>Mars Volta, WolfMother
What about these bands do you like?

What Mars CD would you recommend?

Do you care for the Eagles of Death Metal?

I dig WolfMother, got that Sabbathy riff going on.

I love Mars Volta live - killer - something for the rockers, the jazzers, the proggers and the stoners. Album wise, my personal fave is the first one - De-loused in the Comatorium - but thats because it is the least experimental - and I like songs, even songs as whacked out as this. Oh yeah, fave thing #1 about MV shows for me is trying to count how many songs they play in a 2 hour set, was it six or seven, and did that multi-point opus count as one song or 10? Fave thing #2: Killer stage moves involving spring to hand spring to mic to foot to mouth combos that can't be beat. A life time of chiropractory beckons! Live and album are two great, yet different, experiences.

WM - retro, but fresh - old sound but done with such gusto, enthusiasm and BIG smiles that I just can't not smile myself. Again, live and album both rock, but this time in similar ways! Use of Frazetta covers (sue me if I'm wrong) ups the retro-with-big-balls ante. White dude with afro is the icing on the (old) cake.

EODM - live, a party. Altho that frontdude needs some new patter - announcing EVERY song with "this ones for the ladies" gets a bit old. Dual drumming from Josh Homme and "the chick from Motley Crue and Hole" makes for some dynamism missing from laclustre albums. Never listened to the first one enuf, but the second one (Death by Sexy) is OK only - not a patch on the live show.

Chad - does that give u an idea?

i'm sure mars volta is the shit live... i wish i saw them when they played in San Luis Obispo when i was going there (i wasn't into them at the time, but my roommate was a big At the Drive-in fan). Honestly though, my ADD doesn't allow me to listen to Frances the Mute w/o pushing the fast forward button once in awhile

I agree, thats why I recommended De-loused.

I'm liking the new single (well new over here at least) from MV. 8.5 min of prog cool. It's great to see some of this old school prog and psych making a come back.

Oh and Muton, you will be happy to know that I have come around to WM. As long as I don't think too hard on where the sound comes from I can rock along nicely to it.

Yeah! Disengage retro-checker, relax, and ROCK!

I generally like WM, but they seem to be a bit off the mark. I wish a different, more involved producer had been in the studio for that album because they seem to mess up the great flow of a song ever so slightly, but all in all, still pretty solid. Mixing Zeppelin and Sabbath is never a bad idea.

EODM is a great party band, and both LP's are pretty interchangable. And you are 100% right Muton, they are more of a live experience.

Have you ever seen Chow Nasty from up north? They would be perfect tour mates for EODM or "Orange"-era Blues Explosion.

Chow Nasty eh? Can't say I've checked em out Rick. Any links to songs anywhere?

Like Mars Volta but I'm still bitter about the end of At the Drive-In. I suppose some of Sparta's stuff is enjoyable too.

I haven't heard the WM album so I cannot say anything other than the single is cool.

Being a huge Queens of the Stone Age fan I dig EODM. The drums sound so uncoordinated at times which is nice in today's "oh we'll just fix it in Protools" crap.

QOTSA are big in my books too. Did u see em at the Troubadour a few years back, or the El Rey - phenomenal? Now its hard to get tix. Last show I saw them at was opening for NIN miles away at the Hollywood Bowl. They were still great.

QOTSA and EODM are a little flat and samey to me. I just can't get into an album. The odd track is good, but nothing more.

Is MV some how related to At the Drive in? I don't know any back story to either band. Just know some of the tunes.

Yup Cedric and Omar were the singer and guitarist for ATDI

I like your reviews Muton. honest but in a nice way. you should definitely review for some of those professional music rags. here's more food for the fodder:

1. Gnarls Barkley
2. Rainer Maria
3. Kasabian

What can I say? I love diversity.

Has anyone seen the new Minutemen "We Jam Econo" dvd? Very cool if you like the Minutemen.

http://www.chownasty.com
http://www.myspace.com/chownasty

The recordings on Myspace don't touch them live, but it'll give you an idea. Peanut Butter Wolf is producing their debut record, so it'll be interesting to hear that. I saw them once at a packed Lava Lounge with the Dead Hensons (Seasame Street cover band!) and the whole bar was going crazy dancing. Next time I saw them was after a headlining set by Junior Senior, and even though there were only like 15 people left in the club (and that 15 included Jr. Sr.) they brought the rock just as hard. So cool.

And I agree that QOTSA are great. The 1st album has been on my constant playlist ever since it came out. I like the other stuff too, but the debut just blew my mind.

Yup the self title QOTSA is always with me. Probably my most listened to cd next to Rubberneck by the Toadies.

cheers for that info. i didn't realise. at the drive in was doing some sweet stuff and was surprised they broke it up.

Kasabian are the worst band ever. Baggy music for the noughties done really badly. And they seem to think they're really original. If they went back in time and killed the Stone Roses et al then maybe they would be. Until then they're deriative as hell but too arrogant to admit it. Seen them live too. Still sucked. In fact it was worse as I couldn't turn them off. More constructively, lyrically they're very weak. Club Foot was ok as a song, but the rest just drifts into blandness. So samey. That Aaaaah noise they do over some many of their songs really bugs me too. It's just like a formula. The lead singer and guitarist are real up their arse wankers too. Proper tossers. Sorry they're one of my top 5 bands to hate, hence the rant.

Wolfmother album rocks though. It's great fun. And whoever said mixing Sabbath and the Zep could never be a bad idea was bang on.


Can't be a critic without floating something I'm really keen though.

What's your take on Clap Your hands say yeah?

I loved the album. Saw them about a month ago and they were amazing. Renewed my love of live music.

The only real thought I have on Wolfmother is i saw far too much of them in Austin this year at SXSW. i can try to get into a band, but they played every other day and their label paid local TV stations to broadcast some bizarre looping documentary about them throughout the week...bleh...it gets a little old I guess.
Lately, i'm still listening to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs newest, old Metallica has made its way into the mix again, The New Year, recordings of the Radiohead shows I saw this summer, and waiting on the new Lupe Fiasco disc.

atease, what you were doing at SXSW?

hanging out mostly. went to support some friend's bands that were playing, but also as a vacation.

not much of a vacation I'm afraid..Austin isn't really my city I guess
it's nice enough..just a little too flat for me

I did enjoy Flatstock quite a bit though, some really brilliant artists were there this year. Jermaine, Tara MacPherson, and I literally bumped into Shepard when I walked around a corner

have you been chad?

I lived in Austin, TX from 1992 to 1994. I was a silk-screen printer for Kozik and Linsdey Kuhn.

Then, when I moved to NOLA at the beginning of '94, I started writing for music magazines.

So, the short answer is yes, I have been to SXSW several times.

Ahhh ok. That means you've definitely been to SXSW

When I said the city wasn't for me, I'm really not dogging it at all. There were some really great things about it too, like Waterloo and Magnolia Cafe