Get Ready For This". Tag Team's "Whoomp! (There It Is)" is then paired with "The Omen (Ave Santani)" (Jerry Goldsmith), which mixes well with Gary Glitter's "Rock And Roll (Part 2)" and the opening guitar chords to "Cape Fear" (Bernard Herrmann). The remix concludes with cymbal thrashing and vocal growling from "Page 1".

"Jugalo Mix" is an extremely rare Fantômas remix which was found floating around various file sharing networks. This illusive remix borrows elements from some of the greatest Fantômas tracks. "Page 15", "Page 11", and "Page 1" are strongly sampled, creating a structural rearrangement of music originally written by Mike Patton, and performed by Fantômas. The origin of this track remains unknown, nevertheless, has been included on Fantômastique as an extra special rarity.

"Page 1 (Shudder Remix)" begins with a pounding beat and a vocal assault that fades in. An infectious house tempo is matched with percussive elements, vinyl scratches, and naked chimes. A favourite moment occurs at 5:45 where the chimes are reversed and the intense beat kicks back in. This dancefloor remix features an extended ending of Mike Patton's growling vocals, complete with cymbal strikes and chime slashes. Bside has definitely created an outstanding reinterpretation of "Page 1" by Fantômas.

"Page 3 (Clown In Town Remix)" combines vocal manipulations with hard-techno mayhem. Beats battle it out against Mike Patton's vocals from the Fantômas favourite "Page 3". A noteworthy sample occurs at 4:22 where Jack Nicholson's character from "The Shining" says "Come out, Come out! Wherever you are!" Intense screams from "Page 3" hit hard as the diabolik dancefloor anthem continues. The remix concludes by removing the house beat to finish on ambient wailing and cymbal sampling.

"Scene 1 (Edit)" contains engineered noise diffusions from various sources including a discrete sample of "Page 22" by Fantômas. The complete track title is "Scene 1 / Trapper.Keeper.Stalker.Dead.Silent" and the full-length version can be found on "Storm", the debut release from The Demix. This original version contains the beautiful vocal talents of Jennifer Charles by sampling "Invocation" from John Zorn's "IAO: Music In Sacred Light" available on John Zorn's label Tzadik Records.

"Scene 6 (Edit)" features pounding percussion and ambient chimes from Fantômas covering Karl-Ernst Sasse's "Der Golem". "Scene 6 / Re:1diedjdie.letmeoutofhere" is the full title given to this track by The Demix on his album "Storm". More esoteric samples exist on the original version, including "Variation On A Cocktail Dress" by The Dillinger Escape Plan, live cuts from Naked City's "Inside Straight" and "Hammerhead", plus scratches from "Negro, Necro, Nekros" by Dalek.

"The Director's Cut Ending" samples endings from eleven Fantômas covers: "The Devil Rides Out" (James Bernard) (Remix), "Der Golem" (Karl Ernst Sasse), "Vendetta" (John Barry), "The Night Of The Hunter" (Walter Schumann) (Remix), "Cape Fear" (Bernard Herrmann), "Charade" (Henry Mancini), "Rosemary's Baby" (Krzysztof Komeda), "Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer" (Robert McNaughton), "Spider Baby" (Ronald Stein), "The Omen (Ave Santani)" (Jerry Goldsmith), and "Experiment In Terror" (Henry Mancini).

"The Death Of Fantômas" is a collaborative conceptual piece representing the finale of Fantômas (also known as "The Death Of Diabolik"). Atmospheric elements from "Page 4" and a "Delirium Cordia (Excerpt)" are mixed with footsteps, gunshots, and heartbeats as the criminal is chased. A "Diabolik" film cue was lifted from Mike Patton's original Diabolik Demo of "Page 4". A bombshell is followed by a "Page 22" sample with church bells chiming from the end of "Page 24" signifying "The Death Of Fantômas".

Exclusive Interview (1)

Justin Sanvicens from Xtreme Music received responses to an e-mail interview with AssFantom (Brandon Koopa) on October 28, 2004:

AssFantom: I've been a fan of Fantômas ever since they put out their first album.. I couldn't get enough of them! One day, I came to a realization that it would be so easy to recreate Fantômas songs. All I had to do was chop the first album to peices and glue them back together. I came out with a few songs that I thought were realy cool, so I posted them online for people to hear. If you're interesting in hearing some songs that I think turned out the best, you can at: http://www.eyeeat.com/assfantom/. People tell me that I should do a full album of AssFantom. It would be really fun, but I'd only want to do it if it's cool with Ipecac. I guess another reason that I haven't gotten around to doing more AssFantom is because I've been so busy with other projects. I've got a lot of trips planned in the next few months where I finally get to see the world! I've been on tour with Murder By Death, I've got my band Copycat Massacre, and I've been working on a compilation CD for Eye Eat Records. Not sure if I should put AssFantom on it, I guess all it takes for AssFantom is a little motivation.

Exclusive Interview (2)

Justin Sanvicens from Xtreme Music received responses to an e-mail interview with Bside (Matt Roberts) on October 27, 2004:

Bside: Anyone who's listened to the Fantômas remixes would be surprised to learn that most of the stuff I play and make is purely house.. I've found over the last couple of years that I really enjoy remixing, and it now takes up at least half of my music production time. I think my remixes actually turn out better than my originals most of the time. I've been a huge Mike Patton fan since Faith No More's "Epic", making sure I get everything he's had a hand in. As far as I'm concerned, he's a fucking genius.. When I heard the first Fantômas album, it was, to my ears, another complete genre in itself. Mike had created another style of music. Everything about it appealed to me.. the musicians, the music, the artwork, the story behind it, everything! When Fantômas played in Sydney for the first time, I went with a mate who was as smitten as I and found that the only sane response to seeing them for the first time is laughter. We laughed ourselves stupid for the first half of the show! It was brilliant, insane and inspired - and live!.. Anyhow, I decided to do those remixes for myself. I think I was originally just going to use parts of the track as samples, but started to get into it and kept going. The first one was obviously so much fun, I decided to do another! I used Pro Tools Free on a G3 Powerbook for those.. They're relatively simple and if I were to do them again, I'm sure I'd do them differently. I had an occasion to play a party not long after that where we were asked to play hard-techno and so I did get a chance to play it out. The response was incredibly positive, and when the whistle kicks in, it got a big cheer! Most satisfying! I sent it to Ipecac in the hope that they would listen to it. I got a response back saying that they were good and Mike thought they were "funny". When Fantômas came out to Sydney the second time, they did an in-store signing and I took my copy of "The Director's Cut" and the remixes along for them to sign. Had a bit of a chat to Mike when he realised who I was. Dave was next to him and asked what it was, Mike explained it and then said, "I'll play it to you in the van". So I was a bit chuffed that they already had a copy in the van! Those remixes were an homage to Fantômas and also an attempt to get it played where it normally wouldn’t.. I reproduced "The Holy Filament" in Reason, pretty much as an exercise in orchestration. I sing for a Frank Zappa tribute act called Petulant Frenzy, and I've also recently started a genre-less band called "Thanks For Tiny" which owes a lot to Mike Patton and Fantômas..

Exclusive Interview (3)

Justin Sanvicens from Xtreme Music received responses to an e-mail interview with Mojovision (Fernando Griepp) on December 7, 2004:

Mojovision: I've been a huge Mike Patton fan since I heard The Real Thing, and when I first heard Mr. Bungle, I knew I was hooked. I can honestly say that this man is a genius, he can sing to any kind of music.. Some people might think that all the Fantômas and noise albums are crap, and that they wished he went back to singing like in Faith No More. Faith No More was great, but life goes on, and either you stick to the same formula year after year, or you try something new and really push musical boundaries.. I think that's what he has done with Fantômas. It's a combination of everything Mike Patton has done so far, and making it at the same time fresh and exciting. His ideas are just out there, I really think he will always be remembered as the madman with the voice. The idea of making Fantômas remixes came about while speaking with Justin Sanvicens. I had already heard the Jugalo Mix and the AssFantom remixes, and I was really impressed. At first I thought it would be difficult to make something like that. With some encouragement from Justin, I thought I'd give it a try. I had never done any real remixing before. I had used CoolEdit before for recording and editing music, but never tried to take pieces of music and mix separate tracks. I started working with CoolEdit Pro and I realized that it is possible to remix Fantômas´ songs because of the way the songs are constructed. It has many breaks and it's just not your typical album. If you play around with pieces of their tracks, you'd be amazed what you can do. I really encourage others to try it out. It's a great hobby, and now that Justin and I have started the Fantômastique project, I'd love to hear other people's interpretations. I'm still happy I can create something out of Mike Patton's music, and just be busy with music in general. When I try making a remix, I try to mix pieces that fit together with each other so it all flows from beginning to end. I do use some effects but still try to make it sound recognizable. I think the remixes I've made aren't perfect.. but if I can do it, I'm sure others with more experience with music editing can do a better job. If you are an amateur like me, you'd surprise yourself!