Before commencing with this interview, we must first eulogize the late At the Drive-In.
Back in the day during middle school, my life was dominated by Blink-182 and MxPx. But another peculiar band struck me: At the Drive-In. They showed me the light. They showed me the most magical, brilliant configuration of sound and rhythm. Thanks guys.
Down to logistics: The Mars Volta is the second spawn of At the Drive-In, with Cedric (singer, afro) and Omar (singer, afro). The other product is Sparta, also a good band. I'll explain later.
Later: Some say Sparta is rather systematic and less confusing than At the Drive-In, fitting neatly into the modern emo scene. Mars Volta is, well, the opposite. They are somewhere between reminiscence and a whole new revolutionary sound. The whole album is sophisticatedly mastered with electronics and sound techniques. The sounds and cadences are never limited to orthodox guitars and drums. Time signatures are skewed and there are just a little under a million different layers. How good.
The CD is dedicated to a close friend of Cedric's who commited suicide. The strange yet beautifully poetic lyrics illustrate the story (though most of us couldn't have figured that out on our own.)
The Mars Volta has been curiously labled as 'screamo', even though Cedric doesn't scream once on the CD. His voice seems to transcend all pitch restrictions as he jumps from octave to octave in a shrill, anguished, and sincere fashion. "Son Et Lumiere" (track one) starts out serenely, and as soon as the guitars come in, all the brilliance of rhythm and chords already begins to appear. "Inertiatic ESP" follows--the most energetic song of the record. All the songs seem to be followed by electronic play-arounds and twined guitar licks.
All in all, this band and its debute LP have resurrected the spuratic and non-conformist part of At the Drive-In, and have also patented an original style between post-hardcore and techno and Latino dance music. If you were a fan of At the Drive-In, you're at propensity to enjoy this. If you have epileptic seizures, then you'd probably enjoy this as well. But if you thought that At the Drive-In was too weird, don't get this CD; you'll go insane. Stick to Sparta for all you normal kids.
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C.L. '03 |
