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Topic ClosedBe-gone all you post-Comatorium Volta Haters

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Pnoom! View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 14 2008 at 00:00
Originally posted by Moatilliatta Moatilliatta wrote:

Originally posted by Pnoom! Pnoom! wrote:

Try reading the lyrics out of context without gagging.

Part of my problem with the noise isn't just that it's way overdone, it's that it tries to obscure their weaker songwriting (coughcavelettascough), and the result is a bad song made even worse by terrible producing.
 
Haha, maybe I'll try again soon, but right now I'm not taking that chance. I've just consumed a large, delicious meal from Olive Garden, and the slightest gag might make me eject the contents of my stomach. I fear I might spiral back into bulemia!
 
I agree about that other statement, though. "Tourniquet Man" and "Cavalettas" were not ready to be recorded. They had potential, but it seems like instead of working with it to make a good, cohesive piece, they decided to give Tourniquet Man a premature "Asilos Magdalena" treatment by making it get all grotesque at the end (extra grotesque I suppose, that first half arguably is as well) and Cavalettas is just a mess of passages. I think "Askepios" has that problem to a lesser extent, and its strong points are stronger than the aforementioned.


I could write better lyrics than TMV just by sticking my finger into a dictionary randomly and fitting some sentence structure around the words I pick.
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jammun View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 14 2008 at 00:12
Maybe I'm too old.  My son was a big fan of At The Drive In.  I didn't care for them really.  Said son is not a big fan of Mars Volta.  I at minimum appreciate their stance, their willingness to take the risk.  Not sure that any of their albums are masterpieces, but they do make some challenging and beautiful music, even to the ears of a guy who grew up back in the day.  That I appreciate.  So no I won't be amongst those dismissing this or that album by MV, as I'm still trying to digest all four albums.  Yeah, Frances is probably my favorite at this point (it's the first one I heard), but I do not immediately dismiss the later albums.  It seems I'm in a learning mode or process with MV, which works fine for me.
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stonebeard View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 14 2008 at 00:30
Comatorium = really good
Frances = pretty good

everything else = bad

Why? They never let any silence in. Everything is the same in a very bad, constantly loud, jarring, smack your face with annoying dissonance and random don't care rhythms and notes. Also, the lyrics are laughable. Beat poetry my ass. Random sh*t.
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PinkPangolin View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 14 2008 at 03:08
No other band plays with such wild abandon, and with such enormous skill.  Such energy and pace - there are no others like it.  Nobody else would dare!   It works for me, and I do feel there is structure and there is so much life in it.  I really do respect that others don't like it - that's bound to happen simply because they are the most different band of all.

When other people think "wild" they think you have to be really heavy with lots of high pace double bass-peddling.  There's nothing new in that, and TMV have taken an entirely different route which no other band have comprehended or dared try - and its far more wild than the heaviest death metal.

I'm sorry, but TBiG IS awesome.  So is Deloused in the Comatorium, but I don't see the difference in the albums in what  they are trying to do.  Sure there's a few random bits in it, but TMV kind of stand for that, but there's a lot more structure than you think - and the musicianship skill overrides most modern bands.

As for the dictionary idea from Phoon - not a bad idea - might try that

Thanks once more for all your good thoughts  - respect them all !
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Pnoom! View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 14 2008 at 03:27
Quote As for the dictionary idea from Phoon - not a bad idea - might try that


Quote As for the dictionary idea from Phoon - not a bad idea


Quote dictionary idea from Phoon - not a bad idea


Quote dictionary idea from Phoon


Quote Phoon


fail



























Wink


Edited by Pnoom! - June 14 2008 at 03:28
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PinkPangolin View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 14 2008 at 03:41
OK - you winLOL

Sorry - I spelt your name wrong, Pnoon - must have been looking in the wrong dictionary!
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Pnoom! View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 14 2008 at 03:46
Originally posted by PinkPangolin PinkPangolin wrote:

OK - you winLOL

Sorry - I spelt your name wrong, Pnoon - must have been looking in the wrong dictionary!


Your aptitude for continued failure boggles the mind Shocked


Or should I say... phailure, to go along with phoon
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 14 2008 at 05:34
I loved Deloused and Frances The Mute. Before I'd even heard of prog, I heard these guys and thought "this is what modern rock should sound like!".

what bugs me about their new material is that they've assembled an excellent group of musicians, and there's certainly a lot of good material there, but it's all lost in the overblown and directionless production. The songs still come across well enough live (especially "Day Of The Bahpomets", which I feel is their best song yet), but studio wise they would definitely benefit from an outside producer. At this point though, I don't think Omar would allow it.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 14 2008 at 11:29
Originally posted by Pnoom! Pnoom! wrote:

King Volta, if you want to change your name, just drop (sl)easy livin a PM.


Originally posted by PinkPangolin PinkPangolin wrote:

As for King Volta - a bit sad to have that name and not be so keen anymore.... I mean surely you liked the powerfulness in Deloused and Frances. Don't you think that has returned in TBiG?


To Pnoom! -- Yes I've thought about changing it, just never gone through with it. Perhaps I will soon. I can't think of anything good to change it to other than my forum default (threefingeredben), but perhaps something will come with time...

and to PinkPangolin -- I think the energy in tBig is stale and overdone. Both De-loused and Frances had much better balancing, while tBiG seems very keen on trying to punch you in the face with its music and never stop. I think tBiG has a few great songs, but most of these are overshadowed by the mediocre content throughout the center-songs and the whole album just comes across as one big huge mess. It is, however, much better than Amputechture which, if it didn't have Tetragrammaton and Day of the Baphomets, would be possibly one of the worst albums I've ever heard. Especially to follow up Frances, which I loved (and love still).

I think the energy on tBiG is used more as a gimmick than as a musical tool. It does not feel organic, like on De-Loused and Frances, but rather it feels tacked on for what the Volta boys probably thought was crazy good measure. I'm not a fan, really. That's not to say I hate tBig--I certainly don't--it's just not the greatest ever by any means.

I still appreciate the Volta though, because they are pretty much the band that jaded me musically; now I don't get so disappointed when an album by a band I like kinda sucks. I just go with it, and listen to something else, including their older albums. I can thank them for this

Edited by king volta - June 14 2008 at 11:30
I'm a reasonable man, get off my case
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PinkPangolin View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 14 2008 at 11:43
To King Volta - I understand that they are working on a much quieter more relaxed "acoustic" album (hope its more like Televators and Miranda that Ghost, and not the awful Tourniquet Man).  Maybe they are just trying lots of different directions - trying to map out their future as it were.  I guess this is what Pink floyd did - and eventually came up with Dark Side of the Moon.

Maybe when they've worked out the formula, they'll piece together one of the most majestic albums of all time (let's hope).  Dark Side was the Floyd's 8th album - if TMV do the same then I'm looking forward to their 8th album!!!  - So, don't give up hope!

To Pnoon - OK I'm a fail - accepted - I'm cool with that, but at least I like Prog and that counts for something, right?Ouch

pp


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heyitsthatguy View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 14 2008 at 12:44
their next album is supposedly being nicknamed by them as their "acoustic album", so that should a) be interesting and b) allow for some breathing room

edit: hivemind pinky Shocked


Edited by heyitsthatguy - June 14 2008 at 12:45


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WinterLight View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 14 2008 at 13:23
I can't quite digest "Deloused", mainly because I find it a bit noisy.  Odd, perhaps, since I have no problems listening to extreme metal.
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Pnoom! View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 14 2008 at 14:01
Originally posted by king volta king volta wrote:

Originally posted by Pnoom! Pnoom! wrote:

King Volta, if you want to change your name, just drop (sl)easy livin a PM.


To Pnoom! -- Yes I've thought about changing it, just never gone through with it. Perhaps I will soon. I can't think of anything good to change it to other than my forum default (threefingeredben), but perhaps something will come with time...


King Dot?  King Kayo?
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Figglesnout View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 14 2008 at 15:24
Originally posted by Pnoom! Pnoom! wrote:


Originally posted by king volta king volta wrote:

Originally posted by Pnoom! Pnoom! wrote:

King Volta, if you want to change your name, just drop (sl)easy livin a PM.


To Pnoom! -- Yes I've thought about changing it, just never gone through with it. Perhaps I will soon. I can't think of anything good to change it to other than my forum default (threefingeredben), but perhaps something will come with time...
King Dot? King Kayo?


Interesting suggestions...I think you've sparked an idea within me. Thanks!
I'm a reasonable man, get off my case
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mecca View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 15 2008 at 01:46
None of their releases have shown the focus of De-Loused.  Really, I have no idea why they feel the need to "change" their sound every single album - that's precisely why they've lost their punch.  They should have progressed from their sound they had in De-Loused in a comfortable manner so they could expand on the sound as they released more and more albums.  Instead they chose to play "quantum-jump" across all the different energy levels showing little to no consistency. 
 
The thing is, when De-Loused was  released, they were a reputable and original band.  Then after that, they started sounding like a heterogenous mixture of other bands and styles.  And then the cheesy prog.  And still the cheesy prog. 
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PinkPangolin View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 15 2008 at 05:37
The one thing that the Mars Volta are NOT - is cheesy (whether you love or hate their music).  Infact, they are one of the few American Prog bands that are not cheesy (apologies to my American friends)
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Rocktopus View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 15 2008 at 06:10
That's a genre thing that's got very little to do with nationality, PP. Very little american Avant/RIO (or folk, jazz  etc related prog) is cheesy. The cheese just applies to all those pompous/moronic progmetal-bands. 
Over land and under ashes
In the sunlight, see - it flashes
Find a fly and eat his eye
But don't believe in me
Don't believe in me
Don't believe in me
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 15 2008 at 10:28
What's all the fuss about? I thought it was quite obvious TMV had been created in the first place to make a lot of noise to a good groove and the occasional hook. And this would explain the lyrics, most likely taken at random from a dictionary, as pointed out by Phoon.

Not that you have to like TMV because of this, but come now, it's not like the first two and the last two albums are separated by a leap in noisiness or anything.
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Pnoom! View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 15 2008 at 11:07
I hope you die a slow, painful death for that.


second line of the sig, people
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PinkPangolin View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 15 2008 at 12:02
In this case, I actually agree with you Rocktopus - Prog-metal is cheesy.  So much so, it's well funny!  I think you've hit the nail on the head - the American stuff in particular (take Symphony X for example)

Pnoon - you are getting scary now - glad I don't know where you live.  Anyway, I must admit to you that I did use random selection from a dictionary to come up with the name for my imaginary band 25 years ago "Edacious Pangolins" - hence the Pangolin in my name.  It was a fascination to me that someone else had an imaginary band with a very similar animal in it (ie. Porcupine Tree) - except in his case, it became real.  That was not a Phail, eh?

I still think all 4 MV albums are awesome - including the lyrics, so there!

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