Jump to content

Soon? The Mars Volta


Recommended Posts

I haven't seen anyone mention this anywhere, but I was kind of let down after first hearing deloused.

As if it wasn't enough that the mov pressing has a much sturdier and nicer outer sleeve than the boxset version, whoever remastered the lacquer for the box decided to take some creative liberties and added a fade at the end of Eriatarka. Why they would do this is beyond me. The transition between that song and Cicatriz always gets me pumped, but with the added fade, some of the energy is lost. 

This might seem like nit picky bullshit for some people, and it is, but it really rubs me the wrong way. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, Eliminator Jr. said:

I respectfully disagree. Consistency is actually the main feat of this band IMO. I love De-Loused and Frances as much as the next guy, but apart from Octahedron, which I adore but is a bit tame, I would rate them all pretty much the same. Amputechture and Bedlam are my go-to albums most of the time. 

It's great that you're gun-ho about the entirety of their discography.  I have an ex who would wholeheartedly agree with you, and then there's the dude with the De-Loused avatar that'd probably give you a resounding thumbs-up, too.  But that post of mine [and predictions within] were based off the general verdict, where De-Loused + FTM have notably higher user scores and critic reviews in general.  Of course there are outliers and super fans; if you're one of them, I hope you copped the box and are enjoying it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Fowty Dollaz said:

@Derek™ and @Eliminator Jr. just talking like actual human beings to one another on the internet. Pay attention VC, that was the most polite disagreement this place has seen. 

2 thumbs up.

We listen to too many of the same bands and overlap too many threads to quarrel, haha.

I get where he's coming from and in his defense – as a filthy casual who almost exclusively goes for De-Loused / FTM – I have been revisiting some of the less-celebrated albums of their discography and finding them less egregious and masturbatory than I remembered them being some years back.  I still think Octahedron is the red-headed stepchild of their discography, and everyone seems to unanimously shit on Noctourniquet.  [Did read that the new plates really open up the latter, though, giving it a fresh sheen for appreciation.]  So his points are valid.  But there's something to be said for the countless comments on FB / Reddit / etc. that confirm how many people are going to grab De-Loused and FTM, exclusively, and I think there's a reason for that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, Derek™ said:

We listen to too many of the same bands and overlap too many threads to quarrel, haha.

I get where he's coming from and in his defense – as a filthy casual who almost exclusively goes for De-Loused / FTM – I have been revisiting some of the less-celebrated albums of their discography and finding them less egregious and masturbatory than I remembered them being some years back.  I still think Octahedron is the red-headed stepchild of their discography, and everyone seems to unanimously shit on Noctourniquet.  [Did read that the new plates really open up the latter, though, giving it a fresh sheen for appreciation.]  So his points are valid.  But there's something to be said for the countless comments on FB / Reddit / etc. that confirm how many people are going to grab De-Loused and FTM, exclusively, and I think there's a reason for that.

100%, but also, as I've stated before, Nocturniquet is a GREAT altered state album. If you're into that. I had the original on orange/ blue and listened to it nearly as much as Deloused in the CrEmAtOrIuM 🙄

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, Derek™ said:

It's great that you're gun-ho about the entirety of their discography.  I have an ex who would wholeheartedly agree with you, and then there's the dude with the De-Loused avatar that'd probably give you a resounding thumbs-up, too.  But that post of mine [and predictions within] were based off the general verdict, where De-Loused + FTM have notably higher user scores and critic reviews in general.  Of course there are outliers and super fans; if you're one of them, I hope you copped the box and are enjoying it.

Gotcha, there’s no denying that De-Loused and Frances are the most popular and it’s easy to see why, also as a fan of the entire discography. What’s interesting to me is that my level of enjoyment of these albums has changed quite significantly during the last ten years, in which I barely listened to any of them at all. Having revisited them all during the last couple weeks has opened the later entries up drastically for me.  I also used to hate the meandering and more out there-parts of Frances back then and thoroughly enjoy the entirety of it today. I guess that’s just me growing as a music fan and finding loads of stuff like mid 70s Miles Davis fusion era immensely captivating which lends new colours and a renewed focus to TMVs output for me. 
 

I grabbed a box set via CH early on and think that it’s, while a bit overpriced, yeah, a great value. Will spin these a lot. Good to see individual represses rather sooner than later. 
 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Fowty Dollaz said:

100%, but also, as I've stated before, Nocturniquet is a GREAT altered state album. If you're into that. I had the original on orange/ blue and listened to it nearly as much as Deloused in the CrEmAtOrIuM 🙄

One of these days I'll revisit it without letting so much internet bias cloud my perception [as much].  It's been a long time for me – I remember nothing of it and maybe that's part of the problem.

 

Did I miss a crematorium post?  Or is that a lowkey TMV meme?  Because I could see that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, Derek™ said:

One of these days I'll revisit it without letting so much internet bias cloud my perception [as much].  It's been a long time for me – I remember nothing of it and maybe that's part of the problem.

 

Did I miss a crematorium post?  Or is that a lowkey TMV meme?  Because I could see that.

The new remastering really pops the whole thing open, for sure. I did a quick A-B with the digital version and it’s all just glued together without any cohesiveness. This heavily compressed mastering doesn’t do the record any favor, I think. Those sweet analogue synths with the overall calmer, but trippy atmosphere and the drums just relentlessly going insane.. without a broad soundstage and lots of space it just doesn’t add up, I think. And the remaster is spacey and dynamic all the way.  
 

If you should ever feel inclined to give that album another go, I’d give it a few weeks for high quality needle drops to pop up and try it out. It seems to be settled that the new remastering will stay vinyl only, unfortunately. 

Edited by Eliminator Jr.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, Derek™ said:

One of these days I'll revisit it without letting so much internet bias cloud my perception [as much].  It's been a long time for me – I remember nothing of it and maybe that's part of the problem.

 

Did I miss a crematorium post?  Or is that a lowkey TMV meme?  Because I could see that.

One of the first review videos, the n00b was spouting off about crematorium and not even showing the vinyl. 🤷 The world's a strange place.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

47 minutes ago, Amadeusvanrachmaninov said:

I haven't seen anyone mention this anywhere, but I was kind of let down after first hearing deloused.

 

 

As if it wasn't enough that the mov pressing has a much sturdier and nicer outer sleeve than the boxset version, whoever remastered the lacquer for the box decided to take some creative liberties and added a fade at the end of Eriatarka. Why they would do this is beyond me. The transition between that song and Cicatriz always gets me pumped, but with the added fade, some of the energy is lost. 

 

 

This might seem like nit picky bullshit for some people, and it is, but it really rubs me the wrong way. 

 

I’ve listened to the CH vinyl a few times now and never even noticed. Still planning on comparing to the MOV release but haven’t got around to it yet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

its weird to me to hear TMV called inconsistent, considering the output we get from so many over-the-hill bands these days, most of which should have called it quits a decade ago. and i don't agree that most TMV fans vastly prefer deloused and FTM, especially when compared to the reception of other bands' full discographies. its certainly not been my experience when talking to other fans. not trying to be the used superfan guy (and im certain that my avatar will disqualify my viewpoint), but all of these albums are appreciated. thats actually extremely rare, and rather consistent for a 21st century band, id say.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, Chrundle The Great said:

its weird to me to hear TMV called inconsistent, considering the output we get from so many over-the-hill bands these days, most of which should have called it quits a decade ago. and i don't agree that most TMV fans vastly prefer deloused and FTM, especially when compared to the reception of other bands' full discographies. its certainly not been my experience when talking to other fans. not trying to be the used superfan guy (and im certain that my avatar will disqualify my viewpoint), but all of these albums are appreciated. thats actually extremely rare, and rather consistent for a 21st century band, id say.

agreed

I honestly think it's the fans more than anything, I love the fuck out of Bedlam & Amputechture, I think they both rate higher than FtM for me. There's no TMV album I actively dislike, I just don't listen to Noctourniquet as much? 

Whereas a band like Modest Mouse, I actively disliked their last album and have mixed feelings throughout their discography despite loving some of their albums

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, Skacel said:

I’ve listened to the CH vinyl a few times now and never even noticed. Still planning on comparing to the MOV release but haven’t got around to it yet.

It is a minor detail, but when you're used to getting a crescendo right before cicatriz, it's off putting to get a diminuendo instead. It really ruins the flow for me, and there was absolutely no necessity for that fade. I guess it feels too much to me like someone fucking with something that wasn't theirs to fuck with.  Like, all other albums are fine, but hey, let's add fades to THIS album. Doesn't make sense to me, to make the remasters sound so good, and then pull this shit. 

 

Rant over.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, Chrundle The Great said:

its weird to me to hear TMV called inconsistent, [01] considering the output we get from so many over-the-hill bands these days, most of which should have called it quits a decade ago. [02] and i don't agree that most TMV fans vastly prefer deloused and FTM, especially when compared to the reception of other bands' full discographies. its certainly not been my experience when talking to other fans. not trying to be the used superfan guy (and im certain that my avatar will disqualify my viewpoint), [03] but all of these albums are appreciated. thats actually extremely rare, and rather consistent for a 21st century band, id say.

// 01 //

 

Let's maybe not use washed out, "over-the-hill" bands as a basis for comparison.  I'm basing these takes off of bands that don't blow ass past their prime because I don't listen to bands that blow ass past their prime.  And neither should you.  They're beneath this discussion.

 

// 02 //

 

Screen-Shot-2021-05-06-at-4-08-09-PM.png

 

Screen-Shot-2021-05-06-at-4-08-40-PM.png

 

Screen-Shot-2021-05-06-at-4-09-38-PM.png

 

Okay.

 

// 03 //

 

Sure, 2012's Noctourniquet isn't rated as harshly as something like Imagine Dragons' latest LP.  Within the scope of TMV, it's serviceable – not irredeemable horse shit.  You – as a mega-fan – are allowed to think that all of TMV's outputs are comparably good.  I'm just saying that, in the eye of the general public and fans of various commitment, the consistency is not there.  The numbers don't lie: there's a reason the volume of ratings for De-Loused and FTM dwarf everything else.  Those albums do a lot of things right for a lot of people – they generate more buzz, and accrue more listeners over the years as "essential" TMV.  And I can assure you there's a reason for that.  They're doing things that the band's later work is not, and that's reflected accordingly with aggregated scores.

 

Obviously that will mean nothing to you and hardcore fans.  I am not arguing that these albums don't stack up comparably for you.  I am simply stating that De-Loused + FTM will far outsell everything else, and it's not hard to see why.  To simply say "nah it's all gold to me, you're wrong" – I mean... I dunno what else to really tell you.

 

[As an aside, virtually everything on RYM is within a 3-4 rating.  A 3.8 is night and day to a 3.2.  Just to clarify.]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

40 minutes ago, Derek™ said:

 

Let's maybe not use washed out, "over-the-hill" bands as a basis for comparison.  I'm basing these takes off of bands that don't blow ass past their prime because I don't listen to bands that blow ass past their prime.  And neither should you.  They're beneath this discussion.

 

 

Not sure about you, but I can name very few active (or active in the last 10 years) bands that have 5-6 albums I consider ALL to be consistent. I'm a bit picky, though. And again, you're saying a 3.2 is a bad score on that site (which has 1,500 voters - maybe 0.5% of TMV listening base). None of TMV's albums are below 3.4. But anyway - let's not try to make this a numbers game, there aren't any solid metrics to determine a band's "discography consistency". I could easily say "they sold 5000 overpriced box sets of their discography that are immediately selling for double", but there's no easy comparison there.

 

All I was saying - and it already got ascribed to my "superfandom", as predicted - was that in my experience, people I talk to about TMV don't say "the blue album and pinkerton were the only good ones, the rest suck". they may say FTM or deloused are their favorite, but it is actually often amputechture or bedlam that i hear, and noctourniquet has its day too. i am a superfan, specifically because i think all 6 albums are very good-great, and other than a few select bands, I can't say that about an entire discography.

 

different strokes and all, but I disagree that the not-top-2 albums go ignored

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Fowty Dollaz said:

@Derek™ and @Eliminator Jr. just talking like actual human beings to one another on the internet. Pay attention VC, that was the most polite disagreement this place has seen. 

2 thumbs up.

You're wrong you fucking piece of shit and I don't care what you say.

 

 

😉

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, Your Ex-Wife said:

 

No wonder this band amazes you 😄

you must spend a lot of time listening to all your favorite bands. I listen to music for multiple hours a day, and if I liked too much more of it, nothing would be getting the deserving plays.

Edited by Chrundle The Great
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, Chrundle The Great said:

you must spend a lot of time listening to all your favorite bands. I listen to music for multiple hours a day, and if I liked too much more of it, nothing would be getting the deserving plays.

If you’re listening to as many quality bands as you’re implying you do, you should have 0 problem coming up with more than a few “active (or active in the last 10 years) bands that have 5-6 albums I consider ALL to be consistent”.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×

AdBlock Detected

spacer.png

We noticed that you're using an adBlocker

Yes, I'll whitelist