The Mars Volta

[speakEAsY]

what kind of music are they and what are some of their good songs cause my friends obsessed with them and i wanna know what theyre like

thanx

[ChristophersoN]

I didint even care what kind of music they were. So many people said they rocked so i went to my local indy shop only to my despair. They were all OUT of em, which upsets me bc i wanted it then, but also is good bc now i know theyre real popular so it must be good music if everyone is buying it.

[snoogans]

think At The Drive In and Sparta mixed with a bit of funky rockin music and that's it, its really hard to explain, but the members of Mars were / are in those bands. Get this song " Intertiatic Esp " Its so amazing

[speakEAsY]

very true

i guess if it rocks it rocks

[Mr. Safety]

if your friends are so crazy about it.. why not listen to it with them?

[Brad]

i know theyre real popular so it must be good music if everyone is buying it.
funny, i don't buy albums for the same reason :roll:

[ChristophersoN]

yea man i decided to pick up the sparta cd bc i had money at the time to burn and bc of the reason i already said.

[Mr. Safety]

Originally posted by Osiris@Jan 14 2004, 08:55 PM
i know theyre real popular so it must be good music if everyone is buying it.
funny, i don't buy albums for the same reason :roll:
haha touche!
I hate it when people try to be popular and trendy.

[Kat]

but also is good bc now i know theyre real popular so it must be good music if everyone is buying it.

Millions of people run out and buy crap like backstreet boys and all sorts of other crap, doesnt mean your gonna like it.

[Brad]

Originally posted by Mr. Safety+Jan 15 2004, 01:58 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Mr. Safety @ Jan 15 2004, 01:58 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Osiris@Jan 14 2004, 08:55 PM
i know theyre real popular so it must be good music if everyone is buying it.
funny, i don't buy albums for the same reason :roll:
haha touche!
I hate it when people try to be popular and trendy. [/b][/quote]
:buds:

[ChristophersoN]

Originally posted by Mr. Safety+Jan 14 2004, 08:58 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Mr. Safety @ Jan 14 2004, 08:58 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Osiris@Jan 14 2004, 08:55 PM
i know theyre real popular so it must be good music if everyone is buying it.
funny, i don't buy albums for the same reason :roll:
haha touche!
I hate it when people try to be popular and trendy. [/b][/quote]
uMMmmm..."popular and trendy" over here in my little speck of dust called a city is gangsta rap, wether the persons a wigger, jock or w/e. You guys mentioned it as a very good cd, so i said what the hell if they said it was good why not check it and see for myself? the only reason why i buy it is b/c i cant have any P2P sharing on my comp b/c my mom is freaked about suing and whatnot.

[snoogans]

you might be able to get Inertiatic Esp off their website... can't remember but

[FelRock]

why does it have to be an indie shop? i found my copy at virgin megastore. they sell the cd everywhere.

[Brad]

your mom's an idiot.

[kirbypuckett]

Mars Volta is just musical insanity!

The record is just so damn good and innovative.

Probably one of the best live bands around right now. They just fucking jam and jam.

L O V E

[bref]

In my opinion Mars Volta is the best band out right now.

FUCKING NEWS

I heard Omar from TMV and John and Flea from RHCP might me making an instrumental album.... excited about that

For good songs:
All of De-Loused In The Comatorium
Concertina
Plague Upon Your Hissing

[kirbypuckett]

Omar, Cedric, some people from the Long Beach Dub All-Stars, and a few others had a dub band during the ATDI days.

They were called 'Defacto'

I have the one record and it's pretty rad.

[descend]

members of Mars were / are in those bands

your half right..
the mars volta (Omar, Cedric) were in at the drive-in but not sparta
sparta was formed by the remaining group of at the drive-in when omar and cedric left..

and i think if you search around..
i posted a bunch of songs to download from each of these listed bands..

and they might be known around word of mouth..
but they surely aren't trendy or popular (media wise)
i mean, yes mtv talks about them.. but i doubt you'd see them on trl or making the band
and mainly only college radios and certain alternative station will play a tune by them..

so don't worry about people thinking your just jumping on the band wagon cause they are "popular"
i can assure you, that they aren't in it for popularity..
just listen to their music.. it is so different and artistic

give them a few listens to them.. you'll know why people are talking about them..
they are taking indie music to a new level

[Shortpainkiller]

As described in one reveviers eyes:

`The Mars volta sum up everything you imagined all you're favourite bands in the world throwing away because it was just too damn good for them. The mars volta, took them, remade them with anguished, post modern, poetic verses, add in some epileptic, lo-fi-pre-op-post-prog jazz and you have the creation on one of the, if not the, best band to come out this milleium to date`

I fell in love with the mars volta roundabout 2 years ago, I was going to the Move festival where they were playing the main stage, I had no idea what they sounded like, but as soon as they entered the stage, I knew I was compelled to love them. There music is something that stick in yr head, makes you think, yet relaxes you, its just one huge jam session with lyrics.

I just got the Live EP, Which is 4 songs played live to what seems to be no audience..


**EDIT** Did anyone alse hear the amusing rumor about Cedric dying due to an overdose?

[FelRock]

Shit ive heard about the live EP but ive never seen it for sale anywhere not even amazon. where the hell do you get it?

[Kuffi]

Originally posted by snoogans@Jan 15 2004, 01:53 AM
think At The Drive In and Sparta mixed with a bit of funky rockin music and that's it, its really hard to explain, but the members of Mars were / are in those bands. Get this song " Intertiatic Esp " Its so amazing
I agree. They're good. And that song owns.

[kirbypuckett]

Shit ive heard about the live EP but ive never seen it for sale anywhere not even amazon. where the hell do you get it?

Much like Weezer's "Lion & Witch EP" it was only available at select Independent record stores. You won't be able to find it in Best Buy or on Amazon.com. Ebay is your best shot if you don't have any Indie record shops around, but you may pay a pretty penny.

Mars Volta Deloused in the Comatorium Review:

Reviewing this album is like trying to explain what a rainbow looks like to a blind person, but I'll try my best. And i'm not trying to sound like a pretentious prick, which is the first inevitability when discussing the Mars Volta. There's really nothing to compare this album to, and no place to put it in the fold of current music. Or from any time or place, for that matter. Music is arguably the most objective medium of entertainment, and this album is the epitome of that argument. But with that said, I still feel that this album divides people into two groups: those who like the Mars Volta, and those who don't understand the Mars Volta.

Most bands can be forced into a genre if it comes down to it, at least in description. But to do that with the Mars Volta defeats the very purpose of their existence. Cedric Bixler Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez left At The Drive-In because they felt limited. They toured for almost six years straight, culminating in the release of Relationship Of Command and a brush with commercial success. But they tired of playing more or less the same set of songs every night. In fact, they tired of playing songs whose lengths and structure they couldn't change at will all together. In the summer of 2001, the duo of afroed gods started the Mars Volta with Ikey Owens (Long Beach Dub All Stars) and Jeremy Ward, members of their dub band Defacto. Somewhere along the way they hooked up with drummer Jon Theodore (Golden, Royal Trux, H.I.M.), a student of "voodoo drumming" in Haiti, and bassist Juan Alderete (Racer X). In the spring of 2002, Tremulant was recorded, a 3-song, 19-minute teaser of what was to come from the band, who were rapidly making a name for themselves. After a short tour and the acquisition of Rick Rubin (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Run DMC, System Of A Down, Slayer, Johnny Cash, Beastie Boys, Public Enemy) at the producing helm and Flea on bass, the band was ready to record what would become one of the most important albums ever, De-Loused In The Comatorium.

De-Loused is a concept album, a dedication based on the death of Julio Venegas, an El Paso artist who killed himself in 1996. It chronicles a first suicide attempt, a subsequent coma, the emergence from it, a final successful attempt, and the reflection afterwards. Its eight tracks (recorded in a "haunted" house in Laurel Canyon), interwoven with one another, form up as an hour of music that truly expands minds and destroys expectations. Adjectives to describe the sounds within aren't exact the norm: Expansive, uncompromising, ethereal, sexy, morphing, cascading, overtaking. Alternately recalling but never imitating Led Zepplin, Miles Davis, Fugazi, Santana, and Pink Floyd, this album is just as important and just as amazing as any before it.

De-Loused begins with 'Son et Lumiere', one of two short songs on the album, serving as intros. The anticipatory, nervous keyboard builds in the background as Cedric's otherworldly voice permeates the relative quiet. The drums start loud and powerfully shortly after, never letting up again, as 'Inertiatic Esp' begins with the snarl of "now I'm lost...". From those very first words, the Mars Volta enchant, pull you in, and never let go, even long after you've turned off the album. This song is probably the closest thing they could have to a single, with a relatively normal structure (and at 4:24, it's also the shortest non-intro song on the album).

I'm not going to discuss each song in-depth individually, because I have neither the vocabulary nor the capacity to describe them, but I would like to discuss some highlights and special parts for me. 'Drunkship Of Lanterns", with it's intricate bassline and salsa drumming is a favorite of mine. Cedric and Omar's voices pierce, weaving amongst the rhythms. It has been said that Theodore's drumming is 40% of this album, and nowhere is it more evident than in this song. The song breaks down and falls apart, only to build itself back up again in a flowing audial assault, capping off in a dark, industrial pulse of noises. 'Eriatarka' demonstrates just what Cedric's voice is capable of, reaching unimaginable heights and dynamics, then diving back into snarling poetry. Many of the words and phrases that he uses throughout the album are strange enough to be abstract, but familiar enough to form meaning in your head while you listen to it. His writing is totally uncompromising and selfish (in that it rarely nears simple understanding), and I wouldn't want it to be any other way. When he starts singing about exoskeletal junctions you'll know what I'm talking about. 'Cicatriz Esp', the 12 minute long defining moment of the album, explores the musical themes presented so far as fully as possible, sounding like several entirely different songs at different points throughout. John Fruiscante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers joins in on guitar, providing even more backing, tiptoeing through quiet parts and grooving out on the more intense parts. Halfway into the song all sound almost disappears, seeming distant, even underwater, only to return in a shimmering explosion of shaking drums and reaching guitar. When Cedric's voice returns, it sounds more beautiful than ever before, echoing and probing into the atmosphere, quivering with power. 'This Apparatus Must Be Unearthed' rocks with the anger of sadness and demonstrates just how much this band can emote when they want to. 'Televators' starts as the softest song, with deep mournful bass and delicate, slow guitar. The vocals soar over it when needed, and receed again just when it's getting too intense.

Rick Rubin's production really shines throughout the album; the little things that weren't in the earlier demos make all the difference. The reverb on the drums in 'Roulette Dares (This is the Haunt)', Flea's subtle trademark scales in the background, reverse echoes, birds chirping - it's all subtle, but it adds up to so much more than the sum of it's parts. 'Take The Veil Cerpin Taxt' wraps up the cd perfectly, maintaining a relatively sane beat with rock drums and guitar, until a little over two minutes when it all mushes together and then swells back up to straight up rockularity (you dig that made-up word?). After another verse it fades back to a haunting organ soundscape, then onto an oddly-timed electronic mish-mash of noises and instruments, all ending in a chill bass solo. Guitar joins in shortly after, slowly intertwining until they finish the song up together, rocking back into the chorus, and ending with Cedric almost pleading "who brought me here?", seemingly a sign of teetering on the brink of getting lost in his own thoughts and symphonies.

The story and emotion of Venegas' death is felt throughout, and becomes even more poignant after the May 25th drug overdose of sound manipulator and longtime collaborator and friend Jeremy Ward. This album stands as a monument to both of them, a fully realized vision and execution.

De-Loused couldn't be more rewarding, and only gets better every time you listen to it. You hear new things with every listen, and I really can't see myself ever getting sick of any of the songs. The songs constantly reward their own curiosity, finding new paths and segues everywhere, seemlessly transitioning and ebbing into and out of breakdowns and deconstructions, and constantly shifting back and forth in the different levels established within each song. This album is groundbreaking, in the truest sense of the word. If the mainstream audience can set aside their preconceived notions of what music should be, and open their eyes and ears enough to be able to handle the Mars Volta, this album could change millions of peoples views of what music can represent and how it can be structured. And having a big label and an established audience could really help propel the Mars Volta into the minds of the media and the hands of the people, positively influencing music and future bands everywhere.

I know that these are sweepingly dramatic statements, but I wholeheartedly believe in them. This is the kind of music that might take one, two, or every ten listenings to even begin to absorb, but once you start to you'll begin to see just how deep it goes, and just how much you can get out of this record. If you don't understand it, or aren't ready for it, the Mars Volta understand. Many people won't be, and that's why this album won't top the charts. But it will make you realize that the music you've been listening to has boundaries, and it takes a band this good to break them. At least it did for me. And now the choice is up to you.

Mars Volta - Live EP Review:

The Mars Volta, while hated by many, cannot be denied the talent they displayed on 2003's De-loused In The Comatorium. Taking a page from Weezer's book, the band has issued a 4-song, limited edition live EP that is being distributed only in certain independent record store chains [a list of which is viewable here, if you scroll down a bit]. The first two songs on the EP, "Roulette Dates (the haunt of)" and fan favorite "Drunkship of Lanterns" are live studio recordings of the band in London. The final two cuts, "Cicatraz ESP" and "Televators," are taken from a concert in July of 2003, also in London.

Haters aside, the biggest question I had after hearing some of the more complex tracks on their debut is "how on earth do they pull it off live?" With this EP, I realize that they can't. But that's not necessarily a bad thing.

These songs were almost on sensory overload on recording, and frankly, it's sort of nice to hear them stripped down a bit to see how the band would make up for all the studio magic. First off, Cedric's voice is stronger than ever - if you thought there was some sort of auto-tuning going on with their full length, you'd be sorely mistaken. Bixler Zavala, for lack of a better term, wails on these four tracks, spanning over 40 minutes total in length. His improvisational lyrics and melodies fit in perfectly with each song's extended jam sessions.

Omar's guitar work on these live tracks sounds more and more like Carlos Santana with each passing minute. The man has developed a strangely unique style; a sort of latin-emocore fusion that has never really been seen before. His licks are supplimented by whomever is manning the organ on these recordings, adding a much funkier vibe than the band had on De-loused.

Many people have voiced complaints about the Mars Volta's live show - that they jam for too long, they ignore their audience, et al. From these recordings, I can totally understand; the band sounds totally self-involved, ignoring the audience completely. The studio tracks, presumably with no audience whatsoever, are just as strong and experimental as the ones taken from an actual concert. This band doesn't seem to care who is listening; they are making this music solely for themselves. I, for one, don't mind eavesdropping.

Worth tracking down, definitely.

[growingwings]

Damn, that review couldn't have been more complete. I reccomend this cd to anyone. I havent heard a bad word from anyone about it ever. Overall best cd of 2003. I think it also showcases some of the best playing styles Flea has ever done.


GO BUY NOW!

^(The little jock inside me jumped out for a minute...)

[Catie]

I love TMV but when i saw them open for RHCP last may I couldnt believe my ears... It was pure noise.. I couldnt make out anything of what they were saying and they just werent their usual selves.. very disappointed...

[Brad]

It was pure noise



http://www.mtvhell.com/forum/headbang.gif

[kirbypuckett]

I love TMV but when i saw them open for RHCP last may I couldnt believe my ears... It was pure noise.. I couldnt make out anything of what they were saying and they just werent their usual selves.. very disappointed...

Something must have went wrong, really wrong.