The Mars Volta have always been on some "other shit." From the first strains of 2003's De-loused in the Comatorium, you knew that this was not the prog rock you heard your parents listening to while smelling that funny smoke. This was something new, sprung from the minds of two men who'd outgrown their previous project, At The Drive-In. Singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala howls like a siren over guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez's merciless shredding, and to great effect. You do not need hallucinatory agents for this music; the music is the agent. With ten-minute avant garde jazz-influenced songs that ofttimes consist of long stretches of sound for sound's sake (I've thought certain of their interludes would not exist if not for Alice Coltrane), this is music that transports you to another world.
The Mars Volta's latest album is said to be the band's most otherworldly, or at least the story behind it is. Here's the yarn: Rodriguez-Lopez was in Israel and bought a Ouija-ish board for Bixler-Zavala. After using the board incessantly, they were plagued by a string of bad luck, which included everything short of frogs raining from the sky, until Rodriguez-Lopez cried uncle and buried that damn thing.
They've said that their interactions with the three spirits of the board provided much of the source material for what would become The Bedlam in Goliath, due out at the end of the month.
Color us intrigued, mildly creeped out, and super pumped for tonight's sold out show at the TLA. For you diehards who love Amputechture more than Frances, but didn't get tickets, you can always try your luck on Craigslist.
The Mars Volta
Tonight (SOLD OUT)
Fillmore at the TLA
9 PM
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Ooh, creepy new album at the end of the month! Awesome.
Yeah. Super pumped. Tonight should be a great preview of the album.
Yay! People from El Paso making it big!