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I'm not even halfway through the first song and this is already loving fantastic   Miles better than Octahedron. edit: This album has an actual normal-length song structure so far. Pretty weird for TMV. Rageaholic fucked around with this message at 01:27 on Mar 2, 2012 |
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Mar 2, 2012 01:23
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Yeah I think this is a really good direction. I love the more bold use of synths which goes really well with Deantoni's DnB influenced style. There are a few weak spots but overall it's a great album. Dyslexicon and Lapochna are awesome. The end part of Molochwalker is really sick too.
Earwicker fucked around with this message at 01:32 on Mar 2, 2012 |
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Mar 2, 2012 01:25
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Dyslexicon is something else. Holy loving goddamn this is good. So far, this feels like the soundtrack to exploring a dying planet whose inhabitants have all vacated it right before it's snuffed out of existence forever. Like watching the sky turn from bright orange to darker shades of red and just feeling this great sense of impending doom. edit: Imago is almost like Televators Part 2. I never thought I'd hear another Volta song this chill. Wow. I love it. Rageaholic fucked around with this message at 02:02 on Mar 2, 2012 |
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Mar 2, 2012 01:34
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How long is the album?
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Mar 2, 2012 02:38
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WASDF posted:How long is the album? An hour and 4.5 minutes.
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Mar 2, 2012 02:48
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I've only ever really got into De-loused in the Comatorium, I love it. I'm going to have to give this one a bit more time, it's bizarre. Part of Dyslexicon's vocal melody also is disturbingly similar to this. It's obviously not intentional, though it's really bothering me for some reason.
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Mar 2, 2012 02:54
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I'm liking this album. It has so much more balance and focus than previous works. On the leak... when will record labels realize that not releasing music for sale as it becomes available will result in leaks and piracy? People are impatient, and we have no need to wait for things to arrive in stores any more with technology nowadays. I've already ordered the album, but dammit I'm not going to sit on my thumb and wait a month for it. The music is held up by an archaic printing process. I didn't download the leak because I'm cheap or want to steal it, I just want the music as soon as possible. I would have paid for the digital album so I could listen to it while I wait for the physical copy.
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Mar 2, 2012 18:07
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yrF posted:On the leak... when will record labels realize that not releasing music for sale as it becomes available will result in leaks and piracy? Well labels and musicians are increasingly realizing this, but in some cases leaks occur before the music is really "available" in the state that the musicians want the public to hear it - i.e. there may be more mixing or mastering work to do. A lot of labels are clinging on to old ideas but TMV and Omar are usually pretty up to speed on this sort of thing.
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Mar 2, 2012 18:15
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Earwicker posted:Well labels and musicians are increasingly realizing this, but in some cases leaks occur before the music is really "available" in the state that the musicians want the public to hear it - i.e. there may be more mixing or mastering work to do. Yeah, I don't recall any of Omar's solo albums leaking (obviously, there wasn't a lot of review copies going out and most of the teasers for albums like Xenophanes were in Mexico). I think TMV is ready to move to ORLP, especially since Sargent House is doing vinyl for this album.
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Mar 2, 2012 18:35
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I listened to the whole thing again in order, and then once on shuffle just for the hell of it. I think this album has the same problem most of their stuff has had since Amputechture, which is that the melodies are just kinda boring. To me it sounds like Cedric comes up with these melodies by just improvising with bluesy riffing, then just kind of settles on one particular sequence of bluesy riffs and calls it the melody. Deloused and Francis both had much more thoughtful melodies and never shied away from straight up hooks (I'm thinking Roulette Dares, Eriatarka, Take the Veil, Cygnus, Cassandra Gemini). I can't really find any nice juicy hooks anywhere on this album.  Instrumentally there is a lot of cool stuff though. I just kind of wish they'd work with a producer again. I know Omar expressed a lot of frustration at having to work with Rick Rubin on Deloused.. but.. it's also widely regarded as their best album.
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Mar 2, 2012 18:52
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Didn't they always have the rights to release the vinyl? I thought the glow in the dark Frances came out through GSL. Only possible bad thing about moving to SH would be the budget mode tours. There was something magical in the live act up to early 06 that seems to be missing after that point. And not just the music but the atmosphere & emotion. Good news is my 1st take on Noctourniquet has that feeling creeping back in.
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Mar 2, 2012 19:34
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After listening to the album, it really becomes clear just how perfect the art is.
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Mar 2, 2012 19:43
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Quinoa posted:There was something magical in the live act up to early 06 that seems to be missing after that point. And not just the music but the atmosphere & emotion. Personally I think it depends on the venue. All my favorite bootlegs are from small club shows and when I saw them live it was at a tiny bar in Rochester NY, and it was awesome. They get pretty noisy and big venues probably wash the sound out completely. Of course I'm not a big fan of any of their TV appearances either, or anything where they're all close-miced and you're hearing a board feed with no ambiance. Those early Tremulant\Deloused live bootlegs still blow me away, something about them.
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Mar 2, 2012 20:34
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I wish they would stop the TV spots, they do more harm than good. I've seen them live 8-9 times in all size venues, at least once with each drummer & at least once each tour. Venue does make some difference of course. But one of the best times was when Deantoni briefly played during the System opening stint. It was at the Hampton coliseum which is built for tractor pulls. Venue had no appeal whatsoever yet they pulled that one out. The worst was Philly electric factory (although I 95% blame Thomas for that one). I wish I knew the answer beyond simple "chemistry".
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Mar 2, 2012 21:52
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The Mars Volta have TV ads?? I've only seen the live once, but it was at them Greek Theatre in Berkeley and pretty much every show I've seen there has been sort of "magic". Even Manu Chau, and that dude just played the same song 10 times in a row.
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Mar 2, 2012 21:54
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OK I didn't make that clear. I meant like the time they were on Henry Rollins old show & Letterman or Conan. Don't remember which it wasn't that good. And I'm so jealous of Berkeley, always wanted to make it there.
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Mar 2, 2012 23:20
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Definitely wasn't their appearance on Henry Rollins. That loving ruled. That's one of the first things I show people I know when they tell me they've never heard of The Mars Volta. They've got like 10 people all crammed on the stage together and somehow it sounds so drat well put together despite that.
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Mar 2, 2012 23:23
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Yeah I do kind of half remember seeing a lovely Letterman performance by them. The vast majority of bands I see on Letterman tend to suck on there tho, even if I otherwise like their music. I think his set just has really terrible acoustics or something.
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Mar 3, 2012 00:21
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I think that was when they played Wax Simulacra. The standard def mix was terrible, and even the HD mix which was an "improvement" just sounded limp. Although, to see a song like that performed on a show like Letterman was pretty cool regardless. The audience must have been all
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Mar 3, 2012 01:11
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In Absentia is one of their coolest songs by far.
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Mar 4, 2012 11:24
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So, this isn't ironclad or anything, but... I work for the House of Blues in Boston, and a friend of mine in the box office told me today that, while it hasn't been officially scheduled or announced yet, At the Drive-In is going to be playing here sometime in July. I'll update as soon as I hear more - you can bet your rear end I'm taking that day off and going to the show instead of working it!
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Mar 5, 2012 05:15
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drunk asian neighbor posted:So, this isn't ironclad or anything, but... I work for the House of Blues in Boston, and a friend of mine in the box office told me today that, while it hasn't been officially scheduled or announced yet, At the Drive-In is going to be playing here sometime in July. I'll update as soon as I hear more - you can bet your rear end I'm taking that day off and going to the show instead of working it! I reeeeeally hope they do an actual nationwide tour instead of just playing festivals. I'll buy tickets for a New Orleans date the second they go on sale. If there is a New Orleans date. A lot of awesome bands completely skip over us here  But hell, I'd drive to Houston or somewhere in Florida or wherever to see them if I had to.
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Mar 5, 2012 05:45
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Rageaholic Monkey posted:
House of Blues in Orlando. Better happen.
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Mar 5, 2012 06:42
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Although, I just looked at their Twitter and that European festival thing is in July too. That could be good or bad - it could point to them wanting to just tour everywhere really fast and get it over with, or I dunno. Like I said, it's just rumor so far.
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Mar 5, 2012 06:47
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drunk asian neighbor posted:So, this isn't ironclad or anything, but... I work for the House of Blues in Boston, and a friend of mine in the box office told me today that, while it hasn't been officially scheduled or announced yet, At the Drive-In is going to be playing here sometime in July. I'll update as soon as I hear more - you can bet your rear end I'm taking that day off and going to the show instead of working it! Going to sell my soul for tickets to this show
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Mar 5, 2012 12:33
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drunk asian neighbor posted:So, this isn't ironclad or anything, but... I work for the House of Blues in Boston, and a friend of mine in the box office told me today that, while it hasn't been officially scheduled or announced yet, At the Drive-In is going to be playing here sometime in July. I'll update as soon as I hear more - you can bet your rear end I'm taking that day off and going to the show instead of working it! Do you need a new best friend
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Mar 5, 2012 15:09
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De-facto-through-Bedlam-era obsessed TMV fan piping in with worthless opinion: I think a lot of the praise this album is getting is over the top, but it does deserve plenty of praise for a mellow volta album. It kind of strikes me as a sister album to Bedlam in Goliath, as much as Omar tries to tell everyone everything TMV does is wildly different from the last Goliath and Noctourniquet are pretty obviously progressions and refinements of the albums that came before them. It also strikes me as a kind of "Amnesiac" from RH situation where the album might be leftovers from another album but (to me) it's better than what it pilfered from. It's a much more put together and enjoyable album than Octohedron, it's just missing the amount of drama they would put into songs pre-octo that I was hoping would return. Bottom line: I don't love the newer, slower TMV but if you asked me to rank slower songs from Bedlam and onwards a lot of them would come from this album. It's just very hard to put this album next to albums like Bedlam and Amputechture and not think someone is resting on their laurels, rather than just taking things in a newer mellower direction. There's a lot of songs that make you consider that the modern electro-mellow Volta might be legit, but there's a few that make you think Omar and Cedric might just be taking a break from the more difficult parts of TMV. I don't doubt the lack of rockin-out-with-your-cerrebellum-out is a conscious choice, but I do doubt the idea that they're putting as much effort into these songs as saaaaaay deloused, ampu and bedlam. Stray thoughts: - Omar is hitting his stride for computery production tricks. I used to roll my eyes a lot whenever you could tell he was playing with them but there's a lot of genuinely interesting fun sounds and effects going on in this album. Almost makes up for no Ikey. - There are way too many stretches on this and Octo where everyone playing just sounds listless. Either that or they're holding it down for Cedric and he's not doing his part. Now that I think about it more it might just be Cedric not being terribly inspired by the new music, especially considering the story about him putting it off for so long. - I kind of want to buy MLB2k12 to see where Zed and Two Naughts fits in on their soundtrack....like do they play it when one of your players is sidelined due to near death LSD overdose or something? - In Absentia is a great song - The Malkin Jewel sounds like a Marilyn Manson song (and I like it) Earwicker posted:After listening to the album, it really becomes clear just how perfect the art is. Very much agreeing with this, the cover is pretty much the mental image I was getting during Octohedron and this album even more. Edit: This all sounds way too harsh for how much I actually like the album. Initially I really didn't like Octohedron, then it grew on me until it hit the level of "I'll put that on once every couple of months and really enjoy most of it". This album initially strikes me as highly listenable so it will probably grow even better. Edit2: Also I don't know what planet Cedric is currently on where this album is "Future Punk", at least half of it sounds like Future Fleetwood Mac by way of goth rock and the other half hardly ever strikes me as punk. Intel&Sebastian fucked around with this message at 21:35 on Mar 5, 2012 |
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Mar 5, 2012 21:25
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For those that haven't heard it, they put Zed and Two Naughts up on Soundcloud. http://soundcloud.com/themarsvolta/the-mars-volta-zed-and-two/s-WyCYD
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Mar 5, 2012 22:00
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Man I'm only up to Aegis and I'm really, really impressed so far. I really really hope this shits all over that abysmal Octahedron.
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Mar 6, 2012 02:09
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Since it was just mentioned and everyone can hear it now legally, Zed and Two Naughts is my favorite song from the album so far. Stuck out initially to me because it may be named after a really amazing art house movie I saw years ago at my college theater. (That's Saint Christopher he's yelling about in the chorus right? Saint of not getting into a car crash if I remember correctly and the movie opens with a car crash that echos throughout.) Anyway, main point is the drumming is sick on the album and Zed in particular. I was worried about the loss of Pridgen because he's like Dave Ghrol on smart drugs. The drumming on Bedlam is so heavy and adrenaline pumping, but also virtuoistic. Ilyena could of been a standard funk metal song done by any number of those type of awful bands without Pridgen's drumming bringing it up to the whacked out heaven. (Omar's dissonant guitars helped too.) Deantoni though is even more amazing with the non-standard beats and fills as shown in Zed. He also has a lighter touch which I believe has influenced their overall sound.
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Mar 6, 2012 14:44
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Yeah I'm definitely into Deantoni's playing. He reminds me of the drummer from Deerhoof but more proggy, I guess?
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Mar 6, 2012 18:02
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I was totally caught off guard by this record the first few times I heard it, but I really love it. I feel like this is a nice bookend to the Thomas Pridgen-era of TMV. While there are songs on Bedlam and Octahedron I enjoy (Goliath, Cavalettas, Teflon, Halo of Nembutals), those two records never felt as cohesive as the first three IMO. I will say that the string of covers they recorded during the Bedlam sessions are absolutely killer, which helped me never lose faith in the Volta. This record is amazing, though. I can't wait to seem them when they inevitably tour in support of it (total nerdgasm if I can manage to see ATDI and TMV live in the same year). For those of you interested in Deantoni Parks' other work, I'd recommend Kudu's "Death of the Party" LP. His influence on TMV's new sound becomes much more apparent after hearing it.
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Mar 6, 2012 20:47
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Rolodex Propaganda posted:the string of covers they recorded during the Bedlam sessions are absolutely killer, What are these? I think I missed this somwhow
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Mar 6, 2012 21:10
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Earwicker posted:What are these? I think I missed this somwhow http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bedlam_in_Goliath#Bonus_tracks_and_b-sides
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Mar 6, 2012 21:14
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Rolodex Propaganda posted:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bedlam_in_Goliath#Bonus_tracks_and_b-sides "Mr. Muggs" is poo poo. Everything else is golden, and it really shines as a foreboding of where TMV went after the bombastic Bedlam.
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Mar 6, 2012 21:42
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Rolodex Propaganda posted:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bedlam_in_Goliath#Bonus_tracks_and_b-sides nice, thanks!
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Mar 6, 2012 21:53
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Relayer posted:Yeah I'm definitely into Deantoni's playing. Oh man, the drums on this album are what really makes Noctourniquet just another disappointing Volta album. Parks's performance feels incredibly uninspired as if he's just satisfied with officially being in the band now. Theodore's constant erection for linear drum beats is what rounded out that wanky, yet driven groove that made De-Loused and Frances the Mute great. Oh! And that snare sound they went with on the new album is one of the most unpleasant I've ever heard outside of black metal.
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Mar 6, 2012 23:05
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Bagsack posted:Oh man, the drums on this album are what really makes Noctourniquet just another disappointing Volta album. Parks's performance feels incredibly uninspired as if he's just satisfied with officially being in the band now. Theodore's constant erection for linear drum beats is what rounded out that wanky, yet driven groove that made De-Loused and Frances the Mute great. I disagree personally, I love the drums on this album, but your post reminds me of another subject which is, how much input do the musicians in TMV even have over their own parts? I thought that Omar wrote almost everything other than the words. I recall an interview with him years ago where he described the recording process as "yeah, someone (a band member) will come over, I'll give them their part, and they'll execute it" and each part was done independently, so no one heard each others' parts until Omar strung them together or maybe when they started rehearsing for live performance. Although maybe this was referring to the various ORL groups and not TMV? But I was under the impression that Omar was in general basically a Fripp-esque dictator and was responsible for every little thing, and just made sure to always have incredibly talented people in his bands to be sure that they could pull it off.
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Mar 6, 2012 23:13
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Earwicker posted:How much input do the musicians in TMV even have over their own parts? I thought that Omar wrote almost everything other than the words. That's something I started wondering too when Bedlam was released. With every album it feels more and more as if Omar is totally running the show. Although, on De-Loused and Frances the Mute, Theodore had to have played a lot of what he wanted to play. Hilariously, If you listen to the drum tracks of the One Day as a Lion EP at 2x speed it'll start to sound strangely like old, re-hashed Volta tracks without accentuation.
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Mar 6, 2012 23:29
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Earwicker posted:how much input do the musicians in TMV even have over their own parts? I thought that Omar wrote almost everything other than the words. There are a bunch of interviews out there right now with pretty much this same quote: “On this record, as with all the others, I wrote the music and then gave it to Cedric…But this is the last time I'll do it like that. I want to collaborate more. I've had 10 years of kind of being a benign dictator in this band and I want to make it more like a democracy." Not sure to what extent this is true, but this album is for sure growing on me. I really loved all of the live stuff when I got a chance to see it last year...better than how they sound on the album. Though I was pleasantly surprised by the studio version of Molochwalker.
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Mar 7, 2012 04:41
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