New Mars Volta album is out, hoorah I hear you say. Here is an mp3 from it, but not everyone is impressed. I was bored so I decided to write this semi-rant, enjoy or disagree I don't care.
MP3: The Mars Volta - Viscera Eyes
I've discovered a trend, one that has been around for a good few years and started precisely at the moment that two members of arguably the best band to emerge out of the nineties, At The Drive In, released an album by their new prog-rock band The Mars Volta. The Tremulant E.P. marked their entry onto the scene in 2002, a more restrained teaser in comparison to their later work yet still ambitious and grandois in nature. Reviews were promising, quite possibly a hangover from the death of the astonishingly brilliant ATDI, with anything from Cedric Bixler and Omar Rodriguez being lauded most likely by association.
However soon after, band member Jerry Ward died and the band embarked on a concept album based on his alleged experience in a comatose state. It was lyrically esoteric, musically exploratory and intense, yet still accessable. De-loused in the Comatorium was praised by those in the musical cognoscenti, fawned over by ex-ATDI fans and worshipped by musicians everywhere. But alas, the critics were not impressed. Many threw themselves at the feet of TMV, claming they are not worthy. Yet many others started a sport I dub 'Volta bashing', led by those self-appointed tastemakers known as indie web zines. One particular webzine, Pitchfork Media, claimed it was void of melody, laughed at the indeceipherable lyrics and the horrible term 'aural onanism' was dragged out by various writers from other publications.
Album number two Frances The Mute brought out the wolves again. An album which in reality is quite fantastic, where the band took an even more ambitious path maintaining the frenetic guitar licks and stunning percussion of their debut but reinvented it with a more latin feel to much success. However critically it was a nightmare. Online music zine Cokemachineglow panned its lyrical acrobatics and sheer scale, whilst perennial TMV hater Pitchfork broke the harsh meter claiming the album was '
A homogeneous shitheap of stream-of-consciousness turgidity'. Ouch.
So on to their latest L.P. Ampitecture, which was again predictably enjoyed by the punters, hated by the critics. A journalist from the Sunday Telegraph here in Sydney claimed it was 'Quite possibly the worst album of the year'. Stylus Magazine joined the hate brigade in a less abraisive fashion, believe that the bands latest will only appeal to 'a devoted few', whilst our Pitchfork buddies out the knives again and using the oh so original 'blizzard of onanism' line in dissing this L.P. I guess thats what the get for being an ambitious, techically brilliant and exciting bunch of musicians; you get called a bunch of wankers.
The point I am trying to make is that how can a band, loved by so many people who actually know about and give a shit about music, be hated so much by the so-called 'tastemakers'who purport to trumpet different and exciting music? Having been a fan since the De-Loused days, seen them live on two seperate occasions and been absolutely awe-struck both times, I think many of these critics need to move on from the sport of 'Volta-bashing', and stop heaping praise on shit like Lily Allen and Sandi Thom.
