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Frances The Mute
Robbo:
Mmmmm, a bunch of "anything beyond a simple chord is evil and solos make your bits fall off" indie kids slandering this album? Right, seems I should start listening ot Mar Volta then...*orders copy of the album*
Outshined:
The first time I heard this album, I didn't really like it. Of course, I had pretty high expectations going into it.
I had practically listened De-Loused to death because I enjoy it so much... I agree with what other posters said about Cedric's voice being really awesome/interesting to listen to (on the album at least, I don't know anything about the live show). I'm a firm believer that an album's interest is not just about the content of the lyrics or the chords themselves, but also about their -execution-. And Cedric is, at the very least, extremely passionate about his lyrics and executes them with surety. The album was also one of the most intense, emotional albums I have heard.
Getting back to Frances the Mute, I have to say it has grown on me quite a bit. There were a bunch of people complaining about the surrealistic lyrics not making sense, but I disagree. It is my opinion that those people are stuck-ups that were too elitist to actually bother trying to figure anything out before complaining that it was "lyrical ineptitude" on TMV's part. The lyrics, to me, are amazing, and delightful. They have an abstract, poetic quality that I can't get enough of. They leave you free to imagine a scene or fill in the blanks instead of force-feeding you a cut and dry story. And, if you consider them long enough, they actually do make quite a lot of sense, especially if you consider the bands stated concept or framework. If you don't believe me, cut me an excerpt of lyrics from any song and I can give you an interpretation.
In regards to the "noodling", I think it was done quite well on De-Loused. The noodling served to break up the pacing between the more furious segments of the album and balance it out as a whole. I even enjoyed the long segment of "dripping sounds" in the middle of Cicatriz... for lack of a better description, it conveys the feeling of being completely silent in a dark space for a very long period of time, without being totally quiet (and thus boring). When I hear that segment, I feel as if a great deal of time has just passed in a what felt like an instant, as if waking after a coma in a dark room. However, I think the noodling got a little too carried away on Frances, it overtakes the denser segments and shifts the balance too far in the way of the ambient direction, making the album a little vacuous.
Frances is really not an album I can listen to straight through. I tend to skip around between tracks, as some segments contain extremely thought provoking lyrics or sound, while others are irritating or too far out to be accessible. I can't recommend it as fully as De-Loused, but if you can aquire the sound, as it were, you may be able to grab some meaningful bits out of this album. (As a side note, I've already gotten ideas for 3 new drawings based on inspiration from this album's lyrics, it's great for artist conceptualization)
Praeserpium Machinarum:
I bought De-Loused in the Comatorium and was mystified, because I had never heard anything like it. I agree that it is too long-winded at times(fx. Cicatriz) but also has some gorgeous melodies, here I am especially thinking about Televators and Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt. Then as many times before I moved on to other stuff and iy infected my little brother, who is now a TMV junkie and even bought Frances the Mute in France before me.
I have heard Frances the Mute once, and I don't think it has the same impact as De-Loused, it wasn't bad but I probably have to listen to more to decide. All in all I like TMV, but not fanatically ;)
marenpoop:
i tried to listen to them but i got really sleepy and bored...lyrics make no sense, which isn't bad by itself, but when they try to claim they make epic concept albums, that kind of pisses me off.
Kai:
Ugh. The Mars Volta are horrible. I mean, I love strange music as much as anybody, but jesus christ, when you get to the point of filling songs with static noise and water droplets, It's gone too far. I'm listening to it because I want to hear MUSIC, not so I can hear feedback from your goddamn guitar playing along with some stupid horns.
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