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Underground > Radio & Music >

The Mars Volta

04:11 / 27.11.06

There's a chance this band has been covered before but seeings as the music section is just a wee tad bit boring a good discussion about this most mental of bands could be just the ticker. For those that don't konw The Mars Volta are the band that grew from the now dead but brilliant At The Drive-In. They began a new band in order to create more complex and adventurous music and to lose the limitations of punk and emo. Mars Volta songs are tpyically very long, the longest so far being half an hour and are schizophrenic in style taking in dub, funk, jazz, prog, punk, salsa and all this done with a sort of science fiction sheen. They have three studio albums, two of which are concept albums and involve long stories about dead friends and their adventures in science fiction worlds created by their minds or by the coincidences in their lives. They are a band that constantly divides opinion, does anyone out there have any views on them? is it the future of music or just a load of pretentious screeching? and as a further question does anyone have any interpretations of the stories represented by the almost indecipherable lyrics which are also (helpfully) bi-lingual. Personally I think their masterpiece "Frances The Mute" is about the X-Men lol and will fight happily with anyone who wants to shoot that one down.

Regrettable Juvenilia

08:16 / 27.11.06

Barbelith on The Mars Volta, take one (in which we find the excellent Seth-ism "It appears that At The Drive-In was Christ as hermaphrodite, the perfect union of opposites, more than the sum of its parts.").

Barbelith on The Mars Volta, take two, in which an unmissed troll from the Music forum's past rises to their defence.

10:54 / 27.11.06

lol

10:55 / 27.11.06

Hack the leg off oh god

Crux Is This City's Protector.

13:15 / 27.11.06

They have a handful of catchy tunes, and a lot of boring ones. I'm not really sure there's anything more to say about them! That's the problem, maybe. Sure, they're pretentious, but hating a band because they're silly and lack self-awareness is unsporting, to say the least. Anyone who thinks they live anywhere near the top 10 or bottom 10 of current musics needs to get out more.

16:38 / 27.11.06

At the risk of totally counting myself out of the race to become part of the Barbelite, I must confess my love of this band. Yes, they're not perfect - there are altogether far too many silent/noodle-y bits on Frances the Mute, for instance - but they rock like bastards, and make for a satisfying listen if you're in the mood for it.

My favourite album is easily Deloused in the Comatorium. I think that firstly, Rick Rubin lends the band a fantastic, pounding sound that they've never recaptured in their own productions and I think as a whole the songs are tighter, more focused and just better than anything they've done since. Drunkship of Lanterns, with it's pure hipshaking, feet-moving ending is probably my favourite track, if only for it's immediacy, but I also love the guitar solo in the middle of Cicatriz ESP, it's something to get lost in and the way it just builds and builds and then thumps back into the verse is just breathtaking.

That said, their new album is also a cracker, with some very unusual and fun sounds to be found within, as well as a lead single that sounds a lot like 70's cop show meets King Crimson. Which ain't half bad.

23:02 / 27.11.06

Well, I'm an unashamed fanboy. I love the quiet and/or noodly bits in Frances the Mute, and it is possibly one of my favourite albums of all time.

That said, if somebody really wanted to rag on them, I wouldn't bother jumping to their defense. Different strokes for different folks and all that.

Plus, it's a debate that's probably happened a bazillion times on the internets:
"The Mars Volta suck! At the Drive In was so much better, none of that wanky bullshit."
"You just hate the Mars Volta 'cause you're too stupid to GET IT. If you don't have the patience to sit down and listen to a whole album then go back to listening to Linkin Park you illiterate douche."
"Fuck you, fuck Linkin Park, and FUCK MARS VOLTA! You're too buzy gazing at your shoes to realise that there are arse-kicking bands out there that don't need to put 8 minutes of silence in every song just to make it seem 'deep'. You think you're an intellectual elitist, but you're just a mindless yes man who'd buy any bullshit this band put out."
"Oh yeah, well you're..." etc etc ad nauseum.

If people want to talk about any finer points of the band or their music then I'll be around, but otherwise I think I've outlined the main arguments above

Crux Is This City's Protector.

12:50 / 28.11.06

Now, Linkin Park, that's a band worth defending! You know that song 'Faint'? That's a great song.

16:22 / 28.11.06

What's the emoticon for a withering look? I need that to go here.

ONLY NICE THINGS

17:38 / 28.11.06

So, do Mars Volta sound a bit like Dream Theatre, then?

Crux Is This City's Protector.

17:54 / 28.11.06

I'd have to say, though, that in a tussle between Mars Volta's pretentiousness, iconoclastic at least in the context of their scene and generation, and Dream Theatre's pretentiousness, with all the lousy humor and funkiness that it meant to be pretentious 20 years ago, I'd take the former.

What I'm trying to say is: as goofy as The Mars Volta are, I don't think I could see them sharing a stage with THIS guy:

07:31 / 29.11.06

troll

Chaos is relative

03:16 / 28.12.06

this is from the album of the year thread. it seems relevant. I think the mars volta are brilliant am not very fond of at the drive in.

Amputechture by The Mars Volta

Tool 10,000 days has a few votes on this forum and I agree that it is an excellent candidate, but this new release from MV is quickly ascending my list of best all time.

I first heard of MV with Deloused in the Comatorium. I was blown away and tried my best to wear that cd out. I bought Frances the Mute the day it came out and wasn't impressed until over 10 listens. Then I saw the light and was even more amazed than I was with the first album.

Amputechture took eight listens. The progressive thing tends to rub me the wrong way at first, but eventually I give in. I don't know how many magicians will read this. The album is a mystical experience. The music is some of the most frantic and beautiful counterpoint I have heard. Some complain that the songs drag out too long, but I think they are more representative of real life experience. The Mars Volta slowly create sonic rewards from melancholy isolation into communal textures and then out right explosion. The lyrics are pure genius. There are incantations, reference to crimes of love, and resolution in waking to the power of the collective through individual fulfillment. Cedric's voice soars and scratches it's way throughout. He knows exactly when to rest and let the music prepare the listener. The music is as well crafted as any symphony I have heard. The guitar ebbs and flows with undeniable virtuosity while maintaining an emotive sensitivity. The bass and keys are perfect compliments. The drums are some of the fastest and most frantic latin style beats mixed with percussive expression every bit as effective as a Dave Lombardo record. The sax is even virtuosic. My advice: Get this album, sit down in your headphones and read along. Don't read ahead in the lyrics as Cedric's delivery is every bit as important as his words. Holy moly this album is one of those special ones. For all you Thelemites or those who have questions about the nature of love and the end of love this is for you. This is the shortest rant I can provide about this magnificent work of art. Not many albums can force me to move. This one certainly does. Thanks for listening.

-LM

Chaos is relative

03:17 / 28.12.06

I would like to hear more about the x-men correlation.

Professor Silly

03:00 / 08.01.07

right on Lani!

as for the comparison to Dream Theater--sure both tend to have sections showing off their extreme talents, but it seems to me that the MV have more heart and soul, whereas Dream Theater seems dry and uninspired. It's like comparing Dali with Escher. Sure both do amazing things, but one speaks more to the soul, and not just the mind.

Prog rock, such as Yes and Rush, tends to turn me off, but with MV I find myself truly inspired with each and every listen. I'm not as eductated in the nuances of music theory as my friend Lani, but I do know what I like.