MARS VOLTA
Tremulant
12”/CDEP, GSL
I
guess it has to be a tough life and a hard decision: being in one of the
best bands in the world, that has to break up because they got to
successful. Or even, to break up before it all got too big, which in this
case is before it got big. What you gonna do now? In the case of At The
Drive In the answer is: get weirder. Because Mars Volta is basically a
stretched out version of At The Drive In with lots of electronic / sound
collages mixed in. Fans of the band will be glad to hear that, the band
won’t. “Cut the city”, the first track on this 3-song-EP is already a
perfect example. Basically, it is a great disynchronic emo-song with
screaming guitars, lots of dynamics and intricate structure. But it starts
off with some long sound-drones and uses a keyboard in-between, some weird
mixery and sound-effects. Don’t get me wrong, this is great, but the step
from ATDI to Mars Volta just seems too obvious to make it more than the just
that: the next step. Following the song is about the dangers and the
upcoming downfall of modern, technocratic society (at least I understood it
that way). The second song “Concertina” could have been recorded for the
next record by ATDI easily. Once more, the estrangement-effects come in
ostentatively, e.g. Mexican lyrics and the off-harmonic guitar-picking
during the bridge.
The
one thing that I didn’t expect, was one part of the overall atmosphere of
this EP, which is sort of an underwater-feeling. The vocals are always
echoed and mixed into the background and the guitars sound slightly muted,
which produces an effect not unlike swimming underwater. Or know the way the
world sounds if your ears are blocked. Mars Volta execute that feeling to
their favour, but usually that is just annoying. You are constantly waiting
for the release, when the world will sound straight again, as it should. To
Mars Volta the world might be slightly different than to the rest of us. The
third song on here, “Eunuch Provocateur” is the most far-out piece
imaginable from these guys. While the music bangs away with energy and drive
you’ll be treated to lyrics like “Tribunals installed now that the
provoste has been de-frocked / the labefaction is venal” or “I’ve
caught mono bobbing for barbed wire / these nasty sores of ataxia will feel
the sting of the copulation”. I am sure some kid out there has put it on
himself to find an explanation to all this, but he hasn’t put it to the
world aka the internet yet, so you are off to your own guesses. And this
track leaves off with a quite long piece of distorted beats, sounds and
samples that move into something I have yet only heard from underground
lo-fi-techno-tricksters, but is an interesting piece of music nevertheless.
If
Mars Volta manage to integrate the electronic / weird parts into their emo
some more or, on the other hand, I manage to get a little more used to their
very own mixture, there is no doubt that Mars Volta will gain some
headground with the audience. Never as much as ATDI in did, because the
soundcollages are just too much for your average emo kid (and maybe that is
the reason behind all this) but that is just as well. Otherwise they’d
have to break up again.
