OK - I really love Cryptomnesis

Alright - I finally had the chance to get right fucked up and crank Cryptomnesia. Let me tell you, this is just one of those albums that will go down in history as rediculously experimental. The rythems are effed up, the vocals are actually really good Cedric, I'm sorry my first posts said otherwise, and the band is just damn cool.

If anyone has listened to the first Hella CD, you can imagine adding omar, cedric, juan and Hischke to the mix... it's retarded. The second song is wicked. I'm looking forward to the Octahedron album now too - they're claiming it's the Mars Volta's 'acoustic' record! Ha! Rumour has it that the next Volta CD to be released after Octahedron has already been recorded, and is being code named 'the metal' album. Oh how excited are we? A little..!

Thanks to my readers for getting me upto 400 uniques a day! Check back soon!

New Mars Volta Album Officialy Announced

"OCTAHEDRON" NEW ALBUM BY THE MARS VOLTA, JUNE 22, 2009!

Can it be true, 2 tasty treats from omar and cedric in such a toight time frame? Ballin!

MORE TO COME.

Continued: May 12 Sound Academy, Toronto

It's been two days since the show - and I've decided there weren’t enough awesome details in my first review. A lot of things happened during the show that I neglected to mention before - and that's unfair to the readers and the band. Onward!!

As usual - Cedric was a bloody maniac, but I noticed some strange additions to the party in his head. First up, he had a strange feedback instrument that he had hooked up to a few different pedals. It was a straight 1/4 inch thick flexible pole that stood about a foot and a half tall. He would occasionally attack this pole which was charged and created really fucked up sounds that were totally un-balanced to the rest of the band. With his left arm he'd swat the pole with no such rhyme or reason. With his right arm he would aggressively twist knobs, push buttons and drink tea.

Wait, drink tea?

Yeah, I noticed as soon as the curtain dropped that there was some smoky steam rising up from the Cedrics main table of goodies. I couldn't tell what it was, at first it looked like some of his equipment was short circuiting. After about 10 minutes the steam was gone and a techy crept out from backstage, grabbed to cold tea, and replaced it with a hot new mug. This went on all show. Every 10 minutes, a techy would come out and refresh his tea. Cedric would sip on the tea frequently, but not enough to warrant all those cups!! Considering how long the show was, the techy brought him a fresh cup probably 15-20 times, hilarious! I must say, the steam added a nice ambience to the stage. I'm guessing his voice box is shattered or something, and he'd drink the tea to ease his trachea.

One thing I want to mention to all fans of TMV in Toronto - Stop throwing your fucking garbage at the band. Close to the start of the show, some asshole whipped a full cup at Cedric that just missed hitting him, but some of the liquid went in his hair. Cedric addressed the crowd but no one could understand him. Mind you, this isn't the first time - and it happens at almost any show. Anyways...

Enough of that - I wanted to mention some really excellent parts of the show. During Tetragrammaton, Omar and Adrian had a wicked solo section. Omar would shit a lick out of his crazy fingers, then Adrian would match it on his tenor sax! It was actually unbelievable how good Adrian is. This was the first time he really got his own time to shine - and the crowd loved it! This section went on for about 2-3 minutes, the entire band giving jeers of encouragement. It was an awesome sight.

Only a few moment before this ridiculous guitar/sax battle, another key member of the band got his time in the sun. Ikey ripped an intense organ solo that was about as psychedelic as they come. His style, as we know, is very unique and often out of this world! His 2 minute solo was truly excellent. Everyone in the crowd starred as Ikey threw his torso and head around in every direction, sliding his hands up and down the keys, creating a truly memorizing wave of harmonics. As his epic moment drew to an end, the band picked up his notes and so began Viscera Eyes.

Some more highlights include Thomas Pridgeon whacking one of his fingers mid song. Is anybody surprised? The guy moves so bloody fast, it's bound to happen. He shook it off, rubbed the finger up and down a few times, and before you know it - he's back into a seemingly endless drum roll - rock on dude, you're actually a fuckin' machine. I love how excited he gets too, he often jumps up using his kick foot and throws his left foot up in the air, smiling wildly. During the final moments of the concert, Thomas launched his left stick way into the air and made no effort to get a new one - instead he used his now free hand to mute his consecutive crashes before cutting the lights..

The band bowed individually - and the fans responded accordingly.

Bravo - I love this band.

The Bedlam Drops

Well fans, it's that special time of year again. The Mars Volta have officially released their brand new album - and for a true fan, this is better than Christmas, and your Birthday combined.

Some of us managed to get our hands on the leak copy - which was made available roughly 2 weeks before it's scheduled release date. The leak was ripped at 320khz and had everything you needed to dive into its glory. In no way was I disapointed with this album - it's easily top 3 albums of 08' and the year has just begun.

The production value on this album is far more technical than Amputechture. This album was orchestrated by Omar, he hand wrote the music and gave it to each member to master.

Of their four studio albums (aside from the EP), the only album that didnt deliver a 10/10 was indeed Amputechture. It just wasn't as rigid as the fans and even Omar had hoped. The loss of the amazing John Theodore struck fear in the hearts of Volta fans. His tour replacments speed, technicality and creativity, were not as impressive as previous drummers. The live performance was lacking.

I'd like to reference the Toronto show on January 21st at the Phoenix. The bands new drummer Thomas Pridgen brought a hellstorm of bombastic beats that disrupted the natural beat of my heart. I became so wound up, I could feel my heart pumping out of my sternum, delivering so much oxygen to my brain - i almost colapsed from being light headed. In short - this man has filled the missing link in the band, and his beats will spin a web of awesome for albums to come (i hope).

In my next post, I'll share some research about the new drummer, the man, the legend, the young man, Thomas Pridgen.