OUR DELICATE STRANDED NIGHTMARE

ZECHS MARQUIS are from El Paso, Texas and they've released two studio albums and one live record. This is the debut from 2008 while the followup is "Getting Paid" from 2011 and they could not be any different. This is more soundscape music with several energetic pieces while "Getting Paid" has a lot of variety and took me a while to get into it. This was love at first listen. Something about the mellotron maybe? I just love how this sounds and if it didn't sort of tail off late in my opinion this would be a 4.5 star album. A four piece band here with two of Omar Rodriguez- Lopez brothers on it. Yes THE MARS VOLTA guitarist isn't the only talented musician in the family in fact we get a third Rikardo guesting on trumpet here as well on 4 tracks. The other two brothers play bass(Marfred) and keyboards(Marcel) respectively. The other two members are guitarists. What no drummer? Yes we have a drummer labeled as a guest. Interesting that Marcel the keyboardist plays drums on the next album. And we get another guest adding sax and bass clarinet.

So we get 15 tracks over about 63 minutes and this is headphone music 101. So much going on at any given moment and many are adding percussion sounds and voices besides their usual stuff. Synths add atmosphere and much more along with the mellotron and it's often dark. The horns are adventerous, I mean this is one entertaining record. The first four tracks are what I just described, very much soundscape music then we get "Chase Scene" where one of the guitarists starts to light it up right away while the second plays in a different style while drums and bass support in this energetic piece. Some organ ripping it up too. Of the first five songs the second one "Magmar" is my favourite. Amazing track.

Track six is more in the electronic vein but the guitar is on fire at one point while the next one "Attack Of The 40 Ft-Wave" just kills. Headphone music and the longest at 8 minutes. How about the mellotron early coming out of the darkness then the trumpet! More mellotron and trumpet late to end it. Next is "Pigeon Shit" with that slow rhythm as distorted keys join in and other sounds that echo as it builds. Unique sounds and guitar expressions. How about that old school sounding trumpet on "Lady Endless". Some energy on "Strapped To The Mast" plus trumpet and sax. My favourite has to be "Sirenum Scopuli" which is more of a powerful rock tune but some great contrasts here and man the sax is screaming at one point. Organ too. An experimental guitar solo as well. "The Sounds Of El Morra" is just so interesting with those sounds to start and this goes on for a couple of minutes then it kicks in. This is crazy with all that is going on. Inventive with sax and trumpet later. The next two tracks are okay with the closer being an improvement over those.

I've had this at the front of my listening list for months but kept changing my mind but keeping it around after that initial spin. Finally got to spend some time with it and I am so impressed with what these guys created here.