These guys have so much material cluttering my shelves that I'm going to have to take it over two days, hope you either like/appreciate them, or get introduced to something different, becaue, if NOTHING ELSE, Mars Volta are certainly "different"! From El Paso Texas, they formed from the remnants of At the Drive In, who were, well, not as good as I thought they'd be, how's that.....but Mars Volta? Wow. Some imaginative, creative, quite awesome concept albums, what ever could we compare them to? Nothing that I can think of, which , in and of itself if pretty impressive....from what I can tell the most recent of their lineups seems to have been guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez,vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala, bassist Juan Alderete,keyboardist Marcel Rodriguez Lopez and drummer Deantoni Parks....they have cranked out a series of complicated concept albums which are all quite good, and are noted for exhilerating live shows (I have not seen them).
Today we will focus on the regular studio issues, these albums EACH stand on their own, they really must be heard in their entirety.....trust me, the rewards are evident. They got it right the first time out with the wonderful "De-Loused in the Comatorium", 2003. I am sure many won't care for this, it is fairly sprawling, and what the exact "concept" is I have to plead ignorance....but there is some fine, fine music on here, built into a structured concept album around titles like "Cicatriz ESP" and "This Apparatus Must Be Unearthed"....a quite weird, and also quite rocking and good album, one of the best of that year.Next and almost as good came "Frances the Mute", which throws some latin and pure jazziness into the already complicated mix, with fine results again. Its confusing, again, with an 8 part opus, "Cassandra Gemini", and also the odd 4 -part "Miranda, That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore"....at the end of the day, I have to admit once again that I have NO FUCKING CLUE as to what they are talking about, but the album rocks and sounds great. Highly recommended.
Perhaps as ambitious as the others, but maybe not as great, is "Amputechture", in which the jazz/fusion elements are amped up a bit, again to a concept of some sort, honestly I am in the dark again.....the entire disc flows together without any "real" track seperation, like all of the band's work there is no other way to listen but in entirety...this is not, I repeat, NOT a singles band, maybe as far from one as could be imagined. "Ampitechture" is for fans of the band, and, in my estimation, is not terribly essential.Much better (and just as bizarre) to me, is 2008's "Bedlam in the Goliath".....I thought that it succeeded on the level that it seemed at the same time suscinctly orchestrated as well as raw and rocking.....kind of hard to do. Yet another conceptual piece which must be listened to in it's wholeness...just trust me on this. Mars Volta are a HARD band to get into, because you have to approach them on THEIR terms, but I swear to you, it is as rewarding as the best work of, say, Pink Floyd or Radiohead.....these guys are their own people. I haven't described the music much, at all, for the simple reason that I CAN'T!
To be honest, I am not wild about the next release, "Octahedron".....they are attempting to be smart-asses and release an album unlike anything they've done before, with a more "accessible" and "poppish" sound. Perhaps they succeed, you be the judge.....I do not enjoy this album, much at all.A slight rebound is 2012's "Noctourniquet".....it was fairly obvious that this horse had run it's race, but there are some enjoyable moments here for fans of the band. "The Malkin Jewel" and "The Whip Hand" are worthwhile, I guess but i personally prefer the intellectual challenges of the earlier albums, that is just me.
OK......those are their 6 studio releases...get familiar, see what ya think. and tomorrow, we'll get to live stuff, demos, rare tracks, and all that stuff that your Uncle has at his fingertip disposal! Many may hate these, and IF YOU DO, I WANT TO HEAR ALL ABOUT IT! I LOVE when people bitch about the stuff I post, at least they have an opinion. This band is not for everyone, may leave some shaking thier heads, but for me those first few albums are really GREAT, not good but GREAT, once given a fair listening!
Links shortly.....personal message to Jenny McCarthy: I have a few hours Sunday in which I could pencil you in for a bit of sex if you are interested. Let me know. DELOUSED IN THE COMATORIUM-01 Son et Lumiere/02 Intertiatic ESP/03 Roulette Dares (The Haunt Of)/04 Tira Me a las Aranas (Throw Me to the Spiders)/05 Drunkenship of Lanterns/06 Eriatarka/07 Cicatriz ESP/08 This Apparatus Must Be Unearthed/09 Televators/10 Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt
FRANCES THE MUTE-01 Cygnus....Vismund Cygnus/02 The Widow/03 L'Via L'Viaquez/04 Miranda That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Aymore (Vde Mecum/Pour Another Icepick.Pisacis (Phra-men-Ma)/Con Safo)/05 Cassandra Gemini Part 1/06 Cassandra Gemini Part 02/07 Cassandra Gemini Part 03/08 Cassandra Gemini Part 4/09 Cassandra Gemini Part 5/10 Cassandra Gemini Part 6/11 Cassandra Gemini Part 7/12 Cassandra Gemini Part 8
AMPUTECHTURE-01 Vicarious Atonement/02 Tetragrammaton/03 Vermicide/04 Meccamputechture/05 Asilos Magdalenea/06 Viscera Eyes/07 Day of the Baphomets/08 El Ciervo Vulnerado
THE BEDLAM IN GOLIATH-01 Aberinkula/02 Metatron/03 Ilyena/04 Wax Simulacra/05 Goliath/06 Tourniquet Man/07 Cavalettas/08 Agadez/09 Askepios/10 Ouroborous/11 Soothsayer/12 Conjugal Burns
OCTAHEDRON-01 Since We've Been Wrong/02 Teflon/03 Halo of Nembutals/04 With Twilight as My Guide/05 Cotopaxi/06 Desperate Graves/07 Copernicus/08 Luciforms
NOCTOURNIQUET-01 The WHip Hand/02 Aegis/03 Dyslexicon/04 Empty Vessels Make the Loudest Sound/05 The Malkin Jewel/06 Lapochka/07 In Absetia/08 Imago/09 Molochwalker/10 Trinkets Pale of Moon/11 Vedamalady/12 Noctourniquet/13 Zed and Two NaughtsFor the most part, I enjoy these albums quite a bit.....I'm sure everyone won't, you REALLY have to be in the right frame of mind and have to REALLY listen, neither "good time party music", not very suitable as "background music".....hey I like these, get familiar, and tomorrow, I have a stack of rarities from these same hombres!
OK, popping this post up with the following caviat: discovered that most of my Mars Volta albums were created from FLAC files, meaning that they have to be split (MORE work for the worn-out big man), and like the Opeth post, with the Looooooong compositions they specialize in, we'll likely have to make multiple splits.....FLAC files ALSO take longer to upload, besides the fact that there will be more of them. All asie though, be patient. I'm doing the extra work, you can wait a bit longer. I'll get part 2 of this post up tomorrow, with some cool live and rare, just work with me a tiny bit if you can. I'm sorry for the delays, but to convert my stuff OUT of FLAC would take just as long, so I just go this route......the first batch of links for the part one link are ready, so if you see the comments section, there is enough to get you started, and I will work till the beer runs out to try to get MOST of the part 1 links up for ya on this snowy Ohio evening!
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