Wednesday, February 2nd 2011
News: The Mars Volta
Cedric Bixler-Zavala: New Mars Volta Album Almost Finished
The last time we got any news from The Mars Volta, it wasn’t really news, and not exactly about The Mars Volta either. But it appears the band’s sixth album is finally nearing completion.
Frontman Cedric Bixler-Zavala was recently asked about a new Volta record on his bizarre YouTube account (warning: contains nightmare-inducing imagery), and he nicely replied: ”New volta almost done. vocals done. just trying rebutcher it and add bass and finish guitar. in studio until this week then on to mexico to add more quantum entanglement to it. the sonogram of the little beast is looking very good.”
If Cedric is to be believed, The Mars Volta are finishing the follow-up to 2009′s Octahedron, and it’s close enough to completion that we can anticipate its arrival this year. However, we urge you to keep in mind exactly who we’re talking about here, and how serious we can expect the guy to be. One look at Mr. Bixler-Zavala’s YouTube will reveal all sorts of bizarrely insane videos, and the further down the rabbit hole you go, the weirder it gets. Here’s a quick sample:
Venture at will. But don’t say we didn’t warn you.
Meanwhile, TMV guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López, the Volta’s other mastermind, is releasing more solo records than we can keep track of.
Been waiting this long, so I guess I can wait a little longer. Plus Omar’s solo cornucopia is more than enough to keep me satisfied until then.
Best news I’ve heard in the last six months or so. Seriously. Whether people truly hear what the Mars Volta are doing or not, they’re records challenge the idea of how the function of sound is supposed to perform within the confines of “music” – like a Lynchian treatment of instruments and sonic dynamic. A mixing engineer’s nightmare, seemingly a very visual and lucid dream scape for me. I can’t help but feel an irresistible oneness with the Volta’s aural displacement. If nothing else, I’m sure this will be one of the most interesting (and most likely polarized) records of the year.
Agree with you Jerry. I just saw them opening for Soundgarden, their sound was horrible, the crowds were obviously not getting their music, it was all new material, new drummer again, but I gotta tell you, when one understands or is relating to their aura, he can recognize what is about to be happening again with their next album.. It’s gonna be excelent treat. I can’t wait. New drummer is different than Theodore or Pridgen, he’s got his own wilde style as guys before him and it does effects the new music and like before it is gonna be something else.. I just wish I knew more people that can trully appreaciate TMV. I’m in a band with people that listen and are into anything from 70′s fusion ala Mahavishnu, Return To Forever to Pantera, Tool, Muse etc, but they are still not getting TMV.. Strange to me;o) Anyway, wanted to say Hello..
Yeah i get that you dig the Volta and your band mates dont. I also saw them preform with Soundgarden and they played all new material. All of which i had never heard before. All of which fucking rocked so hard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Clearly i love the Volta. Clearly i repeat myself. Clearly the audience sat still and hated it. They, the audience couldnt know a good band if everyone else didnt tell them they were good. So funny to me. When Cedric finished melting our faces with their new shit, as hes walking off stage he turns around and says…..”you act like you dont even know us” This is a band they has been established and won a fking grammy for christ sake. Now please tell me why cant people dig it unless its pumped into their being on shittty radio all day??
Yeahhhh q buena onda cabron a huevo tenian. Q ser latinos
to Jerry — it’s amazing to hear another person talk about the Volta that way. I couldn’t agree with you more.
The mars volta has changed my entire perception on sound & music….and spirituality
I can’t wait for this new album.
@ Anne – absolutely!! Without getting too heavy on an entertainment news site, the Volta have opened a window in my mind that I will never be able to shut.
I once was naive and afraid of spirituality… after some scrupulous therapy sessions with Bedlam, Amputechture, and Frances – it was like I was watching myself watching past lives (some terrifying, some passionately romantic, some both) in an infinitely spacious cinema. For the first time since I was child, I felt my soul again.
Haha, it may sound ridiculous; but, yeah, it changed me. In an exceptionally important way.
This is intense, I feel exactly the same way. I believe that music has the ability and power to change, heal, transform, and touch people’s lives, in ways that nothing else can. Music does express the inexpressible; that which is infinite and innate within us. The Mars Volta has changed my life and I will always have their hauntingly beautiful melodic chords and lyrics running through my heart, mind, and soul, vibrating at the frequency of 7:07 within the secrets of the universe.
Why is this taking so long?
any news on this?
i really NEED to hear this new stuff.
My girl and I saw them open up for Soundgarden at the Forum in Inglewood, CA (07/22/2011). And, they played some of their new stuff, it’s unbelievable. Be on the look out for a song called, “Mocking Jewels”…
…WOW, this band is just…(lost for words)…damn.
couldnt agree more!!!!! i saw them open for soundgarden and they played all new shit and it was the shit! ive seenthem 9 times and it was bad A for shou
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