The Mars Volta Coming Back To Atlanta September 24th!
It looks like The Mars Volta is going to do us ATLiens right and make up for the Tornadoed out show that got cancelled earlier this year. Jambase is reporting that The Mars Volta will be at The Tabernacle Wednesday, September 24th. They just announced some other dates officially with tickets going on sale this Saturday, so keep checking here for more info. Yaher!
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez & John Frusciante : Special 12" Singles : 0
Live Review: The Mars Volta (4/4/2008) House Of Blues, Myrtle Beach, SC
Ever since The Mars Volta show originally scheduled in Atlanta last weekend got canceled, I had been pretty bummed. The Mars Volta are very high on my list of favourite bands and I had only seen them once before at Bonnaroo 2005. So when I learned late last week that tickets were still available for the Myrtle Beach show, some of the crew and I decided to at the last minute to go. A very wise decision.
We arrived at the venue a little over an hour before the doors opened and already there was a large crowd. The House Of Blues had a VIP line to get in the venue before everyone else, and you had to purchase $15 worth of stuff from their store to get let into it. I had never seen anything quite like that before. Then upon entering the venue when doors opened, the security searches were about as comprehensive as I have ever seen. They used metal detectors and we had to empty our pockets into containers. I felt like I was at the airport. I got inside and quickly staked down a spot a few bodies from the front of the stage.
The Mars Volta would come on a few minutes later than scheduled and play for slightly over 2 hours and 45 minutes. It was everything I had hoped it would be. Thomas Pridgen is an absolute beast on drums. At certain points, Omar would be acting as conductor through jamming sections and it almost appeared like he was pissed at his band every once in a while. Maybe that's just the way he does it. I thought Cedric really shined, hitting everything flawlessly. He was throwing what I thought were guitar picks at Omar's brother playfully throughout the show. Also, I don't believe his hair is real. The setlist seemed to be a bit smaller than other setlists I had seen, but rather than getting to hear a ton of songs, I got to experience a ton of jamming, and I think I prefer that from this band anyways. Here is the set as best as I can determine, but there was a bunch of in-between parts I did not recognize at all:
The venue itself had some of the best sound I've ever heard. About half way through the show I left my spot up front to hit the bar and I would just walk from one place to another and everywhere sounded great. The way the building was shaped was also very neat, as there were inclines in the floors so that you could see the stage from just about anywhere. Despite the fact I'm not the biggest fan of tight security, it seemed to be a necessary evil in such a professional arena. Especially considering the crowd, which was the one part of the experience I did not enjoy. Near the beginning of the show, a whole bunch of meatheads pushed their way to the front, and the crowd was full of examples why I would never want to live in Myrtle Beach. Cedric even had to yell at the crowd between songs because they were all talking through quiet parts and committing other various rude concert etiquette infractions.
But all in all it was a fabulous experience and I hope I get to catch them again sometime soon. Hopefully they'll reschedule their Atlanta date.
At The Drive In - Live In Tokyo Japan, January 18 2001 (Lost Horse Records, catalog #LH-2010, price 2,500 Yen) bootleg vinyl 12" lp (butterscotch/cream swirl pattern) >Technics SL-B350 turntable (refurbished but not modified)>Edirol R-09 (via analog line in)>16 bit stereo WAV>CEP2 (fades,trims,remove most pops/clicks,join/merge side A&B,volume adjustments)>CDWAVE (track splits on sector boundaries)>FLAC via Traders Little Helper (level 8)>bit torrent
Record was cleaned before transfer but some low level vinyl noise is still audible.The recording is taken from the circulating Japanese pro shot video (Shibuya ON AIR EAST), and was just a tad hot at the start of Arcarsenal, but the levels were quickly adjusted by the filming crew. Any edits made by the manufacturer of this lp were left intact.
The album and jacket are very nicely presented, with awesome artwork on the front cover, and as stated above, the vinyl is a butterscotch and cream swirl pattern.
Tracklist (as listed on back of album jacket).
Side A: 1.Arcarsenal 2.Pattern Against User 3.Invalid Litter Dept. 4.Cosmonaut
Side B: 1.Raschuache 2.Sleepwalk Capsules 3.Enfilade 4.Extracurricular
While we wait to see if that TMV Atlanta show actually happens, here's something to keep us busy. This is the first time The Mars Volta have ever done an FM broadcast of their show, so pick this essential one up:
Ok, I know this is my billionth Mars Volta post lately and you're probably getting tired of my hype, but TMV is coming to Atlanta in April and I'm pretty excited about that. There doesn't seem to be any sort of official word yet, but Ticketmaster has a presale going on tomorrow and general public tickets go on sale Saturday at 10am. Check it out here. Also, it may just be a misprint, but the NY Times included TMV in their Bonnaroo line-up. Here's a couple tracks off Omar's new solo record (also, Omarclaims he's putting out 8 solo records this year):
First, I think it's hilarious that NME and the AP totally got punked and reported that Led Zeppelin is headlining. Since they deleted their mistake, here it is immortalized:
The weirdest thing is that NME had announced earlier in the day that they would be announcing a "surprise headliner" at midnight, so the conspiracy theorists out there are going to believe there is a chance that they will add Led Zeppelin late after tickets go on sale (because LZ would instantly sell out the fest), to give the 'roo loyalists a easy shot at tickets first. Considering everyone denied Metallica was playing when that rumour broke earlier, it is certainly possible but doubtful.
So, Metallica. Hmmmm. I'm just going to say that i think they are being a little risky with some of their line-up choices for a rare fest with an almost completely non-violent history. It will be an interesting experiment to see how that crowd does, but I'm a bit pessimistic on that front. Although, there have only been a handful of 'roo headliners over the years that have been really awesome in my opinion, so it's not the worst thing to me (plus now i can get a nap Friday night between the day acts and the late-night acts). It's the smaller acts that I always like best anyways. Plus, Pearl Jam is really great live. Also, I'm just gonna say, Jack Johnson isn't necessarily bad, but I can think of like 100 better headliners off the top of my head, and he has to headline both Coachellas and Bonnaroo? Coooooooooooome ooooooon.
Regardless of all that junk at the top of the list, there is a lot to be excited about. Sigur Ros is probably the biggest for me since I love them and have yet to see them. The other names I'm going to be excited to see include Iron & Wine, Broken Social Scene, Mastodon (ATL represent!), !!!, The Fiery Furnaces, Jose Gonzalez, Minus The Bear, Battles, and The Sword. Things I've seen a million times that are still pretty cool to catch again: Phil Lesh, My Morning Jacket, The Allman Brothers, Death Cab For Cutie, Ben Folds, and Dark Star Orchestra. Others I'll probably check out if nothing great is going on include Kanye, Robert Plant, Willie Nelson, B.B. King, Talib Kweli, Gogol Bordello, Rilo Kiley, Tegan & Sara, Vampire Weekend, and Black Kids.
Overall, its decent but not their best line-up. I'm still going cuz I love this fest. A Mars Volta addition would really set it off though.
Speaking of The Mars Volta, Pitchfork finally reviewed The Bedlam in Goliath, and while they still gave it a terrible score, they finally back-tracked a tad bit from the absolute hate they have for this band and moved to a more "well we don't like them, but I can see why others do and they are awesome in certain ways we don't put much value in" position (I'm paraphrasing here). While I appreciate the sentiment, they still laid down some serious presumptuous elitism. Like when the 'fork makes claims that TMV championing prog-rock (or as i would put it, innovating a musical epistemology built on innovation) "couldn't be more averse to real progress in rock music", it just makes me realize how one-dimensional they are in their music taste and while they have been a huge driving force of this current music revolution going on, they are sometimes missing the point. In essence what is going on is about diversity, not about a singular idea or sound. When you value 3 LCD Soundsystem songs that are nice on the dancefloor surrounded by a ton of boringness and repetition over an album where they make every single second on it count, well, I'm just not gonna ever jump on that bandwagon.
Ok, now I am gonna get all pitchforky on you and serve up a glass of haterade. I bought the new The Selmanaires, Anna Kramer, and The Whigs albums a couple of weeks ago. I'm a cheerleader for the local acts as much as the next person, but while I think these are all fine albums in their own right and I know the rest of the Jo-Ja big dawgs are touting them endlessly, these are far from the best acts or albums that Georgia has to offer. They are all copycatting played out styles, and bringing nothing new to the table. There are sure to be plenty of people who will genuinely love these, but I like a bit of innovation, a touch of avant-garde, an artist who takes chances, I like something unique and different, and I hear none of that on these albums. The Selmanaires seem to be only one of these three that I believe have real potential to be something special, but I always find myself thinking about 25% of what they do is amazing, and the other 75% is totally uninteresting. I understand that they are like a library of styles and that they are making very deep musical references, but they don't bring a new perspective to their reference points except sometimes they water them down. They sound like a history book to me. I think they just lay too safe sometimes, and if they really went for it they could be great. Again, The Air Salesman is not a bad album, but if I were to compare it to other ATL albums I consider great, like, I don't know, an Untied States album (or the new Slushco EP that is getting absolutely no press except here), I don't think it stands up.
Ok, enough digression, here's some news:
Iron & Wine and Califonewill be at the Variety Playhouse on April 14th.
Austin City Limits Fest, slated for September 26th-28th, already has tickets on sale way before they announce a line-up. Lookout Ticketmaster, the groundsquirrel is coming to get you:
Yesterday I stopped by Criminal Records and got a copy of the new Mars Volta record, The Bedlam In Goliath. I discovered that indie record shops like Criminal are bundling the record with a bonus disc, that is actually a half CD, half vinyl disc. Behold:
Each side contains a cover of Pink Floyd's "Candy And A Currant Bun" and the Cd side also contains a video of "Wax Simulacra". So if you are in the ATL, I suggest running over there if only to have this first of its kind media. They have other media release tricks up their sleeve too. You can buy the album on a 1 gig flashdrive here. The flashdrive also has the album artwork and the "Wax Simulacra" video, and, what's really cool is, on the 29th of each month for the rest of the year, when you plug your flashdrive into your computer, it will download all sorts of TMV goodies like b-sides, webisodes, exlcusive tracks, etc. It even looks cool:
So, now let's get to the music itself. The typical bad TMV reviews have already started rolling in from the usual suspects (we'll wait to see if Pitchfork gives it more or less than the 3.5 they gave my 2006 Album of the Year, or maybe they'll be too cool to even review it). So far I've only listened to the album twice, so this will be more my first reaction to the album than an in-depth analysis. The first thing that sticks out in my mind is that Thomas Pridgen seems to fit in perfectly. The popular sentiment among TMV fans over the last year was that he was too overbearing and "showy" but on the recording all I hear is finesse and perfectly placed badassity. I love Jon Theodore, but I think they found the best possible replacement.
I like how the album just takes off from the beginning, like you're starting right in the middle of a song. It's like when a movie starts off in a huge action scene. I'm not sure if I'm just over-analyzing or not, but it feels like the album musically is sort of two chapters split up in the middle, where the first one is more hard rocking and the second part it gets really crazy. I haven't quite gotten into the lyrics yet, but with all of them printed in the CD book, I'll be diving into that next.
Overall, my first impression is that this album is just as impressive as all the rest so far, and that I've yet to become too sick of their sound or what they do yet. The album is packed full of new twists and turns that are very fun to ride out. TMV is elite and probably the best band to emerge from this decade. Where they may not have the biggest influence on other artists right now and will be totally misunderstood by 90% of the indie rock journalist bourgeoisie, there's no doubt in my mind that they have made some of this decade's greatest albums.
Stream the bonus song:
The Mars Volta : Candy And A Currant Bun (Pink Floyd)
I just wanted to say thanks to Elevado, This Piano Plays Itself, Eric Guenther and Ben Wetzelberger of From Exile, and Missile Command for playing our One Year Anniversary party last weekend and thanks to all of you for coming out. It was truly an epic event. Here's some pics from the night:
Missile Command:
Elevado:
This Piano Plays Itself:
Biggie C video taped almost all of the sets, so expect videos posted soon. Just an extra note, in all of the madness of the DJ Douschebag set, I spilled beer on my laptop, so until I get a new one in a couple of weeks, I'm borrowing computers to blog, so I will be limited a tad bit in my posting.
Tomorrow night you can catch Missile Command at The Earl:
Starswill be in Athens, Ga at the Georgia Theater on March 22nd, but is skipping Atlanta.
Tokyo Police Clubhave also forsaken Atlanta to play in Athens, Ga on April 7th at the 40 Watt. They also have their first full length album out called Elephant Shell.
Lil' Waynegot arrested for having drugs on his tour bus.
Passion Of Weiss had thisChris Rock video up today and I remembered how much I loved it when it came out back in the day:
Liars' Angus Andrew suffered a back injury but it is unclear if this will affect their upcoming tour. Remember they are scheduled to play The Earl with No Age on Valentines Day.
Bradford Coxhas posted demos and out-takes from their Fluorescent Grey EP on his blog.
Pine Magazine interviewsMatthew Friedberger of The Fiery Furnaces. I can't wait to see them next week.
Blitzen Trapperwill be at The Drunken Unicorn March 20th.
Be Your Own Pethave a new album, Get Awkward, out on March 18th.
The Coachella East fest will be called "All Points West Fest".
Scott Weilandis talkingStone Temple Pilots reunion.
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez of The Mars Volta has a new solo album out February 5th called Calibration. TMV's The Bedlam in Goliath comes out Tuesday. I'm about to freak out waiting to hear these.
It's a big week for shows in Atlanta. First, tonight Sunset Rubdown will be at the Drunken Unicorn. You can listen to some recent live tracks from them here. Arcade Fire and The National will be at the Atlanta Civic Center tommorrow night. Thursday night From Exile will be at the Masquerade. Friday night Blonde Redhead and Annuals will be at the Variety Playhouse. Modest Mouse and Man Man will be at the Masquerade Music Park Saturday night. Here's some tracks to get you in the mood:
There's a whole bunch of stuff going on in Atlanta this weekend. The Inman Park Festival is always a good time. I'll definitely be checking out the Space Rock Con 2007. Silent Kids, The Preakness, and Mary O. Harrison at Lenny's will be a great Friday night show. No matter what you do this weekend, make sure to record the Henry Rollins Show on IFC tonight because The Mars Volta will be performing some kick ass stuff you can check out here. In fact, you should watch this amazing performance in its 47 minute entirety, Live At the Lowlands (aka one of the best DVD Bootlegs I Own):
Seriously, if you didn't watch that TMV video, you are missing out.
Pitchfork Fest, aka the Best American Festival of the Year, just addedCalifone, The Sea And Cake, Yoko Ono, and some bands i don't recognize. Chicago gets some killer fests.
The awesome Coachella Festival kicks off today. I wish I could have gone because the two I went to before were amazing. The hotel in the desert that I paid to stay in before tickets sold out keeps calling me and it's annoying. I'll be checking out the webcast as you should. I've watched several fests on webcast and they are pretty cool. Remember when you're wasted late night, go to your computer and watch Sonic Youth and Bjork. You won't be disappointed.
Here's a teaser for the Marc Benevento (of the Benevento-Russo Duo) album of his month long run at New York City's Tonic featuring a plethora of other great artists. Check it:
The Mars Volta Live at the Berkeley Community Theater Berkeley, CA March 31, 2007
Taped from the lower balcony.
Recorded with: Giant Squid Omni Mics > Battery box w/bass roll-off > iRiver H100 w/Rockbox installed >Split into tracks, EQed, and normalized using Cubase LE >Exported to .wav >Flac using FLAC Frontend
Setlist: 1. Fela Kuti's "Expensive Shit" (pre-show music) + Fistfull of Dollars Intro 2. Rapidfire Tollbooth (new) 3. Roulette Dares 4. Cygnus...Vismund Cygnus 5. Viscera Eyes 6. Idle Tooth (new) 7. Drunkship of Lanterns 8. Vermicide 9. Tetragrammaton 10. Meccamputechture 11. Day of the Baphomets
Notes: New drummer- Thomas Pridgen- he is LOUD on this recording. Cedric was a bit sick, so vocals werent exactly top notch
Since losing former The Mars Volta badass Jon Theodore, TMV lost some cool points. But it looks like they are working hard on trying to earn those back. Rumor is that they are picking up Thomas Pridgen to play drums. He was the youngest (at 10 years old) person to ever be sponsored by Zildjian Cymbals and has alot of drummer cred. Official word has yet to be released, but on the TMV myspace page he is listed. Here's a video of the possible newest TMV member:
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