the new mars volta album is quite good...

...but I'm still not used to Omar's in-your-face style of production. Most of these songs are little armies, full of personality and life, that are constantly bombarded by some fire breathing alien life form, smashing drums and squealing horns.

Clarification, maybe: every single song on this album is great. It's a wonderful album. But my brain kind of works like this:

Put album in CD player. Start car. Wish I had a good sound system besides the one in the car. Begin to drive. HOLY SHIT music. This is loud. And it's kind of...okay, it's definitely loud. I like it, it's nifty. I wish there was a song here...oh there it is. And it is MIGHTY FINE. Yes this is good, keep going with the...ah, it's loud again. Man, this guy pounds the shit out of his drums. He's fucking good. Okay, whenever the song does this, I'm gonna listen to the drums because this guy is fucking great. Okay...here comes the noise...wow. I wish I wasn't wasting so much gas. I saw a funny T-shirt today that said "Some Blood for Oil." Haha. It's so true. I love having gas in the car. Hey this sounds different. Check CD player. Oh, this is song two. Wow, that was SEAMLESS. And it's still noisy. Hm hm hm. Tap fingers on the steering wheel. Air drum. This guy just keeps going, does he do this live? Cedric's voice is good. Oh music I can understand again. Alright, sweet.

And on and on. Cedric talking in a robot voice makes me sit up and pay attention. The mad grooves on this album, they make me giddy. I like them. And most of the album is this way. I have a feeling that after a few more listens I'll be able to sift through that strange manic alien sound machine that keeps coming down to fuck with the songs. Find out maybe that there's a lot of interesting and unique things going on there, too. Or maybe not, whatever. Point being: "The Bedlam in Goliath" is really very good, their best since "De-loused", and it will maybe take up more time in my CD player than Lupe Fiasco's "The Cool" and Unkle's "War Room". Maybe.

Currently reading: "Tree of Smoke" by Denis Johnson