And So… Mr. Sunshine Returns With Another…
God, I am so tired of seeing Rod’s article as the last Music article published.
As you all know the Larry Larsen musical world has had its ups and downs – perhaps you’ve read my previous article describing the atrocity that was last year’s Grammy awards – but recently, its been bittersweet, and how. This fall was looking up for me, with Audioslave’s new album coming out at the beginning of this month, and the new Mars Volta album, Amputechture, coming out a week later. So after some processing time, I have some thoughts.
My absolute fave guitar player of all time, Tom Morello, has this band called Audioslave who just released their third album Revelations. Which means that they have accomplished in four years what it took Rage to do in eight. Three albums of original material in half the time for those of you keeping score at home.
Now before any of you dumb little shits start posting about how you don’t like Audioslave or think their only “okay” but you liked Rage or Soundgarden better don’t fucking think that you’re like the only person that thinks that or some shit, because I have to hear that shit all the fucking time – I have to LIVE with it. Remember, that nobody, at least none of you fucks, liked Rage more than me. And don’t post that shit just to spite me you bastards you know who you are.
I like to say that Audioslave is the World’s Greatest Mediocre Rock Band. They have their moments and I think that this album is their best yet. The band sounds tighter, and more focused on Revelations and only solidifies to me the fact that Tom Morello’s playing just gets better on each album. The most impressive thing you should know is this: The most innovative guitar player of the Nineties has never repeated a sound, except when doing the “turntable scratch” first heard on Bulls on Parade, which hasn’t become a novelty yet because every time he does it, he does differently. Another impressive fact is that he still achieves this variety with his limited pedal set-up, which has remained virtually unchanged for years. I could go on gushing like this forever, but I have another album to review. The band is starting to sound better together, on some tracks sound a bit more ‘Garden-ish, and yet achieve a funk never heard before by the Ragers. And Cornell, whose past lyrics strayed away from political content, let’s loose a few barbs Dubya’s way – best on “Wide Awake,” a song about Hurricane Katrina or rather the handling of it. “Wide Awake” is also one of the albums best tracks and its climactic end makes it the album’s angriest. Like them or not, this band is still quite formidable.
So here is more stuff to chew on: The Mars Volta, the shit-hot, post-punk/prog/we hate labels phoenix that rose out of the ashes of the most influential band of the late Nineties, no not Korn or Limp Bizkit (or as they are now known, limpbizkit) but At the Drive-In. As they express so clearly in the liner notes, The Mars Volta is the partnership between Omar A. Rodriguez-Lopez (my fifth fave guitar player of all time) who wrote and arranged all music and directs the group and Cedric Bixler-Zavala who wrote all the lyrics and vocal melodies. The group is interchangeable and has/does include former At the Drive-In and current Sparta (the other phoenix that rose out of the ashes of ATDI) bassist Paul Hinojos, Isaiah “Ikey” Owens, John Frusciante (second fave guitar player,) Flea (no explanation required,) Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez (Omar’s Bro,) Jon Theodore, who many consider to be the most talented drummer alive, and who as also been recently replaced with some guy name Blake Flemming, Juan Alderete de la Pena, and a bunch of other guys with surnames attached. Philosophically speaking, The Mars Volta is a jazz fusion ensemble, with Omar directing the group like a Puerto Rican Miles Davis. His self-titled second solo album, a German import, has often been compared to Davis’ work, mostly because Omar’s guitar playing sounds much like that of a young John McLaughlin, who was the player on Bitches Brew, considered one of Miles best. The lack of groove and melody on Amputechture (which I’m not sure is a real word) is what holds it back, and on most songs structure is also thrown to the wind. Omar produced Amputechture and often cites that he directs the music how an editor or filmmaker would [the documentarian Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man) is one of his biggest influences.] Despite the fact that John Frusciante’s and Omar’s playing is top-notch, there is only so far guitar pyrotechnics alone can carry an album. Cedric’s lyrics stay in the free-associative cosmos, but remain incredibly powerful visually. His phrasing and emotion draw you in, making you think that “eyelids sank muffled/ in the nerve aura sound” is proper dialogue in this “scene” that is “Tetragrammaton.” In order to thoroughly enjoy The Mars Volta Experience, one would suggest that one instead opt to buy their masterpiece, last year’s Frances the Mute.
So that’s my musical life as of late, filled with somewhat pleasant, but not overly pleasant surprises, and mild disappointments, much like this review. But I’m heading to Chicago for the weekend and I’ve got some leads on some promising shit.
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