The Mars Volta
whodat
fri 1/4/2008
What do you do when your band is called "the next Nirvana"? If you're Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodríguez-López, you quit and start a new one.
In 2001, the Mexican-American Bixler-Zavala (vocalist) and Puerto Rican-American Rodríguez-López (guitarist) ditched At The Drive-In, a punk-influenced hard rock outfit beloved for its intense live shows, leaving the remaining members to form Sparta. Bixler-Zavala and Rodríguez-López left El Paso, Texas and took their matching 'fros to sunny Long Beach, California where they formed The Mars Volta, a prog-rock band heavy on "experimentation" – something the pair claims was frowned upon in ATDI.
In 2003, The Mars Volta debuted with De-Loused in the Comatorium. Featuring lyrics in Spanish and English, vocals reminiscent of Robert Plant and jagged guitars, the album made psychedelic rock cool again by injecting it with a post-punk sensibility. But just weeks before their first release, one of their members, "sound manipulator" Jeremy Ward, died of a heroin overdose. The duo cite this tragedy as the turning point in their long struggle with some serious drug addictions and have since cleaned up their act. Guitarist Rodríguez-López even gave up alcohol, sugar and caffeine. A sobered Mars Volta returned in 2005 with Frances The Mute and then Amputechture in 2006. Both albums are filled with moody, explosive and dense songs in the vein of '70s rockers Toncho Pilatos, Can and Rush. The lead single from Frances was 12 minutes long.
In the last year, The Mars Volta have toured in anticipation of their forthcoming The Bedlam in Goliath which will be preceded by an online video game (can be played here) and an original poem by Bizarro fiction writer Jeremy Robert Johnson. Either one – or the record – should delight their open-minded fans.
Recommended tracks (iTunes)
Kat DeLuna, Montéz De Durango, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Bonde do Rolê and Mandisa.
the music press
tue 8/7/2007
- Kat DeLuna releases her debut, 9 Lives, an "eclectic and diverse" album that finds the 19-year-old Dominicana breaking it down "from Spanish, Dancehall to fawwking Opera," exclaims Think2twice. The SF Gate believes the hype: "Unlike most summer sizzlers who fizzle come fall … Kat DeLuna should survive the season's dog days and beyond.
- Agárrese, the new album by duranguense OG's Grupo Montéz de Durango, gets four-and-a-half stars from EsMas.com for its "variety" and for dealing with "difficult social issues." ElPlaneta.com underscores the group's "surprising musical evolution" which "reaffirms why they're the top-selling act in the genre."
- The Mars Volta mastermind Omar Rodriguez-Lopez releases Se Dice Bisonte, No Búfalo, the soundtrack to the film El Búfalo de La Noche. Sputnik Music feels that "Omar should stick to The Mars Volta" because "there are way too many times on the album where the music gets boring, pointless, and repetitious." Webzine Drowned in Sound echoes those sentiments: "Despite the occasional moment of brilliance, there just isn’t enough to maintain interest here."
- With Lasers, the debut album by Brazilian funk carioca dealers Bonde Do Role, should contain just enough "party-starting sex-urge noises" to "get you through a long, hot summer of awkward hook-ups at backyard barbecues," teases Pitchforkmedia. Despite it's "near explosive" energy level, Prefixmag laments that the "party is still too one-dimensional."
- Ex-American Idol finalist and Christian pop singer Mandisa releases her debut album, True Beauty. For The Trades her debut album keeps proving "that it's better to lose on American Idol than it is to win" while Christianity Today is not to keen on Mandisa's "predictable adult-contemporary sentiment," but digs when she's in "her urban-pop turf".
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