Sometimes the whole show is better than the parts, wouldn’t you say? A couple of weeks ago I caught The Mars Volta on Henry Rollins‘ talk show, which I come across on some music cable station now and then. I’d heard a little bit of this band before and was slightly impressed by all the noise they cooked up, but mostly I laughed at how over the top it was. Seeing them play this racket, however, was much more impressive. I was still laughing at how over the top it was, but I got into the revolutionary vibe. It was like Hendrix, Miles, Santana, the MC%, and Geddy Lee decided to jam. Hrrundi and Saturnismine, I’m especially interested in hearing what you think of this:
And this:
Has anyone tried listening to these guys without accompanying visuals? Does it hold up, or is the Rilly Big Shoe as essential as I fear I’d find it should I shell out the money for one of their albums?
I saw these guys live at some Long Beach music-fest I went to see The Stooges reunion at. The reunion set was kickass. Mars Volta…cold diarrhea on a paper plate. And all that that implies.
mod, sorry i haven’t been on the trolley for this thread yet.
other more pressing matters, regarding “fingers and knobs” had me preoccupied.
and that gergley / linkerson love fest going on over on the old slate version of rth had me all teary eyed.
even though my music may not reflect it, my love the arkestra and hendrix are well-documented, so people have been pushing MV on me for awhile now.
thus far, i’ve paid attention because the *idea* is there. however, thus far, i’ve also chosen to respectfully take a pass on them for the following reasons.
the performances are dynamic and they’re certainly dedicated to their envelope pushing…but sometimes it sounds (and looks) like they’re pushing the envelope for the sake of doing so rather than trying to find a new music on the other side. it feels like the cart is in front of the horse to me. even on sun ra’s most “out there” efforts, i hear a core of music. but with MV, even when they’re not that far out there, i often DON’T hear a core. in other words, they’re doing less exploration of new turf, but they’re not finding riffs or arrangements that move, either.
in general, their music sounds almost calculated to sound chaotic: “i know what we’ll do: we put all *these* ingredients together, and blow people’s minds”. I prefer it when bands get to the place where MV wants to go more organically, without so much purpose and deliberation .
i apologize in advance to these guys, however, because i think their mission is a noble one, and exploring outer-sonic territory aint easy.
on a much more immediate level (with a local twist), maybe it’s clearer to explain my views this way: the early zen guerilla tried almost precisely this approach to making music. and they moved on after about two years because they *organically* went somewhere else. they place where they arrived was much more inside the pocket. they realized they could do more interesting things with *the boundary* if they stayed closer to it. that’s where they felt like they were on really fertile territory. so did their audience.
oh…and all the posing and shit that they do…i dunno, man…i just don’t know about that shit…
In terms of general over the topness, they remind me of Fishbone (although the components of the sound are obviously very different). I bought a Fishbone CD once after seeing them give a fantastic performance on TV, but robbed of their stage presence, the music was more cacophony than charisma. Still, in this case too, I might pick up a CD if I knew which one to pick up and the price was right.
I kind of liked this stuff, if only because anybody putting out that much energy is enough of an event almost regardless of the sounds. Here, enough of the sounds were interesting to make it more than that. In a crowded bar, I’d probably take in some of it from the other room or what not, and end up not being hooked for a whole lot of it. The keyboard guy paints himself into a spasmodic corner, there. Does he do that at rehearsals? I like the effect-heavy sax. Actually I’ve never heard that many effects pedals *not* piss the fuck-off out of me.
The singer? As always, it’s a lonely and daunting business standing in front of people, having to look like something without an instrument, to sound cool and musical while delivering text, and to be, in this case, the only one not hiding behind a truckload of equipment. So there are worse sins in that situation than channeling Mark Farmer or whatever. Though it would have helped for me if the instruments did some of there moments of cohesion more around what he was singing.
I would never buy a CD of this stuff, because I’m almost never wanting to hear noise jams of this sort again and again. It’s a little like buying a comedy album, only not so funny.
I like the way slocum has described it.
in general…(no pun intended here, general)
it’s good to be reminded of the role of onstage energy ( i feel like MV’s is contrived, but that doesn’t make it invisible):
sometimes, acting like you’re intensely “into it” does help get you there. the other people in the band might go there with you once they see you “getting into it”. everyone feeds off of everyone else. but that’s an elusive thing.
while every band needs to jump-start themselves on occasion, trading on artificial energy too often can make the real thing more and more elusive. once a group of musicians are used to benefits of posing like their favorite pictures of their favorite rock stars (snapped at the perfect moment, when they were going through some intense or heavy thing), it becomes harder and harder to know when they actually ARE IN…THAT…ZONE for real.
while none of us are inside MV’s heads, least of all me, my guess is that they’ve posed as if there was mind blowing activity going on during their set far too many times for their own good. it doesn’t look like they realize it, either. the result is that all the posing isn’t really connected to the music at all. it’s just a visual.
for example, the keyboard player rocks his…ermmm…organ back and forth while making a “cum face” (at around 0:27 of the second youtube), but it really doesn’t seem to have much to do with what he’s playing. in fact, it may even detract from his playing. but it sure does look cool.
Slocum, you’ve gotten to how I feel. Saturnismine, I hear you, too. Mwall, I know what you’re saying. So my impressions rang true. Thanks. I still think it’s pretty cool and especially novel to see these days in a televised performance. I get so sick of seeing bands moping about or looking like they otherwise don’t belong on a rock stage.
mod wrote:
“I get so sick of seeing bands moping about or looking like they otherwise don’t belong on a rock stage.”
you said a mouthful, my friend. but don’t worry, it’s 2008. the gen x era of irony should be ending any second now. the millennials are graduating from college and starting bands left and right. let’s hope the unstructured world of post college life doesn’t turn them into a bunch of mopes.