neurological dryer lint

the new mars volta disc is pretty quality so far. although i can tell it'll be like the first one - a very impressive, beautiful work, but not necessarily with the listenability of other genres.

keep in mind - this band seems to be a 'concept band' pretty much by definition. everything they do is 'concept' - i.e. not just a random gathering of songs on a disc but a piece of art, intentionally making a complete statement, or telling a story if you will, from 00:00 to 74:10. and they're creative as heck. today, creating something original, twisted, never-before-seen, while requiring far more imagination, seems to be done with the same passion as creating something copycat or boilerplate or commonplace. a movie like fight club, while radical in its premise and presentation, wouldn't have the same effect were it released today. artists being original aren't as original anymore - shock value doesn't shock as much. people are just used to it - or i just am and i'm painting everyone with my brush.

my attention span as a person seems to be dwindling, shrinking to almost nothingness. unless something captivates me within fifteen seconds i'm moving on - usually faster than that. in the first 300 songs i play off my collection while working out, for example, i listen to maybe eight or nine - depending on what mood i'm in. i rarely allow a song to get to the end. i skip through pieces of movies that don't immediately grab my interest - i watched anchorman in 20 minutes that way and that was all i needed to see. something is happening to me. i'm not sure it's reversable.

so there was a tangent. anyway. all that is to say, this disc is one of those that i really enjoy listening to all the way through - but it requires a commitment. you can't pop this in and pick a random song like you can with the blueprint or bleed american or are you experienced? or something like that. you gotta sit down and kill this album in one setting. same as their last disc. and afterwards you feel like a different person, like you've lived a different life or something, like ways of thinking exist that you didn't really realize before. and it's like a blackhawk down or something like that - where you experience it once, and you're drained emotionally and it'll take you a while to be able to sit down and experience it again.

that said - musically this disc is a huge leap, a completely different story / set of stories. they drift and stray and then get focused and then drift again.. background noise and whispers are just as much an instrument as guitars and drums.. whoa! the transition between con safo and tarantism just startled me. wow.

i can't believe the patience and commitment it must have taken to record and produce this album. it's so tight and balanced and they sound so perfect, and yet only a madman would dream up the stunning path this album takes.

anyway. musically - they've added some brass, and the trumpet (played in many sections by flea of the chili peppers) really complements the dramatic tone of so many of their songs. speaking of - john frusciante rips up a solo on l'via l'viaquez. it's solid. so much of this reminds me of a zeppelin album - the solo in the widow is totally jimmy-page-esque.

so, yeah, fantastic album if strange, rambling, unpredictable progressive rock is your thing. if the wall or tool's lateralus were an outback steakhouse, this disc would be the precinct. but since it's not my thing very often, i'm not sure how much extended mileage i'll get out of this disc. maybe for the days when i'm feeling mellow and have an over-inflated opinion of my own creativity (which is pretty much every day).

listening to: the mars volta - faminepulse