Album of the Week: The Mars Volta - De-Loused in the Comatorium

     I'm going throwback Tuesday with this week's Album of the Week post, taking you right back to the early days of the blog for this week's pick. In trying to recommend an album each week, I'm trying to pick something that has enough meat on its bones to stand up to repeated listens.

     The ideal Album of the Week should in fact not only stand up to repeated listening but actually reward it, revealing new facets and aspects with every time through. One of the very first bands I wrote about two years ago has a back catalogue that includes several such albums, but as far as The Mars Volta is concerned, I really think you're best served to start at the start.

     De-loused in the Comatorium is still, in my opinion, the band's best work. Even if you knew At the Drive-In and the story of its demise and the band's it spawned, you still couldn't have been ready for the style of high-energy salsa prog Omar and Cedric brewed up in De-loused. Later albums got further and further out there, to the point that "prog" sometimes veered into "wankery", but De-loused struck the perfect balance of focus and meandering jamitude.

     I know I say this all the time, but this really is a case of if you're already a fan it's probably time you revisited this record, and if you're not it's probably time you got familiar. Mars Volta fans who got on board later in the band's career take special note: this is the band in its prime. If you don't know this album, you need to, so study up this week. It'll be on the quiz.

Monday: Closure in Moscow - Neoprene Byzantine

     My long-awaited pre-order copy of Closure in Moscow's latest, Pink Lemonade, has finally emerged from the land down under and landed in my mailbox. Fans looking for more in the vein of debut LP First Temple might be a little disappointed, but fans just looking for something fun and different may just have their record for the summer.

     While the latter (ie: First Temple) was a well-crafted slice of melodic post-hardcore/post-rock with some proggy twists and turns here and there, the former (the new Pink Lemonade) is an altogether funkier beast, melding energetic space rock with pornolicious grooves that would be at home in a 70's skin flick.

     It doesn't hurt that vocalist Christopher de Cinque can a) boast a range and tone not unlike Cedric from The Mars Volta, and b) turn a phrase or two. Take today's song: "Neoprene Byzantine" is just a fun pair of words to say, even when not married to some seriously funky rock. Check it out and marvel at how far these guys have come.

Thursday: Antemasque - 4AM

     The reuniting of Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala -- the dynamic duo behind At the Drive-In and The Mars Volta -- would, one might well hope and expect, result in the resurrection of one or the other of the two aforementioned storied acts. Sadly, as Mick so wisely opined, we can't always get what we want. But sometimes we can get what we need...

     In this case, that turns out to be a new supergroup of sorts starring Rodriguez-Lopez, Bixler-Zavala, drummer David Elitch (formerly of Volta and currently of Killer Be Killed, another supergroup you might have heard of), and some guy named Flea. Sounds like it's going to suck, doesn't it? The first song we're hearing from the band, a rocking number called "4AM", has a vibe closer to At the Drive-In than The Mars Volta, but that doesn't mean Antemasque sounds like a knock-off or anything.

     One song isn't really enough to judge a band or an album by, but I'll do just that and say that Antemasque has the potential to be a good time. Will it eclipse any of the bands from which its members hail? Probably not. But if "4AM" is any indication, there might be some cool, catchy little songs to be had. Check it out and see what you think.