Mars Volta Frances The Mute CD

Composer: David Campbell .
The Mars Volta: Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Cedric Bixler-Zavala.
Personnel: John Frusciante (guitar); Ernesto Molina, Fernando Moreno, Diego Casillas, Joel Derouin, Roberto Cani, Peter Kent, Josephina Vergara, Mario Diaz de Leon (violin); Suzie Katayama, Larry Corbett (cello); Adrian Terrazas (flute, tenor saxophone); Salvador Hernandez, Flea , Wayne Bergeron (trumpet); Nick Lane (trombone); William Reichenbach (bass trombone); Randy Jones (tuba); Larry Harlow (piano, Clavinet); Roger Joseph Manning Jr. (piano); Lenny Castro (percussion).
Audio Mixer: Rich Costey.
Recording information: 291 South Lake Street, Burbank, CA; 3222 Los Feliz Blvd, Los Angeles, CA; 3400 Eagle Rock Blvd, Los Angeles, CA; 373 Ewingsdale, Byron Bay, Australia; 441 W. 53rd Street, New York, NY; 453 Mario Julia Industrial Park, San Juan, Puerto Rico; 5161 North Cartwright Ave, N Hollywood, CA; 6540 Matilija, Van Nuys, CA.
Photographers: Rupert Truman; Storm Thorgerson; Peter Curzon.
The Mars Volta's 2003 debut was a dense, experimental run-on sentence of science fiction and musical exploration. But though it ultimately rewarded patience with stretches of unbuckled rock & roll genius, De-Loused in the Comatorium was also a maze-like and obtuse migraine dealer that made people frustrated and crazy. For 2005's Frances the Mute, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala worked principally with their touring band, but "joining the band for selected moments" are strings, horns, electronic programming, pals Flea and John Frusciante, and the coqui frogs of Puerto Rico. There are no song breaks, making the track listing more of an outline. But Mute's printed lyrics are a helpful guide, a map of Mars that's meant to both direct and fascinate. "She was a mink handjob in sarcophagus heels"; "Don't be afraid when all the worms come crawlin out of your head"; "they were scaling through an ice pick of abscess reckoning and when Miranda sang everyone turned away...." -- perhaps the only match for the cerebral weirdness and eventual beauty of Mars Volta's lyrics is their music itself. The roar of Rodriguez-Lopez and Bixler-Zavala's post-hardcore past is fully locked away, replaced by an equally powerful flair for expressive percussion, intricate vocal harmonies, and extended solos for electric guitar (as on the initial part of "Cygnus...Vismund Cygnus"). Sure, there are moments on Mute that reach the grandiose heights of heavy music -- "L'Via l'Viaquez"'s ear-splitting changes will blow back your hair. But the same song is sung half in Spanish, half in English, and its flashes of heaviness fall between stretches of Afro-Cuban rhythm. Other portions of Frances the Mute are murky and distant, like field recordings from the ocean floor, while still others shift drastically between brittle acoustics and a stuttering, guitar-led volatility that threatens to crack open the earth. Its constant shifts mean the record is claustrophobic and even dizzying; it demands perseverance. But it's great when a blast of a trumpet cuts through a gloomy moment, and Bixler-Zavala's vocals are a thread to reality. For example, while his lyrics for "Miranda That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore" and "Widow" are mysterious poems, he sings them with a fervor that's immediately identifiable. That passion is evident throughout Frances the Mute; it's the organic fever that was buried on Comatorium. ~ Johnny Loftus
FRANCES THE MUTE, the highly anticipated follow-up to the Mars Volta's stunning debut, DE-LOUSED IN THE COMATORIUM, finds the band's masterminds, Cedric Bixler Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez (both formerly of At the Drive-In), diving further into their bizarre, unique sonic aesthetic. Here various forms of Latin music merge with ambient passages, jazzy interludes, and fierce progressive rock. The Latin influence, in fact, is more evident than ever, with Bixler Zavala often alternating between Spanish and English lyrics, and full-on salsa sectionsRolling Stone (No. 969, p.108) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[T]he Mars Volta's second album is an exhilarating transgression: concussive, nonlinear rhythms; mad-dog guitar alegebra; bloody-nightmare suites hung in bilingual free verse. In short, the beastly spawn of Radiohead's OK COMPUTER and Rush's 2112..."
Spin (p.63) - Ranked #12 in Spin's "40 Best Albums Of 2005" - "[T]heir space jams still have roots in our doomed stratosphere, and their noodling has a hardcore pulse."
Spin (pp.83-4) - "77 dizzying minutes...with timbales, loping strings, guest musicians and tortured moans....The Mars Volta are typing as fast as they can, throwing up screen after screen of concepts and rhythms." - Grade: A-
Uncut (p.91) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[M]ighty entertaining. Beyond the obvious ambition and virtuosity, it's zeal which makes this so exhilarating..."
Alternative Press (p.130) - 5 out of 5 - "[I]t's already the most riveting album of 2005 - provided you're ready to carve a wide enough hole in your consciousness to accept it."
Magnet (p.106) - "The diversity of this album will appeal to all sorts of instrument-emporium loiterers....To the chagrin of jaded, knee-jerk critics and musicians, the Mars Volta is taking rock music in that elusive direction: forward."
The Wire (p.58) - "[A]lmost literally breathtaking music."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.63) - Ranked #39 in Mojo's "The 50 Best Albums Of 2005" - "[T]hey risked ridicule to deliver the sublime."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.88) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[I]t is quite possibly the most ambitious, compelling and rewarding rock album you will hear this year."