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Tremulant

Mars Volta - Tremulant Audio CD

A fair review of the Mars Volta "Tremulant" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Mars Volta reviews here, or go back to the Mars Volta tabs.

Band: Mars Volta
Title: Tremulant
Rating:

Release Date: 2001-11-23
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Cut That City 2: Concertina 3: Eunuch Provocateur

Unsure lure
. More an impressive sampler to grow potential fan's appetites for what was to be the debut deal-sealer than a meaningful recording.

Not a Good Introduction, Unfortunately...
Soon, The Mars Volta were born and were a complete departure from the two's previous band. After the break-up of post-hardcore band At the Drive-In, guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala decided to form a new band. If you were to play songs by both bands for someone unfamiliar with them, they'd likely not even be able to tell it was the same singer. As an introduction to the new band and sound, The Mars Volta released this EP, in 2001, featuring three songs.

I want to start off by saying that I love The Mars Volta. They're unique, they never do the same thing twice, and all their albums are gems. . . This EP is the most disappointing thing I've heard from the band. It's almost unbelievable to me that it was soon after this that they released the masterpiece De-Loused in the Comatorium.
None of the three tracks on this album really stand-out for me and that's not even entirely the band's fault. Even those who have praised this EP have noted it's hard to hear Zavala's voice. The production of this album is probably the biggest issue I have with it. It really bogs
down Zavala's vocals; which, if you don't like the vocal direction he took post-ATDI, may be a good thing.

The EP opens with "Cut That City," a 5:44 song that has no melodic elements for the first two minutes, much like several later Volta songs.
Then, it explodes with blistering guitars and drums. The musical aspect sounds pretty good and is reminiscent of ATDI, but when Zavala begins singing. . . You can hardly hear him. Not that you'd be able to decipher the lyrics he's singing anyway, but it couldn't hurt. While I don't hate it, it doesn't do anything for me.

"Concertina" is the next song, clocking in at 4:55. The lyrics apparently
detail Cedric and Omar's belief that Ben Rodriguez, a member of ATDI, pushed their friend Julio Venegas into committing suicide. Once again, good luck deciphering the lyrics or hearing them. People seem to like this song, but I just can't get into it.

The final track, "Eunuch Provocateur" is the longest track at 8:48. This song seems like a jam the band would play live to kill time. There's nothing much to grip onto here, though. It's just a forgettable song. But it does feature the lyric "De loused in the comatorium. "

What Tremulant sounds like to me is Rodriguez and Zavala's way of establishing The Mars Volta as a very different musical force than
At the Drive-In. The problem is, it also sounds to me like they only
had an outline of what they wanted to do with their music and not a full-bodied idea. It sort of sounds like somewhere between what ATDI was and what TMV became.

Once again, I have listen to and loved all others Mars Volta records. This one just doesn't do anything for me and I found all three songs pretty forgettable, especially in comparison to other tracks of theirs which you can't forget after hearing it once. Everyone else seems to be really fond of this EP, but I suggest you check out their other CD's first. If you do want this CD, make sure you listen before you buy.

GRADE: C.

mars volta
P. i love the mars volta because of this E. the ending song is the best track on here.

Perfect TMV
This EP is an incredible example of the Mars Volta's monumental skills. First I got Deloused, and then, starving for more of this incredible mind-bending sound, I got Tremulant and was pleased. This album is replete with blazing soundscapes and incredible vocals. The songs on Tremulant (just three) have the same sound of Deloused material but with less experimental song structures. Omar's writing and playing astounds. Cedric's otherworldly vocals carry every track. Jon Theodore's drumming is, as usual, the best. The keyboard and bass add just two more incredible layers to the masterpiece. And Jeremy Ward's (RIP) sound collages open and close the album perfectly.

SONGS:
Cut That City- Opens with a rather long and hypnotic sound collage with no melodic elements whatsoever, before unexpectedly exploding into the Mars Volta's first released song. Cut that city is an intense and driving song that alternates between 4/4 and 19/16, with great vocals and awesome band performance.

Concertina- Opens on the same chord that Cut That City ended on. This song is beautiful, with a breathtaking chord progression and haunting bilingual vocals. There is an instrumental break in the middle of the song that is its signature moment. Incredible.

Eunuch Provocateur- A strange title for a crazy song. Begins with a cool dark guitar riff, escalates into a screaming attack on the senses. This song has a few very melodic moments, but overall it is a holy terror of insane beauty. It ends with a three-minute sound collage courtesy of Jeremy Ward with a trancey electronic beat, backwards vocals and cool melodies.

Overall an awesome album, I love this EP as much as any of their other CDs. Intense! Definitely worth your money. This is an integral part of the Mars Volta experience.

"Neonecropolulace has no reflection . . ."
. And with those words began the Mars Volta revolution . . It's amazing to put this album on and realize that it came out a relatively short four years ago. How far the Volta have come in that short time! That being said, nothing like _Tremulant_ had come out before it. From the beginning notes of "Cut That City," you hear an explosive mix of electro-whatever, dub, and especially salsa, salsa, salsa--all heavied up to put you in a spin the likes of which no other music can offer.

All the songs on here are awesome. The reason the album is not a perfect five like all their others is that this is them still finding their stride (if only all of us could find our strides so strikingly!!!). Eva Catherine Gardner definitely holds her own on bass, for example, but she is definitely no Flea or Juan Alderete. All three songs have their own joys, to be sure, but they don't cohere to make a whole like their other albums. That being said, everybody who loves real rock should buy this album because it contains all the seeds of what makes MV great. Do you need to be reminded of these?:

Lyrics: Cedric does his Joycean transverberations better than he ever did with ATDI (and he did quite well there, thank you very much). Here's some "Concertina": "This scapegrace will pay my barking homage . . . Are you listening?/ On the 14th you stole what hasn't grown old. " Impenetrable? Could well be. And those two lines say more than every other heavy band who has made the charts so far in 2006 combined (yeah, I'm talkin' to you Tool, Nickelback, blah-blah-blah). Listen to the live version of "Concertina" on last year's _scabdates_ for a deeper understanding of their lyrical enterprise.

Guitars: Simply put, Omar was let off the leash in a serious way. Every track on here has some sinuous guitar mesh/run/ cosmos that loses you in all the right ways. He showed all sorts of brilliance in ATDI, but he had to share the spotlight with the soon-to-be Sparta boys. Here he is where he and everyone else knows he belongs: center-stage. Pop in "Eunuch Provocateur" for one of these beautifully skronky guitar-centered compositions.

Keyboards: The aforementioned "Eunuch Provocateur" also highlights another aspect that makes MV great. Isaiah Ikey Owens on the keys. He had been highlighted on De Facto releases, but they had never rocked like this. His keyboards added to the sound/dubscape on those. Here they just assault you with soulful intensity. Oh yeah . . .

Jon Theodore: The only drummer in contemporary rock who rivals him for technique, execution, AND vision (can't lack that to attain greatness) is Brann Dailor of Mastodon. Hear his voodoo manifestations ripple across yur amygdala . . .

Jeremy Michael Ward: Fittingly, this album ends where the rest of MV's career was to have to pick up from: a Jeremy Michael Ward sound collage. This album might represent the first truly successful fusion of electronic dub and truly heavy music. Sadly, this must have had something to do with the drugs they were taking (and Jeremy was taking way too many--he wasn't long for the world after this one). But out of tragedy some of the most mysterious masterpieces come (read Lorca's _cante jondo_ [deep song] pieces for this--you'll get the MV connection, as they are deep and dark like Lorca in every meaningful way). They have yet to stop to emerging from this tragic legacy, but that counts for everything in art. The process of true emergence/transcendence.

_Tremulant_ shows every mark of greatness to come without quite gelling all the way; certainly forgivable, all things considered. Since the seeds planted here produced the best new band of the millennium, it deserves several spins at maximum volume on your headset/stereo. Then it demands that you do a tarantella rock dance to it; then that you analyze every note/word/sound. It obsesses you like only the best music can. The obsession never dies, as is not the case with all the other flavors of the month that have popped up to the surface of the stream of music in the four short years since the release of this milestone.

You can see a complete list of all Mars Volta discography, or go back to the Mars Volta tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.