The Fingernail Choir

With coffee in my bowels, I set off on my yearly jaunt with a new Mars Volta record.

The Mars Volta holds a special place in my heart. Nay, it is the core, the center Ying to Nine Inch Nails being the Yang, of my musical influence. One of the most promising ways to be stunned by a new record to actually expect the worst from it. Anticipating the "sophomore slump" or "senioritis" of over the hill peakdom in popular music will most likely either bring mere satisfaction at the prospect that either it's lived up to your lackadaisical assumption of mediocrity, or it will surpass your every intuition and make you shit a ten ton brick out of sheer shock due to how awesome the record is.

The Mars Volta have made me shit a combined pile of maybe a million tons, including the shit I took today while listening to their newest effort, "Octahedron", their fifth record.

My musical compadre, Adri, said to me the other day, "The Onion gave the new Volta record a 'C'." This actually set the stage for the construction of my asshat-ed masonry of a shit brick wall. 1) I hate knowing reviews before engaging with the subject myself, it creates a self-fulfilling prophecy (If others don't like it, surely I won't, either). 2) I tend to think the writers for the A.V. Club in The Onion, in cahoots with Pitchfork, think of music in the complete opposite way that I do. Therefore, I anticipate most of the records they give B- and below ratings to to be A++ efforts in my book. Sometimes. Sometimes.

Sitting down with the record and opening up the liner notes and lyric booklit, I plugged "Octahedron" into my Windows Media Player and let 'er rip. "Since We've Been Wrong", a sort of single, a song I'm already familiar with, played first. I find pleasure in hearing the audiophiliac difference between MP3 streams/radio broadcasts and CD quality WAV gorgeousness. Singles are hence new again, as they are heard in full TECHNICOLOR.

Track 2, "Teflon", started it's sexy, sleazy groove. I started to smile throughout the entire song. In fact, I smiled throughout the rest of the other six tracks. Tears were brought to my eyes just like when I finally realized the power of "Francis the Mute", their second record, and first listened to "Amputechture", their third effort. Their first and fourth records had their effect as well, but for some reason "Francis", "Amputechture" and "Octahedron" hit my soul a little more. They're more emotional, more operatic.

A cheesy synth pad is heard throughout the record. When I first heard it a couple weeks ago while listening to an MP3 of "Since We've Been Wrong" I didn't like it. It was too 60's prog space nostalgia. But hearing it throughout the record with all of the other non-cheesy timbres I lost that cheesy grip and accepted it as a motif for calm and vast emptiness. It worked in the end.

And that's the reason The Mars Volta gets a bad rap from every "reputable" critic. No one gives them a chance to sift in the psyche for a while, let it sink in. "Francis the Mute" was my first Volta purchase. I listened to the record, knowing their single "The Widow" and that Rolling Stone liked them (at least one outfit did). It was mud. I didn't get it. It was too much noise, too much was happening.

I put it away for a little while after having listened to it through once. I took it out a couple months later after living with the structure of it for a while. Then one day it just hit me. BAM! Holy crap, nothing else could compare to their level of musicianship, knowledge, and artistry. The lyrics were never your regular brand of "bed" "head" "die" "lie" alliteration. They were lustful and poetic. Dark, sexy, and over the top in metaphor. Solos were impossible to replicate. The mix and production was spot on. Heavy, beefy, huge. Perfect for a Peter music cocktail.

The Mars Volta made me jizz yet again. "Octahedron". Give it a while. Then it'll hit you with a ton of shit bricks. Think of vocalist Cedric Bixler Zavala's last lyric in the last track "Luciforms": "My fingernail choir will make your chalkboard sing". Think about that. It'll light an empathetic fuse one day.

The Mars Volta -- "Teflon"