17 replies to this topic

[Lenin]

The Mars Volta isn't exactly my favorite band, but they're WAY the fuck up there... Though, I'm used to be the only one who likes them. They're basically a prog-rock band firmly ensconced in deep left-field, I guess. I tend to have a bit of trouble describing them, just because the closest contemporary I've ever found for them is Coheed and Cambria, which I hate. Coheed is a fine band in their own right, but The Mars Volta pretty much outshines them on their progressivist musical theory and post-hardcore tendencies (actually, this is one of the bands that formed after At The Drive-In broke up. Same singer and guitarist, just producing more worthwhile material). I think the best way I've found to describe them is "Pink Floyd for meth-heads."

Anyway, have some examples (I would like to take this time to note that because of YouTube's dumbass policy in regards to video length, I opted out of not uploading a few songs because I didn't want to have split videos for one song. This is why there's about a minute missing from the 'Meccamputechture' upload. Sorry that YouTube sucks):

Eriatarka
Son et Lumiere + Inertiatic ESP
Meccamputechture
Vermicide
Goliath
Televators
Cavalettas
Since We've Been Wrong

I also feel obliged to tell you that they won a Grammy for this song, 'Wax Simulacra', which I find to be a piece of shit, but whatever.

[YUNG MASTERLESS GLENCOUR]

Honestly I don't like the guys all that much. I really disliked them at first but it turned into me being on the fence about them. Very whatever for me; it tends to fluctuate from, "Gee this isn't so bad" to, "Boy this is awful."

Asilos Magdalena is my favorite song by then. It's great until the end...then it just gets kind of irritating. Typical for these guys.

I think the biggest problem for me is I always think, "This sounds like people trying to imitate the sound of 'Bitches Brew.'" This is a problem because these guys are definitely not Miles Davis and they aren't even really as good as a top flight Jazz band tends to be, imo anyhow.

EDIT: Oh yeah and they're way too pretentious for me. The fans tend to be as well...like Tool fans but way worse.

Edited by Colon Mokto, 02 June 2010 - 12:46 AM.

[Ataraxis]

I had a friend who was into them pretty big, but I could never really latch on. The do a lot of things I tend to like, but I always feel like they do them wrong. If I had to pick a track it'd probably Inertiatic ESP.

Hmmm, there's also something I'm forgetting, but I guess it'll have to wait until my mind wants to recover it.

[Nomrah]

 Colon Mokto, on Jun 2 2010, 01:45 AM, said:

like Tool fans but way worse.

haha, low blow man =P. I know what your sayin though, one look at a Tool related board and you'll come across several self-appointed "authorities on life" full of wonderfully fulfilling comments like "If you dont agree with this, your a waste of existence!".

Edited by Nomrah, 02 June 2010 - 04:38 PM.

[YUNG MASTERLESS GLENCOUR]

Well, the Tool fanboy reputation they have is well-deserved. Not saying ur a Tool fanboy though, hahaha. I don't mind the band, myself. Just the fans.

[Nomrah]

No worries, there aren't really too many Tool fans where I'm at, so the fans I met in person were level headed about there interest. But over in California where the bands from, I bet the fans there can be very unbearable. The "special" complex haha.

[YUNG MASTERLESS GLENCOUR]

Yeah Cali has lots of hipsters and scenesters. So gay.

Mars Volta has hipster fans for fucking days too. Guh.

[Lenin]

I like Tool. True story: Sober is my ringtone; I live in an area of Jesus freaks, so it was something that had to be done. Yes, that was a colon and a semi-colon in the same sentence. That's grammatical colon-maxing. I'm also the only Tool fan I know in person. Fanboy? I don't know. They're not really in my top-ten, but they were when I was in the tween(-ish) age group.

I'll be the first to tell anybody who doesn't believe me that Mars Volta fans are the fucking worst. They're like ironic Slipknot fans. I'm not really here to defend my taste in music/bands, I just listen to what I like.

EDIT: Björk fans still run this town when it comes to hyper-pretentious dumbfuckery.

Edited by Lenin, 02 June 2010 - 08:26 PM.

[YUNG MASTERLESS GLENCOUR]

Your taste isn't in question. I'm not attacking you. I'm saying Mars Volta fanboys are obnoxious and so are Tool fanboys.

Unless you're a fanboy, that doesn't include you.

I've never met a pretentious Bjork fan. Maybe they existed like 15 years ago in California but not anymore. There's plenty of pretentious assholes who like Bjork, however.

[Lenin]

In my mind, if you like a musician/band, you're a fan. If you like them way too fucking much, you're a fanboy/girl/tard.

Björk fans are the fucking worst. At least she has a few okay songs that don't make me go ballistic with hate when they start playing.

[YUNG MASTERLESS GLENCOUR]

Yeah that's kinda how I feel about what a fanboy/girl is...although I think my definition would be more along the lines of, "someone who likes a band to an unreasonable degree and makes strange connections/assumptions about them and how they relate to their lives."

There's the guy who says Mars Volta is genius...and then there's the guy who says Mars Volta is the music of the future and that all other music has been rendered obsolete by them, then proceeds to critize whatever other band you mention. Or there's the guy who loves Tool, and then there's the guy who won't shut up about Sacred Geometry and how Tool is so much smarter than all of us for incorporating it into their music. Hipsters all over here in socal. Nature of the beast.

Like I said, I've never met a bad Bjork fan, and I've been to her shows. The only thing that surprised me about Bjork live was how many gay people were there...although that didn't surprise me after I thought about it for a minute. I've seen Tool and Mars Volta as well, and I know they have some shitty fanboys. Again, nature of living here in SoCal. We see everyone perform.

[SUMERIAN BLOOD GOD]

I remember liking The Widow when that dropped but then I was disappointed by all the other stuff I listened to. The singer's voice just kind of grates on me for most of the stuff.

[Nomrah]

In my area there are alot of fans of Death Metal with an attitude on music that was unbearable at times, they would proceed to trash any kind of music I brought up that didnt include screams/growls, constant shredding and blisteringly fast drumming. I am not saying this is the case with all fans of the genre, or trashing Death Metal, I'm just saying I've met some pretty closed minded individuals when it came to music.

With Tool, I got my first taste of them at about the age of eight when I saw the music video for Sober on MTV, I absolutely loved the music video and the unique sound they brought forth. They became my favorite band over the years, tied with Nine Inch Nails, but I never got the idea that they were the only key to great music. There are all sorts of avenues for greatness, and to think that only one formula is the right one is ridiculous when it comes to a medium as subjective as art and music.

Also I liked Bjork's song and video for "Human Behaviour" when I saw it on MTV when I was young. Just felt like adding that =).

EDIT: Fixed a typo: "formula"

Edited by Nomrah, 03 June 2010 - 12:00 AM.

[Lenin]

 Colon Mokto, on Jun 2 2010, 10:33 PM, said:

Yeah that's kinda how I feel about what a fanboy/girl is...although I think my definition would be more along the lines of, "someone who likes a band to an unreasonable degree and makes strange connections/assumptions about them and how they relate to their lives."

There's the guy who says Mars Volta is genius...and then there's the guy who says Mars Volta is the music of the future and that all other music has been rendered obsolete by them, then proceeds to critize whatever other band you mention. Or there's the guy who loves Tool, and then there's the guy who won't shut up about Sacred Geometry and how Tool is so much smarter than all of us for incorporating it into their music. Hipsters all over here in socal. Nature of the beast.

I'm quoting this for it's blend of truth and win.

 Colon Mokto, on Jun 2 2010, 10:33 PM, said:

Like I said, I've never met a bad Bjork fan, and I've been to her shows. The only thing that surprised me about Bjork live was how many gay people were there...although that didn't surprise me after I thought about it for a minute. I've seen Tool and Mars Volta as well, and I know they have some shitty fanboys. Again, nature of living here in SoCal. We see everyone perform.

I should admit that I have a really good friend who is a fairly big Björk fan. She refers to Björk as "the thinking person's Lady Gaga." I'm still not a hundred percent on how I feel about that statement; it summons a strange cloud of emotional confusion within my mind.

I think Björk fans get away with a lot of their bullshit because you have to poke the bear first.

 Gary the Tennis Coach, on Jun 2 2010, 11:59 PM, said:

I remember liking The Widow when that dropped but then I was disappointed by all the other stuff I listened to. The singer's voice just kind of grates on me for most of the stuff.

I can't really say I care too much for that song. It's pretty alright up until around the seven minute mark, then I sort of start to lose interest. Actually, I honestly can't say I really care for their 'Frances The Mute' or 'Octahedron' records at all really. Both albums are just sort of bland to my ears. As for the singer's voice, when I first found this band it absolutely bugged the hell out of me, but after that I got used to it. I find that slightly odd since that almost never happens.

[YUNG MASTERLESS GLENCOUR]

"Thinking person's Lady Gaga" is awesome. I'm gonna throw that into casual conversation at least a few times, now. I have to. Even for non-music related conversations. Fuck it.

I mean, fuck, Bjork came out first...it's one of those statements that makes less and less sense the more you think about it. So good.

The guy's voice never bothered me that much for whatever reason, but his botched Spanish can sometimes get on my nerves. There's only one song that I can think of with Spanish but I have the feeling there were others and they made me mad too...but I haven't listened to Mars Volta in awhile now, a couple of months at least.

[⅄∩ᴎ⅁ ∀⅂⅁ƎᴚI∀ᴎ HO⊥ DO⅁]

My friend loves to listen to Mars Volta when he's trippin on Triple-C's.

[KORTOKtheSTRONG]

I realized that a lot of those songs are from De-Loused.

That album is brain-ear-sex. For your eye-thoughts.

It is delicious cake. You must unearth the apparatus.

[poopscootsMcgee]

scabdates is their best album.
they seem to get "progressively" (hahaha) suckier after frances.
still, ive seen them live a few times and those are probably my favorite shows ever (maybe aside from the arcade fire when they had just released funeral).
scabdates. holy shit. anything on de-loused, and the entire frances the mute album stands alone as a masterpiece of prog rock.