Skeleton Key

Released on Mike Patton's eccentric Ipecac label, Skeleton Key's Obtainium is a welcome disc of professional pop mayhem with domesticated progressive overtones. Skeleton Key bends time signatures farther than one can measure, perfectly mixing pop and funk into an electronic farce that would instantly relieve fans of Primus and Faith No More who yearn for this type of thing. The most interesting aspect about their music is the use of bizarre, makeshift, found and home-made gadgets, creating such neat backdrops of sound that it will make the listener try to look them up in a medical psychiatric encyclopaedia. Even though it all sounds rather crazy, their approach seems to be very controlled, but with the intent on scrambling one's perceptions of what is and isn't normal. All of that is thrown out the door, and what is left is some damn good music.